To Stand Beside Her (59 page)

Leila
lay
ever so still as she woke the next morning before anyone else.
She could hear the bird chirping outside and found that it was one sound she had not missed in the palace until now.
The
fresh spring scent of flowers
, the
bird chirping in the trees
, and the cool
mountain
air all told her she was home.
T
he excitement of being home woke her early.
Silently
,
she walked around the house her family had built for her.
She looked at the detail of the trim on the railing of the staircase and the stones evenly placed to make the fireplace.
H
er dad must have spent every waking moment since she left working on her new home.

Leila and the children passed the next three days being lazy and lounging around the house.
Elena on the other hand was lost with what to do since she was not needed to clean and cook.
Elena
slowly was adjusting and found Phillip to be quite entertaining as she often joined him on his many walks to the lake.
Each time they would leave, Leila caught Nalick smiling.

“Why do you smile like that each time?” Leila asked Nalick.

“It just makes me happy to see they are forming a friendship,” Nalick replied
,
pick
ing
up Tim and swing
ing
him around
causing him to giggle
louder and louder.

“What do you know?” Leila interrogated him.
Nalick had told her that he had many talks with Gabor over how
,
not only his life
,
but that of everyone he cared for
,
especially his children
,
would turn out.

“I can’t tell you,” Nalick teased.
“You don’t believe in fate.”

Leila pouted and Tim stopped giggling
to
r
u
n to her.

“Daddy, make mommy smile,” Tim told Nalick.

Nalick walked over to Leila and nicely sat down next to her, he began to pretend he was going to tell her as he quickly picked her up and began to tickle her.
Leila could not help but laugh and Tim joined in trying to tickle her also.
When they finally stopped, Leila stared at Nalick
;
behind the sparkle
,
he did know something more about Elena and Phillip.

“What would you say to someday having Elena as a daughter-in-law?” Nalick hinted.

“
Really? You know that?
And
what about
the children we will have some day?”
she asked
.

“There’s so much I am going to miss, but at least I know what will happen,”
Nalick
explained as Tim began his run of the house.

“It is at least some consolation for the fate I have been dealt.”
Leila rested her head on his chest.
I
t
was
hard to be so convinced of fate as Nalick had been to believe that everything would be okay.

“What if Anatolio decides that he doesn’t want to wait ten years
and finds someone else
?”
Leila
asked
without
looking up at him as he stared at the top of her head.

“He won’t,” Nalick replied
looking into the woods
.

“But how can you be so sure?”
Leila asked.
Nalick was still staring ahead as she tried to catch his attention.
“He has been avoiding me now for days.
He didn’t even want to come to our wedding.
In fact I can’t remember the last time he even came within two feet of me.”

“He loves you as much as I do.
He’s not going anywhere.
He will wait.
He promised me that he would wait for you and when the day comes, he will step up and take care of everybody,” Nalick explained
finally looking down at her
.
“It was the deal we made years ago and every day I see in his face that there is no way he would ever break that deal.”

I hope so
, she thought dreading that Nalick’s fate would
someday
be reality quicker than either
of them
wanted
it to be.
Nalick
gently
stroked
her head taking in the complete serenity around them. This was the life he had always wished for. No nobles or
lawmen asking for decisions
or
neighboring kings and armies to deal with, just his wife and their children enjoying the spring in the mountains. Even though
Nalick
only had ten years with the beautiful woman in his arms,
he
was content and always would be.

“
Two more days until
the wedding,”
Leila
said
,
changing the subject.
“I have been half tempted to have you cleaned until you sparkle as revenge, but around here it doesn’t matter as much.
Besides, I don’t think you could keep spotless on the walk to the church.”

“That wasn’t my policy,”
Nalick
said
,
defending himself.
“I have always liked you just the way you are.
That w
as
all Mauves doing
.
”
Leila pulled her head up from his chest and nodded sarcastically.

That night after the children were tucked in bed and f
ast asleep, Leila returned down
stairs to find Nalick sitting on the hill outside their back door.
Leila walked
over
and sat down beside him.
It was chilly outside as it was every spring.
The days were warm and the flowers in bloom but after the sun set, there was the nice cool reminder
that
it was not yet summer.
Nalick wrapped his arms around her as he looked into the sky.

“You once told me these are the same stars we see in Lexia.
Are you sure?
They seem so much brighter here and there are so many more,” Nalick said
,
breaking the silence.

