August 29, 1182
Not being an heir--and, therefore, not needing his own--Abrich hadn't thought he'd be one of those men who spent every minute of their wives' pregnancies hoping for a son. He'd never even liked those men. It was obvious to anyone who'd paid a shred of attention to any pregnancy that a woman had no control over whether she had a boy or a girl. And the world needed women just as much as it needed men, didn't it?But logic be damned, Abrich had wanted a boy since Meraleene had told him she'd missed a course, and not because he didn't want a daughter.
He didn't want the name.
His mother had already insisted on him holding off naming a daughter for her--"Can't have too many Celinas so close together!" she'd told him and Rona both after Xeta's little girl had been born, though Rona had her other plans anyway--and had his wife not been Meraleene, it likely wouldn't have been a problem. But with his mother's name out of the question, then the default choice was... her mother's.
Riona.
The woman he loved who was not his wife. What dreadful curse was upon his head, Riona sharing her name with his long-dead mother-in-law?
"She seems to like you." But as usual, Meraleene was shy to even look at him. He didn't dislike her--he supposed he even liked her, maybe--but the poor woman got the sense she wasn't loved. Maybe one day he'd get there, but not any time soon. What was wrong with him? He'd never had a chance with Riona, yet still, he yearned.He couldn't name his firstborn after a woman he yearned for, not if that woman wasn't her mother.
"She kind of looks like a..." He stopped, trading a look with the baby. There wasn't a next word. He'd hoped to find some resemblance to some common-yet-adorable object, something they could call her instead of her official name, but nothing came to mind. She just looked like a baby.
"She looks tired. Maybe put her in the basket."
He owed it to Meraleene, so he did as he was told and put their daughter to bed. "Night... sweetie." Perhaps he could make someone up for a namesake? A beloved aunt? No, if Meraleene didn't know that he had no aunts, surely his mother would set her straight..."Abrich? Can we talk about her name?"
Shit. Here it was. "All right."
She beckoned him to the bed with a finger and he answered with the slow shuffling of a prisoner en route to the gallows. Here it was. Riona, Riona, Riona. Poor Meraleene would never even know.
"So," she started, waiting just long enough for him to join her on the bed--but not long enough for him to get comfortable. That would have been about another decade. "Arydath guessed that the baby would be a girl, and I've heard how accurate she is, so... well, I've kind of been calling her something in my head a while now."No surprise. Abrich had been calling his son 'Dalston'. "All right..."
"You don't mind?"
Did he have the right to? Surely he couldn't give his reasons? "It's fine. Whatever it is, I..." He swallowed. God, he was going straight to hell. "...I already love it."
"Great. Danthia it is, then."
...WHAT? Had she just said--? "...Danthia?"
"Yes, for my stepmother." He knew that. What he didn't know was why. Not that he cared. "I know, I know, it would be more conventional to start with my mother, but I never knew her. Danthia is the only mother I've ever known, and I've always wanted to name my first daughter for her."Huh. If the second daughter was Celina, then... and if there were a few sons in there as well... then that made Riona the third daughter. If Meraleene even wanted Riona. Would the third daughter give him enough time? More so than the first, at least. "Danthia..."
"And I know that Tivie named her baby Danthia, but they've been calling her Dani since she was born; I was thinking we could use Thia as a shortened name for ours?"
"Thia." His little Thia. He would have been happy with any name but Riona, but even with all those hundreds of names to choose from, he couldn't think of one he liked more. "Thia it is."NEXT CHAPTER:
