June 25, 1192
"Well..."Riona found herself trailing off, unsure of what else to say. A scolding would have been hypocrisy; she'd been a mother of two at sixteen, her first biological child born a scandalous four and a half months after the wedding. All the same, she hadn't expected this of Shahira, who'd passed over Riona's recklessness in favor of her father's calculated caution. Then again, Isidro had had just as much a hand in Riona's situation as Riona herself.
Being careful did not exempt a person from being human.
"I can't say I thought we'd be having this conversation any time soon. But we'll figure something out."
Isidro nodded in agreement. "From the sounds of the timing, the baby should be born before you start at the university. That's... lucky, I suppose."
"You're still letting me go, then?"
"Of course!" Had she really feared otherwise? "With your grades, it would be a shame for you to miss out.""What about the baby, though?"
"The baby can live with us until Aldhein graduates," Isidro offered. "We're close enough that you can come home on weekends, or ride over if there's an emergency."
"And what about Aldhein?"
"Well... that would be up to you." Isidro looked to Alya, then Riona. Then, finally, to Shahira. Potential spouses were always a tough subject for fathers and children. "Do you want to marry him?"Shahira shrugged. "It would make things easier. And I am fond of him, but I don't want marry someone who doesn't want to marry me."
"We'll invite him over to talk, then. But we won't force you to get married if you don't want to," Riona assured her.
"Thank you." Shahira sighed. "I just hope he doesn't take this as an excuse to drop out.""I doubt Florian would take kindly to the loss of tuition money, so for Aldhein's sake, we won't let that happen."
"And if he wants, and the two of you do decide to get married, I would offer him a job as my steward when he's finished with university."
"He might like that." Shahira smirked, as if chuckling at some private joke. Riona would take it; it was the first smile she'd seen from her in a while. "I don't think he's really too interested in his studies."
"That's all right." Riona hadn't been much interested in her lessons either, back in the day. At least Shahira had overcome that trait. "He'll have plenty else to look forward to. Shall we have him over for dinner tonight?""I can go invite him," Alya volunteered.
Shahira nodded. "All right."
"Good." Riona clapped her hands together. It was a gesture of somewhat forced joy--but it beat flying off the handle. And it beat the thought of Raia's smug face when she found out she wouldn't be the first of them to be a grandmother after all. "Now, all that's left is for us to hug it out."
NEXT CHAPTER:
10 comments:
Blaaaaaah.
Yay for supportive parents helping to sort things out!
Definitely could have been much worse! :)
Impressed they handled it so well, Riona is right though neither of them are really in a position to judge.
I love these guys! If there was a "Great Parents" Award most of the Kemorins would have won it several times over, some even before they had kids of their own.
Also, sibling rivalry about who gets to become granny first? Priceless! XD
Ekho: It's true, they can't really judge. It probably helped that they were able to keep that in mind.
Ann: Most of the Kemorins tend to be pretty natural at parenting. I think it's because most of them treat their kids like they treat adults, and the respect breeds trust and understanding.
XD Raia was probably bracing herself for the granny teasing, since she's the oldest and her daughter is the oldest grandchild and her daughter is engaged... but nope! Now she gets to tease Riona instead. :D
Riona is going to be a grandmother. When that thought stops blowing my mind, I think that's going work well. She'll be a cool granny without a doubt. Between Florian and Riona, that child is going to have some serious mischief genes. The kitchens at Veldora Keep better start locking things up now.
Izzy handled this really well, too. (Not that he and Riona have a leg to stand on when it comes to pre-marital pregnancy, but still.) That was nice of him to offer Aldhein a good position with him, and it's not a bad way to keep an eye on his grandchild's father, whether he marries Shahira or not, and make sure there's money coming in for the baby.
XD It is a pretty mind-blowing concept, Riona as a grandmother.
But yeah, between her and Florian, this should be an interesting child...
Izzy is nothing if not practical. If Aldhein is contributing to the family gene pool, might as well keep an eye on him and make sure he can provide. Plus, you know, there's always opportunities for the occasional scare when you're the boss. ;)
After reading this one, it seems kind of silly to have assumed there might be a problem! Isidro is wonderful. Also Riona. That's going to be one very interesting child.
They really are quite the pair! They'll do everything they can to do well by their daughter and grandchild (as weird as it is that they're old enough to have grandchildren).
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