Authors Note: Hey guys! Well, this
is a story that takes place two hundred years after Page, about the same style
as Ariel and Melusine's "Travel to the Past" and "Girl of the Gardens." That
Faithful Night is about a character in the same roleplay, but one that I have
created myself. Hopefully it won't take me as long to get these chapters out as
it did with "No Worries." Well I hope you all enjoy this!!!
Disclaimers: I do not own the world of Tortall, Galla etcetera. Adira and Justin are characters of mine but Rascal, Kieran and others are characters that have been used with full permission of the mun!
Baby Mine
Don't you cry,
Baby Mine,
Dry your eye,
Mommy's here
Close to my heart,
Never to part,
Baby of Mine.
Little one,
When you play,
Don't you mind,
What they say
Let those eyes,
Sparkle and shine
Never a tear
Baby of Mine.
- Baby of Mine, from Walt
Disney's Dumbo
Adira sat in a rocking chair, holding her
four-month-old baby in her arms and humming a lullaby to her child. She undid
her hair from her untidy bun and stood up with the baby in her arms. Her tunic
slid down to her knees as she walked towards the balcony, cradling the little
boy in her arms. The night was hot, even for August and there was barely any
breeze. Even at three in the morning, Corus was still alive and bustling. It
was bustling enough that Adi thought she saw her ex-fiancée, the father of the child
in her arms.
The young man walking up from the
city looked up at Adi and smiled slightly, obviously having sensed her gaze.
Adi smiled back, realizing it wasn't Rascal Sky. It wasn't the man she lived
with four months; it wasn't the young man who in many ways stole that last
instance of childhood away from her and brought a new child into her life. It
wasn't the man whom she left six months into her pregnancy to start a
relationship with a twenty-year-old Gallan actor. But meeting Kieran wasn't the
only reason she left Rascal.
Rascal Sky, her ex-fiancée, was
blonde haired and blue eyed, with a tall lanky frame. He was sixteen and the
heir to Fief Stone Mountain. Having inherited many of the Stone Mountain
traits, Rascal worked at what he did. As he came closer to finishing his final
year as an adept in sorcery, he left Adira alone fending for herself as she
went through the months of her pregnancy. Rascal neglected her, which is the
only way to put it. She went to the healer's to see how the baby was doing, by
herself; she cooked and cleaned their apartment my herself; she felt that she
was the only one who really cared about their relationship. He left her alone
during the day and would come to bed at night expecting her to be awake enough
to have sex.
Thank the Gods that I told him
that it's not advised to have sex once the second trimester starts, thought
Adira. She went through everything those four months of engagement, by herself.
Kieran, the man whom she met the
night she finally broke it off with Rascal, was a young man who changed her
life. Kieran, a twenty-year-old Gallan actor stood ten inches above Adira's own
five feet four inches at his own six feet and two inches. He had short black
hair and blue eyes and was a big fan of saying little Justin was his baby; when
in fact he got his blue eyes and pale skin from Rascal and his black hair from
Adi. Adira met him the night she decided to break it off with Rascal, and he
helped her do so. The night they met,
they just clicked and it was more than physical attraction, they both knew they
were meant to be together. Knowing she wouldn't want to be pushed to do things
right away, Kieran took things slowly with her. After all, she took things way
to fast with Rascal and ended up getting pregnant the first night they met.
Kieran treated her with the uttermost kindness and tenderness; the first time
he even held her in his arms he asked
if it was okay, and the night after she broke up with Rascal he came over to her brother's house where
she was staying, and gave her a bouquet of yellow roses, her favorite
flower.
Kieran came up behind her with only
breeches on, showing off his own muscular chest and stomach. He massaged her
shoulders and said, "You look beautiful my love."
Adira smiled and rolled her eyes,
"Whatever you say dearie." But in
fact, Kieran was right. Since the months of the baby's birth, Adi had lost
nearly all the weight that she gained during her seemingly long pregnancy. The
glow was back in her face and she didn't look tired anymore. She had grown her
hair out again so that it was in the middle of her back, rather than keeping it
shoulder length, which she had cut it to several months before Justin was born.
Her eyes had become that piercingly emerald color that they were before her
four-month engagement to Rascal. During Kieran's her six-week tour, which she
had gone on, she got tan again, bringing out the true colors of her light brown
skin. Her figure was nearly what it had been a year ago for she had been doing
a little knife fighting with Kieran's friends and had been jogging daily while
on the tour.
