Chapter 03

All he left behind

Charlotte looks for Charles every single day since his departure, looking through the telescope to find evidence of him in the distance. But weeks pass, and there's no sign of him, or of anyone else.

After a couple of months of vain waiting at home, Charlotte decides to go for a walk, leaving the kids at home, and she starts to explore the surroundings, looking for some new seeds and plants. 

Instead, she finds a bird. A crow.

The two befriend in a little time, and pretty soon Charlotte carries him on her arm and takes him home and renames him Iago. Iago is a very clever animal, and Charlotte like to spend time chatting with him. She wonders if she's going crasy after all.

Other two months pass. She can tell by the moon phase, Charles left on a half crescent moon, and this is the fourth since then. Then she realise another thing. She hadn't her cycle since then! And she can notice a rounded belly. She was so busy taking care of the home, the kids, Iago and the garden that she just hasn't noticed till now. She's definitely pregnant! That must have been that last night with Charles. 

She tells Camilla about her new baby sister or brother, and the young girl reacts very quietly. She rubs her mom's belly, smiling, and then hugs Charlotte.

Then Camilla runs away and goes to one of the wild horses of the island (one that was carried aboard the Raising Star and was casted away on the island too after the shipwreck) and tries to befriends him, by telling him she's going to have a brother or sister soon.

As the weeks passes, her belly becomes bigger and heavier. She now knows that it won't be long before she gives birth. And, like every single day, she goes to the beach at duskm looking for any sign that Charles is coming back. 

But there's none.