November 20th 1722

After having Jenny live with us a for month things finally settled into a set routine, Edward and Anne both told me now was the time I should start to take things slow. They were always one step ahead of me, as I went to do a job I would find it was already done. The thought was lovely but it annoyed me, I felt like I did when I was in my last months of being pregnant with Charlotte. Little things would be blown out of proportion by my hormones, I wanted to snap at everyone and tell them to just leave me alone. One day when Anne and Edward were finishing one of my scheduled jobs, I saw the opportunity to slip off to my beach so I could be on my own. I bought my pistol with me, there was no way I was going to become panther chum.

With it being November the weather wasn't as warm as usual, the breeze felt wonderful as it blew through my hair. Now Jenny was used to me I started wearing shorts again, in fact she loved the idea so much she begged to be allowed to wear them herself.

When I reached the waves the water came straight up to my feet, this time around my ankles had suffered much worse. So when the water took all my weight off my legs, it was blissful.

I half expected Edward to come looking for me, so when it started to rain I went and sat in the little hut. I'd been coming here so regularly I had bought some pillows with me, it was rather comfortable to sit in now. So much so that I ended up drifting off, my dreams were filled with images of my family.

When I did wake it was pitch black outside, heavy rain had hit and the waves looked very choppy. Grateful to be under shelter I stayed inside to wait out the storm, behind me a loud cracking noise started. Staring out the back of the shelter I noticed a palm tree had split in half, probably was best I didn't go back through the forest then.

I sat there for what seemed like ages, my stomach started rumbling and in turn, the baby started complaining.

"I know we're hungry, but there isn't a lot I can do about that right now baby" I tried rubbing my bump to calm him down but it did no good "If I try and sleep again, will you lie still for a little bit?" still he continued to wriggle about, in the end I just lay on my side. If I got to sleep it meant I was closer to getting home and if not, well I had a very long night ahead of me.

The waves crashed against the beach, reaching further up the sand every time. When I opened my eyes I noticed the sun was coming up, it was still raining but not as heavy as it had been "I think its time we went and found something to eat huh" I felt a sharp kick to my ribs, as if to say we should have eaten last night If you could have just stayed at home. Walking back through the trees I noticed there wasn't just a couple which had been felled, I counted at least fifteen just on the path back to the town. The weather must have been a lot worse than I'd seen, reaching the town I noticed all the houses had their shutters closed. The tavern was completely shut, even from here I could see the manor had blocked all the windows. It was so quiet it felt like a ghost town, I waddled as quickly as I could up the hill. When I reached the front door I banged on the wood as hard as I could, I noticed even Anne's little house was boarded up.

It was Anne that answered the door to me "Jesus Mary where the fuck did you get to?" I didn't expect a reaction that strong "If you think I'm worried wait till Edward sees you"

"Where is he?" I must have slept through a gale force storm

"Up in Charlotte's room, they all slept there last night"

I rushed up the stairs to my daughter's room, hovering just outside I could hear the murmuring sound Charlotte made when she'd been crying a lot. As soon as he heard the door click all eyes were on me, well just Edwards. Charlotte lay murmuring in his arms and Jenny was fast asleep against him, he looked shattered as if he hadn't got any sleep last night. Thinking back Charlotte had never witnessed a storm, so we never knew how she would react to one. I went over to the side where Jenny wasn't sleeping and knelt next to him, offering my arms he handed me Charlotte. That was one thing my bump was perfect for, Charlotte sat on top of it with her arms around my neck. I stood back up and started to rock her until she fell asleep, I put her back into her crib and helped Edward put Jenny to bed. When he door was shut the look he gave me told me I was in deep shit, for once the baby stopped moving as if anticipating what was going to go down!

"Before I say my part, would you like to explain where you were and why you didn't come back for a whole night?" I realised by his tone there was no way I could convince him I'd been safe and if he saw the damage the trees had taken I have no doubt this telling off would be a lot worse.

