CHAPTER TEN-THE TRUTH

As the dim morning light crossed her body in the full-length mirror, Rosemary looked down over herself while the now too tight silken gown she wore stretched across her abdomen and the panic started to set in.

The ringing in her ears was only drowned out by the sounds of her own sniffling as she sucked back the tears coming from her burning eyes.

She thought that she must be imaging things, it wouldn’t be the first time since this all happened that her eyes and mind deceived her. She still had nightmares that she swore were real the way she could still smell the alcohol on her attacker’s breath and the stink of the alley her dragged her into.

Needing to know for sure, Rosemary took a deep breath through her nose for courage and closed her lying eyes.

Her wobbly fingers slid down her belly and laced together under her navel then she moaned out a gasp of horror as she felt the pulse of life under her healer’s hands. While all the walls and denials against the signs of pregnancy came crashing down around her, Rosemary ran to the balcony and threw open the doors.

Vomiting over the side onto the ground that overlooked the forest, Rosemary finally accepted the truth that she’d been ignoring for weeks. The little bumps and tickles from deep inside her womb that she tried so hard to attribute to the butterflies of her fledgling romance were painfully obvious now.

Quickly dressing in something that actually fit, Rosemary gasped and panted through her tears. Throwing open her door, Rosemary ran through the halls of the main house then down the stairs to the basement where her father’s laboratory was housed.

Rushing through the door, she called out to him as if his wisdom could somehow undo all the wrongs perpetrated against her. “Father! Help me!”

Nicholas saw the panic and devastation on her face and stood from his stool then took a few steps forward until he saw Rosemary cradling her round tummy in her hands.

She’d hid it well these last few months under new, more fashionable clothing and long robes, but a twinge of guilt crept up into the ancient wizard’s throat as he offered her a sympathetic smile then encircled her in his understanding arms. “Oh, Rosemary. It’s alright. Everything will be alright.”

With his confirmation of what she already knew to be true, Rosemary collapsed into his hug and began the panted, retching cries of a heartbroken woman.

Rocking her gently against his chest like he did when she was a babe, Nicolas spoke the only words he knew that could ease her doubts. “Shh! You are loved still, and your child will be as well. It belongs to the North, and we will adore it as we do all children. Don’t be afraid.”

Balling his robes in her hands as she desperately tried to find some goodness in her situation, she finally gave up all hope. “Daniel won’t want me now. I’m always going to be alone. It isn’t fair.”

“Don’t be silly.” Nicholas bent down to meet Rosemary’s eyes then pushed the tears from her face with his fingertips. “Daniel loves you most, only, and he will love your child because it is part of you.”

Pushing herself out of his comforting words, Rosemary backed away as she shook her head no at his reassurances. “I just want to be alone now.”

Placing his hands over his heart while she left him in the quiet of the basement, Nicholas spoke from the place where fathers kept all their love and hopes for their children. “If you need me, I’m here for you Rosemary. I always will be.”

Seeing Rosemary in front of him as she rushed to the solitude of her room, Daniel felt the pain inside her and he clutched at his chest as he called her name. “Rosemary, wait!” When she slammed the door shut behind her, she pushed herself against the door until Daniel’s fist met the outside of it and he knocked frantically. “Please leave me alone, Daniel.”

He spread his fingertips across the wooden obstacle between them as he tried to reach her mind. “Please let me in.”

Feeling the pull from his hand on the other side, Rosemary turned away from him and put her hands over her ears like it could stop him from pulling her thoughts from her head. “Daniel, please leave.”

There was no door, physical or mental, that could keep Daniel away from Rosemary so as she crossed the threshold to the balcony, the bedroom door she locked swung open from Daniel’s sheer will.

He shook his head in annoyance for the healer’s attempts to keep him away. “That won’t work on me, Rosemary.” Putting his hand over the ache in his heart, Daniel stepped slowly towards her. “Your life is not just yours now, it is mine, and mine is yours. You can’t just shut me out anymore.”

While the light hit her face as she backed out into the sunny autumn morning, Daniel saw her tear stained cheeks and swollen lips. “You're crying. Why?” As her thoughts started to trickle in when he closed his eyes, Daniel’s shoulders dropped in disappointment and he sighed.

Looking up to her again, Daniel shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, Rosemary.”

Rosemary steepled her hands together as if she were praying that were true. “You see Daniel, we can’t be together.”

Laughing off what she said, Daniel slid his fingertips to her cheeks gently and leaned into her face. “It doesn’t change anything.”

Pressing her lips together tightly, Rosemary’s face pulled into a pained scowl that was far too ugly for such a beautiful and innocent face as she grunted in a breath to stop her tears. “It will someday. You’ll not want to have to deal with a child that’s not yours, from the man who did that to me. You’ll just grow to hate us both.”

Trying to break free from his grasp on her arms, Rosemary buried her forehead into his chest when he refused to release her. “You’ll just hate me someday. I can’t stand it. I can’t.”

Pinning her against his chest with his strong arms, Daniel threaded Rosemary’s hair through his fingers and kissed the top of her head then pressed his cheek against it. “I won’t hate you. That can never happen.”

Guiding her head back so that he could look in her clear blue eyes, Daniel breathed against her face and rubbed the tip of his nose against hers. “You and your child are all I have in this world.”

His teary eyes spoke volumes about the kind of man he really was beneath the cold, expressionless exterior that he showed the rest of the Realm. “You, both of you, are my family. Whether you except it or not, I will not abandon you nor will I allow you to push me away. I cannot do without you.”

Pulling her to his lips, Daniel put Rosemary out of the misery she carried inside her heart as his lips conquered hers. While his plump wet lips moved with hers, he kissed away every tear and ache until nothing else remained but the two of them on the balcony.

Between every short and long kiss, Daniel did his best to convince Rosemary of his loyalty and affections. “I love you and I’ll love our baby. There will be no better husband or father. I swear to you.”

As the faint reminder of her shame started to reach out to them from the inside, the verity she had allowed to slip away for just a moment returned and she shook her head to free herself from Daniel’s kiss. “No. I won’t let you give up everything you dream of for me.” Sliding her hands up Daniel’s chest, Rosemary pushed him away. “Not for me.”

Balling his fists in front of him to stop himself from shaking some sense into Rosemary, Daniel huffed out through his nose and clenched his jaw. “All the dreams I have, all the plans I’m making, they are only because of you. Without you, it’s all meaningless.”

Stepping through the door that Daniel left open, Agamori watched the scene unfolding before him and sighed hard as he glanced around the room waiting for them to finish. “I’m sorry for the intrusion, but there are trespassers on the western border. Father wants us to evict immediately.”

Hissing through gritted teeth at being interrupted at such a delicate moment, Daniel glanced down to Rosemary then spoke to the man waiting behind him. “I’ll meet you at the stable.”

As Agamori put up his hands and backed out of the room, Daniel glared at his uncooperative mate and gave her one final warning. “I didn’t travel all this way to just give up on you. This isn’t over, Rosemary. It will never be over.”

“Yes, it is.” Rosemary’s response tore out the tiny black heart that Daniel housed inside his rocky chest and he chuckled the pain of it out through his nose as he backed away and pointed at her. With no words left that could persuade her in that moment and no air left in his lungs to say them with after that sucker punch, Daniel bit his lip and turned away.

Stomping out the bedroom door, Daniel lifted his hand and flicked his wrist then the door nearly exploded from its hinges as it slammed shut.

Seeing the illuminated bits of dust dancing on the air he just stalked through in the dimly lit spaces of her room, Rosemary doubled over as his pain ripped through her core and she spoke out into the nothing that remained. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”