Current music:	Scars on Broadway- 'They Say'
Entry tags:	chapter 4

Chapter 4


As she walked into the nursery, she was greeted by happy laughter from both cribs. It was as if they knew today was extra special, that today they would get cake and presents and have their mom all to themselves for the entire day, a rarity lately, it seemed.

She dressed them in simple t shirts and jeans, complete with toddler sized sneakers, after changing their diapers and giving them a quick wipe down rather than a complete bath. "I am so looking forward to the day they are potty trained", Angharad thought to herself, as she tossed yet another diaper in the bin, "I won't miss changing diapers one bit"

She carried them downstairs, one at a time. Once she'd been able to carry them both, now, it was as if they'd grown overnight. They were 2 years old now, after all. Too big to be carried together anymore. Angharad missed that, it seemed. They just grew up too fast for her. Skye blew out his candles first, followed quickly by Skyana.


Angharad smiled at the laughter from her children as they enjoyed their first real birth day cake and the few presents she was able to afford. 'There was a time', she thought, 'that this place was full of laughter, talking, that the entire home was filled with decorations, and even the children from the Compound were invited for a First Daughter's birth day. Those days are gone now, it seems."



Skye, naturally, played with his piece of cake, smearing it across the highchair tray and himself, while Skyana was more delicate, and ate hers daintily. Nonetheless, she, too, ended up with icing smeared across her face, and all over her hands. Somehow, Angharad was amused to see, both had even gotten it in their hair.



She ended up giving them both a bath after their cake. While she cleaned up the highchairs, they played with their new toys, trying to figure out how exactly those pieces fit in those holes. She then placed each in their chairs and gave them their supper while she made, then ate her own. They would be eating cake for a few days, she realized, as she covered what was left and placed it in the fridge. 'Maybe I'll take it in to work, the guys will enjoy it', she thought to herself.



After dinner, there was still a few hours before bedtime, so she set them in the living room with their new toys, and watched them play. It was gratifying to her, that they had grown up happy and well adjusted so far, despite having no other family around. She wished with all her heart that her mother, her aunts, even her cousins from the Compound, were here now, if only to see how far she'd come on her own. Angharad was determined to have a good family life for her children, one where they would not have to worry about hidden secrets or whispers behind their backs, one where they wouldn't be sent away 'for their own good', as she had been.



Right before bedtime, she took the Twins upstairs to the nursery. It would be easier come bedtime, to corral them and get their pj's on, she decided, if they were already upstairs. Skyana, naturally, threw a fit when it was time for bed. Angharad was sure she'd never get her pajamas on her, let alone in her crib. Skye, on the other hand, yawned sleepily and stretched his arms up to be picked up. He was almost a rag doll as she put his pajamas on him, then laid him in his crib. He yawned once and was asleep almost immediately.

Angharad tucked them both in and quietly shut the door, heading to her own bedroom for the night.

* * * * * * *



Every spare moment she had, Angharad spent with the Twins. Most of the time, due to work, that time was the few hours right before bedtime and was generally spent in the nursery. Skyana, it seemed, was extremely ticklish and simply loved it when her mother tickled her. She was the more outgoing of the two, with Skye often playing with the stuffed animals they had in abundance, thanks to Karen's generosity, rather than wanting attention from Angharad. She wondered often, if he'd gotten that part of his personality from his father. Skyana certainly wasn't shy in any way.



Both proved extremely bright, picking up the potty training almost overnight. She sighed with relief as she threw out the very last diaper. That was one thing about the Twin's childhood she'd definitely not miss. They also seemingly learned to walk and talk, thanks to Karen's careful tutelage, without Angharad's help, while she was at work. She did get to teach them the nursery rhymes she herself was taught by her own mother, when she was their age. That brought back many memories and more than once, she wished her mother, at least, had survived the sickness that ravaged the Clan, to see her grandchildren.



A few months after their birth day, on a night much like any other, she put the Twins to bed. They seemed to want attention from her more this night, than they had before. Skye almost clung to her neck as she put him in his crib. Angharad herself had an uneasy feeling, one that she'd had all day, that she couldn't shake. She didn't know why, had no reasoning for it, it was just.. there.

She tucked the Twins into their cribs for the night, and stood there watching them as they fell asleep. Angharad checked the locks on the windows, and turned the night lights on before she quietly slipped out, shutting the door tightly behind her. Heading downstairs, she decided to watch a little TV, maybe the news, before going to bed herself.

The evening news had only just finished before she was sound asleep on the couch. She never heard the steps on the front porch. Never realized she'd left not only the alarm turned off, but the front door unlocked.



Lainey cautiously opened the door. She'd been standing across the street, waiting in the shadows, watching the lights in the house. Waiting, patiently, for them to go out. When the nursery lights dimmed and the TV came on, she'd moved across the street, to just under the front windows, waiting, watching. She'd had 2 years to plan for this moment, she could afford to wait a little longer. A car turned the corner, she ducked down behind the bushes, the car moved on by, heading up the street, disappearing into the night.

