Author Note: The Girl Who Fell Out of the Ocean is a first draft and is still raw, I hope you enjoy :-)

Marxby Manor, September 3rd -1918

The fall didn't really hurt it was only a small clump of stairs. It was more the shock than anything but, by the time I had gathered myself and was making an attempt to stand my husband was leering over me.

He didn't speak and neither did I.

I knew Percy would have told him everything she knew about Violet and my affair with Will it was this part, his reaction that I was most afraid of.

Niall pulled me to my feet; he was so strong it seemed I weighed nothing to him and just like a feather being pulled through flight I was on my feet with no time to think.

Still silent, Niall dragged me by my arm, his grip bordering on painful he led me out of a side door. The door led outside of the manor and into the darkness below the hill on which the manor stood where we would not be seen by servants or guests.

The bright lights of Marxby manor illuminated us and I tried to focus on that, the lights and the sound of the waves crashing against the cliffs edge, the waves and light would have engulfed me if I had let it. A way out, a way to avoid Niall, but I found that I was braver than I knew, I looked away from the light and at my husband instead but as he spoke I found the sound the ocean seemed to be louder than ever before even louder than his words that were filled with so much fury.

"Is it true wife?" He said.

I just stared at him blankly.

 "You know I am so disgusted that I can't even say the words. So..?" Niall Shouted, spit flying from his mouth his face had turned red. He still clung to my arm and he buried his finger nails tighter and tighter into my skin.

"Yes it's true, is that what you want me to say," I shouted back at him my voice loud and full of fury.

Niall took a step back and for the first time let go of my arm but despite this I continued to torment him.

"No, Violet's not yours, I love Will, I've always loved him. Is that what you want me to say? Is it Niall?," I cried.

I stood in the darkness and looked at my husband, this man who knew nothing about me, really we were nothing to each other. He was my shackles and I his property and in all the time we had been married this was the first honest conversation we had ever had.

Niall's fury filled his sapphire eyes, he looked so wounded and I suppose I had never really given his feelings any thought.

He had always been this secondary being who was either ignoring me or hurting me so when he seemed hurt at the revelation of my infidelity I couldn't help but be a little taken aback. Niall walked away from me turning his back and walking towards the cliffs edge. I could hear the waves pounding below and my heart seemed to move every time the water caressed cliffs and the rocky shore.

"Niall," I stepped forward and touched his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, perhaps talk some more. But he didn't want to be touched by me or talk to me. All Niall's fury seemed to be flooding through his body and he was unable to control it.

"You are mine," he said, the way he looked at me when he said it I thought he was going to swallow me whole.

Instead, he struck me across the face, hard and fast he knocked me to the floor. My hand clung to my face in an attempt to stop the pain, I did not cry, I just did my best to fight my body's reaction to the pain which made me gasp for air.

As I turned away from Niall I saw Will at Violet's bedroom window, he was banging and fighting the glass, I could see he was shouting my name over and over again.

"Dolly," he cried and I knew, it had worked, he had remembered me, remembered us.

~

From the window Will could see Dolly clutching her face it was like he had never forgotten her, never forgotten Violet, as his memories danced in his head he wondered how they could ever have left him.

When he saw Niall strike Dolly it fuelled his forgotten anger, while stood at that window watching the scene between Dolly and Niall unfold Will made the decision to stop Niall, he just wanted to get to Dolly, have her safe within his grasp and nothing else but that and their daughter seemed to matter.

Will looked at Violet's big loving eyes and couldn't resist picking her up, kissing her tightly and then setting her down again. He felt determined and empowered but when he left the room he was also afraid, afraid for Dolly and Violet and he was right to be, if only he had known what was coming that night, what was coming for all of them.

He shut Violet's door and saw a key hanging from the door handle, he locked her inside and hung the key around his neck.

He walked away with a protective stance that made him feel whole again he now felt like Captain William Gilbert once more. As Will exited the manor he didn't notice that he was being followed and his companion had brought Lord Marxby's hand gun along for the ride.

~

"Treacherous bitch," cried Niall he threw me to the ground he had a fire in his eyes and sweat was pouring from his temples.

He was fury, shouting at me over and over the same words some of which pierced my ears - treacherous, evil, lying snake were the words that I heard although none of it seemed to resonate now the sound of the sea was getting so loud almost like it was screaming if the sea can do such a thing.

I looked up at him from the hard, wet rocky grass and tried to think of any possible outcome that would end in him calming down. Calm enough that he might allow Will to wrap his arms around me for just a moment, a calmness that might inspire his perspiring to subside.

But I quickly realised my ridiculousness - why would Niall want me consoled when it was becoming more and more apparent that his aim was to cause me the maximum amount of pain through means of maximum amount of damage?

"You whore," Niall spat at me his eyes seemed to have changed from their usual light blue, the cool, crispness of their colour had evaporated into a burning red.

I never thought I would be afraid of my husband, dislike him, yes, sometimes I thought I even despised him, but fear no. But, something had changed, as I found myself surrounded by the beginnings of droplets of rain I looked up at his angry blazing eyes that leered upon me. I knew then that something really had changed between us and there was no going back.

Niall would never let me explain, the time had long past for explanations this was all about my judgment, at least is was for Niall. The soft rain that fell on my face left the appearance of faux tears. I did not wish to cry, in my mind I had nothing to cry about, crying wouldn't change anything and even if it could I would not have changed being with Will, Niall yes, that I regretted.

I had made so many promises almost to everyone around me and by acting on my love for Will, my promises to Fay to Percy and I suppose to Niall they were scattered to the winds.

My biggest crime was Violet.

Despite Niall being the person he was he had loved what he thought was his child and I had taken her away from him, we were not his, we belonged heart and soul to another man, yes Violet was my greatest crime.

I was thankful when I saw Will running desperately towards us followed by...I could not see, not at first. All I could see was a dark outline of a woman's body coming out of the shadows. And then I knew, it was the dress that let me know, her long glistening silky red dress, that made her look so serene, like a goddess almost.

Percy.

Percy.

Percy.

"Will, Percy!" I cried out, I was still on the ground. I dug my fingernails into the wet mud and forced myself to my feet. I had to talk to them, to Will to Percy, she was angry with me but not forever. No, surely not forever, after all, she had come to help me.

"Dolly, oh God, Dolly," cried Will back at me, running through the darkness, to where I now stood.

Niall grabbed my arm again, he was all tuxedo and blazing eyes and fingers, yes I remember his fingers like iron against my skin. I could not free myself from him so I just kept fixated on Percy and Will running towards us.

And then they weren't, running that is, they stood a few meters away from us frozen, unmoving I could just about see Will's face illuminated by the light from Marxby Manor, for the first time since I had known him he looked absolutely petrified. 

Hi guys, I hope you are enjoying The Girl Who Fell Out of the Ocean please vote and comment if you enjoy :-) I'm currently working on book 2 The Man Who Jumped into the Sea. Thanks for all your ongoing support xx