A Place Of Ones Own (closed)

It was nearing evening time in the city of Inverness. The distant call of mothers telling children to come in to eat filled the spring air. It had been peaceful in the city for a long while, just the way that it had always been meant to be. On the edge of town, next to the thick woods, was a little cabin, one that was cozy for the newly wed couple that resided there.

Annie pulled her shawl a little tighter as she left the front entrance of her little house, dinner bubbling on the hearth as she walked the short distance to her barn. Her Da has surprised her with it for her last birthday and she was so excited to actually have a place for her beloved horses that didn't require her walking into the heart of town.

She was one of the finest breeders in Scotland, thanks in large part to her father's war horse Phearson. The old stud had long since stopped giving her foals, but his bloodline was as strong as ever. Pushing open the door to the barn, she stepped inside and took a deep breath of the hay and horseflesh that greeted her. Passing by each stall, she finally stopped in front of the one that she was checking on.

Her Da's birthday was fast approaching and she would surprise him with a new stallion. Phearson's grandson was a fine steed of darkest black, a white blaze on his forehead and soulful dark eyes. He would be her finest work and she couldn't wait until her father set eyes upon him. He would fall in love just as she had.

She reached out and touched his nose with her slender hand, her wedding band shining in the light as the horse knickered and shook his head, snorting at her as if to say leave me alone. Annie laughed softly, retrieving her hand to leave him in peace.

"We'll work that stubborn streak out of you yet." She promised the stallion, turning when she heard noise at the entrance to the barn.

David entered, sliding the door open. He had a brand new saddle on his shoulder, one that she'd requested from the tanner in town to go with the horse for her father. It was a beautiful dark combat saddle, as Brogan didn't use any other kind, and it was studded around the edges with iron for durability. David laid it across a sawhorse for now and he smiled to Annie, "Hey, Ann," he spoke with a handsome English accent, something he'd always had despite being raised in Scotland. "How's Ferrous coming?" He nodded to the stubborn stallion.

He came to her side and wrapped an arm about her waist with a content sigh, looking over the beautiful horse as he stamped in his stable to shift the hay around.

"Da is going to love him." Annie said with well deserved pride in her voice as she pressed against her husband's side. "He still has just enough spirit to make him an unpredictable ride."

Annie turned her lovely dark eyes up towards her husband, standing on her toes to press a kiss against his cheek. Although she was tall for a Ghis woman, she was still dwarfed by her sweet lover. She was slender like her mother had been and her long black hair glistened in the light of the barn. She kept it pinned back these days, only letting David see it down and in its full glory.

"I made your favorite for dinner." She said with a giddy little grin on her face. She loved her little life with him and all of the things that a married couple did.

"Trying to butter me up for something?" He grinned and suddenly took her by the waist and lifted her up high. He was incredibly strong, she'd even seen him take down a raging horse with his bare hands to protect her a year before. It was from growing up as a lumberjack. He was as strong as Brogan, just as tall, but slim and lean while Brogan was heavily muscled and broad.

"Now what would give you that idea?" Annie asked with a grin as he lifted her up into her air. She let out a squeal, her arms looping around his throat for support before she started to giggle with wild abandon.

"You worked hard all day and you got my saddle this evening. I just thought that you deserved a special treat." She murmured, rewarding him with a gentle kiss. "Besides...I thought we could spend the rest of this evening in bed giving this whole baby thing another try."

Annie had always wanted to be a mother. Taking care of her brothers and sister had instilled in her a love of children and it had been frustrating that things hadn't happened for her and David yet. Granted they had only been wed for a little under a year. Julia had reminded her time and again that things took time and it wouldn't happen right away. It was the one little dark cloud on her marriage, one that had caused a few fights along the way between herself and David.

"I know you're ready to be a mother, Ann, but I'm not so sure I'm ready to be a father," David finally admitted to her, setting her on her feet, but he kept his arms around her waist. "I don't know how to be a parent... I never had anyone to teach me, just a bunch of lumberjacks and your father making sure I had food and a place to sleep."

Annie was stunned when David confessed that he wasn't ready to be a father. She had thought that he was excited all along, but when he told her that he didn't know how to be a father, her heart instantly went out to him.

"Oh, David...I think you'd be an excellent father." She said softly, leaning against his broad chest. "You do so well with Aunt Kayla and Uncle Christopher's little ones. And Aunt Val and Uncle Theo's as well."

She could see the doubt in his eyes though. She had no idea that the topic hurt him that much. Letting out a little sigh, she leaned up and kissed him once more. "Let's go inside and eat, alright?"

Taking his hand, she lead him back through the barn door, making sure it was shut tight for the night before they both walked back to the house. The smell of dinner greeted them at the door and as Annie walked in, she gasped at what was lying on the table.

"David! You shouldn't have!" She exclaimed, rushing forward to gather a precious book of fairy tales against her chest. "When and where did you get this?"

"I sent a letter to Stephen asking for ideas for gifts, and he suggested that," David smiled with a shrug. "Some of the most popular stories in Germany, I understand." He came forward to kiss her with one of his charming, rugged grins.

Annie was completely over the moon with her new book, one of the dozens that graced the shelf that her father had made when she was little. She felt tears come to her eyes as her dear husband came forth, kissing her with that charming boyish grin of his. She looped an arm about his neck, pulling him in closer as she let out a little sigh. When the kiss ended, she pressed her forehead against his, tears in her eyes.

"Thank you, David. I love it." She said with the most warm and humble tone she could muster. "And I love you."

"I love you too," David whispered, "now kiss me." He chuckled as his lips met her own once more and he wrapped his arms around her.

"But after dinner," he said as they parted, "I want to talk to you about something."

