Carolyn looked up as the door shut quietly behind the figure that had just entered the room. Even out of the corner of her eye she could tell that it wasn't Haytham coming by to check on them after the end of his shift down at the docks or to bring her accounting ledgers to process. She finished tucking Edward into his cradle before turning to the woman standing in the shadows. "Would you care for a cup of tea or some fruit? The journey from the colonies is not an easy one in your condition. I should know." The woman's voice radiated with rage. "You'll not mock me and my child. I know what you are." Carolyn took a sharp breath and walked to the couch sitting on it lightly. The woman's eyes never left hers as she edged around the room over to the cradle and looked down at the baby. "So this is the reason he's abandoned us." Carolyn gripped the edge of the cushions. "I don't understand. He went back to you. You're his family now." The woman closed her eyes and shook her head. "No. We're a duty to him. He doesn't love me. He doesn't love either of us. He only cares about you and his son. "
Carolyn took a sharp breath and shook her head. "That's not true." Dobby sobbed and looked down at Edward, pulling a knife from her waist. "Yes, it is. But I can change that." Carolyn lunged to her feet. "He'd never forgive you!" The woman's shoulders shook. "What choice do I have?" Carolyn shook her head. "If you kill his son he'd never forgive you. He wanted you two to raise him together. " Dobby turned, moving towards her and away from the cradle as Carolyn let out a sigh of relief. Dobby turned to her, knife at the ready. "But you're still in the way. He won't marry me with you alive." Carolyn's eyes narrowed in confusion. "But you're already married." She shook her head. "No we're not. He said he's still married to you; that he can only have one wife. But once you're dead he can marry me." She broke into a mad grin. Carolyn took a step back as Dobby began to walk towards her. "Not here! Please!" She took a deep breath. "Not in front of my son." Dobby's eyes narrowed. "Where then?" Carolyn nodded to the hall. "There's a trap door to the roof. Nobody would see us. And you won't hurt him? You'll take him to his father?" Dobby nodded her to the door. "No tricks."
Conner launched from the deck to the pier before the boat was tied off and searched around frantically for his father. He spotted him, standing on the edge of the dock, a book in hand as he surveyed another ship. He ran to Haytham grabbing him by the arm and turning him around forcibly. "You have to get to Carolyn and Edward. I think Dobby has come to Kingston to hurt them." Haytham turned, his eyes going wide to see Conner standing on the dock. "I don't know if I can get you through the gate in time." Connor shook his head. "I'll climb. You go inside. It's faster. You have to protect them." Haytham dropped the book and ran for the stairs. Connor looked around, relieved that the attention of the guards was on Haytham in his mad sprint to the building and slipped into the shadows, finding a wall under the window he remembered to be hers. When he was almost to the window ledge he heard their voices above him on the roof.
Carolyn closed her eyes against the sharp wind coming from the bay that whipped at her hair and skirt. Dobby peered over the edge but being familiar with the tide course Carolyn did not need to look to know that the rocks below were jagged and exposed. She stepped back from the edge reflexively. Dobby turned to her, still grinning madly. She grabbed Carolyn's wrist and pulled her forward. "It's too late to be shy now." Her hand tightened painfully on Carolyn's wrist and she stumbled forward.
"Dobby! What are you doing?!" A voice called out behind her and both women turned to see Connor climbing over the edge of the tower. Dobby's eyes flashed but her grip remained tight on her arm, dragging her one step closer to the edge. "I'm saving you from yourself, Connor. I'm saving your son too." His eyes locked on Carolyn in anguish. "Don't! You can't do this, Dobby." She twisted Carolyn's wrist causing her to cry out and drawing his attention briefly. She flinched as he drew his knife automatically. She shook her head, and rested her other hand at her waist, her belly curving out visibly under her shirt. "Even now? Even now you would choose her?" He shook his head. "I don't want to choose either of you. Come inside. We'll work it out." She shook her head angrily her voice rising over the wind. "You don't want to have to choose. But you will. You will choose." She turned and pulled Carolyn the last few feet to the edge of the tower, a low brick wall the only separation from the roof and the rocks below.
She turned now to face him, her voice cracking in anger. "You'll choose now. Her or me and your child. One of us is going over the edge." "No!" Connor's voice rang out into the night, his eyes going back and forth between Carolyn and the curve of Dobby's waist. She watched his glance and her shoulders shook. "Is that the only reason? Only for the child?" Connor swallowed, unable to meet her eyes. She started to take another step backwards but Carolyn's hand tightened on her arm. "No. Please don't. Think of the child." She looked between the two of them and smiled. "It's ok. It's going to be ok." Dobby shook her head and pulled loose. "No, it's not. Only one of us can leave this tower." Carolyn swallowed and turned to Connor. "You'll take good care of him, right? That's what you said. You'd raise him together with your own child." She took a deep breath and edged towards the wall, steading herself as she eyed the final step. "Carolyn, no!" The anguish in his voice as he reached for her was the final straw and with a shriek of rage Dobby lunged for her, her weight throwing them both backwards and over the edge.
