Chapter 447: Birthday_Part 1
When she finished eating, he helped her mix the medicine she said the doctor had given her to take after every meals. When she was done and he was about to leave to take the plate back to the kitchen and to think and digest the fact that he was going to be a father again, she pulled his hand back.
"Rav, I know you’re not excited about the child, and I’m somewhat glad," Evenly began quietly. "I’m not confident that I’ll carry this pregnancy to term and bring the baby to life. But I hope you won’t be too disappointed if the child does come."
His reaction had been different from Josh’s, but it could also be because he didn’t want another child after losing his in the past. The last thing she wanted was to bring him unnecessary hurt in the future when the child did come.
Rav stared down at her on the bed and then sighed. Putting the tray aside on the stand, he took off his shoes and got on the big bed he had slept in many nights now, and also did things with Evenly on it that no longer made him feel shy being with her. He sat next to her, their backs resting on the headboard as he turned his head to her direction.
"I am not someone like that, Evenly. My reaction now is solely because I didn’t expect it, and I am still finding it hard to believe that you are carrying my child." His eyes went down to her stomach where the sheet lay below it. "I have always told myself that I can never afford to be a father to another child, but whenever I see Angel, I long for mine again, only..."
Rav shut his eyes and took a deep breath to hide his emotions from his face. He was scared that he might actually never be there for the child. His corruption might have slowed, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t there. He could feel it, and he had hoped that if he died, Evenly would have the chance to move forward someday. But if she had his child...
Rav opened his eyes and then asked, "Can I put my hand over it?" He looked into her eyes, and she nodded, reaching out to take his hand and placing it over her abdomen with her own hand over his.
Being a vampire, Rav could feel the life growing inside her, and for the first time since losing his family and becoming what he was now, he closed his eyes and prayed to the heavens that he would live long enough to make things right for this new family given to him. He hoped he wouldn’t disappoint them the way he had disappointed the ones he lost before.
I will give up everything just to stay longer. Please...grant me more years. Ten more...no, twenty. A man in love could never bargain for enough time with an unseen deity, he realized. But one thing was certain now, he could not fail this new family of his by dying.
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December soon approached, and by this time of the year last year, they had been in Bimmerville, trying to hide. The weather in Nightbrook changed to cold with the rainfall reducing, but the fierce wind of the cold was still there and somewhat unbearable to humans. Many were used to it by now, except Belle, as this was her first time in Nightbrook during the winter, since the year that had passed had been spent in another land.
It had been three months now since she had prolonged Rav’s time.
Things had begun to go more smoothly, with the vampires constantly on alert for the upcoming war. There was still no news of when the attack would come upon them, and the vampires continued working tirelessly to strategize their own strike. They set traps and reinforced walls to protect their land against the war that could break out at any moment.
Belle and Evenly’s pregnancies began to grow at the same pace; however, Belle’s wasn’t as big as when she was carrying Angel. She didn’t crave blood often, nor did it stop her from doing what she had to do to protect and keep adding months to Rav’s days the closer the time approached.
Perhaps one starts to get used to things once they happen frequently, because she took the souls without dwelling on emotions or trying to see who she might be hurting, by killing a member of a family or an entire family. It was easier to take away someone you didn’t know than to risk someone you know going away.
Their days became uneventful unless for the fact that Belle spent time sitting with her son, teaching him how to write and practice his words. They couldn’t risk having a governess for him, as he had reached the stage where he needed to learn etiquette, writing, music, and everything a normal boy his size should know. Belle didn’t want to deprive him of anything and decided to be his teacher.
He was growing so fast that she wondered when the growth would pause, because he seemed to be adding every day, and his speech was becoming clearer. Whenever he stood beside her, his head already reached well above her knees, and he could run up and down any flight of stairs without stumbling.
It was while she was teaching him in the piano room that she realized they had never celebrated Rohan’s birthday, even though she had celebrated two birthdays now after their marriage, where he had given her a bracelet carved and made with the stones they had taken from the river.
The stones had been carved into bead-like shapes and made into a beautiful bracelet she wore every day. She touched it whenever her heart became heavy with every soul she took, and she appreciated the gift more than the other things he had given her that morning of her birthday a month ago.
"Angel, what do you say we prepare a surprise on your papa’s birthday?" she asked her son, whose head was bowed as he wrote down the words she gave him to copy.
Hearing her words, he raised his head to look at her with a bright grin.
"Papa’s bathday like Mama’s bathday?!" he asked excitedly.
On his Mama’s birthday, he had given her a drawing of her standing by the window laughing at his father, who had come from the window with a bunch of fresh flowers gathered in his hands, presenting them to her one morning. Angel had just happened to wake up because of her laughter and saw the scene.
The scene had looked beautiful even to a boy who looked like a four-year-old when he was just one. The next moment, he had run to get his drawing things from beneath the bed and began to draw.
Belle always said his drawing was magnificent and out of this world because Angel could draw anything his eyes set on with accurate lines and angles, with little to no mistakes. He was almost as good as his father at it, no one would believe a small boy like that had created such a thing.
Angel had drawn it and then hidden it, and only showed it to his papa when he came back from the royal castle. His papa had looked at it with a proud expression and told him, "How about you give this to your mama on her birthday?" he said as he studied the beautiful thing his son had created.
Angel had frowned in confusion. "Bathday? Wat is a bathday, papa? Mama baths every day," he replied, not understanding what his papa meant, and Rohan had roared with laughter at the innocence of his words.
"Not that, Max. I mean a birthday. It’s the special day someone first comes into the world, the very first day they are alive. Just like the day you came to us and made our world brighter. You remember, don’t you?" Rohan asked, stroking the boy’s head as he stood between his legs in his study.
Angel bobbed his head. "I remember." He grinned.
"Then that is a birthday. On your Mama’s birthday, you can give this to her and wish her in the morning." Rohan explained, looking down as a thoughtful look fell on the young face that resembled his more and more, only the skin shade was different, as Angel didn’t take after the bronze skin of the demons.
"I will gif this to Mama on her bathday!" he had announced. And while the birthday had been a few weeks away, Angel had been impatient, constantly asking his father when the day would come and if he could give the drawing already.
"Not yet time. Four days more to go. You know four days, little rascal?"
Angel bobbed his head and held up four fingers, unable to control his thumb until he held it down with his other hand to show four. "Four. Mama tell me how to count! But four is too long, papa. Let me gif Mama now before four."
It had taken a lot of coaxing and distraction to make Angel wait for that morning. He had barely slept the night before the birthday because of excitement. He was the first to wake up and hopped onto his father’s chest to shake him awake, whispering, or so he believed, even though his voice was loud and thrilled as he yelled, "It Mama’s bathday, Papa! Can I gif my surprise now?!"
Rohan, who had just fallen asleep as he had stayed up all night to prepare his surprise for his wife, felt the weight and eager shaking of his son. He groaned lightly and lifted the boy up. "You can," he said, voice husky with sleep. "But keep your voice down, and don’t wake your mama until I get my surprise for her. Now, off you go." He set Angel down and gave his butt a quick, playful pat.
Angel slipped under the bed to pull out his drawing chest, literally bouncing as he dragged it out and singing the song he was learning to play on the piano with his mother.
Belle was already awake even before Rohan prepared his surprise, because Angel didn’t quite know what calm meant when excitement filled him.
"Happy bathday, Mama!!" he exclaimed, presenting the drawing to her face as he straddle her lap.
Tears filled Belle’s eyes as she remembered today was indeed her birthday, making Angel confused and angry that his drawing had made his mama cry. He had almost torn it, but Belle grabbed him and crushed him into her arms, hugging and kissing him.