“I think I just needed some rest, and these crackers help quite a bit. When the fairy comes to examine me, I’ll see if she has any elixirs to help my symptoms.”
Nathen nodded his head.
Not long after announcing my pregnancy, Ella called us in for breakfast. She had cooked up a feast of bacon and eggs, biscuits and gravy, sausage and even pancakes. Everything looked amazing, and I ate as much as my stomach could handle with sips of water in between. After a huge feast of real food, I was actually feeling quite a bit better.
After breakfast, Damon went to fetch the doctor, while I returned to the bedroom to rest. Ben followed me and stayed by my side. When the healing fairy arrived and began to examine me, Ben and Damon hovered in the corner like two anxious fathers.
“You seem fine,” She said. “If you think you can handle the journey, I see nothing stopping you...just keep the baby safe and protected.”
I nodded my head and said, “Do you have any elixirs to help with the nausea and exhaustion? I feel like the crackers are helping, but I am still getting sick at times.”
“Of course,” she smiled. “I have two elixirs that are wonderful for nausea and lack of energy.” She looked through her bag and pulled out two small tubes. She lifted a bottle with red fluid inside and said, “Drink only one sip of this each morning. This will help eliminate the nausea.” Then she held up an orange fluid and said, “You can take a sip of this up to three times a day when you are feeling tired.”
“Thank you so much!” I said.
She smiled hopeful and said, “Good luck.” The she headed out the door.
Ben immediately came to my side, but Damon followed the fairy out of the room.
“I don’t know why he’s upset with me?” I said, as Ben crawled into bed with me and wrapped his arms around me.
“Like I said, “Ben replied, “He’s going through a lot of emotions. This is hard on all of us, but one day we will figure this all out.”
“I just wish I knew who the father was,” I said, “I’m sorry if telling everyone made you uncomfortable.”
“It’s fine,” Ben said as he looked down, “It would make sense for Damon to be the father. I guess no one considered…” Ben didn’t finish what he was going to say.
After Ben and I rested for some time, Damon knocked on the door. As soon as he entered, he stood near the bedside and said, “I spoke with the group. If you are ready, we plan to leave tomorrow. Alexander and I are going to go to the general store to see if we can get some supplies. Is there anything you would like? Crackers?”
“Yes, crackers would be great!” I said. “Just food...and maybe some more long underwear if they have some.”
Damon nodded his head with little emotion and turned to leave.
That night, Ellie and Emerlee prepared another feast for our group, as we would be leaving in the morning. The table was covered with sausages, ham, potatoes, vegetables and plenty of bread. Ellie was a wonderful cook, and thanks to the help of the elixir, I ate as much as my stomach could hold. Between the magic elixirs and the exquisite food, I was beginning to feel much more like myself by the time evening came around.
As everyone prepared for bed, I said my goodnights and saw Damon laying out blankets in the corner of the room.
I went to his side and said softly, “Ben stayed with me last night; you’re welcome to stay with me tonight.”
Damon shook his head, “It’s okay. I already have my stuff laid out. Goodnight, I love you,” he said without looking at me.
“I love you too,” I said quietly as I stood up to leave.
When Ben saw I was heading to the bedroom alone, he was quickly by my side.
“Do you want me to stay with you again?” he asked.
“Okay,” I said softly.
The two of us climbed into bed, and as I shut my eyes, I felt Ben wrap his arms around me.
I felt his warm breath as he carefully brought his lips to my ear and whispered, “Are you feeling better?”
“Yes,” I said, as I turned around and looked deep into his light blue eyes. As I stared deep into his eyes, our noses touched and our lips were only millimeters apart.
“I love you,” he whispered as I felt the warmth of his breath sweep across my face.
“I love you too,” I whispered as I pressed my lips into his and immediately felt the passion of his kiss.
We kissed intensely for several moments as he slowly undressed me. As my clothes were removed, he replaced each piece of fabric with a single kiss, and as I lay undressed, he kneeled above me and slowly pulled off his shirt. I instantly reached out and traced my fingers down his solid chest until they met the top of his pants. I slowly began to pull of his pants, until he peeled them off the rest of the way. When the two of us were completely undressed, we lay naked next to one another, enjoying the warm embrace of our skin pressed together.
After several silent moments of our skin pressed together, we began to kiss again. This time I rolled on top of him and straddled my legs on either side of him as he pressed into me, and we slowly made love.
With each movement, he stared deep into my eyes, as if he was terrified to lose me.
“I love you,” he whispered again as he gently brushed his hands up and down my waist.
When we finished, I collapsed into his arms and fell asleep naked with my head against his warm human chest.
Ben and I awoke early the next morning as the sun shined brightly through the windows, lighting the tiny room brightly.
“Good morning beautiful,” Ben whispered with a smile upon his face as he rolled towards me.
“Good morning,” I said as I smiled in return, but I suddenly had an urge to throw up.
I quickly grabbed the glass tube sitting next to the bed and took a sip. Only moments after sipping the magical elixir, my nausea had completely disappeared. Once my stomach was feeling better, I noticed the heavy smell of breakfast looming just outside the bedroom.
