misguided.

Avery Wakefield. 28. Captain of the high seas. Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate life was forced upon me...

[gael-garcia]

Jesse Williams photographed by David Needleman

[ellaggrace]

Avery!

You–you weren’t there, Ave, you weren’t there! I had to leave to look for you; I couldn’t just–I couldn’t just stay at the cottage and wait and hope and pray for you to come back! I was so scared that they had come for you, that they knew you were planning on leaving your ship, and–oh Gods, Ave, please, please, please tell me that you’re okay! Did anyone hurt you? Are–are you alright?

[averywakefieldd-blog]

I--I didn’t know what was going on, Ella! I was out trying to pick up a few things for the babies when word of an attack leaked, and then spread into my area of the village. But God, Ella, I’m here; I’m here, and you should be at home. You shouldn’t have come looking for me...you have to know by now that I’ll always come for you. I promise.

I’m fine, Ella, and you need to get home. I’ll take you myself, okay? Where’s Elijah?

[ellaggrace]

“Avery…Avery, please, where are you?”

[averywakefieldd-blog]

...Ella? Ella, what are you doing out of the house? Oh my God, what are you doing here?!

[celinedahl-blog]

That sounds good- everything except that last bit. These men have directly gone against the Pirate Lords, so it’s up to the five of us to make sure that this is the last time that this ever happens. It’s a matter of reputation, dear, and if I’m the one who happens to stumble across them, they’ll suffer something far more painful than a little strangulation. They will be the examples for why no fucking pirate is to act without our discretion.

Your priorities are different, captain, so I would stick with them if I were you.

[averywakefieldd-blog]

You’re free to have them, so long as they’re taken care of. That’s what I care about most. I’d hate to be the person crossing angry paths with you, mademoiselle. You’re a force to be reckoned with. And I know Ella...if I can’t find her, then that means she’s come to look for me, too. 

My priorities are...complicated. But if I can find her in one piece, then that’s all I’ll need.

[celinedahl-blog]

As soon as you find her, you best get as far away from the docks as possible. It’s only a matter of time before the mer show up, if they haven’t already. She isn’t in the right… condition to be caught up all of this. Fucking hell, these bastards chose the worst time to fight.

Honestly, and they call us monsters? There are more townsfolk looting these shops than there are pirates.

[averywakefieldd-blog]

I promise I will; I planned on keeping us tucked away in her cottage and, if that doesn’t work, then there’s an old bomb shelter I used to play in when I was a kid. I’ll take her and her brother there, if need be...bastards is a light choice of words to call them, in my not so humble opinion. If I find the dicks who initiated all of this, I’ll wring their necks.

[celinedahl-blog]

“Oh for God’s sake! Who is the bloody hell is responsible for this? Where are the others?”

[averywakefieldd-blog]

I don’t know, but I’ll fucking kill them when I find out. I was out trying to gather some supplies for my...my you know, and now I’m struggling to find out where Ella is, which is a lot easier said than done with people slaughtering one another in the middle of the damn streets.

[ellaggrace]

gracefield | tale as old as time

[ellaggrace]

Ella could only hope that Avery could find it within him to forgive her. All this time, she had been so solely committed to focusing on the fact that he had abandoned her, that he had left her alone and broken and pregnant, that she hadn’t so much as attempted to fathom the possibility that he was hurting as well. But oh goodness, looking up at him now, with his chiseled and gorgeously handsome face that had grown wrought with pain and agony, it was startlingly clear to young Ella that she wasn’t the only one whose heart had broken a thousand times over within the last eight or so months. There was no telling what Avery had gone through while he was away at sea…Ella couldn’t pretend to understand what the life of a pirate entailed, but leaving the only home he had ever known directly after the murder of his father couldn’t have been at all easy on the father of her child, and yet…she had yet to sympathize with him for even a single moment. Instead, she had shut him out completely and distanced herself from him to the extent that it felt as if she were the one lost at sea, and…for the love of all that was right and holy, that was something that Ella would never be able to forgive herself for. She was in love with Avery, madly and desperately in love, and…he deserved to be made aware of it. She didn’t care that she was committing treason just by allowing herself to be involved with him—the fact that he was a pirate didn’t change the fact that he was also the most wonderful man she had ever known (right up there with Elijah, of course), and that…more than absolutely anything else, she wanted to settle down and start a life with him.

Thankfully, it seemed as if they were finally on their way to doing just that. Ella’s desperate kisses and pitiful little kisses were having exactly the sort of effect on Avery she had been hoping for; he met her eagerly in return with kisses of his own, and she couldn’t help but mewl and whimper fretfully as she clutched at him as if he were her desert oasis, her last vestige of hope in a brave new world. Elijah was working late, and little Cooper was in bed for the night, and that meant that they had at least one interruption-free hour with one another…hopefully that meant they would be putting it to good use. Between the kisses that he rained down all over her face, Avery murmured time and time again that he loved her, and each utterance of his feelings for her filled Ella with warmth and reassurance; he knew better than anyone else that she was insecure and anxious at best, and in his own perfect way, he soothed her anxious heart and set her frazzled nerves to rest. She was reminded starkly of the night they had spent together so long ago, eight months in the past when little Caelum had been conceived, and she was startled to realize that this was more than a little similar: they were both vulnerable and overwhelmed, and they were both seeking the very same sort of love and comfort in one another that they had always been able to find. Avery truly was her soulmate, and from this day on, she swore up and down that she would never treat him as anything but. “Ave…oh, Ave…” It was when he pulled back to look at her, to brush a stray lock of coppery-brown hair away from her face, kissing the freckled tip of her nose all the while and confessing to her everything that it was he wanted for them, that Ella’s voice finally broke, and from her little rosebud mouth came a cracked and breathy sob that sounded on his name.

He…oh God, he wanted to make her his wife. He wanted to have more babies with her.

Utterly overwhelmed and unable to verbally express herself, Ella could do little more than nod tearfully over and over again, clinging to Avery with her quivering arms wrapped around his neck as she sobbed out his name like a reverent and worshipful prayer. “I—I want everything with you, Ave, please…a cottage of our own, a family, for—for you to be my husband…” She broke off on another soft cry, gazing up at him as she knelt on her knees, and by the time he was gingerly sliding her hands away from his neck and running his own and up down the length of her delicate and lily-white arms, she knew that he understood perfectly what it was that she had been attempting to convey to him. In her own way, she had offered her body to Avery, for him to love and to cherish and to bury himself within, and despite how shy and timid and uncertain she was, he had known exactly what it was that she wanted without even needing to ask. By the time his hands, strong and capable and roughly calloused after half a year at sea, had trailed down to the tiny curves of her hips, Ella was trembling and looking up at Avery with wide, trusting, and vulnerable eyes. The last time they had made love, he had left almost immediately afterwards, and right now, she was all but begging him not to do the same. “Ave…” she whispered his name softly, shakily, as he reached for the hem of her dainty sundress, and by the time he was bringing it up and over her head along with her bra and panties, rosy heat was spreading all throughout her newly-developed frame, starting at the apples of her cheeks and descending down to her decollete and the pert tops of her full breasts that were at least two cup sizes bigger than they had been the first night that Avery had seen her completely naked. When she was still seventeen, they had been small but perky, sensitive and responsive and firm to the touch, and now they were still supple and bouncy, but impossibly full, tender, and swollen as well. Aching and filled to the brim with sweet cream, they longed for Avery’s touch, to be massaged and caressed and milked by him, and just the thought of his hands all over her voluptuous tits were enough to have her delicate pink nipples stiffening and swelling into ripe and juicy cherries that all but pleaded to be plucked, suckled, and toyed with.

