Keep My Heart- Prologue

Keep My Heart- 38

7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.

Psalm 31:7

Hey guys! 38 should be a good one! Thanks for the increase in votes! And reads! It means the world to me! I love the verse above, and I think it applies. Although in the Bible it is David speaking to the Lord, it is how the Hawkes feel toward one another. (Adalivia, I mean.)

The next four months passed peacefully. Adam and Olivia spent the days together, redecorating and updating the house where it needed to be. The nursery was a large project, an equally large chamber with white wall paper and furniture. The carpet was grey with blue swirls, and lovely little birds that Mrs. Hawke loved very much. She had selected a French cradle, made of the finest mahogany. It had carvings on the sides, and a small canopy. It sat in the corner of the room, waiting for the baby.

It was a fine July day. The Hawkes recieved their noon meal with Emery, who Adam accepted and knew immediately was his father. From nearly thirty years apart, he remembered the face of his father--the man who had left him. No, Adam had forgotten the face of his long dead mother, but not the face of his father. Seeing the last few months and how he had supported Olivia, Adam could certainly not turn him away. Besides, he was old, and established in New Orleans. He had no other family, he had explained, and Adam's good wife had needed a support system. 

Yes, they were one big happy family.

But what they did not know was that there was a lion prowling in the dark, waiting to steal and kill and to destroy. Everything they had was at stake but there was no way of knowing.

It was a warm July day when they were in town. It was considered most improper to be in public when one was obviously pregnant but Olivia didn't care so much. She was happy and with her husband. He bought her pretty things because he could. He had even ordered a fine pearl necklace to give her for when she gave birth to their child. He planned on presenting it to her the day after, when she was well enough to admire the beauty of it. 

Adam was as expectant as his pregnant wife was. They awaited the coming of their child as if it was a diamond from the ocean floor. It was so close yet so far. 

They sat in a tea room, enjoying the cool sea breeze and the sunshine. Olivia wore a dress specially made for pregnancy, made of light gray muslin. It was lined with dark blue. She was quite lovely, and very bloomingly pink. Adam thought her to be quite a lovely woman, especially in her state. He thought that it suited her well, despite the fact that she often flipped the covers off in waves of heat during the night. Despite the fact that her lower back ached with radiating pain that she moaned about in the mornings. 

It was odd, that she stayed in bed with him in the mornings now, when she had not for so long. More often than not, she slept in until eight. An hour later than the old days. 

But he loved her, which she did not doubt. They spent their days together, when Adam was not managing the family business and when Olivia was not running their household. Occasionally they snuck away for a kiss and a cup of tea. Mostly for a kiss. 

This afternoon, she was bathed in sunshine in the window, sipping an exotic tea from cheap china, nibbling here and there on a petit four. 

"My dear," Mr. Hawke remarked, "I do believe you get lovelier each and every day. The beauty you possess, both inside and out, is utterly astonishing."

"If lovelier means larger," she laughed, voice quiet, "you are correct in your analysis."

"Have you entertained the possibility you could be carrying twins?"

"Don't joke." She gave him a sharp look.

"I'm entirely serious, Mrs. Hawke. In light of your...er..." He searched for a way in which to put it lightly, as not to injure her delicate emotions. For, he knew, they were indeed, quite delicate. She had teared up previously at the sight of baked chicken, wondering if perhaps that poor chicken had chicks which it had left behind. Quietly, remembering his childhood, her husband reminded her that it was the cycle of life and that he was certain the chicks would be fine. 

"In light of my planethood," she finished his sentence with a broad, beautiful smile.

"Planethood is, erm, a strong word. In light of the advancement of your condition, you could indeed carry two children."

"Whatever shall we do with two children, Mr. Hawke?"

"Why, love them, of course, my dear Mrs. Hawke." 

She smiled, and her husband reached into his jacket, taking out a small box, for today was her twenty-sixth birthday.

"Happy birthday, sweetheart."

From across the busy street, he stood. His clothes were worn and ripping, and the ritzy people about this part of Boston stared at him as if he was a sight to see--a poor man among the rich! Well, he had once possessed fine, tailored clothes as they had, and bought his mistress a gaudy ring, just before he sent her away. He wondered if Olivia still had it. 

He hated them. Look, he thought. Look at them with their tea and their packages. He watched his older brother mouth something to Olivia, reach into his jacket, and handed her a small box with some type of jewelery, Rashleigh guessed, that was inside. But on the contrare, it was a slip of paper. She unfolded it, read it, and burst into tears.

He hated them. Soon, they would have reproduced. Ugly little child it would be, he thought. If it looked like Adam, of course it would be. He hated their unborn child as much as he hated them. Bloody little brat. It would be spoiled, and ugly. It would recieve all of the money he should have recieved. 

Unless it somehow died. 

 Sorry it's so short! But I had to just get it out there, ya know? To keep the plot rolling! Anyway. VOTE AND COMMENT, PLEASE.