Chapter Six: Confessions in the Night

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There, in the night, stood Cove. He was glorious. His tall, muscular silhouette was unmistakable, even in the thick, dense fog that engulfed us.

"Cove?" I said, hardly believing who stood before me. I lied there in the sand, my hair a fright, my breathing ragged, the tears drying on my face. "Is that really you?"

Cove turned his head toward me, looking down. His breathing rough. He bent down and scooped me into his arms. Lifting me from off the beach, he carried me back to the car. The other hooligans were gone now. I saw no one.

Cove shifted my weight in his arms as he opened the passenger side door and ever so gently placed me inside, buckling my seatbelt. He closed the door and walked around the front of the car, getting into the driver's seat and starting the engine.

He put the car in reverse and pulled out of the spot, leaving the parking lot behind us. I felt myself in a daze. As we stopped at the first stop sign, he looked over at me.

"Are you alright?" I noticed there were tears in his eyes.

"Cove... I... I'm sorry," I said, tucking my head in shame.

Cove blinked back his tears. "Sorry? What on Earth do you have to be sorry for?" He stepped on the gas lightly and we started forward again. "You didn't do anything wrong, Coral. That piece of sh.." his voice trailed off, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the steering wheel.

I looked out the window. I didn't know what to say. I was ashamed and embarrassed by the whole ordeal. I didn't have any right to call for Cove's help, and yet, I was so eternally grateful I did. I knew exactly what would've happened if he hadn't appeared when he did.

"I, umm... Thank you. Thank you for being there...for saving me." The tears started to trickle down my checks again, but I didn't bother to wipe them away. I didn't care. I was just so happy to see Cove in that moment. I was so happy to have him there with me.

Cove pulled to a stop in the driveway, put the car in park and turned off the engine. He took a deep sigh and shifted in his seat to face me. "You don't need to thank me. If anything, I only wish I had been there the first time that happened to you. I'm the one who is sorry." He turned back and slammed his forehead against the steering wheel, his shoulders turned inward as he slouched forward in his seat.

"Watching that barbarian try to hurt you tonight was almost more than I could bare. I wanted to kill him, Coral. I wanted to rip him to shreds." He looked over at me, his head still resting on the steering wheel, "I don't know what I would have done if I had gotten there a moment later. No matter what happens to me in my life, you will always be the most beautiful and precious woman I have ever known. You are my wife, and... I love you."

I sat there silently staring at him while he poured out his heart. "I have hurt you so much. I have failed you as a husband. I never wanted any of this for you. I have loved you from the first moment I met you. I love you now. If I could change it, I don't think I would. Having you in my life has made it a life worth living." He raised his head and reached over to place his hand on mine. He watched our hands touching in the moonlight and I could feel my skin tingle under his touch.

"I'm glad I was there tonight. I'm glad you called me." He gave my fingers a squeeze and pulled his hand away reaching for the little silver handle tucked into the door frame. He got out and walked around the car, opening my door for me. He slid his hands under my legs and back, cradling me like an infant, and lifted me from the car.

He turned around and paused to kick the car door shut. "Hey!" I couldn't help it. I loved that car, there was no need for that.

Cove laughed slightly, carrying me into the house. He set me down on the couch and fixed the pillows behind my back, helping me get more comfortable. He pulled the blanket from off the back of the couch and draped it over my legs.

"Do you want a cup of tea? Darjeeling, right?" Without waiting for my response he gave me a small smile and dashed to the kitchen. A couple minutes later he was back with a cup of hot, steaming tea resting in a saucer. I took it from him gratefully and looked at the dark brew, relishing in its warmth.

"Cove," I said, not daring to glance up at him as he stood there, hovering over me like a worried mother hen.

"Yes, Coral? What is it?" His voice sightly hinting at his anxiousness.

"I have something I need to tell you."

"You can tell me anything." And I turned my head up to face him. I read the genuine tone in his voice and the earnest look in his eyes.

"Promise?" I asked, a little afraid now of what I was about to say. How was I to tell him? What were the right words?

"What is it?" His voice dripping with concern.

"I'm going to have a baby." The look of confusion and disbelief played on his features. "I'm pregnant," I said, the words came out in a blurted mumble. His whole body froze. Slowly, the realization dawned on him. I saw a myriad of emotions play through him until a warm grin grew on his beautiful face.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Anna confirmed it."

"Wait, you have seen, Anna? Is she here?" He didn't glance around which gave me the feeling that even though he asked, he knew she wasn't.

"No, not right now anyway. She's been coming to visit me ever since I came back. I took a home pregnancy test too. I'm definitely pregnant."

Mild shock crossed his face, his thick dark eyebrows lifting as his chocolatey brown eyes stared directly at me. "Wow! I missed a lot."

"Yeah, I guess," I said and smirked looking back down at the cup of tea resting in my hand.

"Well, to be honest, Coral, I have kind of been spying on you."

"What?" I looked up at him. He came around from the back of the couch and knelt on the floor next to me.

"I couldn't just abandon you here. I know, you probably don't love me anymore, but I still love you. I can't help it. When I had heard about the wedding, and you not showing up, I secretly hoped it was because you might still have loved me. I realize that I was foolish to wish for such a thing. When you never came into the garden, I knew it was because of me, you don't want me. I understand."

"No, Cove. That's not true. Well, I mean, not really. I didn't want to go into the garden because of you, but that's because I'm heartbroken. I don't know what to say. I was hurt."

"You don't have to say anything, Coral. I'm here for you," and he placed his cold hand on my belly, "and the baby. I'll be whatever you want me to be, if you even want me at all."

I moved my teacup, holding it now in my left hand as I placed my right hand freely upon Cove's and looked into his soft, pleading eyes. "I will always want you, Cove. You are a part of me. I have always loved you, even if I love your brother too. Things are just so crazy right now. It's just a mess." I started to cry again. These hormones are the worst.