But oh, she couldn’t help but worry…her body was no longer the same one that had tempted him so long ago; her previously-flat tummy was now swollen with his seed and the unborn child that had become of it, and she was soft all over now, whereas she had once been slender and lithe and fine-boned, and she was scared that Avery would fail to find her as attractive as he had in the past. Her worry must have shown on her fair features, because the very moment that she was fully before him, Avery, her sweet and loving Avery, was reaching down to tenderly caress and rub the swell of her tummy, all the while reassuring her that she was just as beautiful as she had been the night he had taken her virginity. All at once, Ella was alight—flushed with pleasure, flushed with arousal, flushed with pure relief, her face that was always so easy for him to read lit up as if the moonlight streaming through the window had cast its glow upon her and her only. His big, strong hands rubbing themselves into her creamy skin caused Ella to let out a breathy little mew, her lashes fluttering shut as her lips quivered shakily apart, and she could feel the heat between her thighs grow slick and sticky with her need for him; the lips of her pussy grew swollen and flushed, and her sensitive little clit throbbed and ached with the desire to be touched. She was on display for him now, the perfect example of arousal in its purest form, and it was only heightened when Avery lowered his head to press a tender kiss to her baby bump. He…oh God, she almost felt as if he were worshiping her. “Oh, Avery, please…I need you so badly,” she keened softly, tearfully, her fretful blue eyes opening to meet his darkened gaze as he nestled his cheek against the pale skin of her tummy. They contrasted so beautifully…light and dark, tall and big, weathered and newly-born, and by the time he was finally standing, Ella was instinctively flitting her gaze upwards to look at him as if he were God himself.

She watched as he began to undress, trembling before him on the floor as he bared himself fully to her. He was so beautiful that it was almost hard to look at him—his deeply-bronzed skin was smooth and lit from within, and his body itself was a work of art; gorgeously toned and defined with the sort of muscles that any man would have been proud of, Avery was perfection in its most raw and unbelivable form, and Ella still couldn’t fathom the fact that he wanted to settle for someone as plain and young as her. Her cheeks warmed once more by the time he was peeling off his boxers…proudly, his impossibly huge cock jutted out from between his taut thighs to rest heavily against his abdomen, hard and rigid all over and beaded at the swollen head with drops of pre-cum that Ella couldn’t help but long to lap at as if she were a kitten drinking from a bowl of fresh cream. Just like the rest of him, his manhood was unmistakably impressive, and once he had fallen to his knees in front of her and was clutching her face between his hands to kiss her long and slow and soft and deep, all that Ella was aware of was the presence of his throbbing cock between them, rubbing up against the swell of her tummy and causing her aching little cunt to drip all down her thighs with her wet and sticky juices. She mewed a pitiful little sound into his mouth, shyly resting her hands on his chest and stroking reverently at his caramel-colored skin before allowing him to ease her up  off of the ground (which was no easy feat, mind you), and…over to the sofa he had previously been seated upon. Quivering all over, and more than a little timid and nervous, she obediently allowed Avery to maneuver her body in any which way, trusting him to know better than anyone just how she would like to be touched and…well, fucked. It wasn’t as if they had too many options at this point, of course, given the fact that she was eight months pregnant, but as Avery laid down on the couch on his side and pulled her back against him so that he was spooning her…she knew that he had most certainly made the right decision for them both.

“Ave…” His name was a moan, soft and breathy and full of need, as it fled her lips the moment he gently tugged her back against his body so that it was pressed flush against his own. They were so closely intertwined that it would have been almost impossible for anyone to tell where Avery ended and Ella began, and the young mother-to-be reveled in the fact that she could feel every inch of him so intimately. His magnificent cock, throbbing and undoubtedly aching, had laid itself between the perky cheeks of her supple ass, and Ella could feel his swollen balls resting heavily against the soft, small, and soaked mound of her glistening cunt. Avery’s lips sought out the creamy and sensitive skin that made up her delicate neck and the curve of her shoulder, and oh, she could only hope that he was leaving marks in his wake; like a wedding band or an engagement ring, she’d wear them proudly to display the fact that finally, finally, the father of her unborn child had returned to her for good. “I want this, Ave, I do…please. You don’t ever have to worry about that with me; I—there will never come a time when I don’t want you like this,” she promised him breathlessly, her full and voluptuous breasts rising and falling with each labored exhale that slipped past her quivering lips. He was reassuring her again, telling her that he’d make this even better than their first time—something that Ella wasn’t even sure was possible. “It’ll be perfect because it’s with you, Ave, please…make love to me,” she pleaded with him softly, and the apples of her cheeks flushed with warmth all over again with both arousal and her constant sense of self-consciousness. Her eyelashes were fluttering hazily, her lips parted and trembling as they formed silent plea after silent plea, and oh, her hips…timidly, uncertainly, she had begun to rock them back against Avery’s, and she whimpered brokenly as she tried so desperately to urge him to slip inside of her. “I—I feel so empty, Ave…Ave, honey, I need you,” she keened pitifully, a small gasp leaving her when she felt his hand rest possessively o her tummy once more. “Show me…please, please show me how good it can be for us.”

[averywakefieldd-blog]

Outright asking if being with him physically--intimately--was what she wanted was a habit for Avery; he didn’t want Ella to think that she owed him anything after he spilled his heart and feelings out to her; he didn’t want his baby girl to think that she owed him anything in the slightest. But God, did he hope that she sincerely wanted him; he hoped and prayed with absolutely everything in him that her offering herself to him wasn’t a pity thing or a way for her to make herself feel better about this whole sticky mess. But he knew that when (or if, that is to say) they decided to consummate their feelings for one another, there would be no going back. He would be committed to her, endlessly and without argument. For many other men who had felt lost and wandering their entire lives, that might have been too great a task to take on all at once. But for Avery Wakefield, who had willingly given his heart away years ago to a timid young woman with a smile that could bring men to their knees and eyes that were warm and filled to the brim with compassion, it was nothing. Committing himself to Ella was as easy as breathing; it was like coming home after a long and grueling day.

And he hoped that...that after everything they’d been through together, that Ella was able to say the same. Wondering if she believed otherwise--if he had been too late expressing himself so passionately to her--was killing him.

So when Ella moaned that she needed this--needed him, wanted him, and would always want him--Avery nearly felt his heart race right out of his fucking chest. After so long (approximately eight or so months now, if her baby bump wasn’t indicative enough of that), they were finally going to be intimate with one another. After so many weeks of strained tension between Avery and his Ella, the two were finally going to join as one and reconcile everything they had once feared was lost in the ocean that divided them.

After what felt like forever, Avery Wakefield was finally going to be with Ella Grace again. For the second time ever. And he was going to make it count.

By the time Ella was outright asking for Avery to make love to her (and telling him all the while that she felt empty without him inside of her), Avery was flickering his eyes closed and taking a moment to appreciate how sultry Ella was without even meaning to be. His nostrils flared with a mixture of desire and relief, and the hand he had wrapped around her abdomen flexed once, twice, three times as he struggled to maintain a grip on his self-control. He began kissing the soft skin just underneath Ella’s ear, rubbing his nose against her earlobe as he wriggled his hips to meet the feverish tandem of her own. His cock, rock hard and aching with the need to stuff itself inside of her, fit between Ella’s asscheeks nicely, and the friction that her body and its heat created was nearly enough to drive her older lover into a fucking frenzy of his own. He felt like an animal in heat, barely able to control himself from stuffing himself inside of her and never looking back...but he needed to make this good for her. He needed to, if not for Ella’s sake, then for his own. He had something to prove, Avery Wakefield did, and he refused to rest until he’d done exactly that. And then Ella was pleading with him to show her just how good it could be, and Avery (in his typical Avery fashion) read her words as a challenge.

