Bring me to life

Chapter 26

   
 The fire was merrily crackling in the wide fireplace, but Kreshen was too busy to notice the shadows sensually dancing against the walls of the room. All she could think about was the portrait she was finishing, representing her two beautiful babies. She was sitting on the couch, her legs crossed and an extremely concentrated expression on her face, unaware even of the lock of hair that was hanging over her eyes, the tip of her tongue darting out to nervously lick her lips now and then.

It was maybe one of her best pieces, for she was trying to put in there all of her love for those fair creatures.

When some hours later Boromir entered the room, she showed him the piece with pride, smiling brightly, her right cheek stained with the black of the crayon she had used.

After a proud look at his wife he sat on the couch, taking the portrait from her hands to watch it closely. Since they were together he had always encouraged Kreshen to develop her liability for painting, rating it as a worthy pastime, but now.. now he was smiling helplessly, moved deeply by what he was seeing, and unable to take his eyes off the portrait. The most beautiful babies ever born, staring right at him through the paper. His babies. Their babies.

"I truly believe.. that this is your best one, beloved" Boromir said softly, finally raising his head to look at her. He said nothing else, sure that both his words and the proud look in his eyes were enough for her. He smiled brightly as she sat next to him, and extended his hand to caress her face and wipe away the blackish stain from her cheek with his thumb.

"It’s the best one for they are the most beautiful babies of all Middle Earth, my love" she smiled back, looping her arms around his neck and soundly kissing his cheek.

"I’ll working on it for a while. I want to frame it and put it into their room… But…pray tell me, why so late? "

"Well.. you know how those councils are.. one knows when they begin, but can never know when they'll be over." Boromir lied, shrugging. He did his best to smile, knowing all too well that by then Kreshen had become very clever at catching even the tiniest, most meaningless lie coming from him, just by looking into his eyes. Then he leaned to embrace her, in an attempt to avoid eye contact, and kissed her neck softly as he clasped her within his strong arms.

"I love you." he whispered, trying to chase away the guilt for that sinless little fib by reminding himself that in fact he was doing it only for her best. He was determined to set things straight and couldn't say that he was late because he had to speak with his brother. He couldn't for the simple reason that Kreshen would have certainly asked about the matter of such conversation, and he would have had to lie anyway. A lie for a lie, he had preferred to protect Faramir's confidences.

For her part the girl sighed softly. It was clear to her that Boromir was lying but she couldn’t understand why. Anyway if there was something wrong he would have said it to her, so she didn’t bother him with questions, preferring to embrace him tightly.

"I love you too…"

"Then prove it, will you?" Boromir grinned, retreating to look at her. "How come you haven't kissed me yet today? I think I feel oh so neglected, you are always with the babies... or with Faramir. And by the way, should I infer that things are slowly settling down between you two?"

At the mention of his brother’s name, Kreshen’s smile faded for a moment.

"No… it’s just that…that maybe…I’m scared to trust him again…"

But before he could answer, the girl forced herself to smile, settling aside her problems to fondle her husband, leaning to kiss him sensually.

Boromir allowed her to draw back only once short of air, and when he met her blue eyes again he couldn't help but grin wickedly. "Now's better." he said solemnly, nodding. "But still not enough, I think.. what about some bed and cuddle? And I would like to talk with you.. about.. well the children, the family and things like that. Agreed?"

Without further words, a grinning Kreshen stood, taking Boromir’s hand and walking to the bed with him, unhurriedly undressing him, and only after a while, when he was already laying on the soft mattress, she slowly pulled off her tunic and leggings, looking intensely at him.

Under the covers, hugging him fiercely, she kissed him again.

"What were you planning to tell me?"

"I won't tell you much more if you cling to me like that...." Boromir chuckled amusedly, yet still holding her tight despite his words. "But.. well, we haven't had the chance to talk a lot lately, I have been very busy every day and too tired at night, even to have some sort of conversation with my beautiful wife I love so much. Thus I just wanted to know how you're faring with the children, if there is something you need, if Faramir is behaving properly and such things."

"Uhm…" she began, pretending to be thinking, but chuckling helplessly mere moments later, thinking that indeed he had been tired, she could remember it very well, for she was always there to hug him tight while he slept, exhausted.

"The children are growing up properly, they kept on babbling and are beginning to walk on their fours… About Faramir I can’t say much…he’s…behaving".

"Well that's a start, is it not?" Boromir replied, smiling, before he ducked his head to place a lingering kiss on the side of Kreshen's neck. "And how do you feel about that? Sometimes it.. saddens me awfully to think back to the way things used to be, to think about how very close to me and to us he was.. I miss it."

"I miss it, too" she murmured sadly, sighing softly. "But…he was the one who walked away and…even if I love him it’s just that…I’m confused. I don’t know what to do, if I can trust him, if he still loves me…I don’t know…It would break my heart if he would decide to leave me again. Maybe it’s better this way, for he will not suffer as he did before…"

Nodding, Boromir tightened the embrace, and sighed. He really couldn't see the problem. Faramir loved her, she loved him in return. The only real problem was probably that his brother would have never made the first move, not so soon anyway, and Kreshen was too scared to even think about it. But they couldn't go on like that forever.

"Why don't you just ask him?" he said quietly, as if he was proposing to do the easiest thing in the world. "If you are not sure about his feelings and thus the situation scares you, just go and ask. What's the big deal?"

"I can’t" was her immediate answer, shaking her head.

"What if…what if he would say no? He’d avoided me for months, it means that he’s not interested in me…and… I would seem stupid…a stupid lassie in love with the wrong man…"

"Then what would you do if he would come and say that he still loves you? Would you just throw it all away because you don't know if you should believe him or not? I think I know my brother quite well, Kreshen.. and I can tell you that he does not fall out of love so easily. Give him a chance. Do it for me.."

"I don’t want to throw it all away, Boromir" she murmured, sighing again. "I don’t know what would I do or say but… I don’t want to throw it all away. I’m sure of that…he’s…he’s important to me. And he don’t even understand how much I care for him. He still thinks that he will meddle between us, that he’s a trouble to me. I can’t convince him if he doesn’t believe me…"

"You know that he indeed lacks self-confidence at times" Boromir smiled, tightening the embrace and then kissing her softly on the lips. "But.. well, I don't. So I'm shamelessly going to ask you to make love to me at least until dawn" he whispered mischievously, grinning. "You won't deny that to your beloved husband, will you? I'm not so tired this night."

Her only answer was a bright smile, no need of words when you can understand your man just by looking into his eyes. A moment later her lips closed over his, and every worry was swept away.