Mid-afternoon
Wentworth Beach House
South Hampton
Suffolk County, New York

Cadance lay out on a deck chair, the umbrella above her blocking the summer sun. A fruit smoothie and a book lay discarded on the table beside her as she looked down at the parchment laying in her lap. She was thankful to have found a cute maternity bathing suit. Now that she was nearing 24 weeks along it was getting harder to cover up her pregnancy nicely. Not that it was needed out here.

She was finally free. Free from her family's strict rules and expectations. Free from a marriage contract she never wanted to be a part of and for the time being, she was free from the Magical World. As close as she was with her Grandfather, his death was probably the best thing that had ever happened to her. With Xavier appointed heir to the family fortune, getting him to arrange her freedom was a piece of cake. She had left Hogwarts and never looked back. She had taken the train to King's Cross then hopped on some muggle transit to take her directly to the London City Airport. From there nearly straight to New York. Her Grandfather had a few properties in the State that he used when traveling and she found it easy enough to commandeer one - a gorgeous Beach House in the Hamptons. 

Her family had been furious. At first she actually read the letters flocks of owls had sent her, refusing to respond to any of them but eventually she started sending the poor birds back. She wasn't even sure how her family had managed to send them overseas. The only person she had kept in contact with was Xavier, who was thankfully doing all the damage control for her. She had no idea what sort of lies he was feeding her mother but at this point she simply didn't care. She had her own trust that Arathorn had left her, a gorgeous place to live and enough false IDs to fit in with the Muggles and get the care she needed until the baby was born. She figured she could return after the birth. Surely by then the Whitman's would have Charlie promised off to some other prospective wife.

There was just one last loose end that needed clearing up: the baby's father. She had been tight lipped about it ever since she had discovered she was pregnant and once everyone in school found out it was just easy enough to let everyone think it was Charlie's. It made the most sense. She had been betrothed to him since she was Eleven and she had never outwardly shown any affection or attention to anyone else. It had been the most logical conclusion for her peers to have drawn and she wasn't about to correct them. However that did create a new problem, one she was trying to figure out how to fix. The baby's real father had no idea.

She adjusted her sunglasses and reached over to take a sip from her smoothie. She had realized that she had let it almost completely melt as she had contemplated her letter. She looked down at the parchment, so far all she had managed was to address it. She let out a sigh and a fluttering in her stomach that may or may not have been the baby moving began as she picked up her quill . . .

My Dearest Eli,