“Here’s the thing, pigeon,” he murmured into her ear, angling his hips and aligning his cock with her slick, weeping entrance. “It will always be good for us...because I was made for you and you were made for me.”

And then, without waiting a moment longer, Avery was shifting his hips and slipping inside of her...and the minute he did, he felt his shoulders relax. He released a rush of air, exhaling on a moan and biting down on Ella’s shoulders as his cock adjusted to her impossibly tight, wet cunt. Her pussy had been ridiculously tight the night he’d taken her virginity, but fuck, she was just as tight now as she had been the night they’d conceived Caelum. But now, with her hymen broken and the proof of her virginity gone (clearly), Avery wasted no time in shifting his pelvis and thrusting against her. His thrusts were slow and sweet and first, but with each second that passed, his need for her--which had been so excruciating and unbearable the last few months--grew and mounted...until finally, his hips were smacking against her full, perky rear, and there was little more than the sound of their flesh smacking against one another and the mixture of their labored breathing to fill the air around them. Because God, she didn’t just feel good, she felt fucking heavenly. She was the tightest, wettest, most perfect thing he’d ever had, and Avery wanted more, more, more.

He didn’t want to stop. Fuck, fuck; he wanted to fuck her every damn day for the rest of his life. He didn’t want this to end; he was desperate.

“You have no idea,” he panted into her ear, rubbing her stomach with one hand while his cock thrust in and out of her. “what it does to me, looking at you and knowing that we made this together. You have no idea how that makes me feel.” And then his lips were assaulting her throat, leaving hickeys in his wake as he licked, sucked, kissed, and nibbled on the exposed crook of her neck. And then, to make his little mama feel better, Avery slipped the hand that was caressing her baby bump around to her supple rear and smacked it once before sliding around and cupping her wet heat. Slowly, he began to rub at her sticky cunt with three fingers, feeling a series of shivers erupt down his spine each time his forefinger brushed against her swollen, throbbing clit. And in the heat of the moment, he panted something to Ella that he never, ever planed on betraying.

“Marry me, Ella...baby girl, please. Please, just...God, be mine. Be mine so that we can do this every day, oh my God.”

[celinedahl-blog]

You left…? Oh my god, Wakefield, please tell me you didn’t fuck the girl and leave her to deal with this on her own. I- you are complete jackass, you know that? Because I’m sure as hell that she does. Like, of all the things that you could have possibly done, that is among the worst. How the hell did you manage to get her to forgive you? Has she?

Of course I’ll keep this a secret, dear. I’m not going to put the poor girl in any more danger than she is already. Eight months along, Christ. We can’t bring her out to sea in that condition, but it definitely isn’t safe for her to be on land either, especially if the word gets out. Are you absolutely positive that no one you know will expose you? Does she have any relatives that might go to the royal army?

I think I need a fucking drink. You want one too?

[averywakefieldd-blog]

No, I--God, of course that’s not what happened. I got involved in this trade because I had something to take care of...I planned on returning to her within the matter of a few weeks. I didn’t even know she was pregnant. Things got delayed, I had to stay out on the ocean to stay alive, and...it was the worst decision of my life. She has forgiven me, yes...she’s always been the best of me, and I think she forgave me because she knows I love her. As for her forgiving me...I told her I would leave. The trade, that is. I just...don’t know how to without, uh, causing suspicion to rise. I didn’t exactly get involved in this lifestyle because I wanted to be a pirate...kind of thought my life would’ve gone differently, actually. Planned on settling down with her. Earning an honest living. Having a few kids, maybe.

I don’t want her out on sea. I don’t want her anywhere near a ship. I don’t want anyone in the trade to even know she exists. You and my quartermaster are the only people I trust enough to give this information to. She has one surviving relative, and trust me when I say he’ll be silent as the grave. He loves his sister too much to jeopardize her happiness.

...No thank you, I think I’ll pass. I need to have a clear head for when I go see her later.

[celinedahl-blog]

My dear, I owe my life and title to being anything but conventional. A lady doesn’t reach the top of the food chain without relying on her brain and the opinions of her subordinates. You’ve proven time and again to have a good head on your shoulders, Wakefield. I wouldn’t want that sort of perspective to go unheard, even if the others may be too stubborn about it. Therein lies the inherent fault with my boys- they never think ahead. 

Hold on … A baby? Have you lost your mind, Wakefield?

Look, I don’t know the details about this, but you better start talking damn fast, boy. When did this happen? Does anyone else know? Does the girl know what you are? How far along is she? 

[averywakefieldd-blog]

Perhaps that’s why you’re so skilled at what you do, mademoiselle; in my time knowing you, you have been anything but conventional. But if it’s one thing this trade needs, it’s unconventional people like yourself. Perhaps the other pirate lords will come around eventually. They might surprise you.

...Haven’t lost my mind, no, just...left to sea without realizing what I’d created in my wake. The only other person who knows is my quartermaster, and she’s sworn herself to silence and secrecy...which I’m praying you’ll do, as well. The girl does know what I am, yes...I’ve known her for the entirety of her life, so the blow about my recent change in profession was...well, it was a bit of a shock. She’s about eight months now, and I’m staying with her until we can figure something out. I have to protect her and the baby, Celine...I have to.

[celinedahl-blog]

Admittedly, Wakefield? Nothing worth the cost of what Barrett and the others have done. It will be a miracle if even a fraction of us will survive once the kingdoms get desperate. However, I plan on being part of that small group and I’m sure you feel the same. It was fortunate that you chose to tell me about this, dear. The other Lords would not be so appreciative of hearing about that. 

Hm, is that so? I do hope you are exercising caution, Captain. The royal army has been sniffing around for prates for months now. If they catch wind of one of them, or anyone associated with them, there’s no telling what they might do. The land is a dangerous place for people like us, and it would be wise to remember that.

[averywakefieldd-blog]

Then I suppose we’ve got to tally up our losses and get out before things get too bloody and sticky for everyone else. Just my two cents on the matter, at the very least. You’re a pirate lord yourself, mademoiselle...and you seem to be more understanding and perceptive than the others I’ve interacted with. I figured you would be the safest to come to. Besides, we’ve had a pleasant work relationship with one another the last handful of months...I feel more comfortable around you than I do most others.

...I know. I know. But if I get caught, it’ll be worth it. I...I have a baby on the way and a woman to care for. I can’t keep away from my family at a time like this. The girl is all I have left.

[ellaggrace]

gracefield | tale as old as time

[ellaggrace]

Finally, the front door had been shut and James had been sent home for the evening, but only after Avery had made it exceptionally clear that he wasn’t at all pleased with the fact that he had been there in the first place. Ella could only watch, startled and incredibly confused, as Avery went out of his way to not just threaten James, but to…impress upon him the fact that he was the father of her child as well. Truthfully, Ella hadn’t known if that was something Avery wanted to share with the world, and so she did her best to keep his name out of her mouth as often as she could, and so hearing him express so freely that they were having a baby together…it surprised her, yes, but it also caused her heart to grow warm and swell with emotion at the same time. If it was solely up to her, she would have proudly told anyone who would listen that Avery had been the one to father her unborn child, because she was proud of the fact that little Caelum was lucky enough to have a papa as strong and as brave as her great love. Avery was going to be an absolutely brilliant father…that much Ella was one-hundred percent certain of. So caught up in her thoughts and still startled by Avery’s sudden outburst, the young eighteen year old wasn’t at all aware of the effect her words had had on Avery, one in particular having stuck out the most to him: friend. She never knew what to describe them as anymore, and she knew that was partly her fault…she had pushed him away from her these past few months; ever since he had come back home, all she had been able to do was distance herself further and further still until the ocean stretching between them grew to be almost too much to bear.

