by L A Moore
“Thank you Avianna, you may now be seated.” Councilwoman Lorden said.
Then the four of them examined the evidence that was presented and left the room, leaving both parties alone in the room, guarded only by their guards.
Samuel’s Guard stood him up and pulled him along, back down the walkway towards the door.
Samuel sneered at them as he went by and said “I’m going to win and you’re going to lose and soon I’ll be free as a bird and you will fry in hell, Monster Man.”
Poppy glared at him, unable to keep her emotions in check, but she was glad she wasn’t the only one who was pissed at Samuel as, when she looked back Ari and Avianna, they were also glaring at him and to their pleasure, his guard, who they knew to be a sasquatch too, kicked him hard in the back side and forced him through the door.
Poppy, Ari, and Avianna waited impatiently in the room for any word from the council, but none came. That night they dressed once again, pulling on their finery and doing their hair and makeup. This time they wore black, with Ari wearing a black suit with a black button up shirt and a black tie and shoes. Avianna and Poppy wore off the shoulder black mermaid dresses with black lace tops and a black lace train with black shoes. Then they pulled their hair up into an elaborate braid that hung down their backs and was interlaced with black ribbon and black pearls. For jewelry, they wore black onyx and diamonds and for makeup, they opted for a heavy smoky eye and dark red lips; with their contouring and highlighting, they looked magnificent. Hand in hand they walked down to dinner and took their place at their assigned table at the back of the room; this time they didn’t need to be presented to the council.
Chapter 91
That evening was the most bittersweet they would spend together. Number 1 had told them it could go either way as Samuel made a convincing argument that his whole reason was because his Father had revealed himself outside of his property. They sat together and played cards that they found in one of the drawers of the coffee table and laughed and told tales and dreamed of a future where none of this existed and it was just them again.
“I can’t wait for us to be married and start a family.” Poppy said.
“Me either. I want at least two, one boy and one girl.” Ari replied.
“I don’t care what they are as long as you have them. I can’t wait to have grandchildren and to be a grandmother.” Avianna added.
“What do you think they would look like?” Poppy asked them, laying against Ari.
“They would be the perfect mix between us with all your most beautiful attributes and all my best attributes and my special abilities.” Ari answered.
“They will be the most beautiful and most handsome children the Gods have ever put on this earth, but I’m partial. I’m the Grandmother and it’s my job to think them perfect.” Avianna added.
That night Poppy and Ari made love and talked until the sun came up trying to soak in as much time together as they could.
Chapter 92
The next morning, they dressed in red as Poppy said it was a happy color and hopeful color so Ari wore a deep gray suit with a red vest and a red tie and the girls wore red suits with skirts and a gray shirt with red shoes. For jewelry, they wore rubies and they once again pulled their hair up, this time into a coif at the nape of their necks. For makeup, they wore deep gray smoky eye and bright red lipstick. They looked the picture of hope, Poppy said and together they walked hand in hand, followed by their guards, to the trial room.
Chapter 93
Samuel was happy to go back into his padded room. He felt good about his testimony and the evidence provided. He was sure that he would be walking free as a bird just as soon as they made their decision; he was going to leave and go home a vindicated man. He slept like a baby that night, no longer tormented by the memories of his torment and torture in the mental ward.
The next morning he woke early and ate his meal of scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon and black coffee. Then went along as the guard led him to the showers and then to the dressing room where a black suit with a gray shirt and black tie waited for him. He didn’t even mind the smell this time because soon he would be leaving a free man. Once he was dressed, they led him to the trial room where, this time, he kept his mouth shut as Ari, Poppy, and Avianna walked in and took their seats.
Shortly after the High Counsel walked in and took their seats, this time not bothering to introduce themselves.
To say nerves were high was an understatement. Poppy was practically a live wire of nerves as was Avianna. Ari, on the other hand, remained calm and collected, at least on the outside. Inside, he was shaking in his boots, terrified what they may decide on and regretting his decision of calling them in to begin with. He questioned if he would have been able to bring Samuel down himself, but knew he couldn’t have. It had taken both of them to bring him down in the end and he was grateful for their help; he just wished it hadn’t come with a trial to boot.
