Do You Care

Writers: Heather, Suzee
Date Posted: 8th October 2015

Characters: Demir, Rethisa
Description: The newlyweds try to figure out where they stand.
Location: Hidden Meadows
Date: month 2, day 1 of Turn 8

Demir

For most of the first week Demir played the attentive newlywed to his
new wife in public. But in private he didn't say a word. In fact when
they retired to her room, he made a point of sitting by the fire with
his drink in hand and going over the Hold accounts.

He slept in the chair and got up before the rest of the hold to go and
work in the fields. He was a farm crafter after all.

After the first week though once the eyes were no longer watching his
every move he began retiring to his own room after they'd had their
dinner.

But after a few weeks of that even he was getting tired of the long
evenings without a spoken word. He knew he would have to claim the
child she was carrying his only hope was that it was a girl and not a
boy. He didn't want to blame the child for the mother's deception but
he was finding it very difficult to think about that eventuality.

So he started with a single word. "Rethisa," he acknowledged as he
entered their suite for dinner.

Rethisa looked up with wary eyes. **He speaks.** So far her new
husband had only spoken to her to give brief instructions or when
force to create small talk in front of others. Most days Rethisa kept
mainly to her room, which she hated because she knew it made her look
snobbish to the people that lived at Hidden Meadows. Allera had told
her that there were already whispers among the staff that she stayed
in her room because she thought she was too good for the small
holding. In reality, Rethisa stayed in her room to hide the developing
child she carried.

"Yes?" She laid the needle point she was working on in her lap.

"Does your maid ride," he asked. Of course that wasn't the question
he'd been going to start with but it would do for the moment.

She was puzzled by the question, which was probably evident as she
replied, "Yes, I believe so."

He gave a curt nod and crossed to his customary chair. "Then she can
exersize Snow Maiden until you are..." he waved a hand in a circle as
he searched for the right word. "Recovered."

"I see. I will let her know, then." It pained Rethisa to think of
anyone else riding Snow Maiden, but there was no denying that the
runner would need to stretch her legs, and Rethisa couldn't very well
be the one to ride her. She noted the way Demir carefully avoided the
topi of the baby, and it made her wonder if he would ever let her tell
him about her pregnancy.

He took a deep breath and didn't look at her. "When are you due."

Rethisa instinctively touched a hand to her stomach, "I've got about
another month."

His head began to pound as he knew it would so he closed his eyes and
covered them with one hand. "Lovely." There would not be a way to hide
or explain any of it. It was too soon unless he were to claim he'd had
relations with her the moment they'd met and even that would mean the
babe would have to be 'premature.' But it would explain why he'd
rushed into the marriage.

"Shardit Rethisa," he swore under his breath. "Why didn't you just tell me."

"Would you have listened?" Rethisa asked softly.

"Don't go there," he said in a warning tone. "You have trapped me
woman. There isn't a sharding thing I can do but take it on the chin.
Do you care at all?"

Rethisa's green eyes flashed, for the first time showing some of the
temper that Verlow had stamped out of her over the Turns, "Of course I
do. Do you think this is how I wanted things to be?"

"Yes," he slapped his thighs and stood, "Yes I would have listened.
Alright?" He stood looking at her with almost a helpless expression on
his face. "I fell in love with you the moment I laid eyes on you."

Hot tears flooded Rethisa's eyes, "I know." She reached up and swiped
the tears off her cheeks. "I didn't know I was pregnant when I first
met you, and things were so wonderful. I was afraid if you knew before
we got married that.... That you would call the wedding off."

He couldn't believe the tears any more that he could believe anything
she said. Because obviously she hadn't told him the truth about a lot
of things. "I might have done," he said without sympathy. "But now
we'll never know. Will we?" He shook his head and looked into the fire
again. "Do you love him?"

"Who?" Rethisa asked, bewildered. **The baby?**

He just closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. "The father. Who
was the father to you."

Pevran. Rethisa pictured his face for a moment. The mental image
brought up feelings of sadness over what had happened to him and
Shadow in the Wind. "He was someone that was nice to me when no one
else was." She thought of the way he'd stepped up and kept Verlow's
son from raping her that day behind the barn. "I didn't know him long
enough to love him."

"And what about me," he asked softly. "How do you really feel." Not
that he could believe her if she said she loved him.

Her eyes looked up to his. "You are exactly the kind of man I dreamed
of when I was a girl, hoping that my father would choose someone like
you..." She looked down at her hands. "But he didn't. You would be so
easy to love, Demir, but I don't deserve that, not after what I've
done."

**Would be** he thought. Well at least she hadn't tried to lie again.
He sat back down in his chair for a long moment. He'd thought about
the future... of the Hold, their marriage, and the child. None of this
was the child's fault but that left him in a very difficult spot. His
rightful heir could be displaced should he acknowledge it as his own.
But Rethisa would be disgraced if he didn't. "I just hope it's a
girl," he said to the fire. "But whatever it is I won't cast you out
Rethisa. We will appear in love to all the world outside this room,"
he turned to look at her. "But I won't come to you until after the
child is born and you've recovered. Our connecting door will remain
unlocked so the drudges don't gossip. Not a word of this can escape
this room." He stood and walked to the door that separated their
bedrooms. "Perhaps in time we can be friends."

Despite the tears burning her eyes, Rethisa managed a weak smile,
"Yes, friends." She wasn't sure what made her want to cry more, the
relief that he wasn't throwing her out, or the hurt of knowing she was
so close to what could have been.

With that he stepped through the door and closed it softly behind him.

Last updated on the October 13th 2015

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