With all the speed he had he threw himself at them, trying desperately to grab a hold of the forms already falling towards the ground. His hand brushed Carolyn's and his grip tightened as she screamed. He angled himself at the edge, grabbing her arm with both hands and pulling her upwards back to the roof. She shook and collapsed, sobbing onto the ground, one hand clamped over her mouth. "Don't look." He shook his head but returned to the edge anyway, his eyes searching out the still form down below. "Edward!" Carolyn gasped and surged to her feet, heading for the way down, one hand clamped on the arm where Connor had caught her. He steadied her as she swayed on her feet but helped her down to the lower level where she ran to her room, pounding on the door with her good hand when she found it locked.
Haytham opened it cautiously then threw it wide when he saw her there. She surged into the room, spotting the cradle and running to it. She fell to her knees, her good arm wrapping around the sleeping child within. Connor followed her in, one hand steading himself as he gazed down at his son. Haytham looked around the room nervously, his weapon at the ready. "Is she not here after all?" Carolyn sobbed openly as Connor's shoulders shook. She turned to him saying the words she knew Connor could not. "She's at the base of the tower… Someone should go get them before the tide comes in. She deserves to be buried. They both do." Haytham grimaced. "I suppose I should since Connor cannot be here." She swallowed and nodded. "Thank you. And I could use a doctor when you come back." He walked to her quickly. "Are you hurt?" She nodded. "I think my arm's broken. I can't really move it." He took a breath and glared at Connor but she grabbed him with her good hand. "He saved my life. If he hadn't caught me you would be getting me from the base as well." He swallowed and nodded, turning for the door.
"I didn't mean to hurt you." Connor gripped her other shoulder carefully. She shook her head and turned to him, pressing her face against his chest and wrapping her good arm around him. "I'm so sorry. I never meant for this to happen. What will you do? Will you take her back to the colonies?" He looked green. "It is not a short trip." She nodded. "She can be buried here, I'm sure." He swallowed, thinking on what he knew of European customs. "Even though she took her own life?" Carolyn gasped but nodded. "She was sick, Connor. It was not her fault. I understand that. She wasn't well." His arms tightened around her and he bent, pressing his face against her neck and holding her as he sobbed. She held him as long as she dared before pulling back. "The doctor can't see you here, Connor. It's too dangerous." His eyes searched hers. "Let me stay. Let me stay tonight at least. Not for anything more than to just be with you and our son." She nodded. "Yes, but you have to go next door and hide until the doctor leaves. I would not be the cause of your death. I couldn't bear it." He nodded, putting off leaving until he could hear Haytham's approach and the slipping next door.
The doctor set Carolyn's arm as gently as possible but she cried out with the pain and he loaded her into bed, giving her a draught to make her sleep before leaving. She laid back, sleep already fast approaching and bid Haytham to send Connor in. He frowned at her. "Why? You'll need someone to stay with you tonight. Someone to help you with the baby. What does he know?" She sighed. "He will learn. And he should not be alone tonight. Not after what he saw today. He's agreed she can be buried here. Will you make the arrangements?" He nodded. She met his eyes nervously. "If you can bear it I think she should be buried under the name Kenway. She died for it after all." He nodded once and bent to adjust the blanket up around her. "I'll make the arrangements. And I'll send him over." Connor appeared shortly and she struggled to keep her eyes open. He barred the door behind him nervously and walked to the cradle to look down on his sleeping son. "What do I do?" She yawned. "Let him sleep for now. If he wakes he'll either need to come to me to eat or to be changed. If the later you might want to go next door and get your father so he can show you." He looked up at her, his eyes full of pain. "I mean beyond tonight." She shook her head at him sadly. "That I cannot say. But for now, come and get some sleep." He eyed the bed beside her nervously. "You do not mind?" She shook her head "I do not mind if you don't but then again tonight I feel I could sleep in the middle of a battlefield." He stripped off his jacket, lying next to her carefully and curling into her good arm. Her hand tightened on him. "Why? Why did you not let her kill me?" "I read your letter." His voice was harsh. "The one you wrote about Edward." She swallowed. "You were not to read that while I was alive. I did not mean for you to have it." She flushed to remember the emotions that had poured out on the paper. He pressed his face against her shoulder, drawing her closer gently. "I know. But even knowing you lived it was hard to read. The thought of you being gone forever was unbearable; that one day I would just come home to a note saying I would never see you again. What are we going to do?" She swallowed. "I'm not sure. But we'll talk of it in the morning." With that she could no longer fight the pull of the medicine and drifted to sleep.