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Dante Blade Kelantan walked calmly down the hall of his large estate, deep within the Black Mountains. It seems like a life time ago that these Mountains were a hiding place for anyone who needed a place away from the law. He had trouble believing that it had been barely a few years ago. He had lived most of his life in hiding, unable to show his face or say his own name to those he befriended. He had almost lost the woman he loved more than anything else because of his father as well. He smiled a little as he went up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. He turned the hall as he saw his step-son, Blaine. Blaine had a pretty young brunette on his arm as he headed down the stairs, greeting Dante politely and introducing the lady. She flushed and curtsied and then they were down the steps. Dante smiled. “Just like his Godfather…that boy really is.”

He chuckled as he went down the long hall way and to the double doors at the end, glancing at the portraits that lined the walls. Some were of the entire family, some were of just himself and his wife, and a couple of them were individual portraits. He stopped at one in particular. It had his wife and her son, Blaine from before they met. Blaine was in her arms, maybe three years old. She was beautiful, as ever. He touched the painting gingerly with his fingertips. He smiled as he then headed toward the double doors. He came to them and heard her voice to the door to the right of the room, which belonged to the baby.

He opened the door and went inside, silently. He felt his heart warm at the sight of her standing by the baby’s cradle. She was tucking their child in for the night. She kissed the babe on the head and he heard her whisper in elf, as if she were talking to another adult, “One day, your father will be beating boys off with a stick. That is, if you’re not doing it yourself.” She giggled a bit at this and began singing the baby girl to sleep. He smiled as he leaned on the doorframe watching. After the babe had dozed off, she turned to him and said softly, “Did you enjoy the show?”

He reached a hand out to her, one arm still folded under his chest. She took the hand and let him pull her against him, wrapping his arm around her waist and caressing her cheek. He kissed her softly, to which she responded by sliding her arms around his neck and allowing it. After a minute of this, he very gently detached his lips from hers and nuzzled his cheek against her own whispering in her ear, “You know I love watching you sing our daughter to sleep. I always have.”

She sighed contentedly. She rested her head on his shoulder and whispered back, “I think I’m finally doing something right, Dante.”

He rubbed her back and rested his chin on her head, holding her there. “Love, you’ve done so much in your life. Everyone makes mistakes. Don’t hold those you have made against yourself. It’s not healthy and besides, you’ve done much more right than you may think. For instance, you married me.”

She started giggling at this as she kissed his cheek and said softly, “You are the silliest man I’ve ever met…and I love you.”

He smiled at this and hugged her tightly before taking her hand and leading her out of the baby’s room. He shut the door quietly behind them. He then led her out to the gardens in the back yard. They looked up at the stars, his arms around her waist as he leaned back on the porch rail. For a long time, they stood there, talking of the past. That’s when Blaine came home. He came out onto the back porch. Since he was nine, he had grown a good deal and was now running from girls every day. Dante’s wife, Angie, often blamed Blaine’s Uncle Jean for that. Jean had taught Blaine everything he knew about girls.

“Mom, Dad, can I ask you something?” He said sitting on the first porch step with his hands clasped between his knees, his legs spread a bit.

Angie glanced at Dante before saying softly, “Of course you can, sweetheart. What is it that you need to ask us?”

He paused and was quiet for a very long time before asking with a calm look on his face, curiosity in his eyes, “How did you two meet and fall in love? How did you know it was love and not just some silly crush?”

Dante smiled and kissed Angie on the cheek saying, “Why don’t you go on up to bed? This seems like more of a talk for me to have with him.” She didn’t argue. She returned Dante’s kiss on the cheek before going to Blaine and kissing his head, bidding them both goodnight, and then going inside. Dante sat down on the porch steps next to Blaine for a time, silent. His elbows were rested on his knees with his fingers loosely weaved together. They both stared up at the sky, toward the dog-house built for Angie’s pet husky, the small bird house that Blaine’s pet owl had made his own, or forward at the stables where Donas Jr. slept. It was a long silence before Dante said, “Do you really want me to tell you the story? It’s not very short. It’s going to take all night and I promise you, I will not tell it to you unless you let me tell the whole thing. If I give you a summary of it all, you won’t understand half of it.”

Blaine nodded as he watched Mingo, his pet owl as he watched his prey move around in the grass with big eyes. They lived in a large valley and Blaine often took girls from town riding through the mountains. Mingo was never far behind. The big white and black speckled owl was his most loyal companion. “I’d like to hear the whole story, if it’s alright with you, Father. Also…Do you mind when I call you that, when I call you father, I mean?”

