May Death Do Us Part

228 Chapter 228 : Timid

He was sitting by the sofa that faced the open window, holding a book in his hand but Melissa could tell that he had read nothing from it. His eyes instead were fixated on the outside and his mind was far from the room. Melissa walked carefully so as not to startle him, now she was as sure as ever that her husband was deep in thought because he did not even turn her way, he was usually very sensitive to his surroundings.

“Gary...”

The man turned towards Melissa with a start and blinked several times as if not believing what he was seeing. He got up hurriedly and walked towards his wife only to stop a few inches away from her. “Mel...” his eyes were filled with worry, he looked like he was actually afraid to hold his own wife.

“Did you not miss me?” Melissa asked the man in an attempt to give him a push of encouragement, she could tell that he was being hesitant probably because he was afraid.

Gareth took another step forward and was about to hold her put stopped himself midway, “I missed you more than anything..”

“Then are you not going to give me a hug or anything?”

“I want nothing more than to hold you in my arms my love,” Gareth mumbled, his eyes were fidgeting as if he was holding himself back from just whisking her into his arms and kissing her all over. “I’m afraid, I don’t want to hurt you. How are you feeling?”

Melissa cupped her husband’s face in her hands and gave him a smile, “honey, I’m fine, you don’t have to worry about me.” She leaned forward and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips, “now come here, I have missed my husband’s touch these past few weeks I have been away.”

Gareth pulled his beautiful wife into his embrace and kissed her deeply, his hands pressing her body against his, it had been so long since he had held her this close before. When they parted lips he had the biggest smile on his face, over the years she had not been too well even though she claimed was fine.

.....

When Eira was born, Melissa had undergone a very dangerous procedure that had left her scarred and wounded. She had concealed it at first insisting that she was alright and the pain would go away, the midwife didn’t make things any better either by assuring Melissa that it was something normal.

A few weeks down the line the pain had become unbearable for Melissa, she was so sick that she could sometimes fail to hold her own daughter. When Marceline came to Gavaria to see their newly born daughter, she was horrified to find Melissa in the state that she was.

Being a mother, Melissa blew things grossly out of proportion and blamed everyone for what was happening, insisting that they had neglected her daughter. The words the nosferatu queen had used hurt Gareth the most, he was her husband after all, if something was wrong with his wife he should have been the first to know, but he had believed her when she said she was alright and everything that was going on was normal.

The scenario only made Gareth feel even more guilty when a physician had to come all the way from the snowlands to check on his wife, and mentioned that if they had waited any longer she could have died from the infection. Gareth blamed himself for everything, and his guilt ran deep.

“Have you seen Eira? She will be so happy to see you back.”

“I did, she barely had the time to latch onto my legs like she used to,” Melissa responded with a chuckle before the two sat down on the sofa by the window. “She seems to be having fun with Zander and Zhelimir..”

“She is definitely your daughter,” Gareth responded with a scoff, “she loves sword fighting and archery more than she likes shoes and dresses. Maria is tired of screaming at her.”

Melissa chuckled, Eira did indeed remind her of herself when she was younger, especially in her life as Guinevere. Her mother Gezelle would have lost her mind having to deal with Eira, and her father would have absolutely loved her.

“Children truly are a blessing,” Gareth added on, “I don’t know what I would have done without her when you were gone, she was my saving grace, she helped me get through a lot of sad moments.”

“They are,” Melissa responded and held her husband’s hand and stroked it. The smile that she gave him made Gareth knit his eyebrows together with a suspicious look on his face.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s just..” Melissa gently nibbled the inside of her lip before turning away with a blush on her cheeks. “I was just thinking about maybe having another baby?”

Gareth’s eyes circled at the woman’s words, had he heard her right or were his ears playing tricks on him? He flattered his eyelashes rapidly and shook his head feeling a bit confused, “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Melissa looked up at Gareth and took his arms gently, and with a pleading look repeated her words, “I want to try for another child Gareth. Eira is growing up so fast and I missed out on so much of her childhood because i was not well, I want the chance to fully experience motherhood.”

“But Mel...”

She squeezed her husband’s hand even more, “Gary please just think about it alright. I spent most of the time in bed watching other people take care of my own child, I have the chance to do it right this time, all I’m asking is for you do consider it.”

*

Eira screamed as she charged towards her uncle with her small wooden sword in hand. She swung it at Zander’s legs and the man jumped back in surprise at how fast she had moved, she was getting better and better at this everyday, much quicker than he anticipated.

“Ah nice try princess but-” before the blonde elf could finish his statement, Eira teleported from her spot to behind her uncle and whacked him with her wooden sword.

Zander leapt into the air to avoid another attack from his niece and landed a few feet away from where she was standing. He straightened his posture and gawked at the little redhead who had her wooden sword secured in her hand. She has actually managed to land a hit on him, a little six year old girl managed to land a hit on him! This was both worrying and exciting at the same time.

“I got you uncle Zander!” Eira yelled in excitement while jumping up and down in joy. “I told you I would finally get to hit you one day!”

Zander walked towards Eira and gave her a slow clap, he was genuinely impressed by her skill, especially at that age. “Indeed you did,” he responded before roughing up the girl’s hair. “Good job princess, you can rest now while your cousin gives it a go.”

Zhelimir gulped when his father’s words reached his ears, he didn’t like this training that involved swinging swords around even if they were fake. All he wanted was to be home With his mother and help her tend to the flowers or something, not this.

“Come on Zhel you can do it!” Eira cheered her cousin on. She knew that he didn’t like sword fighting but she knew he had a talent for it that he wasn’t willing to let out.

Zhelimir gulped before picking up his wooden sword and walking hesitantly towards his father.

The young boy looked a lot like his father but behaved nothing like him. He had short blonde hair, golden brown eyes and pointed ears. The only way one would know that he was half nosferatu was by the slightly pale skin that he took after his mother.

Zhelimir’s personality was like none of his parents who were both strong and capable warriors, he was more of a lover than a fighter, and hated anything that involved hurting other people. But both his parents wanted him to grow up and become a brave knight one day, so he didn’t have much of a choice.

“Chin up son,” Zander encouraged his little boy, “you’ve got elven and nosferatu blood flowing through you, wielding a sword should be nothing.”

*

Moments later, the trio walked back into the palace towards the study were Melissa and her husband were having some tea.

“Welcome back my little warriors,” Melissa cooed, “How did training g-” before she could finish her statement she noticed the bruise on Zhelimir’s cheek and immediately turned all her attention to him “oh my goddess Zhelimir what happened to you?! Oh come here my baby.” She pulled the boy into her embrace. She inspected his bruise and gave Zander a disapproving glare.

“Oh come on it’s only a small bruise, he’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

“You know what,” Melissa responded, “I’ll let your wife decide if this is just a little bruise.”

“He’s a man, battle scars are his pride,”

Melissa rolled her eyes at Zander. “He is six years old Zander.”