by Honor James
She nodded and smiled. “All right, thank you, Titan.” She nuzzled down against her son and winced with the movement of bending down. “And when we get back to bed”—she turned her full gaze on him—“you will tell me the truth of why I’m so weak, hurting so much and needing so much of your blood, won’t you?”
Watching her as she watched him, he nodded slowly. “If you wish,” he said softly. Letting out a slow sigh he lightly touched Delfan’s hair. “For now just enjoy the time you have with your son and then we will talk, love.”
“That sounds like a very good thing.” She nodded and looked down at Delfan. “Doesn’t it, my little man? Spending time with Mommy sound like a good idea to you?” she asked touching his lower lip while he blew spit bubbles and kicked happily.
Sitting back on his heels Titan watched as Violet and Delfan chatted together. Smiling softly at the picture they presented, it did his heart good to see them like this even as he felt a dread starting to come over him.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Two and a half exhausting hours later Violet leaned against Titan just inside of her room and breathed him in. “Later will you go get him when he wakes and wheel him down here to be with us? I know the guard will protect him and the doctor’s wife will care for him, but that’s our job, Titan, our privilege.” She smiled up at him and sighed. “I love you so, Titan. Thank you for letting he and I have that time together to reconnect again.” Her thumb stroked over his lower lip. “Now, why don’t you and I get into bed so that you can tell me the bad news?”
Nodding he let out a sigh. He’d really been hoping she’d either be too tired to talk about it immediately or would have just forgotten it. “Into bed,” he told her quietly and led her there at her slow pace before helping her up into the bed and settling her in. Moving he climbed in with her and gave her a few minutes to settle down.
She laid her head on his chest and breathed him in. “I love these moments, Titan, you holding me. Even knowing something bad is coming, it doesn’t diminish the moments like this.” She closed her eyes and finally whispered, “I think I’m ready, Titan, tell me?”
“The midwife that was the one doing the surgery to bring Delfan into the world was sent, apparently, by your mother to ensure you died. She wants our son from what we’ve been able to determine,” he told her softly. “She used threads that were mainly silver in form to stitch you and it in turn gave you a poisoning of the blood and in your womb. The doctor had to put you in surgery fast to repair the damage,” he told her quietly. He was trying to work up to the really, really bad parts a little at a time, giving her a bit of time in between each to let her grow mildly accustomed before he continued on.
Violet had tears falling as she asked, “I hear a ‘but’ in there, Titan. He was able to get me into surgery and save my life, but…” She touched his chin with a finger as her gaze searched his face. “I need to know, Titan, please.”
“This is not for sure. He really won’t know until your body has healed completely but…” He paused and sighed. “He’s not sure you will ever be able to bear another child, Violet. He said the woman deliberately set out to harm you and ensure you couldn’t have another. It’s a fifty-fifty toss-up right now,” he said, pulling her closer as she really began to cry. “Love, it doesn’t matter to me. We have Delfan and you are alive. That is all that truly matters to me. As long as I have you and our son I am a happy man. Anything more is a blessing.”
There was some time of her sobbing and crying before she finally dried her face, on his shirt, and pulled back to look up at him. “No matter what we have our son. We have Delfan and if he is going to be our one and only I can live with that because he is perfect.”
“Yes, he is, my Lady love,” he said, pressing a kiss to each eyelid before he hugged her to him. “Our son is just as perfect as his mother and my wife which is truly humbling,” he told her. Kissing her lips gently he looked in her eyes as he pulled back. “We will take this one day at a time and we will let you heal properly and then we will find out together if we are to have more children. No matter what, Violet, you are not alone in this,” he promised.
“I know that I’m not. I know that what affects me affects you as well but it’s so very hard, Titan. It’s so hard to know that we might not ever have another child, a joy to bring into the world to give someone for Delfan to look after.” She felt the tears and wiped at them. “I love you, Titan, you’re right.” She nodded. “We will get through this. We will get through this and we will just simply live with life and what it gives us.”
Hugging her to him carefully he let out a shaky breath. “I love you, Violet. We are always together in anything we have in life.” Brushing a kiss to her cheek he settled with her. “Sleep for now and later I will collect our son so we can all be together.”
“I love you, too, Titan.” She snuggled in closer. “Don’t leave me while I sleep, please?” She was terrified of being alone now. She really shouldn’t have been afraid. She knew how to take care of herself but she was. “I’m scared, Titan.” She heard herself admitting, “Not only for the possibility that we might not have another child, but because of the fact that they were able to get in and so close.” She looked up. “Can you up the guards on our son? Only the doctor, his wife, us, and a very select few are allowed around him?”
“I brought in ten more, love, they are all with him with one outside our door,” he told her quietly. “He is safe. The hospital staff can’t even see him through the bodies. And, when I bring him in here, he’ll have us as well,” he reminded her softly. “Sleep, Violet, and I will be right here with you until you wake, but if I’m not, I will just be in the bathing room attending to business.”
