Author's Note: Thanks for all the great reviews - very encouraging! Sorry the chapter's so short, but I'm trying to make them stand alone... maybe I should condence??? I'm open to suggestions. Oh, and I owe this, so Lady Viola, this chapters for you :)
After dessert Rilian excused himself, to arrange a meeting with his advisors in the morning. Jill and Eustace remained, quietly chatting. Eustace was finishing up the wine, and Jill continued nibbling on the strawberries.
"No wine for you?"
"I can't."
"Oh, of course. Sorry, I forgot. Wow, that must stink. No alcohol?"
Jill laughed. "I'm not in university anymore, Scrubb. I think I outgrew binge drinking long ago."
"So have I," he lied. Jill laughed – she knew him far better than that.
"Anyways, giving up alcohol isn't that bad. You should have seen me five months ago – I had the strangest cravings – ugh, I can't even believe some of the things I was eating."
"Really?"
"Oh poor Rilian. You know I used to send him down to the kitchen at four in the morning for chocolate covered pickles?" Eustace almost choked on his wine.
"Pole, that's absolutely disgusting."
"Well, fortunately they didn't last for too long. Now I'm just humongous," she smiled and stared off into space. When she looked back she noticed Scrubb was watching her intently. "What are you thinking about?"
"Just that," he paused and smiled, "I can't remember ever seeing you so happy." Jill's smile broadened. "And I'm very happy for you."
"Thank you. You know, I thought you were a little angry at first."
"Oh – I was just upset that nobody told me anything about it – but no, I'm certainly not angry. You really love it here, don't you?"
"Yes I do."
"But don't you miss Earth? And your family?"
"Oh my family – not at all. They never understood me, I doubt they've even noticed I'm gone."
"Now look here, don't you think that's a bit harsh? They're your parents, after all, they must love you. And wonder what became of you."
"I suppose they do wonder sometimes. But they probably think I just ran away... I guess I did, really," she smiled. "But that was years ago. When I first came here I thought of England all the time."
"There was no way for you to return," Eustace remembered.
"Well..." Jill sighed quietly to herself.
"What? Was there?"
"I... oh, I don't know. But we did try at first. At the very beginning, we really did try. I was so bent upon it, Rilian sent a ship east in search of Aslan. But then we fell in love... so by the time Aslan appeared – "
"He appeared? You never told me that!"
"Well, it was in a dream. But he came to both me and Rilian. Aslan didn't want me to be in Narnia at all. He certainly didn't approve of Rilian's plans where I was concerned. He was mad at Rilian for bringing me here, and he was mad at me for staying."
"Staying? But how could you leave?" she shook her head.
"No, that's not the point. My being there had prevented Rilian from marrying Reyla – who was, after all, his intended."
"I see." He took another sip of wine – a habit he'd picked up in university. Drinking seemed to make big stories go by quickly. "Is that why Rilian went to the Islands then? Because of Aslan?"
"Yes. We were both miserable about it, and I wouldn't even go to see him off. But it didn't matter in the end. Thanks to Reyla I suppose, we both knew it was just too late. I think Aslan knew it too. He never prevented our marriage, and now we have an heir coming." She unconsciously patted her stomach again. "And now he's brought you back."
"That he did," Eustace chuckled.
"I think it's safe to say he's not mad at us."
"I think he understands."
TBC