Ella waited for Avery to say something, anything, in response to everything that had just taken place between them and her rather obnoxious co-worker, but without so much as a word, he was staggering away from her and…sinking down upon the nearest sofa. “I—Ave!” she gasped breathlessly, her finely-shaped brows creasing together with both worry and confusion. All at once, it was as if Avery had just crumpled in on himself, almost as if the world had grown to be too much for his strong but weary shoulders to bear. Ella could only watch, startled and concerned, as he buried his face in his trembling hands and merely fell silent. She didn’t know what to do or what to say, but the ever-present urge to toss herself into his arms and never let go was even stronger than usual as she witnessed him break apart at the seams in front of her. She wanted to cradle his face in her hands and tug him down to her breasts so that she could stroke her fingers through his hair and hold him close; she wanted to murmur soft and soothing words of comfort in his ear and promise that he would be okay, and yet…she was frozen in place, still unable to make a single move due to everything that still lingered between them. Him taking her virginity and leaving…him coming back to a baby she hadn’t even known he wanted a single thing to do with until only recently. There was so much between them that he might as well have still been away at sea at this point, as much as it broke Ella’s heart to admit. However, just when she was about to act entirely upon instinct and rush over to him, Avery was lifting his head out of his quivering hands, and with an expression full of anguish and remorse…he spoke.

Avery’s voice was worryingly raspy and hoarse as he began to speak, and with each word that fled his lips…Ella’s heart broke just a little bit more. Each and every single one of his pointed sentences might as well have been a dagger, and the meaning of them, a cruel stab right to where she was most vulnerable. He…oh God, it was so clear to her now that she wasn’t the only one hurting; Avery was lost and broken and entirely unsure of what to do with himself, and it was entirely because of her. Ella’s eyes grew wide and her bottom lip began to quiver as she realized that, by calling Avery her friend, she had insulted him beyond measure—without meaning to, she had taken everything that their relationship was supposed to mean and tossed it in the trash, just because she wanted to somehow avoid seeming even more insecure and frightened than she already was. He…he did so much for her, day in and day out, and this was how she repaid him? As Avery continued to speak, his voice rough and cracked, Ella felt her big blue eyes begin to fill with tears of sorrow and regret and guilt; they brimmed beneath her fluttering lashes and threatened to spill down her freckled cheeks. “Oh…oh, Ave…” she whispered shakily, bringing one trembling hand to her mouth and holding it there in an attempt to muffle the broken sob that wanted so desperately to tumble past her lips. It was startlingly clear to her now that she was doing neither one of them any good whatsoever by distancing herself from him like this…if anything, she was merely harming what was already an extraordinarily fragile and vulnerable relationship as it was. Oh, God and all of his angels, she was an absolute idiot.

It was when Avery brought his hand to his chest meaningfully and proclaimed her as his soulmate that Ella felt her resolve weaken, crumble, and eventually break. He was offering his heart for her to take into her hands, to love and to cherish and to keep safe, and that was all it took for Ella to realize that she was being given everything she had wanted ever since she was a small girl looking up to her elder brother’s best friend as if he was the reason the sun rose and fell every single day. This was Avery, her Avery, and she had no reason to push him away anymore. It was hurting him, it was hurting them, and…enough was enough. Overwhelmed with guilt and emotion, Ella rushed over to the couch as quickly as her swollen tummy would allow, teary-eyed and wrought with anxiety as she fell to her knees before Avery, gazing up at him as if he were the Messiah himself and she had somehow managed to fail him. “Oh, Avery, I…I’m so sorry. Please, I…” Desperately, she reached for his face, cradling it between her small and shaky hands and tugging him down to her so that she could brush the delicate slope of her nose against his much more defined one, whimpering softly as her tears finally began to run down her porcelain cheeks like two twin rivers. Overwhelmed with her need for him and wanting so badly to comfort him and apologize for all that she had done wrong, Ella tilted her face blindly up towards his, and just like that, she was pressing needy little kisses to his jaw and his chin and his eyelids, murmuring fretfully over and over again that she was so, so sorry, and so…so in love with him. “You have me, Ave, I promise. I—I’m yours,” she reassured him tearfully, her tiny hands quivering as they clutched onto his face for dear life. “There was never anyone else…there could never be anyone else. All my life I’ve been in love with you, ever since I was a little girl and you were a young man, I—I—I was born to give my heart to you.”

"I was just so afraid you were going to leave, and I—I pushed you away because of that," she whispered shamefully, her voice small and timid and all too vulnerable. "I told myself that I wasn’t your lighthouse, or your compass star, or—or something to guide you back home, but I know now that—that you never left, not really. Your heart was right here with me this entire time." Desperately, her lips sought to conquer every inch of his face, to know all of the defined lines and angles she had dreamed about every single night that he had been off at sea. "No matter what happened, Ave, no matter what you’ve done, no matter what you will do, I—I’ll always love you, Ave. I swear it, okay? Please, I…" Shakily, she curled her arms up around his neck, offering herself up to him like a willing sacrifice to a kind God. Beneath the dim lighting in the living room, her eyes were big and dark and glossy, her lips flushed rosy and red as they parted in an undeniable display of need. She was vulnerable, naked, exposed, and in her doe-like gaze was a plea for him to find his home in her once more. "Please…let me show you how much I love you, Ave, and how sorry I am for ever thinking that I could pretend to feel anything else."

[averywakefieldd-blog]

Avery was filled to the brim with emotion, a hair away from falling apart at the seams and collapsing into a puddle of mush at Ella’s feet. He’d given himself to her--his entire heart, his entire being--and now he was waited with bated breath for her to either accept or reject him...and it was the most excruciating silence of Avery Wakefield’s life. Ella was the only person his heart had ever known, and to feel as though they were so far apart was absolutely destroying him. Even before he’d harbored any sort of romantic interest in her (i.e. when she was still considered a child) she was still a constant presence in his life. He babysat her when Elijah was busy working overtime (then an apprentice for his friend and mentor Buvalu’s shop), took her to the marketplace so she could tag along with him and her big brother for the afternoon, and helped his dad pick out presents for her and Elijah both every holiday and birthday that came around. Ella Grace had been a part of Avery Wakefield’s life for as long as she’d been in existence, and the thought that one day she might be gone--taking his heart and her baby with him--was nauseating, at best. He wanted--no, needed--her approval; he needed to feel like his feelings weren’t being overlooked and trampled on in lieu of her pushing him away. He needed her to know that he loved her now, he’d loved her years ago, and he would continue to love her for the rest of his life.

There was no happiness without Ella Grace. Not anymore. Not when she’d become his entire reason for everything.