She smiled and nodded. “Thank you for that, Titan, for knowing my needs before I have them.” She yawned again. “I love you.” She was hurting inside, aching and in pain, but she knew that she couldn’t allow the pain to get her down, not when it wasn’t positive that the worst was the definite outcome.
“I’m your soul tie. I should have at least a clue as to what you might need,” he said quietly. Settling down on the bed he gently eased her in closer, his hand stroking up and down her back slowly.
“Mmm, this is true.” Another yawn followed by a sigh. “And if you wake and I’m not here I will likely be in the same place.” Although they both knew that even with what she could do she wouldn’t be able to get out of his arms without him knowing about it.
“If you manage that then I obviously need the sleep and shall endeavor to roll over and go back to sleep,” he teased her softly. Tucking the blankets around her a little better he fell silent knowing that if he kept talking she’d stay awake to keep him company.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“I’m positive that I’m ready to leave. I have worked my ass off these last five days so that I can get out of here, go home, and raise my family. Doctor, I appreciate all that you have done, I swear I do. However, you know how hard this is. Knowing someone is out there hunting my son, me.”
“I know, Lady Violet. However, I also know that you will need more than just medical treatment.”
“I will be fine. I have my husband, I have my son. They are more than enough to get me over the what-ifs that might never happen,” she reminded him.
Looking to Titan the doctor sighed. “All right, take them home, my Lord, but I want her to have a full and complete checkup in six months.” He paused and added, “And no sexual intercourse for at least another forty-eight hours. Give an old man that much.”
Titan shot Violet a look and then gave a sincere and solemn look to the doctor. “I will do my best to keep her from jumping me at the first opportunity,” he told him quietly. “I will even do my best to avoid being trapped by her in any sort of compromising position.”
Violet snorted and laughed. “Yeah, not gonna happen if you keep it up there, mister.” She grumbled but knew the truth for what it was. She really was aching for his touch and needed to feel their
skin touching from foot to face all over again. “Can we leave now, please?”
Chuckling softly he nodded. “Yes, love, we can go,” he said as he took his son from the doctor’s wife. Thanking them both he gave a hand to Violet so that she could get off the bed.
Once out in the hall he glanced to her. “Are you sure we should be going home?” he asked quietly. Wincing at the look she gave him, he chuckled. “All right, I had to ask, love. I worry about you, Vi, and I do not like the feeling in the least.”
Shaking her head Violet grinned. “I know that you do, Titan, and I appreciate that greatly because I worry for you as well. However, we need to go home.” She wanted to be home with Delfan and Titan, was more than ready to be out of the hospital and into their home where they could have safety, and not have to eat hospital food again. “Besides, I’m sure our staff is all but dancing in anticipation of the little lordling coming home.”
“I’m sure,” he murmured in agreement. He knew his guards had enjoyed having some time alone with their young Lord. Each had a chance to hold and get to know him. And all the men there were highly protective of both the babe and his mother. It had made Titan’s decision to put them on as their personal guards all the easier. Now, whether Violet let him live after he told her, that was an entirely different matter.
She wrapped her arm around his middle and squeezed. “I wish I could carry him.” She reached out to touch their son’s hand, who was watching everything with an intensity that was startling. When they paused at the doors to the lift Violet smiled sweetly up at him. “When were you going to tell me about the guards you have assigned to our son?” She didn’t yet realize he had assigned them to her as well.
“When you asked,” he told her with a grin. Kissing her lightly he pulled back to look in her eyes. “But only half of them are for Delfan, love,” he said, looking away and waiting for her too-intelligent mind to figure out just who the other half were for.
Her gaze narrowed but then ever so sweetly she said, “Really now? Who would have known that you needed guards to follow along with you as well? But it’s a very good thing. I don’t want you to be harmed in any way after all.” She grinned when one of the guards covered a snicker with a cough.
Titan shot the guard a quelling look before lifting a brow at her. “Not me, darling,” he told her. “I have my own who know better than to follow me, as long as they don’t want a bullet between the eyes.” He smiled slightly. “They are to keep you safe, love. You have someone that wants you and our son. I’m not taking any chances with your life or his so just stuff the complaints and protests.”
She wanted to argue, god help her she wanted to fuss and argue and scream, but he had her when he reminded her of the danger not only to her, but their son as well. Closing her lips tightly she frowned and sighed. Damn the man. She understood why he was assigning so many to her, but it still galled her to have to have them underfoot all the time. But she would survive. She knew she would.
Smiling slowly at the mulish look he kissed her gently. “I know it chafes, love, but I want years and years with you, Violet. They will ensure that we can have them together,” he murmured against her lips.
“I don’t have to like it,” she grumbled. “No offense, gentlemen,” she offered to the guards knowing they heard every word. “I don’t like having to have guards, it’s so unusual.” She sighed. “But you’re right.”
Chuckling at her grudging tone Titan lifted his head and hugged her close. “I know, love, and I promise not to hold it over your head…much,” he teased. When the lift doors opened he waited for the guards to check and then guided her into the lift.
