Perhaps, Finally...

Writers: Dana, Eimi
Date Posted: 30th September 2008

Characters: Daigoro, Cinale
Description: Cinale suspects that she may, finally, be pregnant.
Location: Vintner Hall
Date: month 12, day 10 of Turn 4

Cinale

Daigoro sat with pillows at his back propping him up against the
headboard. He frowned as he squinted at the words of his book the dim
light. It had been getting harder and harder to read words on a page as
of late not only in bed but at his own desk. It had come to the point
that he had found himself holding them practically under his nose to be
able to see them clearly. But he didn't want to admit it. Daigoro
didn't feel so old that he might need... reading glasses... Forty-four
wasn't an old man. Was it?

As his wife emerged from the bathing area he flipped the book closed
with a frustrated sigh. "I think we need more glows in this room," he
grumbled as he set it off on the nightstand beside his side of the bed.

Cinale grinned at him. "You always say that." Grabbing a comb off the
dresser, she perched on the foot of the bed and began working through
the wet tangles. "Are you sure you aren't in denial, hon?"

"Denial of what?" he asked innocently as he pulled her pillows out from
behind his back and set them in their proper place once more.

"Needing reading glasses."

"Glasses? Humph," Daigoro snorted, crossing his arms across his chest.
"I don't need glasses. I can see you perfectly."

"I said _reading_ glasses." She slanted him a slow smile. "I don't
think you 'read' me, dear."

"Oh, I don't know," he said, looking at her through narrowed eyes,
though his lips curled into a knowing grin. "I think I'm learning to
read you rather well." Daigoro loved it when she smiled at him like
that, he had a feeling she could read his look like an open book.

One brow rose playfully. "Oh yes?"

"Uh huh," he said, crawling across the bed towards her. "I think I can
guess what you're thinking..."

Shards, she certainly hoped not! Smiling, she reached out to cup his
cheek. Cinale wanted to keep her musings private just a little
longer...until it was certain. It was the best thing to do, for both
their sakes. They'd been trying so hard, and perhaps, finally.... But
she wouldn't tell him. Not yet. "And what am I thinking?"

Daigoro leaned into her hand. "I think you're thinking that it's time
to go to bed," he smiled, knowing she'd undertand exactly that sleep was
not what he was thinking of.

Her fingers slid into his hair. "Got something on your mind tonight,
love?" she teased, soft heat in her eyes when they met his.

"Uh huh," he nodded, reaching out to pull her close. "You, my beautiful
woman."

Shifting, she tucked her legs against his, lips finding his throat in a
soft kiss. As she pressed her hand against his chest, she could feel
his breath quicken slightly, and she curled her fingers tightly into his
tunic in response, nestling against him.

"You know," he said softly as he wrapped her up in his arms, smiling
slightly at a memory that flashed through his mind, "I was thinking
today about the first time we met. I'm not so sure you thought much of
me."

She snorted softly. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, you just didn't seem too interested in showing a stranger around
his new home is all," he gently teased.

"It wasn't anything personal, hon." She tilted her head back to look at
him, a rueful expression on her face. "I was wary, as a woman should be
when she's alone with a stranger."

"I didn't think I was all that frightening," he said with look of mock
indignation.

"Not frightening. Just...very male." She flushed, somewhat embarrassed
to think about her past behavior brought on by reserve and anxiety.

"Oh, well, there's nothing wrong with _that_." Though Daigoro couldn't
help but feel more than a little smug that his wife had considered him
to be so manly even then.

"No," she agreed with a chuckle. "But how was I to know that you
weren't like the others?"

"Well, I don't think either one of us could have ever imagined all
_this_..." Especially as they had grown into friends over the turns.
If someone had told him even three or four turns ago that he and Cinale
would one day be man and wife, he would have been surprised, though
looking back, he wondered if it wouldn't have made sense even then.

Gently she fingered the laces of his tunic, thinking. She knew she was
a
lucky woman--luckier than most who lived in Hold and Hall. Women of her
status, and age, hardly ever married for love. Instead, they tended to
accept a man out of necessity, wedding him for financial and social
security. But she had been blessed with a luxury most couldn't afford.
She had been able to wait and choose a man for herself. She couldn't
imagine herself in a marriage that didn't have the foundations of
friendship and trust to build upon. She couldn't imagine raising her
child in a household where a wife and her husband were virtually
strangers. "We are lucky," she whispered.

"Yes, we are," he agreed softly, smoothing back her strawberry blonde
hair with the faintest touch of grey. They had both waited a long time
to find exactly what they wanted. Sometimes he wondered what he would
have done if someone else had found Cinale first. Would he have
eventually settled for one of those offers of marriage that poured
across his desk? Would he have put it off again and again until finally
it made no sense to start a family of his own? Perhaps the most
fortunate thing was he'd never know. He had his, and she was everything
he had wanted and more. "I could never have been this happy with anyone
else, Cinale. I believe that."

"Me too, hon," she murmured, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder.

Last updated on the October 1st 2008

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