When she looked up again, she could barely make out Angharad's sleeping form on the couch. 'Now's my chance', she thought, moving carefully to the front steps and across the porch. To her surprise and delight, the front door was unlocked.



Easing the door open, she winced as it creaked once. Holding her breath, Lainey glanced towards the couch, where Angharad didn't stir. The TV had a late show playing now, and it apparently was loud enough to cover any noise from the door. She walked silently through the open living room, scowling in the direction of the couch, thinking that such an attentive and loving mother would be more careful about whether the doors were locked and who she hired to care for her children.

But then, from her experience, the Clan only really cared about the First Daughter. Any other children were considered extraneous and of little consequence. Hence the reason so many were sent to the compound to live. 'Well', she thought, I'll certainly remedy that little problem.'



She quietly went up the stairs, holding her breath each time a step creaked, waiting to see if lights came on downstairs. Cackling to herself as there was no reaction from downstairs, she marveled that everything was going so well, so easy it seemed to her. She glanced out the back windows as she passed them, on the stair, towards the darkened Compound.

' And what will our little 'Matriarch' do when she realizes she has no Son to take over the Compound for her now, ' Lainey thought evilly, 'Will she go out and seduce another unsuspecting male for another child, like so many of her relatives have before her? Blood will tell, her mother certainly was no better than the rest, so why would she be.'

Despite what her brother had said in his final letter to his family, she simply refused to believe that any female from the Blackblade Clan, let alone the First Daughter and Heir to the Matriarch would be any different than the rest, would be willing to leave it all behind for a man she barely knew and had only slept with once. It simply wasn't possible.



The door was before her. One last door between her and her prize. All she had to do was open it, and claim what was rightfully hers and her family's.



Lainey opened the nursery door, taking in the sight of the sleeping toddlers. Quickly she moved across to the crib Skye was sleeping in. Bending over him, she smiled at the thought that her brother would be avenged on this Clan. She gently woke the sleeping toddler, all the while praying he would remain as quiet as he always was. That was her bloodline showing through, she thought smugly. Blackblade blood was never this reserved and watchful. Besides, those were her family's green eyes that he had, that was her blood showing through.

Carefully, she gathered Skye into her arms. He snuggled right up against her, yawning sleepily. He didn't make a sound, as she glanced over at his sister, thinking how poetic it would be if both children vanished in the night. However, she was really stretching her luck as it was, with their mother sleeping downstairs, right by the same door she still had to carry this toddler out through. With any luck, Skyana wouldn't wake up anytime soon and she could get out of the house cleanly.



Lainey carried a quickly falling back to sleep Skye out of the nursery. At the top of the stairs, she paused, listening. All she could hear was the TV, that same late night show, the audience laughing at whatever the host had said. There was no other sounds, no lights came on, nothing. Walking down the stairs, she very nearly held her breath, expecting Angharad to suddenly appear at the bottom, to confront her, to take away her son, to take back Lainey's prize.

'That must not happen', Lainey thought, 'No one will take away what is rightfully mine, what is rightfully my blood, my family. This Clan, that woman will have no say in this matter. My brother's blood will be avenged.'

She'd waited too long for this day, or night rather, to arrive. She would be successful, she would avenge her brother who died in this place that winter so many years ago. The Matriarch, she knew, had never known about the letter he'd managed to get out to his family, never knew that Her First Daughter's own Daughter, Her own Grand Daughter was that stranger's Daughter, that he'd come with the intentions of claiming what was rightfully his. But now, all would be set to right. Lainey would see to that. It was too late for the Daughter, now the Matriarch, but it would not be too late for her brother's grandson. He would escape this Clan's clutches.



She carried the dozing toddler through the living room, quietly heading towards the front door again. Glancing over at the couch, she was gratified to see that Angharad hadn't moved. Now if she could get Skye out of this house without seeing his mother, that would be the real trick, Lainey knew. Skye never even lifted his head from Lainey's shoulder, where he contentedly sucked on his thumb as he drifted back to sleep. He was being held, for him, that's all that mattered.

Lainey shifted him slightly in her arms, as she opened the front door. A slight breeze had sprung up, and was scattering a few leftover leaves down the street. She glanced over her shoulder at the couch, Angharad didn't move, in fact, she seemed to breath a little deeper, and slip into a deeper slumber.



As an after thought, Lainey paused, and reached over, setting the alarm. It would activate in 60 seconds, which, she hoped was plenty of time to be out the door, with it securely latched behind her. She slipped out the front door, pulling it shut gently. 'That will really put a twist on things', Lainey thought, 'She won't know how someone could break in, steal her son and get out again without tripping the alarm.'

Cradling Skye in her arms, she walked down the stairs, across the street and vanished into the night.....





Chapter 5