Catherine Grayson was back, and Abby and the babies were healthy and beautiful. Any fear we had about losing any of them was gone. We all felt more relaxed than we had in a long time.Rose was in heaven, helping with the babies and making sure Abby was okay and healing. She loved snuggling with them both and could often be found doing just that. Abby called the twins her sunshine. Laurie said they were as sweet as honey.One afternoon, about two weeks after they were born, I found Rose holding Olivia while Abby slept. Grayson was holding Samuel, smiling brightly. He had been so wonderful since their birth, moving between the babies and Abby, making sure they all had everything they needed. He had jumped head first into being a father and seemed to be thriving, which didn’t surprise me at all.“How is the happy family?” I asked, kissing Rose.“Happy,” Rose responded. “Very happy,” Grayson said.I took Olivia from Rose and snuggled her, “Hi little bean.” Olivia regarded me seriously.
RoseThat son of a dog stole my niece and nephew. I was going to kill him. He was going to wish he’d never been born. Gods forbid he hurts them. If there is even a single curl out of place, I will send him through all seven hells myself. We met Queen Sarah, my father, and most of Alderei’s army at the border. King Marcus saw his wife and ran to her, sweeping her off her feet into a kiss that lasted several minutes. They were both crying and touching each other’s faces as if they couldn’t believe the other was real. They pulled Cat into their hug, and the three of them held each other, crying.Papa was also crying and wrapped me, Abby, and Grayson into a hug. “You’re all home,” he said through his tears. “Finally, my children are home.”“Not all of us, Papa,” Abby said. “I know,” he said sadly. “We are going to fix that, and then I am going to spoil my grandchildren rotten.” We all chuckled at his enthusiasm. His face brightened as he looked at Grayson. “I am happy to finally call
Abigail The next morning, we attacked the castle. Lord Patel was correct that there weren’t many men stationed inside the castle. Unfortunately, he was also correct that there were other things in the castle. “Fliers! Overhead!” I heard a soldier yell. I took aim with the other archers, Grayson and Aryk nearby. They had been placed in the back with us because they both had powerful ranged attacks. Our division took out many of the giant bats and their riders.After taking out many of their fliers, we started launching flaming arrows over the walls, and could see several more monsters inside the walls take hits.“We need to get inside, Gray,” I shouted. “I have a very bad feeling about the twins.”He nodded and signaled to Aryk. “Let’s move.”The plan was to clear out as much of the first wave as possible. While most of the king’s defenses would be distracted by the attack, several of us were going to sneak in through a tunnel in the wall meant to let out ocean water from the high
Catherine Later that evening, Aryk asked to meet with our group. Grayson was unable to attend, as he had gone with his uncle to obtain his aunt and cousins. “I happened to be looking through the late king’s study,” he began.Thomas coughed, “Stealing things.”“I was not stealing, Thomas,” Aryk snapped. “I was gathering information.”“Please, continue,” King Marcus said.“Yes, anyway,” he glared at Thomas. “There were some interesting bits of information in amongst the king’s papers.”“Interesting how?” Abby asked cautiously. “Everything is connected,” He explained. “The sorceress that attempted to seduce Grayson in Knocklean is the same one that seduced his father – Kasdeyah, the Hell Queen.”“The one he was trying to overthrow?” Abby asked.“Yes, which is why she was so interested in Grayson. He is more powerful than his father could have ever dreamed of being.” Aryk sat back and let everyone process this information. “So it’s not over?” Rose asked quietly.“Not completely,” Ary
Grayson Our first Withergreen in Odel was beautiful. I had never seen such colors in my life. Abby took great pleasure in showing me all of the beauty of the changing seasons, despite my argument that nothing was more beautiful than my wife. Our family had also changed. We welcomed Theodore Arthur - who we called Teddy – at the end of Sunswell. Abby had been so relieved to only have to carry one baby, she said this pregnancy was a dream. Anna came from the village to deliver Teddy, too, which was a blessing. He was perfect – 10 fingers, 10 toes, his mother’s face, but my eyes. And curls for days. He had a full head of curls the moment he arrived. I didn’t think it was possible to love as much as I loved my children and my wife. One morning, Abby came up behind me as I stood at the window watching the sunrise. She wrapped her arms around me as she laid her head against my bare back. “Are you happy, my love?” she asked, as she did every morning. I turned to face her and kiss
Four year old Grayson held the hand of his new best friend, Abigail. The young prince had met the little lady only three weeks prior, and she was already his whole world.“Come, Grayson,” she said, pulling his hand. “I want to show you the stars. Mother said we could.”He was nervous, but trusted his Abigail. She had not led him into anything that would have gotten him hurt. On the contrary, she was protective of him, but not overly so. She pushed him just enough to try.That night, Abby’s nursemaid Hannah was going to take them to the tower so they could look at the stars. Every Sunswell in Alderei a meteor shower was visible for three whole days, and of the whole country, the best view of it was from Coursar Hall – at least according to Abigail. He followed her up the stairs to where Hannah and Grayson’s six year old brother Dupont were waiting. Hannah unlocked the door to the roof, and ushered her small charges outside. Hannah and the children spread out blankets and waited for i