Dante chuckled. “I don’t mind at all, Blaine. There was a time where I wished everyday that you’d call me that and during that time, I was also wishing to call your mother my wife. I never thought I’d get both.”

Blaine smiled. “Mom has always been crazy about you. From the day she met you, I knew it. I never said anything because every time I did, I’d get my hopes blown to bits. I just let it happen. I didn’t think it would work but it did.”

Dante laughed at this. “Often when you hope too much for things to happen, you end up psyching yourself out. That’s why I told you the first time you picked up a sword, don’t get cocky. If you want it too much or promise yourself that you will do it right the first time, often, you’ll mess it up. It’s also why I wouldn’t let you start training with a sword until you’d learned the meaning of humility.”

Blaine recalled that day with a grin. Dante had already taught Blaine enough of hand-to-hand combat that he could handle himself. Blaine, thinking he was the big dog on campus, challenged his step-father to a duel. Of course, Blaine lost horribly. Dante had never rubbed it in but he had warned Blaine that next time he acted so stupidly, Dante would break something that he could not name in public. Blaine had caught the threat and so had every other man present. “Yes, father. I know. Will you tell me now? I’ve been really curious about it lately. Mainly because…well…I don’t know. Mom has always told me I’d start liking girls instead of thinking they’re gross by now, but still.” He bowed his head and scratched a bit behind his ear. He always did when he was feeling embarrassed or shy.

Dante laughed more so as he did. “Well, Blaine, as I said it’s a long story.” He calmed a bit as he looked up at the stars. “I can’t start from the day we fell in love, because there’s a lot to explain to you before I get into that. The conditions of life were different, as you remember. No, you wouldn’t know the full length of just how different it was. You were too young to understand.” He sighed. “Anyway, the journey I ended up on with your mother was…complicated and filled with life threatening situations. Whether I loved her or not, I was constantly worried for her. She was so damn stubborn…I used to hate that but now I admire it. She’d never let me coax her into staying behind where it was safe or keeping her damn head down and letting me do the talking. She got me into so much trouble…” He started laughing.

“I remember one time…damn, we got into so much trouble that day. She got me thrown in jail, harassed, and starved. I loved her all the same. I couldn’t stop. I wanted to be mad at her but I couldn’t be. Sure, she shouldn’t have run out of our hiding place like she did but then, I didn’t have to shove her under that veggie cart while they took me to jail instead of her.” He was smiling at the grass now. “I’m not sure she ever forgave me for that.”

“Why would she have to forgive you? You saved her!” Blaine said with a small grin and a chuckle.

Dante had a tiny grin on his face. “Because, son, I was flogged, beaten, starved, and by the time she got me out, I had a horrible fever and wanted to die. Gods, I wanted to die.” He was frowning slightly now. “I can remember it so vividly. My body ached, everything was sensitive to the gentlest touch, and I couldn’t fight back to save my life. It was probably one of the most painful things I’ve ever been through. Not to mention, I never thought I’d get the use back in my right hand.” He said holding it up. There was a scar from where the bone had ripped through the skin. He then continued, “It was a living hell in that prison, Blaine. I wanted her to leave me and let me die. I actually told her to but she wouldn’t listen. She, Jean, and your Godfather, Brandon all got me out.” He smiled then. “Your mother healed me. She stayed with me, sleeping only when she couldn’t stay awake anymore. At one point, she seriously thought I was going to die.”

“Were you?” Blaine asked curiously. Dante hadn’t even really started and already, he was on the edge of his seat.

Dante nodded, “Oh, aye. I felt I might. I was about ready to give up fighting. I could feel that darkness, so tempting, just within my reach. That’s when I heard her speak and since I was sure I heard her wrong, I asked her to say it again. This time I listened and that’s when she said it for the first time. I opened my eyes and saw that she was crying, holding onto my good hand as if that would keep me alive.” He grinned a little bit.

Blaine then said, “What did she say? Please tell me! C’mon! Don’t make me guess!” He was begging, practically.

Dante laughed so more and said softly, “She said ‘I love you.’ Of course, I was stunned. I never thought she’d ever feel that way about me. As if the Gods themselves bid it, I got up, threw my arms around her and kissed her. The rest is history.”

“No! No saying ‘the rest is history,’ damn it! Tell me what happened!” Blaine said standing up.

Dante laughed so hard that he could barely stay sitting on the step. After he calmed, he said, “Alright, sit down, and I’ll tell you.” Blaine did as he was told, silent. Dante said with a soft smile, “It started late one night, one very similar to this one. Your uncle and I were out on the docks by his ship…”