Late November

Winter seemed to come earlier in the colonies. There was no sense of anticipation, no waiting like there was in England. One night, Alice went to sleep thinking that the crisp days would last a bit longer and there would still be time for finding any late apples. The next morning's layer of frost ended her hope of finding any. In the back of her mind, Alice knew she could eat every apple that she and Cora had stored away since the beginning of the fall. When she had taken a last apple before sleeping for the night, Cora had raised an eyebrow. Alice had merely smiled and took a bite before climbing the ladder to the loft she and Uncas shared.

The next day, Alice woke thinking of apples and Uncas. She stretched her arms over her head, blinking in the day light the seeped through the papered over window. She ran her hand over the empty pillow next to her head. Uncas had gone with Schuylerville with Nathaniel. Today. No more waiting. He's coming home today because he promised only two weeks away. I do hope he brings more apples... The apple she had taken the previous night still sat on the window sill, half eaten. She had started to finish it before sleeping, but the sudden thought of not being able to stand another apple had stopped her hand halfway to her mouth. Looking at it now, Alice hoped to God that she would be able to sneak it in her pocket and take it out back to give to one of the horses. As she bent under the bed for her shoes, a wave of nausea hit her, and she bolted down the ladder and out the door to be sick, one shoe still in her hand. She was vaguely aware that Cora stared after her with breakfast in her hand.

"Alice?" Cora's voice questioned her from the table as her sister rushed passed her. As she stared at the open door and back at the food still in her hands, her eyebrows rose. Alice was hunched over the railing of the porch, still heaving and panting. The shoe she had had was on the porch, forgotten until Alice could think about anything other than emptying her stomach.

"This is the third time this week Alice. What's the matter?" Cora said quietly as she patted a damp cloth on the younger woman's neck. Alice leaned into the cloth's soothing coolness. Still breathing heavily, she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth and glanced up at her older sister. She leaned against the railing and stared out at the horse pasture.

"Cora? I think I'm with child." Alice's gaze didn't leave the horse pasture until she felt Cora's arm slip around her waist.

"Are you sure?" Cora asked, smoothing loose strands behind her sister's ear. When Alice nodded, Cora smiled. "Then I suppose the apple is for the horse?"

Alice laughed. "Yes. I couldn't stand to look at another one, better it goes to the horse instead of to waste."

"Go give it to the horse. Then come back inside, go back to bed. I can handle the house while you rest."

...

Uncas shifted his rifle ever so slightly to his left. If the turkey would just move from the behind the boulder, the shot would be easy. After two weeks of jerky and water, the idea of eating fresh game made his mouth water. The bird inched away from it's hiding place. CRACK. The smoke from the gun cleared, and he smiled. Uncas would be bringing fowl home for his wife, as well as the goods for the winter.

It was nearly sunset by the time to two men reached the cabin. The mare that had been left home nickered and walked up to its side of the fence as they approached. Normally, Uncas would have stopped and lingered with the horse. But it was too cold, and he was just as eager to get to the cabin, if not more so, as his brother. The morning's layer of frost never really melted off. The mare snorted at his back, and for a moment, Uncas thought it might have been in annoyance. But something distracted him from the horse. Nothing was wrong, the sound of Cora's and Chingachgook's voices drifted down from the cabin. Then he realized...Alice wasn't waiting impatiently in the doorway. Even when he was gone for a day or so, she was always there. Unless something was wrong. He was barely inside the door, dropping his travel bag on the floor. He dropped it so suddenly that the noise made Nathaniel jump and Cora nearly drop a dish.

"Where's Alice?"

"She's up in the loft. Lying down," Cora replied after she recovered herself. A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth. "Go up, she's been expecting you all day."

A/N: This chapter has been making me crazy! I've been writing and rewriting this chapter since August. And then I was suffering a bout of life and I've been spending weeks rewriting. So here is the newest chapter.

This is becoming quite the beast. So...possibly 1 more chapter. I keep saying that, and I'm starting to wonder if I know what that means. But thank you all for your patience, your reading, and the reviews!