The High Council stood and Councilmen Mcgrath spoke. “We have come to a unanimous decision. The High Council here by finds Samuel Geissler …guilty of murder, kidnapping, and torture. We hereby sentence him to life imprisonmen.t as well as the loss of his Right leg to compensate for the damages done to his victims. We also find Aurion Mooreland innocent of crimes of revealing himself to a human as he was on his own property at the time of his transformation.”
“WHAT THE FUCK? ARE YOU STUPID? IM INNOCENT! IM INNOCENT DAMNIT! NOO NOO DON’T TAKE ME, DONT TAKE MY LEG NOOO!!!!!!” Samuel screamed as he was drug out of the court room.
Poppy’s heart soared when they said Ari was innocent, but it also went out to Samuel for losing his leg. She knew what that was like and, although it was just and there was nothing she could do about it, she still couldn’t help but feeling a little sorry for him. It was all she could do not to turn and jump for joy in Ari’s arms and squeal with glee, but she knew she had to remain calm and collected until they were dismissed. So instead, she squeezed his hand and smiled.
Chapter 94
The ride back was a long one that seemed to take twice as long as it had the first go around. All of them just wanted to be home and have this past them. To pass the time they popped champagne and ate from the mini bar with abandon, turned up the music and had themselves a party right in the back of the limo.
“I can’t remember when I last had so much fun!” Avianna said.
“Us either, we should do this more often.” Poppy replied, pouring Avianna more champagne.
“Hey, leave some for me!” Ari said, pushing his glass over to Poppy for a refill.
All too soon the ride was over and they were pulling back up to their home, but they weren’t upset because they were all coming home together.
“Sorry about the mess.” Ari said as he tipped the driver.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, Sir. We’re used to it and, if I may say, welcome home!” the driver said.
“Thanks.” Ari responded and picked Poppy up and carried her into the house, leaving the driver to unload the luggage and his Mother laughing at them.
“I can’t believe you just did that, I’m so embarrassed; now they know what we’re going to do!” Poppy said, covering her face with one hand.
“Good, because I don’t give a rat’s ass who knows I’m just grateful I can do it. It was all I could do to keep my hands off you last night, but I knew you needed your sleep after the night before, but now you’re up for grabs. Just so you know, I intend to do a lot of grabbing.” Ari said, kissing Poppy and grabbing her butt, he shifted her so that she was straddling him and carried her off into their bedroom with Poppy giggling the whole way.
It was late in the night when Ari finally came out of the bedroom to get some much needed water for the both of them and noticed someone had brought in their luggage and shut the door for them. He figured it was probably his Mother, but wouldn’t have put it past the driver, considering the tip he had given him. He would have to remember to thank his Mother, just in case it had
been her. That was when he noticed the little white box on top of the luggage. It was about the size of a cake box and all wrapped in white paper with a beautifully detailed bow on top of it in gold. He got his water and refilled the glass for Poppy, then walked over and retrieved the package and took it with him to show Poppy. He looked for a tag but found none. As he walked back into the room, Poppy sat up in bed.
“What’s that?” Poppy asked, indicating the box. “Did you get me a gift?” she added.
“No, not that you don’t deserve anything you want, but no, I found it on top of the luggage. There’s no tag, so I am not sure who it’s from.” Ari said and handed Poppy the glass of water.
“Go ahead, open it. I think I’ve had my fill of opening untagged gifts for a while.” Poppy said drinking the water and setting the glass down beside her on the night stand.
Ari opened the box carefully, not sure what to expect. In truth, he had had his fill of opening boxes too, and surprises for that matter, but with Samuel locked up he didn’t think there was much danger of finding anything scary or bloody.
Inside the box lay a tiny white hand crocheted baby layette with matching booties, hat, diaper cover, and hand mittens along with a matching blanket and a card.
