A Mother's Embrace

CHAPTER 13

"The initial days were very happy. Daron would come home early everyday and they would walk around the castle telling stories. All the maids in this house used to envy Alysa thinking how lucky she got. Alysa also brightened up a lot. She decided to continue her studies and support Daron. She brightened up a lot and whenever she met me in between my duties she would ask me to sit down with her and quiz her on things she learned. The lake was their favorite spot. They would always sit there, hand in hand enjoying the breeze.

More than anything, no one could comprehend how much they loved each other. Daron was her world and she was his. Except for lunch, they had the rest of the meals together. Of course, there were casual fights but none exceeded a day cause Daron would always solve everything out. He understood Alysa in ways no one else could. He understood her imperfections, her thoughts and how to tackle them.

Four months into marriage, Alysa got pregnant. The entire town knew about it. Daron was ecstatic. He would buy her all sorts of fruits and sweets. Anything Alysa craved, it was made available then and there. Mrs. Ben took extreme care of her making sure she wouldn't move too much or she wouldn't have any worries. But all started to fall apart during the third month of her pregnancy.

One day I saw Alysa sitting by the lake looking all gloomy and tired. At first I thought it was just a side effect of pregnancy. She did throw tantrums once in a while. But something about her face told me it wasn't that simple.

"Hey Alysa, what are you doing here this early in the morning?"

"Ah? Nothing" , her eyes had dark bags around them and she looked really tired.

"Are you okay?"

"Why?"

"Look at you! You look lifeless."

"Maybe I should end this life."

"What? What the hell are you saying?"

"I am scared Amanda. I am scared if I will ever be enough for my kid. What if he hates me?"

"That's not going to happen! You are going to be a wonderful mother!"

"What if I am not?"

"You will be! We all make mistakes when we do new things. But we learn! Even our parents didn't have everything figured out. They just learned along the way."

"My mother is the reason I am like this. Do you think she did a good job?"

"Alysa, listen, you are not your mother. Whatever mistakes she made, you won't repeat it. I know you won't. Just trust the process."

She then hugged me and cried. But since that day, something inside her changed. She became so grumpy that the maids couldn't just slide it off as pregnancy symptoms. She often picked fights with Daron also. But he was very understanding. He gave her space when she needed it and accompanied her whenever she asked for his company.

The day she gave birth to David, it was snowing heavily. The doctor reached here just in time to deliver the baby. Once she saw the baby, she started becoming normal. Days after giving birth, it was almost as if a switch turned off, she just rested herself back to how she was. But she was seen spending a lot more time at the lake than she used to. She fed David there, talked to him there and once Daron came back from work, the three of them sat by the lake until night fell. She ate better than she used to and spoke more freely also. So we all thought she had been okay and the mood swings were just effects of pregnancy. Even I believed the whole ruse of her being a happy mother until I saw her bawl her eyes out after putting David to sleep!"

"What happened?" I asked curiously. Just then Mrs. Ben came in through the back door carrying 2 bottles of milk. Just when she saw us sitting together she knew something was wrong. Amanda just turned around and said,

"I think she deserves the truth."

Mrs. Ben simply put down the bottles nodding her head and walked out telling she would wake David up.