As she stepped from the ship I could see her eyes flitting every way until she reached her father, he knelt to be at her level and handed the flowers he had picked. At first she seemed to reach for them but something stopped her, Edward's lips moved although I couldn't hear what was said from where I stood. Her hand went out again this time accepting the flowers, in her other hand she clutched a doll to her chest. Edward lead her to where I stood with one hand on her back, I realised she didn't look at me instead her eyes went straight to Charlotte who was staring straight back at her.
"Jennifer this is your sister Charlotte" shuffling the doll to her other arm she put her hand out as if to offer to shake Charlotte's, it looked as if she was going to remove it when she realised Charlotte was too young to understand her gesture. That was until Charlotte grabbed hold of it with both hands and bounced it up and down, smiles spread across all of our lips with a laugh escaping from Jennifer's lips "And this is Mary" she held her hand out to me, the same as she had to Charlotte only I shook it back as she had expected.
"It's very nice to meet you Jennifer" how I kept my voice straight I'll never know, nerves still raced through my veins like adrenaline. Edward smiled at me, grateful I hadn't let my emotions through especially with my hormones as they were.
"How about we go to the manor and we can decide what to do then?" Edward again knelt to her level "We could go to the beach, how would you like that?"
"Yes please" we started to walk to the manor, I realised she had been dressed in clothes for the rubbish weather of Bristol. That many layers on in this weather, I'm surprised she hasn't melted "Will I see a whale?"
"Probably not from the beach, but someday I'll take you on a ship and you'll see one I'm sure" I smile at a child's innocence. I remember how dull and dreary the docks of London were, Bristol must be the same. So when she saw the blue seas of the Caribbean how different it must have looked, although I'm surprised she never saw one on her long journey here.
"You'll most likely see dolphins though Jennifer" I smile at her "And the fish will swim to you as soon as you are in the water" her face again breaks into a wide grin.
When we reach the manor one of the crew sets down the chest that was packed for her, I dig through to try and find a summer dress or a dress that is at least lighter than she is wearing. When Anne saw us at the docks she came to help me out, Edward sits in the lounge with Charlotte and Jennifer.
"These dresses are too thick for the winters here, let alone the summer" Anne starts to dig through but stops as soon as she realises I wasn't lying "Its lucky we actually planned for her coming to live with us" I go through to the room we prepared for Jennifer and grab a dress, when I reach the lounge I stop and watch the scene in front of me. Jennifer sits playing with Charlotte, I realise the doll Charlotte holds is the one that Jennifer arrived with. I smile and realise everything might be okay, she doesn't seem the type to try and ruin things between me and Edward. Granted it had been less than a day, but I could feel some of the weight draining away. "Jennifer, do you want to come and get changed for the beach" she turned as soon as she heard my voice and bounded upstairs, I wasn't as quick as she was. I remember why I slept downstairs when I was pregnant with Charlotte "Here you go" I handed her the dress and she stepped behind her changing board, I went and sat at the end of her bed
"You can call me Jenny if you'd prefer Mary, I know my name can be a mouthful" I smile to myself, I did wonder if I should ask her if I could shorten her name. She skipped over to me so I could fasten her dress, it was a much thinner white cotton dress "Could you undo my hair for me please" I released her hair from the bun and combed it out so it fell around her shoulders.
"Now Jenny, when we go to the beach you must stay with us. When we get to the beach you may run and play in the waves, but promise me that until then you'll stay by our sides?"
"Yes Mary, but why?" I thought my answers through before I said them, but they all had the same answer, the same fear.
"You know how the weather here is different?" she answered with a nod "Well that means different plants grow here and different animals live here, do you get where I'm going" she looked confused, but willing to listen "The weather means that sheep don't live here like they would Bristol, instead we have animals like ocelots and panthers. Panthers are similar to lions, they aren't that many that live here any more but the few that do, well they don't really like humans. But if you stay by us they can't get you okay?" she nodded but some of the excitement had left her eyes "I promise you'll be okay though" I took her hand and led her back downstairs, I grabbed my sash and tied Charlotte to my side. Edward made sure he had weapons on him, although he kept them hidden from Jenny.
