Calumbra 23 - Book 1: The Maid

37 - Tantrums With Love

Dear Little One,

The wounded troops are finally dwindling down so that they can go home. It should be a matter of time before I will be able to come back home. I can't write a lot today because I so much to do but I will write again later.

Love,
Delaware

"There..." she said, looking at her handiwork.
It had been almost five months since Delaware had moved out of the Blackwood garden house and into the small cottage that she had been saving for a rainy day. She was now undeniably pregnant as her belly hugged the fabric of her dresses and her breasts tried their best to stay in place within those dresses. Most of the time she stayed in her nightgown due to comfort and simplicity. Carrying another life around was something new to Delaware and all she really wanted to do was make sure she was as comfortable as could be. She didn't even really have a fear of dying if something happened when the baby came. That was the only good thing she had found so far in the pregnancy: knowing that no matter what, she would live.
Delaware stood up from the seat where she had written her letter and balanced herself before heading to the door to go to town so she could have her envelope delivered. When she opened the door though, she was met by an unexpected face.
"Oh... um..."
"So it's true." Huntley said, looking at her belly in confusion and fascination. "You really are pregnant."
Delaware sighed and shut the door after Huntley proceeded to walk inside uninvited.
"It's nice to see you too, Huntley." Delaware mumbled.
"Why are you hiding way out here? It took a right good while to find you."
"I send letters saying that I was at the war infirmary." Delaware said with a frown.
Huntley shook his head. "That place has been deserted for months. Good thing Father was intercepting your letters. He's been forging them ever since you've been writing them."
"Oh... blast it all then..." she grumbled, tearing up the envelope in her hand. "Well then what have you been saying?"
"Father decided that to keep the peace of Trinidad's rage, you were writing from across the country where you had found some clue into your immortality or something like that in Northern England."
"Oh... well then I guess I'll make sure my letter goes along with that."
"How have you been? How's the baby?"
"The baby is fine, though it's odd carrying a life inside of me. I never thought that it would be possible, actually. Considering how many times I've been killed in the stomach before... Poisoned, stabbed, shot... Oh well, I guess life has a way of coming about."
"Do you have any names picked out?"
"I have a sneaky suspicion it will be a boy and so I have chosen the name Coventry."
"Coventry... Will he have a nickname?"
"Vence, most likely."
"Whew, I was about to say..."
"What did you want?"
"Exactly what I said, I wanted to see if the rumor was true because I knew you weren't gone. I mean, you were gone but I knew you still had to be in Somerset."
"Are you going to tell Trinidad?"
"No, not until you want us to."
"Well, can you at least tell me what was last said in 'my' letter so that I can correspond with it?"
"Sure thing."

After Huntley told Delaware what had been forged by Tavit about what she was doing, Delaware rewrote her letter and then headed to town for the post office. She told the post master to not send the letter until two months from now. What she didn't know, was that the post master thought that she said, two days from then and so sent the letter on its merry way to Blackwood Manor.
When the butler said that Trinidad had a letter, he was ecstatic to find out that it was from Delaware. He read the letter eagerly when he noticed the date on it. He frowned for a second and then looked at the envelope. When he saw that the envelop had come from an address in the Southern part of England, especially when he saw that it was in Somerset, he was furious and tromped up the steps into his brother's office. He slammed open the door and nearly scared Tavit half to death.
"Trinidad! What the hell is your problem?!"
Trinidad slammed the letter onto the table and pointed at the date.
What is this? he signed angrily.
"It looks like a date, obviously..."
Trinidad growled at his brother and pointed at it again.
"Soon!" he yelled. Too soon!
Tavit tried to remember when the last letter had come and remembered it was earlier this month. So far, all the letters had been coming in two month increments, which is about how long it would take the post to deliver the letters from Northern England to Southern England. He was right, the date was way too soon.
"I... I don't know, Trin."
He slammed the envelope down and pointed to the return address.
"This." He hissed, angrily tapping on the word 'Somerset'.
Tavit looked at the envelope and mentally kicked Delaware in the ass as he sat back in his chair. The plan was over. The truth had to come out.
"Sit down, Trin."
No. he signed, purposefully getting close to Tavit's face when he did it.
"Fine, I'll tell you standing up... Delaware never left Southern England... in fact, as you can see, she never left Somerset."
Then where did she go?
"She's... in a cottage about three miles away from here."
Trinidad immediately headed to the door but Tavit stopped him.
"Wait! Where are you going?"
"Cottage."
"You can't go there."
Trinidad narrowed his eyes at his brother and Tavit sighed.
"At least... don't go there angry. Try to calm down before you get there. Please."
Trinidad turned his head like a dog did but took the words to heart as he went down the stairs to the car.