Ben and I quickly dressed and headed to the kitchen to see who was awake. When we entered the kitchen, my father, Emerlee and Ellie were working hard to prepare another breakfast feast.
“How are you feeling today?” my father said with a smile on his face.
“Much better!” I said with enthusiasm. “The healing elixir is amazing!” I giggled.
“You’re glowing!” Ellie squealed as she chuckled when she saw the brightness in my eyes and smile upon my face.
After Ellie’s comment, I realized I was feeling the happiest I had felt in a long time. I had spent a passionate night with Ben, and our journey to find my son was finally coming to an end. After weeks of traveling through the unforgiving terrain, we were nearing the mountainside where Desmorelda’s cave cabin hid.
After our group had a scrumptious breakfast feast, and we loaded our new supplies, we said our goodbyes to Ellie and headed on our way. As we traveled down the road, my steps were light, as my father would not allow me to carry a backpack anymore.
As the safety of the quaint mountain town faded into the horizon, my father looked at the map and said, “I know I am not as talented as David at this, but by the looks of the map, we have about two more days and we should be arriving at Desmorelda’s cabin.”
Chapter 15
As we drifted further and further away from the tiny town, the terrain grew as hazardous as it had before and the feeling of danger emerged once more. We hiked across more frozen lakes, and weathered horrifying winds, just in a single day. By the time the sun began to sink into the snow, we reached the base of another mountain. We saw a small cave and decided to take shelter for the evening.
As we entered the cave and began to set up camp for the night, my father said, “We just have to travel across this mountain. Desmorelda’s cabin should be just on the other side.”
As my father spoke, my heart began to race in excitement that my son was nearby.
“I think we need to come up with a plan,” Emerlee said. “We’re going to be enterin
g Desmorelda’s cabin blindly, and none of know what to expect.”
“You’re right,” Damon cried. “But not only do we need a plan to save our son, we need a plan as to what to do next. We need to figure out how we’re going to get home.”
“We could return to the village,” I said, “With their help, we should be able to open a portal big enough to send all of us home.”
“Do you think it’s safe...with Benny...and you’re pregnant.”
“I’ve traveled through a portal before when I was pregnant...and Benny traveled through as an infant.”
“But that was different,” Damon said, “It was life or death. Benny might be okay, but I don’t know if it’s a good idea to send you through...with a tiny baby inside of you.”
I knew Damon was right, but I said, “A portal may be dangerous, but I would rather take that risk, than travel several weeks through the dangerous mountains again.”
“What if she stays at the village,” Ben said, “until the baby is born. The healing fairy is highly skilled, she can deliver the baby.”
“But Luke!” I cried. “We’ve already missed a month of his life. We can’t miss almost an entire year.”
“I can return to him. He will have me...and our parents,” Damon said softly.
“But what about the baby,” I cried, “Don’t you want to be there?”
Damon looked down and shook his head. Although the others didn’t know the truth, I knew Damon was considering the child might not even be his.
“I will stay with you,” Ben said. “We can stay a few months, and when the baby is stronger...we can return to the castle through the portal.”
“What about Benny?” I asked.
“He can stay with the two of you,” Damon answered. Then he looked down and grunted, “He should get to know his real father.”
“Damon, are you sure?” I cried, “Should we break our family apart like this?”
Damon nodded his head, but he didn’t say another word.
After a few moments of silence, Emerlee spoke once more, “I’m glad we have that figure out, but we need to figure out what to do with Desmorelda.”
“What do you mean?” Nathen asked.
“We can’t just kill her,” Emerlee cried. “We tried that, and she returned. We must do something stronger this time. We can’t simply kill her and throw her across the veil. I have an idea.”
“What’s that?” Delia asked.
“Well...I’m not sure if it can be done...but I say we send her all the way to hell,” Emerlee cried.
I gasped, “Can that be done! Can you do that!”
“I don’t know,” Emerlee said. “I know that you shouldn’t be a part of this dark magic with being pregnant Miranda...but maybe Damon and Delia can help. Maybe the three of us could send her there. We can’t let her return. The veil is too easy to penetrate, especially for someone as powerful as Desmorelda.”
“Won’t she just escape?” Ben asked.
“I don’t know.” Emerlee replied, “But it has to be harder to escape than the veil, and maybe she’ll like it there. She just can’t be here, her chaos will—”
I nodded my head. “We need to banish her in the best way we can.”
“I agree!” Damon cried, “I don’t want her coming after my children ever again! I will help with whatever is needed.”
Delia nodded her head, “I will as well!”
Emerlee looked towards Damon and Delia, “The three of us can go over the spell tonight. I remember most of it. I learned it in school, but I have never performed it before.” Damon and Delia nodded their heads, and Emerlee said, “Why don’t we work on it outside the cave so the others can rest.” They all nodded in agreement and headed outside.
“I’ll keep guard,” Nathen said looking at me. “The three of you get some sleep.”
Ben, my father and I nodded as we set up our blankets and lay down to sleep. Although the cold cave floor was much less comforting than the plush bed I had slept in the past few nights, I welcomed the sleep, as I was exhausted from only a single day's journey. I wanted as much rest as possible as I looked forward to seeing my son.