So by the time he finished speaking, he was tearful and quaking with an onslaught of emotion. And, as much as he loathed to admit it, Avery was also half-terrified that Ella would be horrified by everything he had just confessed to her and would come up with some sort of excuse to head to her bedroom for the rest of the evening and stay out of his line of sight. But she didn’t do that. She didn’t do any of that. Rather, Avery watched with wide and curious eyes as Ella made her way over to the couch as fast as her legs would carry her, crying out his name on a broken sob of anguish and, surprisingly enough, understanding. And then, much to Avery’s astonishment, Ella was falling to her knees before him (something that was surely easier said than done for a woman who was roughly eight months pregnant) and taking his face in her soft little hands. And then, before Avery had time to prepare himself, she was leaning forward and peppering his face with a dozen affectionate kisses, apologizing profusely the entire time. And just like that, Avery felt his erratically-thudding heart swell like a balloon within his chest, threatening to burst out of his rib cage then and there.

Because God, she was there...she was there and she was finally proclaiming herself as his.

It was her telling him that she was born to give her heart to him that really sent Avery over the edge. His quivering hands lifted to rest on her warm forearms as she kissed him, and as her lips sought out his face, his sought out hers in return. Her nose, her chin, her cheeks, her jaw; he kissed everywhere he could, and they were little more than a collision waiting to happen; a mess of bodies, his sharp and defined angles and hers soft and delicate curves, threatening to crash directly into one another. And the entire time she fretfully apologized and he kissed her in return, Avery murmured one thing into her skin over and over again:

“I love you. I love you. I love you.”

And then, in response to everything that Avery had told her, Ella was confessing a few things of her own. Hearing her say that she was afraid of him leaving again and not being sure whether or not she meant anything significant to him was enough to nearly break Avery’s heart; how could she have possibly thought that, after all they’d been through together? After everything he promised her since he’d returned? He thought he’d made her understand why he’d left Ronsanella and why it had been the biggest mistake of his life, but clearly...clearly, some of it hadn’t quite gotten through to her. He brushed a tendril of her rich auburn hair out of her face, running his fingers through her soft mane as he did so. And just so she didn’t worry any longer, Avery leaned forward, pressed a soft kiss to the tip of her nose, and whispered to her the following promise:

“I will never leave you again, Ella Grace. You are all I need in this world to keep me grounded. I...I want to marry you; I want to build a life with you. And I don’t want Caelum to be the last child we ever make together. I want everything a man could possibly want from a woman with you; I want safety and security and love that promises to last a lifetime. I want to be able to purchase you an engagement ring and a set of wedding bands beautiful enough to be worthy of you; I want to use the money I’ve made to buy us our own little cottage near the shore; I want to help raise Caelum as your husband, not your older brother’s former best friend. That’s all I want, Ella. A life with you.”

They were raw, honest words, and the minute they came tumbling out of Avery’s lips, he found himself praying that they wouldn’t be taken the wrong way. But then, before he could further explain anything he’d just confessed to her, Ella was...timidly offering herself up to him, in that shy and insecure way of hers, and Avery knew in an instant what it was she was doing...she was giving herself to him the very same way she had the night they’d conceived their unborn child. It was a loaded sort of offer, giving herself to him like this, and Avery was determined to make the experience better than the last time. He gazed down at her from where she knelt before him, and then slowly--tenderly--his arms were reaching out and running up the length of her own, then down to her hips. Slowly, he began to drag her clothes up and off her frame, gingerly lifting her to her feet as he did so. Once she was naked and bare before his gaze, Avery took a minute to appreciate Ella in all of her nude glory. Her breasts, which had been so perky before, were now tender and swollen as a result of carrying a child in her womb for the last eight months. Her thighs were still as creamy and shapely as he remembered them being, and the proof of her womanhood that rested between them nearly sent Avery into a flurry of hormonal emotions. Unable to tear his gaze away from Ella’s body, Avery stretched out a hand to rub at the soft swell of her abdomen, murmuring words of praise the entire time.

“You’re just as beautiful as I remember, pigeon.”

And then, just because he could, Avery was leaning forward and pressing a soft and tender kiss to the swell of her stomach. His eyes flitted closed for a moment and he rested his cheek against her swollen belly, taking comfort in the fact that they’d made this together; they’d made a fucking baby together. Avery then stood from the couch himself, and went about peeling his own clothes off. His shirt, his pants, his underwear...everything went, and he kicked them over to the side along with Ella’s. He was already growing hard for her, arouse by the prospect of reuniting with his love after eight months of no intimacy with one another. He lifted both hands to cup her face, tilting his head to press a series of long, slow kisses to her mouth. They were passionate enough to curl his toes and ignite a fire in his abdomen...passionate enough to cause his erection to fully form, pressing against the lower swell of her stomach the entire time they kissed. And then, once he’d pulled his mouth away from hers, Avery was taking Ella by the hand and guiding her back towards the couch. He moved to lay down on his side, pressing himself up against the back of the soft and making more room for her. The long, wide couch that Elijah had managed to pick up in the marketplace would come in handy for today’s activities, and Avery was certain to be careful with Ella’s body as he gently pulled her down so that she was laying alongside him. They were pressed together intimately, with Ella’s back nestled against Avery’s chest, and as his cock pressed insistently against her ass, his lips trailed a series of warm, wet kisses all along the creamy expanse of her neck and shoulder. His hand snaked around to rub soothingly at her belly, and the tension between them was thick enough in that moment to cut with a knife.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” he breathed, nestling up against her face and rubbing at her stomach. “Because if you do...I’ll make it good for you. I’ll make it even better than last time.”

[dex-i-pedia]

Visit Original Link

the lady and the tramp — bella note

//SPAGHETTI MUSIC!

[disneybroughtmehope]

“ this is the night, a most beautiful night, and they call it -  b e l l a  n o t t e “

[ellaggrace]

gracefield | tale as old as time

[ellaggrace]

More than almost anything else, Ella Grace wanted to retreat back into the comfort and safety of her cottage, if only so that she could hopefully see Avery at least once before she retired to bed for the rest of the night. She missed him so much that it was a constant, unavoidable ache, and she wondered if he knew—she wondered if he realized that, every single evening that they spent apart, she longed for him in…well, every imaginable way possible for a woman to long for a man. In so many ways, it was as if he was still off at sea…she was so worried that he was going to leave again that she had distanced herself from him to the extent where they rarely ever seen one another, and she hated herself for pushing him away when all she wanted was to draw him in close. Sometimes, though, it hurt to love him as much as she did; sometimes she felt as if she was being suffocated by the extent of her feelings for him. He was her soulmate, as far as she was concerned, and she would never regret any of the decisions she had made that led up to her being eight months pregnant, but the constant nagging suspicion that he had no intention of staying around long enough to reach Caelum’s first birthday kept her up at night to the point where she had cried herself to sleep on more than a half-dozen occasions. She couldn’t bear the thought of him leaving her again, and so despite everything he had done for her, despite the fact that he faithfully slept on the sofa every single night and had even gone out of his way to bring her home a puppy…Ella still worried, and she still fretted, and she still tried to pretend as if she wasn’t aching for him half as badly as she actually was. It…at this point, it was all that she knew how to do.

