Ravea sat in the parlor with both her hands on her stomach. She could feel the baby kicking. It hurt a little but the warm bliss she felt simultaneously was even better.

It was the first time in a while since she'd felt happy about the pregnancy.

After her reccuring nightmares, she had shut herself off, from the world, the baby and Jerome. That way, when she eventually gave the baby away, she wouldn't feel anything. Not pain nor despair. And overtime, when it had all passed, she would nurse herself and her relationship with Jerome back to health before trying again. At least that was her plan until the night before. Now, she didn't know what to do.

"He must probably be disappointed in me by now", She thought to herself. "What sort of woman am I if I can't even give birth to one child safely? And not only that, but I had to make him suffer for it as well." She lamented silently.

"Ravea dear, I've put the hot water in the bathroom, you can go and take your bath now." Hilma said as she walked into the parlor, then she immediately noticed Ravea's sour mood. She walked over and sat beside her before placing Ravea's head on her shoulder. "Oh my dear, it's okay." She stroked her hair.

"I'm so sorry", Ravea moaned.

"For what?"

"For being a terrible daughter-in-law. I know how much you love your son, and he ended up marrying a woman like me who can't even bear him a child and you, grandkids."

"That's nonsense! You're not a terrible daughter-in-law. You're the best, it's our tradition that is terrible." She gently caressed Ravea's cheeks.

"But Jerome, where do you think he went to last night? He seemed incredibly disappointed."

"No buts, I'm not disappointed in you, and I doubt Jerome is either. He's like his father in that aspect, he just needs some time to let it sink in and he'll come around. Child or no child, we love you. Okay?"

"Yes ma."

"Call me mother."

Ravea smiled, "Yes mother."

Hilma smiled as well. "Ooh, that felt so good. I always wanted to have a daughter."

"Jerome said you had one."

"I did. But I never really got to be her mother."

Ravea looked at her, "Well now you're my mother."

Tears of joy rolled down Hilma's cheek. "Come here." She gently sat Ravea up and hugged her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

After what seemed like forever, Hilma finally let go off Ravea. "I need to go drop some food at home for your father-in-law. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Alright", Ravea replied.

Hilma went into the kitchen and came back out with a small basket wrapped with a piece of cloth. "If your mother comes back, tell her I said to wait for me." Then she opened the door, waved at Ravea and left.

"I should probably go take my bath before the water gets cold", she thought. With a deep long moan, she stood up and went into the bathroom.

There was a wooden pale and a wooden tub in the bathroom, both of them filled with hot water. Beside them was a stool.

"This must've been so much work", Ravea thought as she touched the water to gauge its temperature.

She then took off her gown, sat on the stool and began scrubbing herself. When she was done, she rinsed her body before entering the tub. Goosebumps rippled through her body as her feet gradually broke the surface of the water before being completely submerged. It was like being massaged by hundreds of really warm hands. She heaved a sigh and settled in. The whole mood reminded her of when she had just met and framed Jerome. After which, she had tried washing off the guilt she felt from doing so. It was just a year earlier but so much had happened that it felt like a long time ago. "How time flies", She thought and smiled.

"I need to apologize to Jerome for my behavior these past few months. It must've been hard for him. I'll try cooking him dinner. Ugh! But it's been so long since I cooked. I've been over pampered." She chuckled. "It doesn't matter, I'm sure he'll appreciate the effort, he's that sort of person."

Just then, she heard the front door open abruptly. "Ravea! Ravea! Where are you?"

"Jerome!" Ravea called out from the bathroom.

Loud footsteps immediately echoed through the house and seconds later, the bathroom door opened. Jerome was panting with sweat dripping from his face. "Alright, that's good." He said then shut the door.

"Hey! Don't just leave! Where have you been all night? Where are you coming from? And why are you breathing so heavily? Is something the matter?" Ravea exclaimed, a bit pissed.

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The door opened again, "No time to explain." He raised a gown up and faced it towards her, "How much do you like this gown?"

She was perplexed by the sudden question, but she answered. "It's the gown I wore on our wedding day, I don't like it, I love it!"

Jerome took another look at it. "Really?"

"Of course! Why would you even ask that?! Don't tell me you already forgot."

"No no, I didn't. It's just-", he paused then spun the cloth around a bit, then he looked at Ravea. "I don't see how this gown can fit you. It's just so sl-"

"Are you calling me fat?!" She picked up the wooden bucket and threw it at him, but he moved out of the way before it could reach. "Ahg! You come back from nowhere all of sudden screaming and just start insulting me, what's your problem?!" She pouted.

Jerome who was hiding just on the other side of the wall of the bathroom smiled, then started laughing.

"Why are you laughing?!" Ravea exclaimed.

"It's just-", he stood by the door for a while, looking at her pout and boil in a type of anger that he oddly found extremely attractive. He couldn't remember the last time she became genuinely mad at him like the way she was at the moment. The bright look in her eyes that could be classified as menacing by any other person, was absolutely ravishing to him. "-I missed you so much."

Ravea's anger immediately melted into bashfulness and her cheeks turned red. She smiled as well and stretched out both her hands towards him. He rushed over, knelt beside the tub and immediately dove into her embrace.

