A Dragon for Aurelija

Chapter 4 A Bubble of Happiness

Relly returned to Phoebe's bedside. She felt like a bubble of happiness had welled up within her. Phoebe immediately recognized the source of her joy. "So, he figure out he loves you?"

"What?" Relly looked surprised. "You knew?"

"It was obvious but Nick sure took forever to figure it out. I love that boy but he is such a blockhead at times. I knew you were in love with him."

"How long have you known?"

"Since the first week you moved in. You followed him everywhere. It drove him nuts at first, he was not nice about it. Why do you think we never formally adopted you."

"I thought I was," Relly said. Phoebe shook her head.

"Charles was simply your legal guardian. We had hoped Nick would realize how you felt. We wanted you both to feel free to love each other. Being even adopted siblings could have ruled that out. Not legally but siblings seem to develop an aversion for each other. And their is a social stigma to consider."

"Does Nick know. That I'm not adopted?"

"I'm sure he does, he calls you almost-sister, but he has no idea what it means for your and his future."

"How did you know I was in love, that he loved me?"

"The way you both look at each other when you think nobody is watching. You sneaking into his bed all the time." Phoebe laughed. "We knew Nick would never do anything to compromise you. He spoke to us about it early when he hit his early teen years just before he was off to boarding school. He was concerned about some of his feeling he had for you. He didn't want you to feel rejected and enjoyed having having you with him. He didn't know how you would handle his going away. Charles made some rules to keep you both safe."

"Shinning knight rules!" Relly laughed, smiling she pushed her hair back behind her ear and continued, "a pillow between us, no touching below the shoulders or above the elbow. Nick was very firm about those rules."

"What about you?"

"He dinnae want us discovered together. I think he was concerned for my reputation. I dinnae know he spoke to you about it. Once he was asleep I'd throw out the pillow and cuddle. I was always up and gone by the time he was up so I think he never knew. I loved to cuddle."

"Somehow I'm not surprised," Phoebe said, "you will be a woman of passion someday. You have a gentle generous heart as did your birth mother."

"Nick was my anchor in turbulent sea. I felt so cold and alone when I fist came and I was so scared. He was so kind to me. I needed his touch at first then simply enjoyed being with him."

"And you were the same for him. He just folded up when Ben died. How did he figure it out he loved you. Did you kiss him? Did he kiss you?" Relly face turned beet red and she smiled shyly. "I knew it. You have a lot of work ahead."

"What dae you mean?"

"Dear girl he's merely hooked. Landing him will be a battle. I won't be here to see it but having you as part of our family would make me so happy. Don't give up on him and do not, I repeat do not play fair."

"I dinnae understand!"

"You will," Phoebe laughed, "and poor Nick will never see it coming."

The next few weeks saw Phoebe's steady decline. It was almost like she had finished her tasks and was ready to be released. Phoebe remained happy in-spite of her physical decline and pain. Relly dosed her regularly with laudanum and sat with her day and night. She provided laying-of-hands for comfort and her skills with the laying-of-hands grew and they dispensed with the laudanum all together.

"Charles...you came!" Phoebe whispered one night in late September. Relly had been sleeping keeping vigil at the bedside. Then tears flooded Relly's eyes and temporally blinding her vision and then when it cleared she saw Charles and Phoebe standing together in the light. They held hands, their faces glowing and she heard their whisper, "We love you Relly, give our love to Nick and Junior. They were joined by a small child then others all glowing and then they were gone. Relly sobbed alone in the room with Phoebe's mortal remains. In the morning she walked into the village to arrange the burial then returned home to write letters.