Saturday

The second to last chapter. Anju has some big decisions to make.

                

Anju grumbled and turned over on her side when she felt a movement on the bed. She opened her eyes into slits to see that Lance has just gotten into bed. The sun was barely up, she noticed.

                ‘He must have just gotten home from work,’ Anju thought groggily, her eyes closing again. Unfortunately, she couldn’t force herself back into sleep. She had too much on her mind. Tomorrow was the wedding, and she knew her mother would want to get a hold of her to make all of the finishing touches on the plans. She was nervous about the wedding, but she felt like she was making the right decision. Which led her back to her discovery yesterday after her talk with her uncle. She needed to talk to Spoorn as soon as she could. But where would he be?

                She pushed herself out of bed and quickly gathered her clothes. She took a shower and got ready for the day. By the time she started cooking breakfast, the children were already waking up. She could hear her son crying, and guessed that Lance had gotten up to take care of it. She was surprised when she saw Mayella walk into the room a little later holding Soren in her hands.

                “Thank you,” Anju said to the girl as she took Soren from her hands.

                “No problem,” She replied with a yawn, “I was getting up soon anyway. Did you make breakfast?”

                Anju gestured to the plate of bacon behind her and told her, “Yes, so hopefully the others are getting up to eat it!”

                Mayella nodded her head as she went over to get some food. Slowly Haku, Tyki, and the twins managed to drag themselves into the kitchen and get plates of food as well. Anju had even broken a few pieces up for Soren and put him in the high chair with them before getting her own plate.

                “Anju?” Belarus asked after a while, “Will you take us back to the park again today?”

                Anju let the corners of her mouth turn down at the suggestion, but slowly asked, “Why? Didn’t you two have enough fun yesterday?”

                “Nope!” Ivan said with a smile, getting a giggle out of his twin sister.

                “I think it sounds like fun, Anju,” Mayella said, “We could all go while Dad is sleeping. And Odysseus has Xin, so we won’t have to worry about her waking up while we’re gone.”

                Anju nodded her head to Mayella, happy to accept a suggestion from her. She loved all of the kids, but she really needed Mayella on her side if she was going to marry the girl’s father.

                “I’m not going,” Haku said after swallowing a bite of bacon, “I’d rather stay home and enjoy the quiet.”

                “Don’t be so sour, Haku,” Mayella chided her brother, giving him a smack on the shoulder, “You should love your family while they’re around.”

                “I agree with Mayella,” Anju cut in before Haku could retort and start an argument, “But you can do what you want, Haku. I don’t want you to go if you won’t have fun.”

                Haku actually gave Anju a rare smile before getting up and exiting the kitchen. Mayella looked upset for a moment, but then shrugged it off and continued eating. The sun was brightly shinning through the windows by the time they were all done eating.

                Anju quickly washed the empty plates while the children got ready. “It’s a good day to go out,” she commented to herself as she put the last plate away, “It’s so nice out.”

                “Anju!” came the familiar cry of Belarus, and Anju walked out into the living room to see all of the children gathered, including Haku.

                She harassed Haku’s hair as she passed by him and took Soren out of Mayella’s hands. “Alright,” she said happily, “Let’s go then.”

                The park wasn’t too far away from their house and they were able to walk there within fifteen minutes. Once there, Belarus, Ivan, and Tyki all ran toward the empty playground equipment. Haku found himself a bench to sit down on and started to read the book he brought along with him. Mayella came over and took Soren from Anju before saying, “I’ll take him to the swings. Why don’t you watch after the other three and make sure they don’t hurt themselves?”

                Anju wasn’t going to disagree with Mayella, even if the girl hadn’t turned around and went to the swings right away. Anju nonchalantly walked over to the playset and watched the three younger kids run around. They seemed alright, so after watching them for a few minutes she walked over to the bench Haku was sitting at and sat down next to him.

                “I’m glad you decided to come along,” Anju told him, “You need to get out of the house more.”

                Haku just grunted in response. Obviously the boy didn’t want to start a conversation, so Anju sighed and stretch her arms above her head. She went back to watching all of the children from afar. They looked like they were having so much fun, and not for the first time Anju felt like she didn’t fit into the picture. She frowned slightly and leaned back against the bench, trying to get comfortable. She closed her eyes to block out the harsh morning sunlight and soon found herself drifting off to sleep.

                She woke up when she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head. She jolted into a standing position and brought a hand to the back of her head. She felt the warm ooze of blood on her hand, but almost right away the wound healed itself.

                “What the hell?” she mumbled, turning around to see what had happened. A few paces away stood a small group of people. Anju judged that they were at least around her age. It was a mixed group of both genders, and they were all holding stones in their arms.

                By this time Haku was up and the other children were gathering behind Anju. The man at the front of the crowd threw another stone at Anju, hitting her in the arm. The stone left a mark that quickly disappeared, though the mortals were too far away to notice.

                “Get out of here, you damn Ithacans!” one of the men growled. Others howled their agreement, and another stone was thrown. Anju went in move in front of Haku when she judged it was going in his direction, but Haku stepped forward and knocked the stone away with his book.

                “Leave my children alone!” Anju yelled, “They haven’t done anything to you!”

                “Get out of our country! We don’t want you here!” Anju heard a woman in the back of the crowd yell before another stone was hurled in their direction. Anju felt a presence at her side and before the rock hit; a hand reached out and grabbed it.

                “I think you need to leave them alone now,” said a familiar, gruff voice. Suddenly the rock was hurled back in the direction of the crowd. Someone screamed when the rock hit, and the crowd dispersed in a panic, dropping their stones as they went.

                “Are all of you alright?” the man said. Anju smiled over at him. Although he was short, thin, and a bit feminine looking, Spoorn was still intimidating enough to stop a crowd full of angry people.