The next morning our group devoured a small meal, packed up and headed on our way. We had one final mountain to climb, before we reached our son.
As we left the cave and headed up the mountainside, we hiked through a thick forest of snow covered evergreen trees. The ground was steep and slick, and after only a few minutes, Delia collapsed to the ground.
As Damon went to her side to help her up, he looked at me and said, “I’m worried about you falling. What if you hurt the baby?” As he helped his mother up, he shook his head doubtfully and said softly, “You shouldn’t have come.”
“You didn’t have any opposition when I told you I wanted to continue on,” I cried.
“How can I think straight right now with everything going on!” he yelled.
As Damon bickered at me, the rest of the group stopped to gaze at the two of us in surprise, and looked quite uncomfortable by our behavior.
I looked around the group and said, “I’m sorry. We’ll just have to take it slow. I should be okay.”
Ben quickly came to my side, “I’ll be right by your side the entire way. If you slip, I’ll catch you.” He took my hand to keep me steady.
Damon grunted, but the rest of the group looked around at one another in confusion by Damon’s sudden agitation. As we continued on our way, Emerlee and Delia slipped several times, each time crying out in pain. My father and Nathen even slipped once. Every time I lost my balance, Ben quickly took hold of me so I didn’t fall. Even Damon came to my rescue a few times, but afterwards grunted in disgust.
After several hours of treacherous climbing, I was beginning to feel confident Damon and Ben would not let me fall. My confidence dissolved when I felt my foot slide on a piece of ice. I reached out for Ben, but as he wrapped me in his arms, he slid as well, losing his balance. Damon tried to help us, but it was too late. The two of us slid around for only a second, before we slammed into the slick snow.
I screamed as I landed on my stomach, and a sharp pain slammed into my abdomen and down my legs. “Oh God!” I screamed as Ben quickly pulled me from the ground and Damon was instantly by our side.
Ben quickly looked me over, trying to find any sign of blood or injury, but there was nothing but sharp pain.
Damon kneeled by my side and shook his head as he yelled, “You shouldn’t have come! You should never have come.”
As pain continued shooting from stomach and into my back, tears burst from my eyes, as I was terrified I lost my baby.
“Where does is hurt!” Ben cried as he rubbed his fingers up and down my shoulder to calm my nerves.
I pointed to my stomach and sniffled, “Here...and my legs and back.”
“Are you bleeding? Do you feel any blood?” Ben said quickly as the others were now gathered around.
I shook my head, but I knew that didn’t guarantee the baby’s safety.
“Why don’t we camp for the night,” my dad said calmly. “There is a big tree over there we can lay under. We can see how Miranda is doing in the morning.”
Everyone nodded their head but Damon stood up and began to yell, “If she would’ve just stayed in the village, everything would be okay! We’d be there by now!” As his face turned red, I saw tears were beginning to swell his eyes, but he looked at Ben and he began to yell louder, “I wish you would have just stayed dead! This is your fault! All your fault!”
“Now son,” Nathen said calmly as he put his hand on his son’s back, “you can’t blame Ben. This was Desmorelda, not Ben. Calm down son.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Damon screamed as he pushed his father away.
“Damon!” Delia hissed at her son, “Don’t act like that towards your father.”
“Now everyone,” my father said calmly, “settle down. We don’t want to attract beasts.”
But Damon didn’t listen, he walked
to where Ben and I were sitting and shoved his finger in Ben’s face as he said, “You took her from me once and now you did it again!”
“You agreed to this,” Ben said calmly. “This was your idea. I was willing to walk away. I just wanted Miranda to be happy.”
“Then why did you sleep with her!” Damon yelled loud enough for everyone to hear. “In my home!” he screamed, “I tried to forgive you both! I was even willing to let the two of you be together, but you got her pregnant!”
Everyone looked around at one another in shock, and I felt embarrassed as Damon blurted out the truth for everyone to hear. I saw Delia throw her hand across her mouth, and Nathen looked down in the snow. My father looked upset, and Emerlee walked away, trying not to get involved.
Finally Ben’s face began redden as he stood up and said, “You don’t know that! You don’t know I’m the father. You just assume I’m the father, and you’re pushing Miranda away.”
“It’s what you want!” Damon spat back, his face only inches away from Ben’s. “You want Miranda and Benny all to yourself. After I took care of them for eight years, you’re going to take them both away from me.”
“Where is this coming from!” Ben yelled as he balled his fist and tightened his face. “You agreed to everything! The three of us agreed on everything together.”
Damon’s body grew even tighter, looking like he would attack Ben at any minute as he yelled, “What other choice did I have! Why couldn’t you just stay dead!”
Ben shook his head. Then he paused as he took a deep breath in, relaxed his posture and began to walk away, but Damon grabbed Ben’s shoulder with his left hand and swung his fist right in Ben’s face with the other. Damon’s strong blow sent blood flying into the air and splattering into the snow.
“Damon!” I screamed as I began to stand from the ground.
Ben held his nose with one hand as he quickly kneeled to my side and wrapped his arm around me and said, “Don’t get up baby. I’m okay.”
The Portal to Sidhe: Book 2 Page 17