Right now, however, she didn’t know what to do at all. James had always been perfectly friendly with her at the tavern, if not a little touchy feel-y, but at the time being, he was making her incredibly uncomfortable, and incredibly confused as well. She didn’t understand why it was that he seemed so insistent upon…being intimate with her. She was eight months pregnant, for goodness sake, and surely that wasn’t something that appealed to young and strapping men like him. Sometimes, when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she was able to notice that her complexion was clear and bright, her cheeks flushed and glowing, and her lips rosy and full…and then there were her breasts, and those had gone up at least two cup sizes to become voluptuous and supple, but even still, she was only just barely eighteen, and—she was an occupied cubicle, for goodness sake. Surely that couldn’t have seemed attractive to…well, anyone. She didn’t even know how Avery felt about the way she looked now that she was swollen with his child. James, on the other hand, seemed to be overbearingly interested in her, and while there was nothing wrong with him, physically or otherwise, and she should have been flattered that he was so attracted to her, she…she couldn’t bring herself to feel anything but discomfort and anxiety on his behalf. He wasn’t…he wasn’t Avery. He wasn’t her dark-skinned, bright-eyed beloved, with his beautifully defined body and his velvety-smooth voice, and with that being said, she couldn’t possibly want anything romantic to do with the man standing before her now. “I—I think i should be going inside now, actually,” she started timidly, but no sooner had she attempted to take another step away from James was the front door opening to reveal…Avery. Her Avery.

Ella’s eyes widened with shock the moment they fell upon the father of her child, his sharp and defined features contorted into an expression of blatant anger as he directed his attention to a very startled James. It was evident to Ella, as well as her companion for the evening, that he was nothing short of livid, and that meant…oh goodness, that meant that he had more than likely heard the conversation taking place between her and James. Ella’s cheeks flushed with rosy heat almost immediately, and though she knew on some level that she had done nothing wrong, that she hadn’t broken any of the invisible boundaries she and Avery kept for the both of them, she still couldn’t help but feel ashamed of herself, as if she had no right to even think of allowing a man who wasn’t her brother or her makeshift uncle or the father of her child to walk her home so late at night. Truthfully, she would have much rather have had Avery pick her up after work, but…she hadn’t wanted to be a bother. “Ave…” she breathed his name softly when he turned to look at her, addressing her by one of the many affectionate pet names he had given her throughout the years, and just like that, she was all his. She nodded obediently when he insisted that she come inside, stepping past him with her waddling little steps and timidly moving to stand behind him in the doorway. Tentatively, she rested one small hand on his arm, peering out from behind him so that she could allow her gaze to fall upon her very confused and very irritated co-worker.

"Actually, I think it’s high-time for you to tell me who the fuck you are," James retorted rudely, curling his upper lip back in a discontented snarl. He had started working at the tavern shortly after Avery left, and so he had no clue who the elder man was…in order to avoid sullying his name, Ella had done her best not to talk about him, but it was clear now that perhaps she should have at least made it known that he was the father of her child. “Because little Grace and I were having a perfectly lovely evening before you so rudely interrupted us—isn’t that right, babe?” He arched both of his brows expectantly, leering at her over Avery’s shoulder, and initially, Ella attempted to shrink in on herself, uncomfortable and uncertain of what she was supposed to do or say. 

Eventually, once she realized that if she didn’t speak up, a fight would undoubtedly break out between the two men at odds with one another, Ella timidly stepped forward, gingerly stepping past Avery so that she could face James on her doorstep. “This is Avery, and—and he’s a very good friend of mine, James,” she said in a small little voice, unable to look at Avery as she did so. She just…she didn’t know how else to describe what they were to one another at this point, nor did she know what it was that he would prefer to be known as in regards to who he was and what he meant to her. “I’m really appreciative of you for walking me home, but—um, I think I’m going to have to turn in for the night, okay?” Then, simply because she didn’t know what to do and she was still attempting to be polite, she stood on the tips of her toes and kissed James once on the cheek before bidding him goodnight and shutting the door behind her. When she turned back around to face Avery, she was harried and flustered, all out of sorts after what had been a much more stressful walk home than she had been expecting. 

"I’m sorry, I—I didn’t mean to wake you," she said softly, gazing up at him with defenseless and apologetic eyes. "Were you…were you sleeping? I thought I could just sneak on in; I—I didn’t intend to be such a bother, Ave."

[averywakefieldd-blog]

Avery hated watching someone paw at Ella like she was a scrap of fresh fucking meat to be leered at and salivated over, but he hated knowing that she was miserable with all the attention even more. It would have been one thing, Avery supposed, if Ella enjoyed or got off on the fact that this scrawny ass punk was looking at her as if he was seeing a woman for the very first time, but...but Ella was uncomfortable. It was written all over her distorted features; masked underneath the clouded confusion and bewilderment that occupied her face was a young woman who was dreadfully uncomfortable with the social situation she found herself in. And Avery, as protective and territorial over Ella as he was, couldn’t stand by idly and just watch her be harassed by some toothpick-sized brat who thought he could have his way with her if he escorted her back home. Who the hell was this pasty ass boy, anyway? Someone from her work, perhaps, or an acquaintance hanging out at the bar who offered to give her a lift home on his way about town? There was no real way of knowing, but at the moment, the specifics of their relationship with one another was of little to no importance.

 What was important was getting Ella inside safe and sound. And soon, too.

Luckily for Avery, Ella seemed as eager to be by his side as he was to get her into the house. He breathed a sigh of relief when she whispered his name, his shoulders practically sagging with relief as she obediently scampered on over to his side. With her closer to his body, he knew he would be able to shield and protect her if the grimy man currently standing on her doorstep decided to try and pull anything else. He didn’t trust this guy, not one fucking bit; not with the way he was glaring at Avery (the audacity) and not with the callous way he’d spoken to Ella...as if walking her home had earned him the right to kiss and touch her as though they were intimate. The mere thought was enough to have Avery nearly convulsing with both disgust and rage, and he smacked his lips together distastefully as the man turned his attention towards Avery Wakefield. The urge to threaten the man with all sorts of claims and insults he’d heard among fellow pirates during his time at sea rose to the forefront of Avery’s mind, but the thought of disappointing or frightening Ella was too strong. So he kept quiet, glowering at the man as he demanded to know Avery’s identity. And just as the elder man opened his mouth to speak for himself, Ella was hastily explaining that Avery was...a friend. A good friend, but a friend nonetheless.

And just like that, his heart sunk to the pit of his stomach.

Before the man could go about getting the wrong sort of idea about them, though, Avery was disentangling himself from Ella, taking a step towards the slimeball, and jabbing a finger at his chest.

“And I’m the father of her baby...so if you ever touch Ella or my child like that again, it’ll be the last day you have hands,” he growled, his voice low and raspy as he spoke. But before he could say anything else to help carry the full weight of his threat, Ella was hastily bidding the boy (James, apparently) goodbye, pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek and then leading Avery inside. By the time she shut the door behind the stranger, Avery was practically humming with rage and a broken heart, and the urge to simultaneously lock himself in his bedroom and charge down the street after the man who had dared to touch Ella in such a familiar manner came crashing down upon him. Overwhelmed with such intense desires that threatened to rip him apart, Avery managed to stumble inside the Grace cottage, just barely hearing Ella over the ringing in his ears. And, above all else, he heard the long, dragged-out whisper of one word Ella had spoken pounding its way through his skull.

Friend. Friend. Friend. Friend.

The problem, of course, was that Avery didn’t want to be Ella’s friend. He didn’t want to wake up every day and know that that was the only title he’d ever be given by her to strangers, to friends, to future family. He hated knowing that she could barely manage to call him a friend, much less the title of “lover” or “boyfriend” or even “husband” that he would have preferred. It destroyed him--bit by bit, day by day--to acknowledge that he had managed to ruin something before it had even blossomed; that because of his grief, he had managed to completely wreck the last meaningful relationship he had in his life. His father was gone, Elijah was distant, and now Ella was growing cold and fading from his life, as well. And the realization that there was nothing Avery could seem to do to correct things--not even staying by her side tirelessly, day in and day out--absolutely crushed him.

