Night reaches the sky when Grant and the group of servants and guards arrive at the harbor. Grant looks to the clear starry sky. He lets loose a sigh that swirls in the cold air. Looking around he addresses a guard. "It'll be pointless to start to collect the supplies now. Mostly everyone in town is probably asleep." He looks to the guard. "Go and see if there's any room at the Inn." The guard bows and walks away. Grant dismounts his horse and grabs the reigns. "The sooner we get to sleep, the sooner we'll get what we need and head home." He leads his horse to the Inn for word of the guard to return to the group.

Elise continues to read the book the maid picked out for her as she turns a page. She completely loses track of the time as she let her mind make images by each word. She was reading about a pirate that fell in love with a tom boy-ish girl. The pirate told his crew about this girl and to kidnap her. unfortunately they got confused and kidnapped the girl's sisters and cousin. When the tom boy girl when to save her sisters she found out it was the Pirate that fell in love with her, she marries him despite of the mix up. Elise had reached the part where the Girl had fainted. Her and the pirate's pet lizard was poison. Just before she could find out what the Pirate does to save his wife, a knock comes to her door. She snaps out of her imagination and looks over. "Come in!" The door opens and Maurice walks in, pushing in something under a sheet. Elise smiles at the old man. "Hello Maurice."

He smiles and walks over to her. "Hello Elise. How are you feeling."

She rubs her stomach. "Other than being kicked from the inside, I'm fine." Her eyes land on the thing he pushed in. She smiles at the thought. "What's that?"

Maurice pulls the sheet to reveal a cradle that's newly painted. "I found a cradle in town the other day, it was in good shape, just needed a new paint job."

Elise smiles happily and looks to Maurice. "It's perfect! Now we don't have to use Lori's cradle! Thank you!" She reaches out her arms to the old man. He walks over and lets her give him a thankful hug.

Maurice smiles then gently rubs her stomach, knowing Elise doesn't mind. "How long do you think the baby will come?"

She looks to his hand. "Grant and I haven't a clue. Soon though. Hopefully Grant will be home when it happens." She then looks to Maurice, getting serious for a moment. She wanted to ask the old man something important. "Hey Maurice. Grant and I was meaning to talk to you about something."

He glances at her with a confuse look on his face. He know that both Elise and Grant rarely becomes serious about a subject after they got married with the pregnancy as an exception. "Really? What is it? You can talk to me about anything."

Elise purses her lips at the thought of her own father. "Well, it's just that... both of our parents are gone and we feel that our baby will be left out on having grandparents. So we were wondering, if you would like to be a grandfather to our baby as well?"

Maurice smiles at her. She was right, with both set of grandparents dead, Grant and Elise's baby wouldn't have what Lori has. He gently pats the woman's hand, like a father would while comforting a daughter. "I'd be honored." They smile and hug each other again. They sat and talked for an hour or two before Maurice left to let Elise to get some rest.

When alone, Elise looks at the book she was reading and picks it up. Just when she was about to lift the book from Grant's pillow, her stomach starts to cramp up. She lays a hand on it. "Ow!" She lays still with a painful expression on her face. When the moment had passed, she tries to relax. Feeling the moment to read has expired, she lays the book on the bedside table and falls asleep.

By midmorning the next day, the Harbor was full of people. Grant reviews the list his brother gave him, leaving a check mark beside each item after making sure everything was in order. Reaching the bottom of the list, he rolls it up and shoves it into his Saddle bag. He faces the guards and servants. "Pack up and make sure the cargo is secure."

The group nods to him. "Yes monsieur." The guard and the servants pick up the crates and set them in the wagon while Grant walks away from the group.

He hadn't forgotten that he wanted to buy his wife and unborn child something special. He looks through the stalls and didn't see anything that Elise would like. He eventually bought a petticoat for the baby that he has tied in a box.

One more look around the harbor he found a stall that was selling art supplies. "She hasn't painted since she found out she was pregnant, her paints are ruin by now." He bought some paints knowing that Elise would be happy.

He walks over to the wagon to see that the group is ready to leave. He looks at the servants. "Everything looks in order. We're ready to leave. It'll take longer to get home if we waste anymore time here." He puts his gifts in the wagon then climbs on his horse with the guards following his action.

After breakfast, Elise lays back into bed and reread the book she borrowed. So far this Pirate story is her favorite out of all the books in Belle's Library. As she keeps reading she neglects to notice a little girl walking into the room. As she turns the page, a certain 6-year-old spitting image of Belle stands at her bedside. "Oh, Hello Lori."

The little girl looks to the book in her aunt's hands. She points to it and looks up to the adult. "Tante, why do you have one of Maman's books from the Library?"

Elise close the book using a finger to mark her page. "Well." She puts a hand on her stomach to show the little girl. "I'm not allowed out of bed. Without your oncle I need something to entertain me."

Lori looks at the book and turns her head in curiosity. "What is it about?" The little girl asks using her child like charm to get an answer if necessary.

Elise smiles. "Well It's about Pirates, love, magic spells." Her niece interrupts her with loud "ICK!"

Lori scrunches her face like she just had a lemon in her mouth. "Love is so icky!"

The pregnant woman giggles at her niece's child impulses. "So are you saying that your Maman and Papa are icky? They love each other very much you know."

Lori looks up to her aunt. "Maman and Papa are different. Their love isn't icky, they're the king and queen. They're not allowed to act icky."

Her aunt smirks. "I guess this makes me and your oncle icky. We love each other as much as your parents do and as you put it we are not the king and queen."

The princess looks to her aunt. "You're not icky Tante... Oncle might be, but not you." She sticks her tongue out in a childish way to her aunt.

That comment made Elise laugh. She then starts to contemplate to tell her husband that his niece finds him as gross. "Don't let Oncle Grant find out he's icky. He'd wont let you forget it." She lets herself relax after a few moments of laughing. "So what are you doing?"

Lori looks up to her aunt. "Nothing, I'm actually bored." She lays her chin on the side of the bed, sitting on the floor. She then looks at the book and gets an Idea. "Why don't you read me that book, Tante?"

Elise blushes. "Well, Lori. This book isn't exactly for kids. Maybe your Maman can read it to you when you get a little older."

The princess looks down, disappointed. "I would ask Maman to read me the King Arthur story again but she doesn't want me to be around Papa today."

Her aunt pats her head. "Good. You don't want to catch your Papa's cold." She stop patting her niece's head as she feels another stomach cramp comes along. She looks at the girl and puts on a fake smile. "Hey Lori. How about you go see what grand-père Maurice is doing. I guarantee you wont be bored."

Lori smiles. Her grandfather always has some new invention to show her. "Okay Tante!" She hugs her aunt and runs out of the room.

Elise holds her stomach and waits for the cramp to pass. She bites her bottom lip as she lays back, feeling a little worried.

Thanks for reading. I just wanted to tell you guys that the story Elise is reading was a reference to a web comic on Deviant art called The Pirate Balthasar and uploaded by Dedasaur. It is an awesome, awesome comic, check it out when you get the time to.