Violet
"Violet," Jameson's voice drifted over in my direction. "Mm." I replied, not facing him, but turning my head slightly to look at him over my shoulder. He wanted to talk and we had to have that talk now before things went any further. I turned to face him, "We need to talk." We both said at once. He rushed to me, taking my hands in his, "I knew you felt the same way. I could feel you pulling away, but why?" He rushed the words, each syllable tripping over the next. I sighed, squeezing his hands. I knew I was letting go of the opportunity of a lifetime, with someone who could possibly be the greatest love I would ever have, but it wasn't about me now. It was about this baby. "Jameson." I sighed again, looking at him in his depth filled eyes and losing myself for a moment, sucking my bottom lip in with my tooth. "Snap out of it Violet" I coaxed myself. "Jameson, I can't be with you. I'm sorry that you came this far to find me but I need to give this baby the best life that I can give them and not put my own happiness first."
"So you admit being with me would make you happy..." His eyebrows flew up, encouraged. I shook my head, "That's not what is important. We missed our time."
"We didn't miss our time... Our time is now!" His voice grew elevated. He wasn't listening. My heart started beating faster. Then, His demeanour changed, "I came all this way..." His voice became quiet. defeated. "I'm sorry." I almost whispered. "At Least you got to find the grave of the owner of the book and talk to his daughter." I tried to put a positive spin on it, though my heart was aching and I felt like I was being torn in two. I finally had the chance at happiness and I was throwing it all away.
He gave a weak smile, "I should find Isla, see how she's going with all the heaviness of the book."
"You should." I let my hands linger on his and he pulled me in for a parting hug. My skin was hot with desire. I let my body melt into his as my baby kicked in protest. "Jameson?" I said softly, looking up at him, his stature towering over mine. He looked at me earnestly, chewing on his lip. "I do wish this could have worked." He didn't protest anymore. "I will go and find Isla." he let go of my grip but I planted a kiss on the side of his cheek, bordering the end of his mouth. "Violet... do you really want me to go? Once I'm gone, I'm gone for good this time. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes but I nodded profusely, "go." he turned without any more condolences and I sobbed absent tears into the ocean.
"I don't want to leave you." Isla sobbed at Aalton, who though showing subtle signs of empathy, was fine to leave Isla and his child to live in a different city. "You will be better off without him." I said, snarky at Aalton but then turned my gaze to Isla, with sympathetic eyes. "Are you sure you don't want to stay here? We can raise our babies together." I begged her with my eyes but she turned me down once again. "The two cities will be one, just in different locations. You said so yourself. We will see each other and our children will still grow up together."
"Let's depart!" Esmeralda's booming voice broke the conversation. "I'm beyond excited for you to all see your new home.
All these changes had me feeling both rattled and excited. The planning that had gone on behind the scenes, ensured that Esmeralda and I would check in with each other on a regular basis and as sisters and sister cities, we would run each city almost identically with the exception of the leaders, and our own personality and taste in decoration. If at any point, Esmeralda strayed from the agreed upon rules, I would strip her of her title and everyone would come back to Islanda. I ummed and ahhed about ways to ensure she would obey, since we had acquired equal amounts of power with the necklaces and she knew it - so I needed another way to rope her in. I had trust in my people, and that's the only way I could guarantee she would obey - that my people would come back to me if she deviated from our agreement. I grabbed Isla's hand, "Did you find out what you wanted to know about your father?"