"Don't worry, Coral. We'll figure it out... together."

Cove was true to his word. We were together most of the time. He hardly left my side. He doted on me like a servant from the palace. I woke in the mornings to the smell of breakfast cooking, although most of the food I ate came right back up.

Cove would bring me cold washcloths and glasses of ice water. It was wonderful. When I fell asleep watching TV, he would carry me upstairs to my bed before returning to sleep on the couch downstairs.

A few days went by, almost a week before Anna returned. I came down the stairs one morning and heard hushed voices talking in the kitchen. I walked in the room and Anna was standing next to the countertop as Cove fried some eggs in a skillet over the stove.

"There she is," he said.

"Hey," I said looking from Cove to Anna and back again.

"How are you feeling this morning lil' Mama?" Anna's great big smile lighting up her face.

"Pretty good so far. I haven't thrown up yet."

They both laughed. "Well, you have yet to eat anything either, so try not to get ahead of yourself," Cove said with a wink in my direction, as he slid the eggs from the pan onto the plate and shut off the burner.

I wrinkled my nose and eyed the plate with suspicion. It had been getting harder for Cove to convince me to eat in the mornings. I despised the morning sickness and would try to push off eating for as long as possible. I seemed to do better with lunch and dinner meals anyhow.

"Come on, you know you need the nourishment." He pushed the plate closer towards me, placing a fork next to my right hand. "Eat up. How often do you have a five star chef making you breakfast every day?" His playful dimples grinning back at me from across the breakfast counter.

How impossible to disappoint that face. My heart swelled and he beamed back at me affectionately. He could still read my heart as easily as a book. Unable to help myself, I smiled back, as I let some of my old memories flood through me. Memories filled with starry promises and nights of undying passion.

I blushed at my exposed emotion and turned my attention to the plate in front of me. It smelled delicious, and I grabbed the fork digging in, trying to distract myself from the awkward feeling rising inside.

"I don't know if I'd call you a five star chef, but tasting these eggs, well, they are really good," I managed out between wolfish bites.

"Your appetite looks healthy," Anna chimed in, eyeing me from her spot in the kitchen. "That is a good sign. Especially after what you've been through."

I stopped eating. Anna walked over and I looked from her face to Cove's. "After you're done, I want you to go upstairs and lie down. I need to examine you."

The worried look in Cove's eyes mirrored my own. I had been thinking about the pregnancy and the way that disgusting pig had attacked me at the beach. His gross, thick fingers that had tore into my flesh.

"Okay," I said, not knowing what else to say about it. Obviously, Cove had told Anna what happened.

My worst fears confirmed. As I lied on my big new bed I bought only a month ago, Anna examined my cervix. She had been chatting about the dry weather and how it had her sinuses acting up. I knew she was just trying to fill up the anxious silence; this was her attempt at making me feel relaxed. Trying to give me something to focus on besides the baby. It's not working, Anna.

"I thought this town was supposed to have a Mediterranean climate? Could have fooled me."

"It's still a desert, Anna," I said, not hiding the slight irritation in my voice. People always forget, just because California is next to the beach doesn't mean it's not still part of the South West. "It's dry and hot most of the time. This town is just normally less so."

She eyed me for a moment then patted the side of my leg. "Okay, Hon. All finished."

I closed my legs and sat up to search for my bottoms. As I slipped on my underwear and hunted around for my shorts, Anna spoke, " We do need to talk about something though."

"Okay, what?" I fastened my pants button and came back to sit on the bed.

"The Seelie Courts have decided," she paused, watching me. I sat unmoving, waiting, holding my breath. "They are not going to invalidate your marriage to Cove. As long as you remember who you are, you are bound to adhere to your oath. You are Cove's wife."

I gasped, "But what about Phoenix? What about the baby?"

"They have been made perfectly aware of the situation. It does make the matter more confusing, but it does not make your marriage to Cove any less valid. Faerie marriages don't work like that honey. The only reason why they had considered it before was because you didn't know who you were, and no one was sure if you were still Fae, or if you had become a full mortal. Now that we are sure that this isn't the case," she shrugged. "There isn't much we can do."

I drew my legs into my chest, resting my head on my knees. It made sense. All those times Phoenix had been called away to the Seelie Court. The politics he had been talking about referred to me and my status as one of the Fae. They had been discussing my ability to marry Phoenix even though I was already Cove's wife. Ignorance really is bliss, I guess.

"This is going to make it so much harder to tell him."

"I know," she said and came to sit next me on the bed, her arm draped around my shoulders. "You are going to have to tell him though. He is aware that you're sick, I have placed a bar in this house so that no one may come to visit unless you specifically ask for them. Which would explain Cove's presence," and she peered down at me.

"He saved me," came my muffled response from between my legs, not bothering to raise my head from it's hiding place.

"I know he did child, and I'm so grateful he did. You did a good thing by calling him. You are still going to have to tell Phoenix though. He needs to hear it from you."

"I know," I said, lifting my head finally to look at her with my pathetic, tear-filled eyes. "It's just so hard."

"Well, you should do it while you can. Coral, I'm going to try to be gentle, but I'm going to tell you something that is going to be very hard now." Anna squeezed me close to her as I tried to brace myself. Nothing would have prepared me for what she was about to say.

"Coral," she said locking eyes with me, her firm grip unrelenting, "the pregnancy is failing." My breath seized, ice cold in my throat, my hands instinctively wrapped around my stomach, my jaw set, wrath rolled off me in waves. For the first time I could remember in my very long existence, I saw nothing, but fire and destruction.

Anna tensed visibly at my side, she slowly released her hands from my shoulders, backing away. "You will lose this fight."

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