“You see right over there?” Leila pointed to the left.
“Those three stars.
If you sit on the balcony at home and look straight up into the sky, you see them.”
Leila rested against him.
Her heart began to race
feeling
him so close, but then thoughts of their short future began to muddle her happy feelings.

“Tell me what our life together will be like,” she said with
a
childlike
innocence
.
T
he sadness
was
building
within her again
.
Leila needed Nalick to rescue her from the part of her new life she now dreaded.

“We will be happier than any person in the whole world,”
Nalick
began.

“In a year, we will have out first son.
He will luckily have you
r
brains and beauty along with my strength.
He will have your kindness and your eyes so that everyone in Lior will not fear him as they do me.
He will learn the most from you and everyone will again praise my choice in asking you to marry me.
But don’t worry.
After him we will have a daughter who unfortunately will have many of my characteristics.”
Leila smiled and patted his hand in sympathy.

“We will come here to the mountains at least twice a year so that our children will grow up knowing what it is like to be free from the palace.
Through our lives we will continue to travel and yet still find time to be home doing everything we love.
You will even help Roger from time to time as his couriers just cannot match up to your skill.
The only courier that will ever come close will be Tim.
Years from now, he will gladly watch over the safety of our family.”
Leila
again
nodded and rested against
Nalick
as he talked.
His picture of the future easily calmed her sadness.
“We will be happy every single moment.
Our life together was always meant to be.
I promise you will never regret the decision you made to stay in Lexia.”
Nalick wanted to hold her against him like that forever.

Leila huddled close to him in the cold as the breeze blew up from the lake.
Leila closed her eyes
.
I
t felt like the first time she brought him home
when
he sat with her looking at the stars near Roger
’
s
base
.
He was so cautious and timid around her
,
afraid she would disappear.
Leila could still sense a part of him feared
losing
her
, but now it was for a completely different reason
.

“I don’t want this moment to end,”
Leila
complained.
Nalick pulled her closer and rested his head on hers.
Gently he stroked her hair as he too remembered their first trip.
Leila held back tears.

“You don’t need to worry,” he said quietly.
“I promise at least a hundred more of these moments to you.”

Leila reached up and gently touched his cheek.
T
here would be many more moments together, but they were limited.
As they sat there longer, both knew that they needed to go to bed.
Slowly
,
Leila stood, and Nalick followed her to bed.

It felt like she had just fall
en asleep when Leila noticed a
small hand tapping hers.
Leila cautiously opened her eyes to find she was face to face with Ruth.
Leila could
only
slightly make out from the curtains
that
the sun had just begun to rise
,
and it was indeed morning.

“How about you rest a little longer
?
” Leila whispered lifting the covers.

“No, play,” Ruth demanded loudly.
Leila felt Nalick sit up.

“I’ll take her,” he said quietly.
“You get more rest.”

After sleeping less than an hour, she was not comfortable
in
Nalick
’s
absence
.
Quietly
,
she walked into the living room and found Nalick in a chair with Ruth in his right arm fast asleep.
Nalick was sitting and watching the sun as it hit the water on the lake below and did not notice Leila approaching.

“How long has she been asleep?” Leila whispered.

“Almost as soon as we got out here,” he replied pulling her onto the left side of his lap.
Leila curled up in his open arm and rested her head on his shoulder clos
ing
her eyes.
Nalick smiled and kissed her forehead.
Within moments Nalick had a sleeping girl on each side of his lap.
For once in his life
,
he realized how lucky he was to have found such complete happiness.

Down below their home on one of the older trails, Roger and Anatolio approached Leila’s family home.
Roger stopped within viewing distance of the home, yet still hidden by the trees.
Anatolio pulled his horse next to Roger and looked through the picture windows into the home.

“Someday
,
they will be yours,” Roger commented.

Anatolio nodded as he watched Leila sleep.
She seemed like an angel as her eyes lightly fluttered.
S
he felt safe and protected in Nalick’s arms.
Roger and Anatolio sat for some time just watching.
Nalick
was a great man in Anatolio’s eyes
,
and a great husband and father
as well
.
Anatolio inadvertently smiled as he looked again at Leila.
He had spent the past days with Roger being taught more tricks and how to better care for Leila as she was bound to get into more trouble over the years.
But they also spent a large
amount of
time talking.
The only person who he really trusted for advice was Nikias, but on the subject of Leila, he could not talk about.
Roger had listened and advised him as best he could.