Once Bitten: Twice Mad

Chapter Twelve

Charlotte felt the tears she'd been trying desperately to hold back break loose then and slip down her cheeks. Silas looked horrified and he wasted no time in crossing the room, circling the bed and kneeling beside her with Grace still held in his arms, though the infant was once again becoming restless.

"Now, Miss Charlotte...." Silas pleaded. "Please stop those tears now...."

Charlotte tried but she simply couldn't seem to. She had managed to hold them back since Jackson had tried to kill her and she'd given birth to their daughter alone but she couldn't hold them back any longer. Stress, fatigue and then the longing for whatever this was she was feeling for Silas to be named... This urge to know what this was between them.... The wish that Grace could have a father like him.... Charlotte had heard that women sometimes jumped from mood to mood and got worked up over everything after having a baby and she guessed that she had become one of those women.

Grace began to cry loudly and Charlotte felt her breasts respond to the sound as milk filled them. "She's hungry." Charlotte stated with a sniff as she held out her arms. "Let me feed her."

Silas nodded and laid Grace in her arms though he seemed loathe to do so. "I'll just go on out and clean a bit." He responded. "And I'll get to cooking those eggs too, Miss Charlotte. I'm sure you're just as hungry as Little Grace."

All Charlotte could manage was a nod and Silas pushed himself to his feet and backed away toward the door. "I didn't cause those tears did I, Miss Charlotte?"

"No..... No, it wasn't you." Charlotte sniffed, stroking her tiny angels light hair. Silas nodded and then walked out the door, closing it quietly behind him.

Charlotte unbuttoned the front of her blouse and while Grace eagerly suckled, Charlotte wept. "The world is mean, Grace. It is a hate filled place full of disappointments and those that will hurt you. There have always been monsters but now there is a new breed of monsters for you to grow up in fear of. I'm sorry my angel. Mama will do her very best to shield and protect you and we have Silas....... He is different. He is kind and gentle...." Charlotte's voice trailed off as she thought of Silas and his quiet strength over the last couple of weeks.

Boarding windows, hunting, cleaning, cooking when needed and simply always being there. Always defending her against all the monsters, (both human and bloodthirsty), that came around. He was a blessing; the biggest one that Charlotte had ever been given outside of her daughter.

She smiled down at Grace, her tears drying in her eyes. "We're going to be okay, Grace."

***

Silas balanced the tray of food and cups of water on his hip as he knocked on Charlotte's bedroom door an hour later. He was nervous. There was so much he wanted to say to Charlotte but none of it was right. The way he felt about that woman wasn't right. But no matter how many times he tried to tell his heart that, it just would not listen.

"Come in." that quiet voice called from the other side of the door. Silas let out a breath before squaring his shoulders and opening the door slowly.

Charlotte was sitting in the armchair beside the window with Grace swaddled and lying in her arms. Charlotte had changed out of her stained and torn clothes and into a pale blue gingham skirt and cream blouse with a high neck and long sleeves. Her hair was all pulled back but several soft strands were free and laying over her shoulders and across her cheek.

She was so beautiful. So soft. Silas just wanted to protect her and keep her safe from the harsh world they lived in. He was happy to see that her tears had been dried.... Those tears had ripped his heart out, each and every one. Silas had never been a man that could stand to see a woman's tears.