She reached over and touched a sleeping Delfan’s head and sighed. “I wish I could carry him.” She had been given strict orders though. She was not to lift or carry her son for two months, two long and impossible months.
“I know, love,” he said softly, his eyes on her face. She knew she continued to complain about it over and over and they both knew that was her real problem with the restrictions. “The time will fly by and then you can hold him all you want, toting him everywhere you go.”
“It’s unnatural for a mother not to be able to pick up or carry her son.” She leaned against Titan and rested her hand against their sleeping son’s back. “I can hold him, but you have to bring him to me. I can’t get up with him or anything and it’s just…” There weren’t enough words to tell how hard, how horrible it was.
“Heartbreaking,” he said. At her jolt he kissed the top of her head. “What, did you think I don’t know how you are feeling, love?” he asked gently. “You are my soul tie. Of course I know how you are worrying and how you are pulling to get better faster.”
“I am trying.” She sighed and leaned against him as he held their son. “It will become better when we get home, darling. I will feel better when we are home, when we are able to sit together and hold our boy and make sure that he knows both his parents are here.”
“Of course he knows we’re both here, Violet. How can he not when he feels your love for him just as I feel your love for me in everything you do and say?” he asked softly. Rubbing her back gently he guided her out of the lift in the midst of the guards as they moved quickly out and to the flyer sitting waiting for them, another guard standing at the ready.
“I know, it’s just hard because I want to be able to hold him.” She paused and smiled. “I know, you sit and I will sit in your lap and you can put him into our laps and you can hold us both. How does that sound?”
“Like a brilliant plan,” he told her as he led her into the flyer. Passing Delfan to a guard he sat and let her take her seat in his lap before he accepted his son back. “Better?” he asked her softly as he kissed her neck.
She snuggled against him and adjusted Delfan in her arms happily. “Yes, thank you, Titan. This is so very much better, thank you so very much for not making me feel horrible for asking for this.”
“I could never do that to my soul tie,” he said softly, his words not exactly happy. “You are my heart, Violet, and anything that makes you happy keeps me happy. It is the way that things work,” he told, her nipping at her neck.
She shivered and smiled. “I know.” Her eyes closed as she felt the weight and heat of their sleeping son seeping into her and making her feel somewhat better. “This is nice.” Even with all the guards surrounding them it was nice to simply be there with him in that moment.
“Yes, it is,” he told her, resting his chin on her shoulder. Holding her close to him he let out a soft hum of sound, a happy sound.
Violet closed her eyes and yawned. “If I fall asleep, wake me when we get home?” She was sure the doctor slipped her something to “relax” her and she would have words with him later on it.
“You know I will,” he told her softly as he stroked her arm gently. “Sleep, love, your son is already out for the time of the trip. Enjoy this quiet moment and rest.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Titan.” She held their son as she walked through the house. “Look, he’s got his first tooth.” Their ten-month-old son laughed happily and watched everything. “Did you know he had gotten his first tooth?” she asked as she barged into his office.
Turning from the window he smiled at her as she came in beaming just as their son was. “Of course I did, love. He decided to use it on me this morning when we were having breakfast.” Moving to her side he kissed the top of Delfan’s head and then her lips, that one a lot slower and more leisurely.
Feeling her body swaying closer to him she found herself pressing against him before she pulled back. “I can’t believe our little man is getting his first teeth. He is growing up on us, Titan. That’s just not allowed,” she grumbled.
Chuckling softly at her he shook his head. “Sorry, love, but I think that it just happens with or without our permission,” he pointed out the obvious. “But he has a great many years yet, love, for you to show him just how a man should be and how he should act. His soul
tie will greatly appreciate any and all advice you give to him.”
“Well we are already working on as much as we can and later will work on more.” She turned and smiled back at Titan. “Come walking with me?” she asked with a smile and as she walked away spoke to Delfan. “See you always need to be there for your soul tie. Even when you would rather do anything else, you should be there for her.” She rubbed her cheek against his hair. “Just as your father is for me, son. Watch your daddy and you will see just how a soul tie should act.”
Groaning behind her, he muttered under his breath, but at least he was following. “You are just planning on embarrassing me the entire walk, aren’t you?” he asked softly close at her side. “You know I hate when you do that, Violet. Just leave me out of these lessons please, love.”
“Why? You are the best model for him, Titan. You are the best of men that a woman could ever have for a soul tie so why shouldn’t he emulate you, love?”
Because he wasn’t and he knew it. Violet was the only one that seemed blind to his obvious faults. “Whatever you wish, love,” he murmured, falling back a step so he wouldn’t have to listen to whatever lessons she was providing their son and only prayed the boy could one day forgive him for it all.
As Violet walked with Delfan she spoke of the things that made a man a good man. She spoke of the simple things and of how one day he would find his soul tie and he would give her so much love. He would be willing to give all of himself to her and her alone. Finally making their son’s bedroom she paused and smiled. “I think our little man is needing a nap, however.”