Good luck in the future and may your children be blessed. Here is a little something to get your started.
Honor, Justice, Harmony, and Purity
Ari held each item up for Poppy to inspect and then read the letter to her.
“Oh my Gods, they are beautiful! What a sweet gift, but how did they know that we wanted children?” Poppy asked.
“The room may have been bugged or there could have been cameras.” Ari teased.
“You’re kidding! You mean … and we… and they saw!” Poppy said mortified.
“Yes, I’m kidding, relax. Although I can’t say for sure the room wasn’t bugged to gather more evidence.” Ari replied and began tickling Poppy.
Poppy squealed with laughter and tickled him back.
They woke up late the next morning and Poppy made waffles and fried chicken while Ari added pellets to the wood stove to keep the house nice and toasty. It was the perfect breakfast for a cold morning.
“Are you coming with me today?” Ari asked Poppy.
“Where? Out there? In the cold? With my prosthetic? I’d fall and bust my arse in seconds Ari, and you know I can’t handle climbing mountains anymore. I had to give all that up. Its cruel of you to even ask me!” Poppy said, shocked and hurt that he would be so thoughtless.
“Yeah, I guess you would fall with that prosthetic, which is why I got you a new prosthetic.” Ari said, pulling a box out from behind the sofa. It was all wrapped up in gold wrapping paper with a bright red bow on it and tag with her name on it. “This one’s safe to open, I swear!” Ari said and handed her the box.
Ari had already spent the money for her to have a top of the line prosthetic leg that looked nearly identical to her own leg and was even covered in a skin like material that matched her own. It was so well made, and functioned so well, that it was nearly impossible to detect that she had a prosthetic leg. She took the box and carefully laid it up on the table and removed the lid. Inside was a top of the line rugged prosthetic, made of all metal and looked virtually indestructible. Despite its building material, it was surprisingly light and she had seen other people with them at the rehab center. He had had the bottom made special to have various treads that she could attach, depending on what sort of activity she wanted to do. There was a sneaker tread, a spiked tread for snow, and even a mountain climbing tread. Poppy couldn’t help but to squeal in delight. “I love it! Oh my Gods Ari, this is too much, but thank you, oh thank you! I can’t tell you what this means to me! You’ve given me my freedom back!” Poppy said delighted.
“I promised I would get you only the best legs money could buy and I meant it Poppy. It’s the least I could do after what you went through.” Ari said.
“Stop! We have had this conversation before, it wasn’t your fault; it was Samuel’s fault and he’s paid his due for it too. It’s behind us now, and we should focus on the future.” Poppy said, removing the prosthetic from the box and slipping on the ice and snow track. “And right, now the future says Poppy Wilde is going to climb a mountain and take some pictures with her fiancé.” She added, laughing as she slid her old prosthetic off and her new one on.
“Well slow down there Champ, we still need to get you dressed.” Ari said picking Poppy up and carrying her to their bedroom.
Once dressed, Ari helped Poppy put on her new prosthetic and helped her as she got used to walking in it.
“It’s different and a little harder to get used to, but I like it. I’ll probably need to hold onto you still.” Poppy said, worried she would lose her balance and fall and visions of her last fall down the mountain flashed through her head. She was nervous and a little scared, but mostly excited. “Let’s go!” she said and began leading the way with Ari holding on to her for support on the hard wood floors.
They stopped only to put on their parkas, having already put on their snow pants and boots and grab her camera bag and lunch and then they were off. Ari carried their lunch and her camera bag on his back and held onto Poppy with one hand as he let her get used to walking in the snow and ice. A few trips back and forth across the grass, and she felt strong enough to try the trail that led up into the woods. It was slow going but by noon they had reached Ari’s special place. He had been baiting it before he left with various foods to attract the animals in the hopes he would be returning. He wanted to get a shot of as many of his woodland creatures as he could all in one spot, and he knew with it being winter they would be extra hungry. He set them up on a large boulder big enough to accompany both their bottoms and sat their stuff down below them.