So when Ella stuttered out an apology for waking him (he hadn’t been sleeping) and for being such a bother (how could she ever?), Avery couldn’t find it in him to answer at first. A lump had risen in his throat and his heart was threatening to beat its way out of his very chest. His vision was blurry and his skin was clammy; he was completely losing it in the wake of everything that had happened to them--and not just today, but for the last six months--and finally, when Avery could bear the weight of his guilt and bitter reality no longer, his knees buckled and he collapsed onto the edge of the couch. Unable to do anything for a handful of moments, he buried his face in his hands. His shoulders were quaking with silent, suppressed emotion, and when he managed to at last lift his face to gaze up at her, there was an undeniable amount of anguish in his ordinarily bright and vibrant eyes.

“Don’t you get it by now, Ella?” he croaked, and Avery was embarrassed to note just how raspy and hoarse his voice sounded. “You’ve never been a bother to me; you never disturb me because I am always waiting for you to arrive home. I make you snacks and clean the house and take care of things when I can all for you. I do it to make sure you’re as comfortable as possible; I do it to make up for things I’ve done in the past. I build things for the baby, I buy him everything I can’t possibly afford, I give you my entire heart and life and...and at the end of the day, I’m just a friend to you. After everything we’ve been through together, you can’t bear to look a man in the eye and say ‘This is Avery Wakefield, the father of my child and the man I love.’ I’m just the good friend Avery, the distant friend who has returned home from a long journey who you talk about like someone who’s just visiting for a week or two.”

“So don’t you understand, Ella?” he asked, desperation lacing his tone. His eyebrows furrowed together and his lips tugged into a frown as he spoke. “I don’t want to be just your friend anymore; I don’t want you to keep pushing me away and freezing me out. You’re my soulmate, for God’s sake, and no one--nothing--not a day or week or half a year at sea is going to take that away from us.” He pressed his palm against his chest, tapping it once, twice, three times. “Don’t you feel it when you look at me? Haven’t you always felt it? My heart beats stronger whenever I’m with you, I swear to God it does, and when I’m away from you, it feels faint and disconnected from my body. Living as your friend is like living half a life with half a heart; it’s like waking up only to find out you’ve lost your lungs. It’s like trying to think with no brain or to see with no eyesight. It’s like walking through life living in a shell that doesn’t quite fit, and it is excruciating. My heart grew fainter the longer I stayed out at sea, until I realized that it wasn’t even with me to begin with. I carved it out of my chest the night we made Caelum and pressed it up against your own in the dark. And I don’t want it back, I don’t ever want it back...I just want you in return. I do, I do.”

“All I have ever wanted is you, Ella Grace. And that’s all I’ll want and need for the rest of my entire life.”

[ellaggrace]

gracefield | tale as old as time

Ella Grace was just about to embark upon her eighth and second-to-last month of her pregnancy, and so it went without saying that a day did not pass without her feeling each and every single one of the effects that her unborn baby had upon her body. Poor Caelum seemed far too big for her tummy at this point, for he tossed and turned all night long, and the small of her back seemed to ache constantly because of it. She didn’t blame him, of course—he had grown to be big and strong, just like his papa, and if he was like Avery in any other regard as well, he was probably all too willing to leave the confines of her much-too small body in hopes of exploring the world instead. Ella couldn’t wait to meet her baby…she was nervous, yes, especially given the fact that she was such a young mother, but at the same time, she loved and cherished the little boy that she had cocooned inside of her womb for nearly eight months now, and she wanted more than anything to glimpse upon his undoubtedly angel-like face for the first time and rain down kisses upon it. With that being said, eight months was far past the normal time frame that most expecting mothers continued to work—usually, they stopped long before their third trimester, but Ella couldn’t afford to do the same. Poor Elijah worked day in and day out just to keep a roof over their head and food on the table, and…she didn’t want to force him to do more than he already was. And then there was Avery, who…well…she didn’t know what he was doing exactly, but she couldn’t—if it came time for him to leave again, God and all his merciful angels forbid, then she…she needed to be prepared to raise her baby all on her own.

So that was why, despite the fact that she was achy and exhausted and wanting desperately to return home to her bed, Ella had chosen to pick up an extra shift at the tavern tonight. All of her co-workers and even her boss seemed reluctant to allow her to do so, but she was insistent—with the baby so close to being born, she needed the extra money, and she all but pleaded with them to understand that. It didn’t matter that the long hours spent on her feet were hard on her body, and that dealing with the judging gazes that lingered first on the prominent swell of her tummy and then on her left hand that lacked any sort of wedding ring whatsoever reminded her of just how frowned upon her condition was, because at the end of the day, she was saving for her baby’s future, and that was what meant the most to her. Thankfully, her shift had finally come to an end, but due to the fact that it was late at night, nearing eleven o’clock, she was in need of someone to walk her home. Elijah usually picked her up, of course, but he was still at work himself, and she hadn’t even told him that she had accepted the extra hours, just because she knew that he wouldn’t approve. And if he didn’t know that she was working late, then neither did Buvalu…she would have asked Raven, but Ella knew he needed the money just as badly as she did, and she refused to call him away on a busy night where his tips were good and his clientele unending. Finally, in her moment of distress, one of the busboys, a young man who went by the name of James, extended his hand to her and offered to walk her home—his shift ended the same time as hers, he said, and supposedly, he had been wanting to get to know her better anyway.

Though Ella considered herself more than capable of finding her way home on her own, she knew that Elijah didn’t feel the same way, and…admittedly, there was something about the streets of Ronsanella at nighttime that unnerved her when she was alone. More than anything, she wished that she could have somehow gotten a hold of Avery, but at the same time, she…she didn’t want to bother him. Things were better between them as of late, if only because Ella could no longer bear to upset him, but she still couldn’t help but keep her distance just a bit, because it still…it still hurt so badly to know what he was and what he had done and why he had abandoned her and Elijah without so much as a second thought. It felt like the people she loved were always leaving her…her mama and her papa, and then—her lover, too. So caught up in her distressing thoughts, she didn’t notice that she was almost home until James was gently sliding a hand around to the delicate small of her back and carefully turning her towards the tiny cottage she had been aching to return to all night long. “You okay there, doll?” he teased, raising one of his brows playfully. Ella flushed all down her neck and nodded hastily, offering him a grateful smile and jumping just a bit in response to the way he was touching her. It was…strange. The only man that had over touched her so familiarly was Avery, and she wasn’t sure if she liked the fact that someone else was doing the same.

"Oh, um—yes yes, I’m just a little tired, is all, but—thank you so much for bringing me home!" Ella expressed breathlessly, and James’ grin only seemed to widen. Carefully, he led her towards the cottage that she held so near and dear to her heart, guiding her up the front steps until they were standing in the doorway. Anxiously, she tried to peek through the window to see if any of the lights were still on, to see if Avery was home or if he had…gone back to his ship, but her companion for the evening seemed to be in need of her attention instead. Ella blinked, thoroughly startled, when she felt the lightly-calloused palm of James’ hand caress the apple of her cheek, rubbing over smooth and freckled skin that flushed with warmth beneath his touch. He was gazing down at her intently, Ella squeaked a little out of pure surprise, and though she attempted to put a bit of distance between them, her back was met with the railing, and James seemed rather pleased that she had nowhere else to go. Looking up at him with wide and uncertain eyes, Ella couldn’t help but compare him to Avery…James was good-looking enough, she supposed, in a very boyish and conventional way, but he…he had absolutely nothing on the father of her unborn child. His skin wasn’t the color of homemade caramel, his eyes weren’t the same shade of ocean-blue, and his body completely lacked the hard-earned tone and muscles that came from working hard every single day of his life and never allowing himself a day off. He wasn’t Avery at all…he was nothing like him, and even if he had somehow managed to share even a single similarity with her lover, she would still lack any sort of interest in him whatsoever.