Abigail We didn't have to wait long for the new trouble to begin. Trolls began invading Alderei within the month. We were called to the castle to make a plan of attack. We left the children at home. Odel was far enough away from the border that they would be safe. The wet nurses had stayed with us throughout the years, so we left them in charge of the children, knowing they would protect the little ones with their lives. It was so hard to leave them behind. We both cried the whole way to the castle. Fortunately, we were greeted with a lot of hugs and understanding. "Thank you all for coming," Queen Sarah began. "A new foe is threatening our borders. We have the advantage this time of knowing who they are, at least, but not what they want." "Grayson," I said. "They want my husband. Or, more specifically, his powers." Rose sighed. "Then he shouldn't be here. He should be in hiding." Grayson looked at Rose, surprised and a bit annoyed. "Where would I go, Rose? If I go h
They stayed up long into the night, making a plan of attack that didn't rely on Grayson’s magic. There were discussions about calling Aryk, but he had been staying in the village with Thomas and Celina, and his talents were needed there. A messenger came as they were finally getting ready to go to bed. "Your Highnesses," the man bowed. "I bring bad news from the border." "Speak," the king said. "A border village was attacked in the night, your grace," the man said sadly. "There is nothing, and no one left." He hung his head as Catherine gasped. "The trolls numbered in the hundreds - really far too large a force for such a small town. But..." "Go on, soldier," Grayson commanded. It was rare that he was authoritative, and it gave Abigail chills. Had they been in a more appropriate environment, she would have kissed him. "They had ghouls with them as well," the soldier replied. Grayson put his arm around Abigail without thinking, the memory of her near death always fresh in
Six months later, they were married in a ceremony held on the lawn of her mother’s nursing home. Their mothers held hands and wept happy tears as Tony and Molly exchanged vows they had written themselves. Molly started. “Tony, you are one of the few people in this world who truly see me. You’ve always seen me as so much more than I thought I was. You’ve helped me realize my worth, and that I do have something to offer the world. Every day you make me feel like the most beautiful woman on the planet. You encourage me, you don’t just listen to me – you hear me. We have been through so much together, and I can honestly say I wouldn’t have gotten through half of it without you by my side.” She stopped to wipe away her tears, but Tony got to them first. She smiled at him. “You are better than any fairy tale or romantic hero. You have saved me in so many ways. I promise I will always be honest and upfront with you. I will always support you, and you will always be the best thing that’s ev
**Three weeks later**Molly called her mother on her way home from work, like she did every night. “Hi mom,” she said cautiously. “Hi baby girl, happy birthday!” her mom answered. It was another good day for Sarah.“You remembered!” Molly exclaimed.“I did,” she said. “There should be a package waiting for you at home, too. The nurses helped me.”“Thank you, mom,” Molly said with happy tears.“I just wanted to send my daughter something special,” Sarah said. “Not every day is your birthday.”“I still appreciate it,” Molly replied. “That’s because you’re a good girl,” Sarah said. “How’s Tony?” she asked, changing the subject. “He’s good,” she responded. “We’re both still doing therapy separately, as well as going together. It’s been really helpful. I’m going to call him later and he’s going to bring over dinner.”“That’s great, Molly.”“I know,” she replied. “I’d forgotten how much I missed just talking to him. It’s great to be able to talk to him again.”“I’m just hap
It was difficult, but they did the work. They went through therapy together and individually. Their couples’ therapist wanted them to just spend time together, not as couple or with anything sexual between them, so they could focus on building back their friendship and trust.The no sexual contact was difficult for both of them, but they stuck to what they dubbed the ‘muddy waters’ rule. They spent a lot of time together over the next three months, mostly talking, but also just sometimes sitting with each other. On Halloween, Tony brought over Horror House 3, which was the movie they saw on their first date. He also brought take out from the restaurant they had gone to that first night. Molly almost kissed him several times just because of how thoughtful it all was, but she stuck to the rule. She did allow herself to kiss his cheek, which caused him to smile and blush.They bent the rule a little when he put his arm around her and she snuggled up against him. They bent it even mor
