They slept for several hours, Grayson holding his wife as tightly as he could. The sound of banging woke them up. Kasdeyah was trying to get out. "She's going to get out, Gray," Abby whispered."I'll kill her first," he growled. "I want to help you," Abigail said firmly. "She tortured me, she killed our baby, she tried to steal you from me..." She looked up angrily. "I want my revenge.""Okay, Wildflower," he said, taking her hand. "We will do it together." Just then, they heard a loud crash and a horrible scream. "Now you've done it, my love, my king," she shouted. "I'm going to have to punish you." Her voice was getting closer. Abigail and Grayson snuck out of the room and down the corridor to the throne room. "I didn't want to do it this way," Kasdeyah called after them,"but you leave me no choice. I'm just going to have to wipe your memory." She cackled. Abigail gasped, "Grayson, you need to get out of here. I'll take care of her.""Absolutely not," he said. "If she wipes yo
"I wish I could remember you," Abigail said sadly that evening in their chambers. "You will, sweetheart," Grayson assured her. "You will." "I... um... I know we are married... but I don't think I feel comfortable just yet sharing a bed with you." She looked up and saw his eyes were full of pain. "I can... I can go stay with the children?" "No, Abby," he said sadly. "I'll go." "No. I don't want to kick you out of your own room." "This is your room, Abby," he managed, swallowing back tears. "It was your room long before it became ours." "Still..." she said guiltily. "I'm the stranger here." "You're not a stranger!" he exclaimed. "This is your home. You remember your father and Rose... why can't you remember me?" he asked sadly. "We've been together since we were five." "Five?!" "Yes," he said, walking over to her. "We were betrothed at age five. We were best friends until we were 14. I told you I loved you then, and you loved me, too." A tear escaped, and he wiped it away furio
He woke up holding her, this woman who was the source of so many of his memories who now had no memory of him. Still, she had kissed him last night after letting him share her bed. Maybe all was not lost. He stared at her as the morning sun crept over her face. He couldn't help himself, and he kissed her forehead. She opened her eyes then, and the momentary panic in them caused him so much pain. It was only a moment, though, before she looked at him and smiled. "Good morning, husband," she blushed. The smile he gave her made her heart race. She could see why she fell for him the first time. "Good morning, wife," he replied. "I'm sorry for waking you." She smiled, "There are definitely worse ways to wake up." She snuggled up to him, and he wrapped his arms around her. "I wish I remembered you... you smell nice. Familiar. Homey." That gave him an idea. "Let's go to Lydisia," he said, pulling back to look at her. "We can go to where we first met, and then we can go home to Odel.
He looked down at her. "I didn't expect it to be this easy to make you fall in love with me again." "Was it hard the first time?" she looked up at him sleepily. "I don't think so," he said with a smile. "We were pretty attached from day one." "Then this makes sense," she replied. They had gotten dressed and had gone inside after their adventure in the tree house. The staff had greeted them with sly smiles, almost all of them having heard them outside 'making memories.' After dinner, they had proceeded to make more memories in different areas of the house, from the library to the common room of the now empty nursery. In the library, he'd taken her bent over the chair they used to squeeze together in as children. In the nursery common room, they made a nest of pillows in front of the fire. That's where they were now, naked and exhausted, yet so complete. He counted his blessings every five minutes or so, thanking the Mother that Kasdeyah's spell hadn't been enough to stop the
Abigail and Grayson were five years old the first time he had secretly used his magic on her. Despite her earlier claims that she had never fallen out of a tree, she did just that on the third day of his visit. She had finally convinced him to join her in the branches when the one she was sitting on snapped, and she fell to the ground hard. She was more in shock than anything and hadn't yet realized she was hurt. He ran to her. "Abby! Are you okay?" Abigail looked like she was trying to decide whether or not she needed to cry, when she looked up and him and decided tears were the right way to go. "Grayson, it hurts," she cried. "What does, Abby?" "My arm," she cried. He looked at her arm, and she did have a sizable scrape down her arm. Fortunately, she hadn't fallen far - Grayson didn't know if he was strong enough to heal broken bones. "Come here, Abby," he said, helping her stand. "Where can we go to get you cleaned up?" "The barn," she sniffled. "It's right over there
The year they were nine, Abigail had thrown herself into the prince’s arms upon his arrival, as she did every year. This year, instead of saying "You're here" like she did every year before, she nuzzled into his neck and said, "I've missed you," very softly. He was flustered but pleased by this new reaction to his arrival. "I've missed you, too, Wildflower," he replied softly, rubbing her back. "Come on," she said, grabbing his hand. "It's starting to rain. Let's go inside. I have your gift waiting, and Hannah is making us tea." He followed her willingly, but not before grabbing her birthday gift from his bags. She had given him a painting she had done based on the way he had described Eswen Keep to her in his letters. While he didn't care much for his home, he adored the painting simply because she had made it. Even his father admitted it was a good likeness. Funny enough, he had gifted her art supplies. Upon opening them, she had again flung herself into his arms, declaring him
They stayed in Lydisia for about a week, deciding to go back to the village to see Celina, Thomas, Laurie, and Aryk. The older sorcerer had decided to settle in the village for the time as a protector. You never know when a sorcerer is needed. Word of the Duchess's injury had reached even here, and the others were waiting patiently to see if she would remember them. "I... remember this place..." she said. "We danced here... did you propose to me here?" she asked Grayson. "I did," he replied. "As we were dancing." She smiled at him. The whole trip there, she had been remembering bits and pieces of their lives.They had bypassed Knocklean. It was too soon to bring back those memories. It was too soon for both of them. The last thing he ever wanted was to remember the times he almost lost her.She had Grayson help her off her horse as they arrived in the village. She stood there for a moment and looked around. "I gave birth to the twins here.""You did," he smiled. "This is where I c
I Like You Not Molly sat in the back of the class with her head down, trying to concentrate on her work. The boy next to her, Chris, was shooting rubber bands at the side of her head, while she diligently ignored him. “Hey Smelly Molly,” he hissed. “Why don’t you go home and cry? Oh wait, do you even have a real home?” He snickered and high fived the others around him like he had just made an award winning joke.Yes, Molly’s family was poor. It was just her and her mom, and her mom tried really hard. She didn’t have the best clothes or shoes, and sometimes there wasn’t always food for breakfast. Molly knew how hard her mom worked as a secretary and was thankful for all they did have. She was fairly new to the school, having moved there at the end of the last school year. A few of the kids had seen where she lived, in a little grouping of houses just outside the town, and had informed the others she lived in a shack. Ever since, her classmates made fun of her for being poor, dirty, a
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