"I missed you too", she replied, then shifted her gaze. "I'm really sorry though. I kn--"

"It's okay. I understand." He kissed her forehead then got up.

"Alright, but why are you packing my clothes?" She asked slowly. "Don't tell me you're sending me back to my parents house."

"What? No! I'm packing mine as well."

"You're coming with me to my parents house?" She was confused.

"That's not it either."

"Then what?" She sprayed water on him.

He chuckled lightly then stopped. "We're leaving."

"Leaving how?"

"We're leaving the village."

Ravea kept silent for a while, "I don't understand."

Jerome turned to leave, "Don't worry, you don't need to." He was trying to avoid having the conversation with her, but she was persistent.

"What do you mean I don't need to? You apparently just said we're leaving the village."

"What's there to explain? You already understand."

"Explain how you just came up with this out of nowhere."

"Well, I couldn't just let our child be taken away from us just like that. Especially since it's probably the only child that we'll have together." Jerome explained to her. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I just had to do something."

"What about my family? Your family? What happens to them? We just leave them behind? What do you think the villagers will do to them if they found out?"

Jerome didn't answer.

"We're not leaving, we can't. It's too risky, for us, the baby and both our families." Ravea said then reluctantly settled back in the tub.

"What?! No! If we stay here they'll just take our child away!" Jude strongly disagreed.

"And did you ask me if I was okay with it?"

"Wh--What do you mean by that?" Jerome replied angrily. "You stopped talking to me for months, you didn't stay near me, you didn't even look at me, Of course you weren't!!! I mean why else would you do any of that?!" He paused, "How do you think I felt? All those months, day in day out?"

"I thought you said it was okay?"

"Of course it wasn't! It wasn't and it's not! You had nightmares, I had nightmares! You had sleepless nights, I had sleepless nights. But you suddenly made it seem like I didn't care. Like I was the bad guy." His anger began to melt as well, but hes melted into slow flowing tears that seeped from his now deep red eyes. "I did it for you. I wanted you back so desperately. I couldn't stand that look in your eyes, I hated myself for it, for being weak and not being able to do anything."

Ravea stood up and came out of the tub. She walked up to him and held both his hands before kissing each of them. Then she hugged him again. This time more tightly and for much longer. "Well I love you, I love you so much and I'm so sorry for doing that to you. I hated my self too, I hated that I couldn't even bear you a single child. It was like I wasn't a complete woman and it hurt so much. I was only trying to curb the pain I felt as much as I can, but I didn't think of how you must've been feeling all the while, and I'm so sorry for that." She stood on her toes and hugged him even more tightly. "I'm sorry."

After much hesitation, Jerome finally hugged her back, just as tightly as she did him. "I love you too." He replied.

"So you won't send me back to my parents house?"

Jerome laughed, "No, I won't." He calmly wiped his eyes, "In fact, we're not going anywhere."

"Really?"

"Yes, I'll go tell Lady Ursula and Hopas that we don't need to leave anymore." He replied.

"I'm confused, Lady Ursula? Hopas? What does he have to do with any of this?"

"Well Lady Ursula is the one that provided the connection and resources that we need to secretly hire a Burrow-Boy, while Hopas is the Burrow-Boy. By the way, why didn't you tell me he was a Burrow-Boy?"

"What? I didn't know he was." She gently released herself from the hug, "Well he did tell me that his father was a Burrow-Boy before he died, but I didn't know he'd take up the family business." She chuckled.

Jerome chuckled as well. "Well, it's not much of a business if you don't have any customers now, is it?"

"Not if your products and services are really expensive."

"That's true. You'd only have to sell a couple of times a year."

"Exactly." She smiled.

"You really learnt a lot of business skills from your parents didn't you?"

"Not much."

"Would it be enough to start your own business?"

"Probably."

Jerome smiled at her.

"Wha--You don't mean?!"

"Yes, I do mean. But that'd be after..." He paused awkwardly.

"Yes, of course. I understand." She kissed him again. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"But what about you? What will you be doing?"

"Same thing I've always been doing, farming."

"Are you satisfied with that?"

"I wouldn't ask for anything more."

"Alright."

"So, are you going to put on your clothes or should I make our baby, babies." He smirked.

"It's probably too late to do that but we won't know if we don't try."

Jerome lifted her up and gently placed her back against the bathroom wall as their tongues twisted and swirled together like snakes mating.

Just then, "Jerome! A voice echoed from outside the house."

They both stopped.

"Did you-?" Jerome asked.

"Yeah I did." Ravea replied.

"Should we go check? It's probably important."

"What? No!" She held him tightly. "At least not until we're done."

"Alright, but just wait a second." He slowly dropped her.

"Argh! Jerome! I have needs!" She protested.

"Just put on some clothes, or better still a wrapper. I'll be right back okay?" He said then left to go check who was calling him.

"Whoever they are, I'll never forgive them." She muttered. Then she heard Jerome call Felici's name from the living room. "Felici?" She wondered, "I could probably forgive her. But what does she want this early in the morning." She tied a wrapper around her body. Then she went to the living room and found Jerome holding Felici up, she looked really weak and tired but still managed to say a few words. "Your....mother. You....need to.....help her."