He pulled back and looked at her. “When?” he asked, his voice cracking.She hung her head. “About two years ago. Right when we sold the house and put mom in the nursing home,” she said softly, angrily wiping away her tears. He held her hand, and listened. “I found out I was pregnant and I had been trying to tell you, but it was one thing after another,” she said waving her arm from one side to the other. “It was never a good time. The night I was finally going to tell you, I had cooked dinner and made it all nice and… you never came home. Not until it was very late, anyway, and you stank of alcohol. You said you’d been out with your coworkers celebrating a big deal.” Tony remembered that night. He had seen the set up when he came home, but had been too drunk to ask. When he’d woken up the next morning, it was gone and so was Molly. He had assumed she’d gone to work.“That morning, after I woke up I started bleeding,” she continued. “I tried to wake you but you were passed out, s
“I’m over here,” said a small voice filled with pain. It was coming from the floor on the other side of the bed.He rushed over and saw her holding her foot, her hands covered in blood. Without a word he grabbed a towel from the closet, wrapped it around her foot, picked her up, and carried her into the kitchen. He set her down on a chair before unwrapping the towel. Molly winced in pain.“What happened, Mols?” he asked gently, sitting on the floor in front of her.She sighed. “I think Orange knocked a picture frame off the dresser and it broke. I stepped on the glass.”He washed her foot off gently. “It doesn’t look that bad,” he said. “You won’t need stitches.”“Good,” she said. She was so tired. Tony could hear it in her voice. “That’s the last thing I need.”Tony cleaned her foot up and handed her a rag to wash the blood off her hands. He was quiet as he carefully bandaged her foot up. He kissed her leg and held her foot in his lap.“You broke the door,” Molly said, exhaust
“Molly?” he ventured.She was pinching the bridge of her nose, trying to hold up her towel and the journal with one hand. “Yes, Tony?”“What secret were you keeping?” he asked softly. He reached out and fixed her towel. If the towel slipped again, he wasn’t sure what he’d do. Molly was gorgeous and he missed her so much. She wouldn’t look at him. “It doesn’t matter now,” she answered. “Please don’t jump off a bridge,” he said sadly. She still wouldn’t look at him. “I’m going to put on some clothes,” she said.Before he could stop himself, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “I don’t mind you in just a towel,” he said softly into her ear.She looked at him, confused. “Muddy waters, Tony, remember?” she said. “It’s your rule, not mine. I didn’t know you were out here or I wouldn’t have come out in my towel.”“But…” he started. “Do you want to get back together?” she asked angrily. “I…” he hesitated.“Please leave, Tony,” Molly said with tears in her eyes
A few minutes after Molly got in the shower, there was a knock at her door.“Mols?” Tony called. “Hey Molly, come on – open up.” More knocking. “Please, Mols.”Maybe she’s in the shower, he thought. He pulled out the key that Molly insisted he keep after he moved out, in case of emergency. Molly didn’t have any other family outside of her mom, so Tony was still her emergency contact. While being ignored wasn’t an emergency, he didn’t like the thought of her sitting by herself being sad. He still loved her. He had been devastated when she agreed to the breakup and didn’t even try to fight for him. He went through with the breakup because he figured she didn’t love him anymore when she didn’t fight it. They hardly saw each other due to work, even though they had lived together. They had both changed and things were different between them, but he still loved her. He knew she thought of herself as a disappointment, but he never did. The last few years dealing with her mom’s rapidly
No one paid attention to Molly Monroe. She was average. She blended into the scenery, unremarkable with her shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes, and glasses – she was every girl and no girl in particular. Only two people in this world had ever truly seen Molly Monroe – her mother and Tony.Tony Morales was her high school – and only – boyfriend. They had broken up about a year ago. The reasons were numerous. He traveled a lot for his job, her schedule was strange, and they never saw each other. The spark had disappeared. The break up had been ‘mutual’ in that he suggested breaking up and she knew she had nothing to offer him, so she let it happen. In high school, she had been the one ‘with so much potential.’ Now she was just a disappointment and going nowhere. She was sure that’s why Tony dumped her, though he was too kind to say it. At least they were still friends and he would take her calls. He didn’t just drop her after eight years of dating.God, she missed Tony. Almost a
From the diaries of Grayson of Eswen, Duke of Odel, and Lydisia. Before I write any more, I want to be clear with anyone who finds this journal: my wife is the most amazing, smart, wonderful, kind, loving, and talented person I know. I would literally not be alive today without her. I would have died in my father's attack on Alderei. I love my wife. I always have. What can you say about someone you've loved since you were five years old?My wife gave me the family I've always wanted. She birthed six beautiful children, and we lost one little soul. Little Sawyer will always be acknowledged as part of our family and will always be in our hearts. Samuel, Olivia, Theodore, Charlotte, Benjamin, and Calista. They are the six the Mother chose to stay in this world. They are our world. I will admit to be slightly more overprotective of Olivia than the others, but she was the one we almost lost to my father. My oldest girl, my baby, was almost a sacrifice. I try not to think about my fathe