Chapter One

So here it is, my first fanfic! Please review and tell me what you think!

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

19 years ago

As Regina Owens-Dalton gazed at her family she felt truly happy. Relaxing on a picnic blanket, on a sandy beach, with the waves lapping gently at the shore a few feet away, she watched as her husband picked up their two little girls and twirled them around. The noise of their laughter and screams of delight carried across the distance between them. She smiled as she watched them all race towards her and laughed as they collapsed in the sand beside the blanket.

"Mommy, look what I've got," said the older red-headed one. She held up a seashell for her mother to inspect.

"Wow, Gilly-bean, that's beautiful," her mother replied kissing her nose.

"Come on, Sal. Let's go find some more," Gillian said, grasping the younger ones hand.

"Okay, Gilly," the brown-haired Sally said, toddling along with her big sister.

Jack sat down beside his wife and took her hand in his. They laughed as they watched their daughters run, screaming into the waves.

"I love you, Genie," Jack said, leaning down to kiss her.

"I love you, too, Jack," she replied smiling up at him.

Jack looked up. "I'd better follow them before they go too far," he said.

She nodded and he got up and began to run after the two girls. She watched him as he splashed into the sea after the two girls, laughing to herself. She lay back and looked up at the sparkling blue sky above her. She closed her eyes and smiled inwardly. This was what she had wanted her whole life - a husband who loved her and a beautiful family, far from the whispers and stares she was so used to back home.

Her mind turned back to Provincetown, remembering her childhood years with her two older sisters. She missed them constantly, that was the only thing she regretted, not being able to see them anymore. For she swore to herself that she would never go back there, never let Jack know the truth about her.

Suddenly, she heard what sounded like an insect chirping. Her eyes snapped open and she frowned slightly. Pushing herself up, she spun around, wildly searching for the source of the noise.

"Oh no," she said to herself, fear setting in.

"Please, no, no," she continued , still staring around her, frantically scanning the ground.

She tried to convince herself that the sound she was hearing was not what she thought it was. The steady chirping continued, and she stood up, covering her ears with her hands, trying to block it out.

She knew what that sound was. It was a sound she had been dreading ever since she had first realised she loved Jack, the worry inside a constant weight. She knew that that was the sound of the death-watch beetle, and the man she loved was doomed to die. She watched, with tears in her eyes, as Jack emerged from the water, his hair dripping, carrying the two girls, once again, in his arms.

"No," she whispered to herself.