June 9, 1178
"Still awake?"Given that Alsina had spent most of the past two months in bed--perhaps not asleep, but in bed nonetheless--it was a moderate shock to find her out of it, even if she had only moved to the couch. Aldhein shut the door and stopped a few feet short. "Dalston and Fenrick are in bed?"
These days, they were always 'Dalston and Fenrick'. 'The children' did not exclude the two they'd lost. "Fenrick is. I told Dalston he could stay up a little longer."
"They brought me breakfast this morning. I didn't see them at all yesterday." She rose, a little off-balance. Her red hair gleamed near-gold hues in the candlelight. "Am I a horrible mother?"
Aldhein shook his head. "Of course not. You're just..." He didn't finish. She knew she was still grieving."I'll see them tomorrow."
He hoped so. She did feel better on days she saw the boys, or so it seemed to Aldhein. Not that 'better' was 'good', or even 'fine'. These past few months, she'd been less his giddy, laughing wife than the scattered shards of girl he'd first married. "All right."
He combed his fingers through her hair like he had just after the first time they'd made love, his fingers dancing beneath her jaw as they'd never done with anyone else. She smiled--a ghost of a smile from a ghost of a woman, but he'd take what he could get. "I missed you."Missed him? He'd been at work earlier, and not any later than usual. And she'd seen him since he'd returned. Regardless... "I see."
She stepped a little closer, her arms looping beneath his own and meeting at his back. "Did you miss me?"
"I... suppose?"The grin widened a little, but her eyes were hollow and deadened as her hand worked it was toward his belt buckle. "Good."
Her eyes shut, a tear catching on the lashes as her lips puckered, inching toward his. Her breath bounced off his teeth before he could finally turn away. "Alsina?"
She blinked. She'd had a miscarriage once, some time between their elder two. It had been a much milder loss, but the pattern was not unfamiliar. This time, it had just taken a couple months instead of just a week. "Mmm?"
"If we have another baby, it won't bring back the two we lost." Her mouth fell slightly agape, eyes alight with the first signs of life he'd seen in months. A pity it had to be such horror. "I mean... we could have another baby, but we couldn't expect the boy to be Lornian, or the girl to be Celina. That's not exactly fair to the baby, is it?" She just stared. He might have been too blunt, but he didn't know how else to say it. "No one should be born just to be a replacement."
She still didn't speak, but she did sigh and slump forward, her brow falling to the side of his face. Not able to do much else, he slipped an arm beneath her legs and carried her back to bed.NEXT CHAPTER:
8 comments:
Blogger still hasn't worked out the kinks with country redirect. I miss my edit pencils!
(Yes, I'm aware of the http://xxxxxxxx.blogspot.com/ncr trick. But I'm lazy and I wish I didn't have to do that extra step.)
I'm impressed with how Aldhein reacted, it definitely speaks for his character and shows that he understands (at least what he can understand) about what Alsina needs at this point in time.
They're very sweet together by the way, I love how he knows her so well! Hopefully, with her husband's help, (and I don't mean making another baby because Aldhein is SO right) to start to feel better again, I mean, her babies aren't really gone if she still loves them in her heart and thinks of them, they'll always be with her. Oh gosh, it's really sad :/
And saaaame! About the edit pencils :P
Ack, so sad! And poor Aldhein, when does he get to grieve? It's right back to work for him.
Hey, I still have pencils! Is it cuz I'm Amerikan?
EkhoGirl: He does have a way of keeping a level head, even though this has obviously been difficult on him too :S
They... well, they're not going to be on the mend for a while. But I doubt the kids would have wanted to see their parents like this.
Try this: http://trilogyofblack.blogspot.com/ncr
Pen: Aldhein probably gets a few "breaks" at work. Lorn's never lost a child, but he has lost a sibling and he saw what that did to his mother and stepfather, so I can't imagine he wouldn't let Aldhein step outside for a while if need be. Still :S
Yeah, as far as I'm aware, blogspot.com still has pencils. The only way the rest of us can get them right now is by specifying no redirect :S
Aldhein is quite the perceptive one, isn't he? If Roderick had half a brain, he'd be cursing the day he lost him. Aldhein could be quite the political tool.
Luckily for everyone, he's Lorn-the-sweetheart's (most of the time) steward, and not Roderick's.
However, while I think that Aldhein is dead on about a "replacement baby" not being what either of them needed ... I'm not so sure about his delivery. That was a bit blunt. On the other hand, it was very, very Aldhein. I don't know how else he could have gotten the message to Alsina and remained true to his character. :)
*is glad she has a Wordpress blog and Wordpress hasn't had any drama recently*
For all he's not the most sensitive of people, Aldhein can be pretty perceptive when it comes to people. Roderick definitely downgraded with his current steward.
He is kind of blunt, though. But yeah... definitely not the most sensitive of people :S
I thought that too about Aldhein's delivery-- It wasn't softened a bit, but it was very Aldhein. In any case, the situation might have required that kind of directness. I also noted how he was able to read her but I felt like 1) he's married to her, and should know her at least a little and 2) she was being a bit transparent, considering how not in the mood severe depression can make a person.
Good points. They have been married for a while. And Aldhein's definitely not the sugar-coating type, for sure.
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