Beyond Time (closed)

[KieranSoares]

"Y'chose well, li'l brother. Someone t'tease you for us," Brogan commented as Ashien rolled his eyes.

"She's worse than you lot sometimes."

 

[heartofcourage]

"He needs someone to keep him honest. He would be too serious otherwise." Dylan said as she wrapped her arm around Ashien's waist and leaned against his side. "And I love him dearly for everything that he is willing to put up with."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Including your complete lack of care for sleep when the painting mood strikes and I'm exhausted," Ashien teased, though he'd done it to her a few times himself.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Including your complete obsession with your stable of horses and work. As well as your need to sketch me whenever the moment presents itself." Dylan countered, a grin on her face as Ashien tried to get the upper hand.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Okay, children, save your lovers' quarrels for the bedroom," Kitty spoke up, making Ashien turn ever so slightly red. "And get along. You'll have to put up with each other for a while before anyone's ready for a wedding.

 

[heartofcourage]

"That might be too much to ask of me, Kitty." Dylan said with a chuckle as she leaned her head against Ashien's shoulder. "This brute tries my last nerve sometimes."

 

[KieranSoares]

"For the sake of us older folks who have to put up with you, I'm sure you can manage," Kitty chuckled though she didn't mean it at all. Half the fun of having a partner was teasing them mercilessly.

 

[heartofcourage]

Dylan found that she fit beautifully into life with Ashien and his family. It was lovely, she thought to herself. Especially after so many years without a true family of her own. She simply had to go to a time, centuries in the past, to find it.

 

[KieranSoares]

As Brogan began to come out more and more and his children were reunited with him, things began to look up. Then one afternoon, a Darkwood carriage arrived and out stepped none other than Van and Carmena. The old woman was vibrant and had a spring in her step as she hurried up the path to the keep. The first person she caught up in her arms was her younger son, hugging him like she had been sure she'd never see him again.

 

[heartofcourage]

Dylan was sitting in the courtyard, painting on a canvas, when the carriage arrived. She watched as a woman nearly leaped from the interior, swept up in Vincenzo's arms in an instant as Van kept his distance. She had to smile as the two sons were reunited with their dear mother, Carmena. She looked like the both of them, each sharing a healthy amount of her features.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Mama," Vincenzo murmured, and Carmena stepped back to look at him.

"You look better than ever, bambino. Now where's my Kitty and our little bambina?"

"In the parlor. We'll set you up in a room later." Vincenzo greeted his brother lovingly too before taking them inside, and then everyone was called to come greet them.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Should I be frightened of meeting her?" Dylan asked as Ashien came to gather her for the family meeting. "She seems like a formidable woman."

She glanced up from her canvas to her husband, watching as he glanced over her painting with the same eye that she had looked at it moments earlier.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Carmena and my mother get along so well because they're so much alike," Ashien told her with a smile. "She already gave me a good talking-to about not sending her a letter about you sooner."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I like her already." Dylan said as she stood from her spot, pulling her husband in for a kiss.

Her arms wrapped around his neck, a sigh leaving her lips as she kissed him as she had been thinking about since she started painting that morning.

 

[KieranSoares]

She could feel Ashien relax under her attention, and his arms looped around her waist to cradle her in close. "I've missed you, my love," he murmured. "I know you've been trying to give me my space and plenty of time to heal. But I miss wasting away whole days in bed with you."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Well, you can always save it for our honeymoon. Our last one got interrupted." Dylan said with a smile as she nuzzled against Ashien with a sigh of contentment. "And I don't intend to disappear on you this time, Ash."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I hope not, because I don't feel like running back to London to figure out what's wrong with the piano," Ashien chuckled, burying his face in her lovely blonde hair for a long moment before they finally headed inside. Carmena was fawning over Valentina and Theo, incredibly excited that Valentina had found someone to love.

 

[heartofcourage]

Valentina was over the moon to see her nonna again. She adored Carmena and she had always been the apple of her eye being the only grandchild that her sons had ever given to her. She was excited to introduce Theo to the woman and it seemed that Theo was instantly adopted by Carmena, ushered into the family without a second thought.

"Papa didn't even tell me that you might be coming." Valentina murmured, looking at her father with a slight chuckle. "I'm very happy that you did."

 

[KieranSoares]

"He hardly knew, and if he did, he didn't believe it." Carmena hugged her granddaughter close with all the love she'd been missing out on for years. Valentina had returned from Kent Island only the day before with Theo, just in time for Carmena to arrive.

 

[heartofcourage]

"We would have come to see you very soon, but this is just as wonderful." Valentina murmured as she was nearly crushed by the hug that her grandmother was giving her. "Besides, you get to see everyone else this way."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Exactly. And I get to meet this lovely man I've been hearing about. I understand you two ran off for s while," Carmena grinned as she looked to Theo. "I hope you know what you're getting into, Theo."

"Well considerin' she takes care o' me as much as I do 'er, I think we'll be alrigh' even if it is a challenge." Theo greeted her with an embrace too.

"Challenge is an understatement when it comes to an Ambrose."

 

[heartofcourage]

Valentina was incredibly happy as her grandmother greeted Theo so warmly. She knew that he would be well loved by her entire family, but the fact that Carmena gave her approval meant the world to her.

Dylan watched the scene while on Ashien's arm, a little nervous at meeting the small Italian woman who seemed to hold so much esteem in the family.

 

[KieranSoares]

When Carmena turned to Ashien, her eyes lit up to see a lovely golden-haired woman on his arm, and she immediately came to hug him tightly. "Ashien Vincent Ghis, your mother told me how long it took you to even send her a letter. And it took even longer to send me one, distance aside! I ought to tan your hide for that." She kissed his forehead before turning to Dylandra.

"And of course you chose a beauty who would stand out in this dark-haired family, you showoff," she laughed and hugged Dylandra close.It was all in good fun and she knew they were in love.

 

[heartofcourage]

"He made me an offer I couldn't refuse." Dylan said with a laugh as Carmena hugged her tightly, welcoming her to her side of the family. "And his grin was too handsome to deny. He has charm in spades, which I'm told her learned from your son."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Oh I'm sure he got it just as much from Vincenzo as Kitty. She's quite the charmer herself to have caught one of my sons. They used to fancy themselves too busy for love. And Van has a sweetheart finally, I understand, back at Darkwood. And of course he wouldn't introduce me."