"I forgot about dinner!" Annie exclaimed, pressing the book into his arms as she turned to hurry about dishing up the stew and bread that she had made.

Annie could be a little scattered at times, excitable one moment and absentminded the next. She always tried to have dinner on the table when David got home in the evenings. She knew how hard he worked and she hated to keep him waiting.

David laughed to himself and laid the book on the shelf before coming to help her. Soon they were sitting down and David had his journal out, writing she knew not what. He'd written every night that she'd known him, and never once did he tell her what it was, but it certainly wasn't a diary as she saw him drawing often, and they were fine sketches.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Annie asked him, taking another bite of her stew as she watched him write in that book.

She had often been tempted to read it on the long days that he was gone, but she respected her husband's privacy and the right he had to keep personal things written down in the book. If he wanted her to know, he would have offered.

"... My parents," David said softly. He had never brought up the subject willingly before. "I... well... I want to go talk to the head of the lumber camp, find out how I got there. I only remember a flash of my mother's face, and I want to know why she left me here. I don't even know where I came from."

Annie reached across the table and took her husband's hand, holding it gently as he told her that he was thinking about his parents. She couldn't fathom a world where she didn't have her Ma and her Da and growing up for him must have been extremely difficult. It had been the first time that he'd ever talked about it with her, in fact.

"I think that would be a wonderful idea." She said softly, giving him a warm smile. "You know that I'll support you every step of the way, David."

David chuckled softly, "You always are. Sometimes I think you're crazy for it, then I remember who your parents are and I remember why you are crazy." He always teased her about it, her father being a man willing to take insane risks and her mother supporting him despite it all.

Annie grinned as David teased her about her parents. He adored them both and they loved him like a son, which made the teasing worth it. She leaned across the table and kissed her husband, nuzzling against him for a moment before her eyes locked on his.

"Just remember what Da told you the night before our wedding. If you break my heart, he'll break yours...literally." She reminded him, kissing him one more time before she stood and gathered their dishes to start cleaning them.

"Trust me, I never forgot." David rose to help her wash the dishes.

The next morning, he brought her to the lumber camp with him to talk with the head man, Havish Allieach. "Havish!" David called, and the man put aside his axe to look up. He was in his fifties, but still quick and strong.

"Yeah, lad?"

"Do you have time to talk? It's important."

"Oh, sure. Nothin' much goin' on t'day." He then smiled to Annie, "G'day, there, missus. Always a treat t'see a pretty lass like yerself."

"And it's always good seeing you, Havish. Though I do have a bone to pick with you over keeping my husband here so late in the day. He's missed dinner a few nights this week." She teased the man that she'd known practically all of her life.

"It's been a busy week with a big order comin' in," Havish chuckled, bringing them into the lumberjack's cabin to sit down. After pouring ale for each of them Havish settled and met David's eyes. "Now, what can I do fer ya?"

"Havish... do you remember my mother bringing me here?" David asked quietly.

Havish sighed, "I do. Gloomy night, she was sick from ridin' through th' rain."

"Do you know who she was?"

"'Er name was Ria, she said, 'ad an accent like I've never 'eard. She came lookin' fer shelter, said she was 'eadin' t'the harbor t'catch a ship back t'Greece. She wouldn' say why she was 'ere."

"... And?"

"I gave 'er a place t'stay th'night, gave 'er money fer th'ship, an' in the morning, she was gone. But she left you, an' a letter."

"What did it say?"

"I don' know, I never read it because it was meant fer you."

"And you never gave it to me?"

"I decided t'wait til you asked, if ya asked." Havish rose to go get a small envelope, which, when David opened it, dropped out a letter and a silver cross necklace.

Havish left them alone to examine the letter. David opened it up, finding it written in a beautiful script.

My dear David,

I hope you can forgive me, but I just can't take you home. It was stupid of me to bring a child into this world with who I am and what I do, and with your father dead and unable to help us. But one day, maybe we will meet, if you ever have the drive and the money to come to Greece, my dear home. If you do decide to come, you will find me in Aros Harbor, on the ship 'The Windwalker'. People will know me as Ria Espios.

If you don't come, please just remember that I love you, I always did and always will. I left you in Inverness because I knew Scotland was far safer for you, and that Old Tamblin's son would be a fine king to look after you.

I wish all the best to you, my dearest love.
Mama

Annie could see the wealth of emotion on her husband's face as he read the letter that had been left for him so long ago. She reached over and placed her slender hand on his forearm, rubbing it as his eyes darted back and forth across the script, taking in every piece of information that the woman had left for him.

"What does it say, David?" She asked him softly, not wanting to upset him further if the letter had bad news.

"... I have to go to Greece," David rose from his seat. "I have to find her." His mind was racing, she could see it in his eyes. "I have to meet her... just once."

He gave her the letter and looked at the necklace a moment, before fastening it about his neck. "Espios..." he whispered. "David Espios, that's my real name..."

"But what about Shanendoah?" She asked him softly as she looked down at the letter as he fastened a silver cross about his neck and told her that he had to go to Greece.

"That journey would take months, David. We don't have that kind of money." She told him, hating the fact that she was crushing his dreams in any way.

"We don't... but I do." He met her eyes, "I've been saving money my entire life, Annie, I have two-thousand silvers hidden away. It'll get us there and back. If it falls short, I can work something out."

She saw the intense need in his eyes and she knew that they would be going to Greece. She had her reservations about the entire situation though. "What if we get there and your mother has died? David, I don't want to see your heart broken by this."

It seemed that their new marriage would be tested by this adventure. Not to mention the fact that she would have to have someone watching her horses for her while they were gone. It seemed like too much to even think about in that moment.