"I" good start, my mind went blank but the baby nudged me. I guess he was telling me Edward was only angry because he was upset and worried, my left hand went to the top of my bump "I've been fed up with how you and Anne are always doing the jobs I want to do, staying inside and not moving is driving me mad. I went to the beach, I just wanted to sit in the waves and take some weight off my ankles. I thought you would know where I was so I fell asleep for a little bit, when I woke up the weather was bad. Not bad enough for me to think it was a storm but bad enough that I stayed in the hut. I came back as soon as I could" his look softened but only for a second.

"I can't believe you were stupid enough to go off without telling me where you were going! Were you so stupid that you put yourself before everyone else, I don't know if you can see what your hand is resting on. But that baby is relying on you to keep it safe, only you. Until they are born I can only protect you and when you go swanning off because I'm trying to make your life easier, you really aren't thinking about anyone else" he turned quickly and put his hands in his head "You said when you found out you were pregnant you'd take it easy this time, never put this one in any real danger. Mary for fuck sake you were sleeping in a hut made of kindling in a fucking hurricane, there was no way you can say you were safe" he groaned to himself "You need some rest, I'll get Anne to bring you some food" he started to storm off

"Edward" he spun round to face me, his stare shot me down straight away.

"No, don't fucking talk to me until you've had time to think about how stupid you've been" as he stormed down the stairs my barriers went down and the tears started to flow, I went into our room and bundled myself up on the bed. I heard Anne come in, felt the tray being put on the bed. I heard her mutter something to me and heard her leave, the smell of the food and the fact I was in danger of having my ribs kicked in meant I sat up and finished the food in record timing.

"I seem to have a way of causing shit when I should be resting, I'm sorry baby. I never meant to put you in harms way, I promise from now on we'll do the boring things around the house"

Edward didn't come into our room at all that day, that night he slept in one of the other rooms. I heard him and Anne taking the shutters down, they tucked the children in as well. When Anne went home she said goodbye at my door but I pretended I was asleep, again the tears started to fall. This was by far the worse argument me and Edward had ever had, even worse than the one that had made me leave when I was due to have Charlotte.

The next day I stayed in bed again, not because I didn't want to see Edward but I thought that was where I was least likely to get into any trouble, the sounds of him waking Charlotte and Jennifer up were audible through the wall. I heard Jenny ask where I was, but I couldn't hear his response.

By noon he still hadn't come to see me, I realised just how upset he was. This made me feel shit, I went to the windows and opened them as wide as I could. I sat there for some time either crying or talking to myself, telling myself and the baby how stupid I'd been over and over again. I cried so much that I didn't hear when the door finally did open, how long he stood there I don't know but when I started crying again I felt his arms around my shoulders pulling me into his lap and against his chest.

"I'm so sorry, I am. I was stupid, so stupid" tears streamed down my face as all my emotions and hormones poured out as one big flow of apologies "I tried to keep them safe, I didn't mean to fail them"

"Shush now, I know you didn't. It's just that was a massive storm and I didn't know where you both were, Charlotte kept crying for her mummy and Jennifer was scared to. I never had a chance to worry, to be scared for where you were. So when you came back, looking nervous but not upset that was my only chance to let all that worry and upset out. I guess I wasn't angry at you, I was more angry with myself. Why I didn't go and get you whilst I could, I just left you out there expecting you to come back in your own time. But seriously Mary, do you realise what could have gone wrong. You could have been hurt, they could have been hurt or even worse your due soon what would you have done if you'd have started to have the baby. There's no way anyone would know, no one passes through there, then anything could have gone wrong" he pinches the bridge of his nose like he always does when he's panicked "Right now you have to realise you are half of my world, If I lost you both I don't know what I'd do. I am nothing without you"

This chapter may seem a bit Woah! wth happened there, but I was playing black flag and getting fed up of how many storms there were. Somewhere a little light bulb went ting! your story hasn't had a storm yet, so this is what madness my mind cooked up.

Again thank you all so much for sticking with this or joining this story, your reviews and follows/favourites do mean a lot to me. thank you again and I'll see you in the next chapter, which shouldn't take as long as these two did :)