“How are you, are you ok?” Ari asked Poppy quietly.
“I’m fine.” She replied, beaming.
It didn’t take long before Ari had Poppy all sat up and then he began calling to the animals, something he had not shown her he could do yet. Slowly but surely they began to emerge and eat the food that he had sat out for them. The trees glistened with snow and ice and the stream was half frozen over. Everything was covered with a thick layer of snow and one by one the squirrels, deer, foxes, chipmunks, birds, and all sorts of creatures appeared. Poppy shot quickly, trying to capture as many of the animals as she could, and then getting as many group shots as she could. It was magical, and she had Ari to thank for it. It was a moment she would never forget, a part of him that he had gifted to her, and it was more precious than anything he’d ever done for her before. They spent the next hour shooting pictures and then, when all the food had been ate, the animals began to leave one by one until only the birds and squirrels remained. They ate their sandwiches and drank their soup and hot cocoa before heading back down the mountain. Getting down proved to be far easier than climbing up was and they made it home by early afternoon.
Chapter 95
Avianna had known what Ari had planned and while they were gone, she came over and prepared them all dinner. She couldn’t wait to see the photos that Poppy had gotten. She made a big pot of her Mexican white chicken chili and made homemade flour tortillas to go with it.
Poppy and Ari came in just as she had finished the tortillas. “Mmm, something smells good!” Poppy said coming in the door.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I made us all dinner, my famous white chicken chili and homemade tortillas.” Avianna said. “Plus, I couldn’t wait to see your face when you got back down the mountain and your beautiful pictures.” She added.
“Oh, wasn’t that a wonderful gift! I can’t believe he did that and then up on the mountain with the animals… well it was just magic! Wait till you see the ones I took of all of them together!” Poppy said, gushing with excitement.
“Well, go get all that off and then come show me!” Avianna said, shooing them off towards the bedroom and mopping up behind them.
Ari helped Popp
y to get undressed and switch out her legs and then redress in yoga pants and a long sweater and thick socks. She didn’t really need one on her prosthetic, but she liked having one on it just the same so it looked more normal. Once they were changed Poppy and Ari gathered her bag and her computer to take a look at the images while the chili finished cooking.
Gathered together on the couch, the trio sat looking over the photos choosing which ones to send in and which ones to keep for themselves.
“I want the one of the little chipmunks and the fox!” Avianna exclaimed.
“Oh, those are good, but I like the one of the deer and the fox.” Poppy commented.
“I love all of them, but I think we should send in these ten here.” Ari said, pulling ten photos out of the group and putting them into a separate folder.
“I agree, those were the best shots, I think.” Poppy said and Avianna agreed.
“Well, ok then, let’s send them in; I know the office is just dying for you to get back on your feet. This will be a nice surprise for them.” Ari said.
“Well I wouldn’t be if it weren’t for the most amazing fiancé ever, so thank you.” Poppy said.
“You’re welcome, now let’s go eat, my belly’s about to eat itself it’s so hungry.” Ari said and helped Poppy up.
They ate and then sat around watching the fire and trading stories and Poppy showed Avianna the gift that the High Council had sent them and they ooed and ahhed over it, making a fun about how tiny the outfit was and how sweet it was of the council to send it.
The office was, indeed, grateful to get Poppy’s pictures and, as a thank you and a welcome back, they sent her a giant basket of fruits, cheeses, and crackers as well as a bottle of wine and a bouquet of poppies.
“I’ll take it they liked your work?” Ari asked when he saw all of her loot.
“Looks like it, but it was mostly you, I just took the pictures.” Poppy said, admiring her gifts and smelling her flowers that had just been delivered. It was getting easier as the days went by to get back to a sense of normalcy and so when the delivery driver had come it hadn’t sent Poppy into a total panic, just some mild anxiety. She didn’t know if she would ever be the same after her ordeal, but she knew she was healing slowly from it, and hoped one day it would just be a thing of the past that seemed to have happened to someone else.