She was going to begin school again in three weeks and
was excited, yet extremely nervous about it. After all, it had been months
she'd practiced her healing in front of an actual Master. She had been
advised by the healer to use her gift minimally during the pregnancy; lighting
fires and candles was basically the only magical thing she did during her
entire pregnancy. Since the birth of Justin, the reserves of her gift had
gotten stronger. Enough so that when she went with Kieran and his acting troupe
on their summer tour, she had acted as the primary healer; earning money
towards the house that she and Kieran had planned to buy once they got enough
money too. But as it seemed, without help from her parents they were going to
be living in the palace in a suite together for a while.
"How is little Justin?" said Kieran as he kissed the
top of her head and continued to massage her shoulders.
"Oh, he's calmed down since I fed him" said Adira with a grin. Adi
sighed and stroked the baby's face with her finger. When she was engaged to
Rascal they had originally decided that Julian Sky would be the child's name.
But when the broke the engagement off in March, Adira needed a change. Kieran helped
her decide on Justin Deane Gibran; Gibran being Adira's last name, rather than
Rascal's. Rascal had said Justin was still a Sky and should be named a Sky; but
Adi had declined saying that she didn't want the life of an heir to a Fiefdom
for her child. Also, Adi was thinking, well actually hoping that she would
marry Kieran and then maybe Kieran would adopt Justin and legally become his
father. After all, Rascal relinquished all claims as the child's guardian
through the court once Adi told him that she didn't want an heir's life for her
child. All Rascal had to do was pay monthly child support. That money went to
buying the baby necessities and part of it went to the fund for the house
Kieran and Adi planned to buy together. Adi did, after all, want this townhouse
to be her own. Not something she got from her parents, or from one of her older
brothers. She wanted a place she could truly call her own.
She and Kieran had already started to buy things for the house; a baby
crib with blue and yellow sheets and bumpers, a dining room table which her
parents offered to buy when Adi told her mother she was planning to buy a
townhouse, and some pots and pans from her brother's girlfriends.
Her brother's joked that she and Kieran were already acting like a
married couple, which they would both laugh off, but knew it was true.
And surprisingly, her parents and older brothers loved Kieran. Adi was
considerably surprised that they liked Kieran because they all had hated
Rascal. But everyone had their reasons for hating Rascal, and now so did Adira.
He was rude to Lord William and Lady Amalfia, Adira's parents, and tried to
impress her elder brothers by rising up into the air. But Kieran was polite and
even offered to carve the game bird the cook had bought at the market. He
listened contently to what Adi's brothers said and told them about his own job
as an Actor for a Gallan troupe; all while holding Adira's hand and helping out
with baby Justin.
Afterwards, as the couple left, Adira's mother whispered in Adi's ear,
"Keep onto this one my dear. He's a good one." Lady Amalfia then winked at her
and went back into the house.
~*~*~*~
"You
want me to put him back in his crib?" asked Kieran.
"Okay,"
said Adira as she stood up and handed Kieran the baby.
Kieran
held the baby gently as he walked into the adjoining room and placed him back
in his crib. Kieran came back to find Adira sitting back down in the chair
outside holding her knees close to her chest. Kieran walked over to the chair
and kissed her lightly on the lips as Adira put her arms around his neck.
Kieran pulled her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly before he put her
back in the chair and knelt down beside it.
"Are
you okay Adi?" said Kieran in a hushed whisper.
Adira
smiled, "Yeah. I think so."
"What's
the matter hunny?"
"I'm
just scared, I guess," said Adira as she bit her thumb.
"Scared
of what?" said Kieran as he stroked Adi's cheek with her finger.
"Well,
it's almost our six month anniversary. And with Rascal, I broke up with him
close after our sixth month anniversary," said Adira she looked down at her
feet.
Kieran
sighed and put his finger under Adi's chin and made her look at him, "Adi, how
many times do I have to tell you? I love you and Justin, and I'm not going to
leave you guys. I love Justin as my own child, and we're too involved now for
us to break apart."
Adi
smiled meekly and said, " I know but…"
"No
buts!" interrupted Kieran. "I love you Adira Cassia Gibran, and I love your
child. And I'm not going to leave you alone."
Adira
grinned and again wrapped her arms around Kieran, who picked her up and placed
her on her side of the bed before walking over to his side.
"Now,
let's get some sleep love," Kieran said with a girn. "It's my turn to get up
and feed Justin next and I need my sleep." He got into bed and turned the
lights off as Adi scooted over to his side of the bed so he had to put his arms
around her, and closed her eyes.
As
Adi drifted off to sleep she began to think, It's almost a year since I met
Rascal Sky; a year since he changed my life. I wonder if I would ever have met
Kieran, the man I truly love, if I hadn't met Rascal a year ago, on that
faithful night.