#alcotts

[silverseaming]

"Oh, Thomas, it's just perfect!" While their family was growing, Thomas had been working hard clearing more land for a new, larger house. Finally, the months of toil had paid off, and they were ready to move from the tiny cabin to a real home.

[silverseaming]

A small time skip later... things are changing again in the Alcott household, with the boys growing older and a new baby on the way!

[silverseaming]

A sweet moment in honour of these two aging up into adults!

[silverseaming]

When the time came for Thomas to leave, Elisabeth gathered the older children to say goodbye to him. While George was hesitant, hanging back beside his mother, Thomas knelt to hug young Tommy.

"Remember, Tommy, you're the man of the house now," he said, taking Tommy gently by the arms. "Look after your mother and your brothers and sister, will you?"

"Of course, Pa." Tommy replied, squaring his shoulders with resolve.

After Thomas said goodbye to the children, Elisabeth took his arm, leading him a little way from the door.

"Thomas, will you promise me something?" She asked.

"Anything, my love."

"Promise me you will come back?" The question was quiet to keep it from the children's ears, but she was unable to stop herself asking, finally putting voice to the fears that still stirred in the pit of her stomach.

Thomas cupped her face with his hands before he replied, an unreadable look on his face as he looked at it wife. Then his brow cleared, and he smiled softly.

"I promise, Eliza. I'll always come back to you."

"Good." Elisabeth leaned upwards for one final kiss, trying to commit each detail of the moment to memory before Thomas was gone.

[silverseaming]

Life at the Alcott farm continued with the addition of their new family member. The boys were growing quickly, and becoming an inseperable pair, while the crops continued to flourish alongside them.

[silverseaming]

Not long after Sidney's birth, Thomas received word that another family had moved to the bay -- Charles Gardener had brought his wife and two children to Deadgrass Isle, and intended to get the old lighthouse up and running again. The journey to the isle was more arduous than Elisabeth and the new baby could manage, so it was only Thomas and the two boys who took a small rowing boat across the water to where the lighthouse perched on the edge of the cliffs. They were warmly greeted by Mr Gardener, his wife Mary, and their children Jeremiah and Harriet. While the adults made each others acquaintance inside, the children preferred stayed outside, first tentatively and then more enthusiastically getting to know each other.

[silverseaming]

"He's just perfect, isn't he?" "Yes, my love, he is."

[silverseaming]

While Susanna was mostly a happy child, she struggled with fits of wilfullness that Elisabeth found increasingly difficult to calm as she herself became more exhausted from pregnancy. Thomas tried his best to support his wife, but it was difficult when the crops were demanding so much of his attention.