Happily Ever After (A Collection of Lunar Stories)

the name

Thorne rolled around in the bed, shifting from one side to the other. Sleep was still heavy in his eyes, begging to be reinstated. Something was keeping him awake, he thought with a grumble.

He stopped tossing for a minute and pulled the sheets up to his chin. He listened to the noisy crinkle of thick pages turning as his eyes threatened to stay open.

Stars! he thought finally. He lifted himself reluctantly from the warm bed, running his fingers through his hair.

"Cress?" he murmured, stepping into the hallway. "What are you doing, love?"

"I'm so sorry!" piped Cress, her eyebrows raising. "Was I keeping you up?" In her hands was a large, thick-paged book. She was laying back, her legs extended on the grey sofa.

"No, no, that's all right." Thorne smiled. "What are you reading?"

"Oh, this?" Cress shut the book, keeping her thumb on her page as to not lose it. "It's a book of baby names," she started excitedly. "Wolf and Scarlet gifted it at the baby shower."

Thorne observed her, stretched comfortable on the couch. Her heavily pregnant belly was a laughable contrast against her small frame. "Are there any that you liked?"

Cress flipped to a page she had dog-eared, the corner of the thick paper printed in baby blue.

"Aha! Here it is."

Her lips pulled excitedly as she turned the book for Thorne to read.

Carswell

English

Meaning: the place where the watercress grows.

Thorne blinked. "Stars, that's - that's remarkable."

Cress smiled in reply.

Thorne continued. "It's things like this that really make you wonder if fate exists, don't you think?" he said softly.

Cress scratched at the back of her neck, looking at him. "You think that us being together was a work of fate?"

Thorne glanced at her with a look that said, well, obviously. He walked forward, touching his hands gently to her large stomach.

"I think the stars had something to do with it. Though, I don't see why they chose to make me happy. I'd been a pretty awful person." Thorne sighed.

Cress frowned. "You can be so self-deprecating sometimes, Captain. When will you learn to love yourself like I love you?"

Thorne smiled, goosebumps rising on his arms as they did every time Cress said something like that.

"Maybe one day, my dear." He looked longfully at her, and their child whom he would be meeting very soon.

"Maybe one day."