When we reached the beach Jenny's eyes widened as she took in the beautiful view, I suppose it was how I had looked all those years ago when I arrived myself. Like I had promised her she could run to the water and play amongst the waves, I took Charlotte and went to sit in the small hut on the beach. I watched Edward as he played in the waves with his daughter, although I found it odd how Jenny never went deeper than up to her knees. Lifting Charlotte onto my hip and went over to them.
"Go in further if you'd like, you'll see so much more" she stood rooted to the spot
"I can't swim" I suppose she never had a reason to learn.
"I'll teach you if you like" I beckoned for Edward to come over and handed Charlotte to him, I put my hands out to her and when I was further in the water took all of her weight "kick your legs"
It took a while but soon she was managing a few swims until she would stop and float above the waves, she swam back to the shore and continued to play in the waves. Edward smiled from the beach, Charlotte now lay asleep in his arms. I floated there in the water for a bit longer, grateful that it had my weight and held me there. It was getting late and soon we would have to get them both into bed, I made my way back up to them wringing my skirt out as best I could.
"I think these two need to get some sleep" he was right, the day had been so long that I forgot Jenny had only arrived this morning, she must be shattered from travelling for so long.
On our walk back I ended up holding Charlotte who was fast asleep and Edward carried a very tired Jenny.
Back at the manor I let Edward tuck Jenny into bed, I didn't feel right to intrude on that. As he came outside he asked for Charlotte
"She wants to say goodnight to you" he planted a kiss on my forehead and went into Charlotte's room.
I made my way to the bed and sat on the side, pulling the blanket up around her similar to how I would with Charlotte "Night night Jenny, hope you have sweet dreams" I didn't kiss her on the forehead, I couldn't say no to saying goodnight but I thought a kiss was bordering on the stepmother angle. On the way out I blow out the candles and shut the door.
Edward was stood over Charlotte's bed as we always did.
"It's going to be weird when there's three of them" he linked his arms around my waist resting his hands on my bump "Although it'll be nice to have a little boy among our crew" I smiled to myself as Haytham wriggled to get comfortable.
"He can't wait to meet you either, still its odd to think we started this year as a three and will finish as a five" I turned in his arms and wrapped mine around his neck "Today has gone rather well, the only bad thing I can take from it is I'm still wearing this dreadful dress"
"I'm pretty sure there is some way I can help you get out of this awful situation" he hoists me into his arms, goodness knows how though because I must have gained so much weight this time around. In our room he doesn't waste time undoing it, he takes his hidden blade to the front of it tearing straight down the middle, it drops to the floor so I'm stood wearing nothing at all. His clothes are off in a flash, I shuffle into the middle of the bed. I'm not on my own for long, He trails kissed up my right shin, up my thigh and onto my bump. Now leaning above me he lifts the thigh he's just kissed so it's next to his hip. He enters me so gently and slowly, its a heavenly kind of pleasure, full of love and lust. We take it slow and move together like a perfect pairing, I start to moan but remember I have to keep the noise down. My bump prevents me from reaching his shoulder so instead I bight into a pillow, when we both finish I throw it off my face so we can kiss some more.
"It's a shame you didn't like that dress" he whispers into my ear "Although I think it looks better on the floor"
"I have to agree, it feels a lot nicer on the floor to"
"Are you talking about the dress or would you like to try that again but over there by the window?"
"It would be nice to have two amazing views whilst enjoying myself" I wink up at him "Although this time, I'm on top"
hopefully the next chapter will be up later or tomorrow at the latest! thank you, everyone, for favouriting, following and reviewing. you guys are so awesome for continuously sticking by this story, see you all in the next chapter.