                “Spoorn!” she gasped, “Where did you come from?”

                The general gave his shoulders a slight shrug, not caring that he had just been called by his last name once again. He replied, “Just felt like I needed to be here. Let me walk all of you home. No one will mess with you when I’m around.” 

                Anju knew just how true that was. He was still wearing his army jacket as well, bloodstains and all. Just that factor alone would make Anju want to avoid the man, if she didn’t know the story behind it.

                “Alright, thanks.” She said to him and took Soren from Mayella. The girl looked upset, and Anju knew it wasn’t only because of the harassment. None of these children liked Spoorn because he had been in charge of the army camp they had been sent to for being Ithacans. Anju  knew that Spoorn had no grudge against Ithacans, though, and was only doing his job at the time. Unfortunately, none of the children knew this, and she knew that even if she explained it they would still feel uneasy.

                Anju started walking toward the house, Spoorn by her side and the children following closely behind them. Anju was fuming over what had happened, but she was thankful Spoorn had shown up to help them. Which reminded her, she had something she needed to tell Spoorn. So when they made it to the house, Anju sent the other children inside so she could talk to Spoorn privately.

                “Lucky I made it in time,” Spoorn commented, “That could have turned ugly.”

                Anju sighed, “Yeah. I could have protected myself, but not all of the children too. Why were you there?”

                “I had a feeling I needed to be there.”

                “That’s not true, and we both know it. Why were you there?”

                “Eh. I knew your wedding was tomorrow. I figured you chose Lance over me, since you hadn’t come back, and I wanted to change your mind before it was too late. I knew you lived in this direction, and I happened to be passing by, lucky for you.”

                That sounded much more likely. Anju nodded her head and sighed. She held her son closer to her as she said, “Well, thanks for it. I appreciate it.”

                Spoorn reached out and tilted Anju’s chin up to look at him. They stared at each other for a moment before Spoorn asked, “So, you don’t want to come with me? Are you sure? I’m obviously better husband and father material. Where the hell was your fiancé when you needed him? Huh?”

                Anju backed up a step, pulling herself away from him. She shook her head slowly and replied, “Lance worked last night. You can’t blame him for not being there. He didn’t want the children to go out alone, and I figured a bigger group would be safer…”

                “Hn. You’d think so, wouldn’t you?”  was Spoorn’s response.

                They quietly stood there, side by side but refusing to look at each other. Anju stared down at Soren, tears threatening to leak from her eyes. Finally Spoorn suggested, “Anju, I don’t think you get it. Let me show you how much better I am than him, alright? In the last couple of days I found myself a job and I just put a down payment on an apartment. Come with me, for the rest of the day, and I’ll show you that I’m better than he is.”

When Anju just gaped at him, he added, “Think of it as paying me back for helping you. I promise, it’ll be a lot of fun.”

                The man winked at her and Anju couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright,” she said, “I just hope I don’t regret this.”

                She smiled when Spoorn’s face lit up. He reached his hand out to her, and she shuffled Soren into one arm so she could grab the man’s open hand. As he led her off, she wondered if she was making the right choice. 

Author's Note

And here is the second to last chapter. Sorry if the beginning was a bit on the boring side, I felt like they were things that needed to be said and done to show that the family is at least a little on the normal side. And it set up for later in the chapter.

For those who are lost right now, which is probably everyone, I'll restate some of the things that had to be picked out of the dialogue or narrative. And I'm just now doing this second to last chapter. Hey. At least it wasn't the last one. And if you're not confused at all (I'm proud!) don't worry about my below notes. Just review and have a nice day.

Lance was married previously, in Ithaca (which is an island country off the coast of their own country where this takes place, Atoka.) Since Grand is living there in Atoka, you can infer that Lance is Atokan and his first wife was Ithacan, which gives the children their partial Ithacan look.
Lance's children from his first marriage, in order by age, are: Mayella, Haku, Ivan, Belarus, Tyki, and Xin. Soren was born between Tyki and Xin, but is Anju's biological child. As Anju explained in the chapter before this, when Lance cheated on his first wife she kicked him out, and he stayed with Anju and Soren for a while. Then he went back to his wife, had Xin, and his wife died in childbirth.
Got it? Good.

Reviews

[Meat of Dog]

I've been long anticipating Anju's decision to choose between Spoorn and Lance, so the closer we get to it the more I feel anticipation. I can see how it's hard for her to think, as well, with all of the children distracting her. The scene of Anju taking the kids back to the park stood as a good suggestion of what her life would be like should she choose Lance, business as usual. I feel like this gives us a good scope of their lives and the pros/cons of her decision, adding more weight to it for us as readers. There's discussion in the earlier parts of this book about mortals hating Ithicans, but up to this point is seemed like more of a warning for the kids to make them behave. The attack on Anju by the mortals was a completely unexpected surprise. Spoorn's arrival felt like a fox in the hen house, too. He's funny in that he's so cocky, thinking that he can change her mind the day before her wedding.

I can see how she might be attracted to his confidence despite it being a little arrogant. He's so in-your-face that it's a little jarring, such as "I saved your children, now you owe me.' He feels a little villainous because of this, which pushes me away from wanting her to choose him (which I'm not sure of that was what you were going for). I'm drooling for the last chapter to see what she finally decides to do!

[Dearantlers]

Very good next chapter! Can't wait for the next chapter. Hopefully I'll find time to read it when you get it up here!!! Very well written!

[Black Cat Fever]

Great addition to your story. Looking forward to the last chapter. Overall, a very entertaining book. Well worth reading.

[Tina Kline]

Wondering here which man she's going to pick. I, myself, hope it's Spoorn.

[StillShorterThanYou]

Great chapter. I'm really excited for the next one :D