All her life, she had only ever loved one man, and…that had yet to change. 

"If you’re so grateful, little Grace, you could always show me how much," James prompted smoothly, and the hand that had been caressing her face slid down until it was rubbing at the swell of her tummy instead. Immediately, Ella attempted to take another step back; that was her baby he was touching, and she didn’t like the way he was looking at her little bump…it unnerved her, and it confused her as well. There was something wicked in his gaze—something that she was too young and too naive to fully understand. “You’re such a sweet girl, aren’t you, Ella? So sweet and soft…and look how you’ve grown…” He was gazing pointedly at her chest now, at the supple curves of her breasts that had indeed—gotten bigger throughout the last few months of her pregnancy, and Ella wasn’t entirely sure what it was that she was supposed to do or say in response. He was just being…friendly, right?

"Erm, well—I am about to have a baby, and that tends to make anyone grow," she said with a nervous laugh, rubbing self-consciously at the delicate hollow of her throat and doing her best to remain polite. She wasn’t sure what it was that he wanted from her, or why he was lingering for as long as he was, but hopefully he would leave soon so that she could head into her cottage for the rest of the night and get a bit of well-earned rest. "But—like I said earlier, thank you so much for walking me home. You’ll—um—you’ll make it back okay?" she asked timidly, tucking a stray strand of coppery-brown hair behind her ear and looking up at him from beneath her lashes. In her own way, she was asking him to leave…even if that was something he didn’t seem to understand. 

"Later, yeah. I’m not done with you yet, though," James insisted playfully, and his hand left the curve of her tummy to reach out and toy with the very same strand of hair that Ella had just brushed behind her ear. "Come on, little Ella—give us a kiss, and then I’ll head home for the evening. Sound good? I’ve been thinking about you for weeks, you know.”

[averywakefieldd-blog]

Two months. Avery Wakefield had nearly been home for two months and the closest he’d gotten to reconciling with Ella was presenting her with a puppy and giving her a chaste kiss she hadn’t exactly asked for out of passion and overwhelming emotions. He was beginning to think that his return had just caused more harm than good; maybe it would have been better for Ella if she spent the rest of her life thinking Avery was dead. Then, at the very least, she wouldn’t have been forced to deal with the knowledge that he’d left on some angry impulse to avenge his father. However, the more he tried to convince himself that coming back was the wrong decision, the more he berated and hated himself for it. How could he possibly think that his absence would benefit either one of them? How could he even try and trick himself into thinking that being absent from his future child’s life would have been a source of happiness or positivity for him, Ella, or little Caelum? How could he even think such a ridiculous thing? And Ella...sweet, sweet Ella. She might have been upset and disappointed with him for his crimes against her (understandably so), but she still loved him. He could see it in her eyes; in the way she smiled at him sometimes when she thought he wasn’t looking. It was in her voice, so soft and longing, and in the way that she sometimes brushed against him when they walked.

She still loved him...but she was nowhere near ready to forgive him. Or so it seemed to Avery, at least.

So it became that Avery felt himself living in limbo; he had no idea where Ella was half the time, was never really allowed to pick her up from work (that was something that Elijah swore by doing himself), and felt as though he was wasting away. He wanted to help out so fucking badly, but Elijah didn’t seem to want the money he had to offer up. So he helped out in little ways; bought things for the nursery when Ella and Elijah were out at work, cleaned up a bit when one or both of them would run errands, and took care of Ella’s new puppy, Cooper, when she was unavailable to. Like tonight, for instance; with Ella at work and Elijah off tending to his blacksmith forge, that left Avery and Cooper alone for the evening. He’d played around with the dog for a little bit, had read one of the books that Elijah kept stacked in the corner of the living room, and even managed to finish the baby mobile he’d been working on for little Caelum to hang above the makeshift crib Elijah had painstakingly crafted for the unborn child. And the later it became, the more worried about Ella Elijah was; he didn’t like her working so late into her pregnancy, but every time he so much as even attempted to broach the subject, she seemed to tune him out. It wasn’t healthy, working when she was roughly a month away from giving birth (maybe even sooner, depending on how quickly Caelum wanted to burst out into the world), but...Ella seemed determined. And Avery knew, somehow, that as long as she was upset with him, he wouldn’t be able to talk her out of (or into) anything.

So he waited in silence. Worried in silence. Prayed to God that by the time Ella got off work, Elijah would already be waiting to escort her home.

So when hours came and went and no sign of Ella came, Avery began to get worried. He paced back and forth, took Cooper for a brisk walk near the beach, and was able to return home and make some dinner for Ella and Elijah to come home to (not that the latter would touch anything Avery made for him; not anymore) all before Ella so much as walked through the front door. When at last he heard the telltale signs of her coming up the steps, Avery was fully prepared to throw the door open and welcome the Graces home. But instead of Elijah’s usual booming laugh and deep voice, he heard someone unfamiliar speaking to Ella. Confusion clouded Avery’s features; the voice sounded too juvenile to belong to Buvalu, the older blacksmith who had helped train Elijah when they were just boys, and Avery couldn’t think of anyone else whom Ella would be comfortable having escort her home. So when he peeked through the blinds in the front room and saw a strange man, closer to Ella’s age than he was himself, leading her up the steps to her front door and resting a hand against the small of her back the entire time, Avery felt his heart sink down to his stomach.

She...was she trying to move on? Was she trying to prove a point to Avery about how she didn’t want anything to do with him romantically anymore? 

Overwhelmed with a complicated mixture of emotions, Avery nearly had to rest against the wall to support himself. He was so distracted with the thought that Ella was moving on without him that he nearly missed the predatory way the stranger was looking at Ella; the way he was leering at her. In fact, it wasn’t until he heard Ella’s telltale nervous little bout of laughter that Avery realized anything was wrong at all. Immediately, he stiffened and his spine straightened, and quickly, he was lifting back the curtains just a tad once more to peer outside...and saw Ella cornered and trying to politely fend off the prick who was caressing her fucking baby bump. The thought of some slimy asshole touching his Ella, touching his baby, filled Avery with anger and a territorial need to protect his once lover, and by the time the boy was practically demanding that Ella kiss him (something he could see now she wasn’t particularly interested in), Avery was fuming. Unable to stand still and watch this mess continue on for any longer, the pirate shoved away from the window in favor of storming over to the front door, nostrils flaring and hands clenched at his sides.

If the bastard wanted to try and pin Ella into a corner, then he had another thing coming. And if he touched his unborn child one more time, Avery would cut off his fucking hands.

Avery tried to remain calm as he opened the front door of the Grace cottage, but it was easier said than done. He was practically humming with his anger, and he made his displeasure known the minute he set his eyes on the boy who had accompanied Ella home. Then, turning to the mother of his unborn child, he scanned her with a sense of urgency--as if to make sure that she was alright--before stepping aside and giving her room to come inside.

“Ella,” he spoke softly, looking at her...and only her. “I was wondering when you’d get home, pigeon...why don’t you come on inside?” Then, turning to glare at the rat bastard once more, he added in an acidic tone: “I think that’ll be all for today. Probably high time for you to go back to your playpen, anyway.”

[blk-yeezus]

I didn’t say “I love you” to hear it back. I said it to make sure you knew.

(via vanityshewrote)

[mancandykings]