Meeting With Mother

[Sky]

Riannon nodded reluctantly as she too rose to her feet. Reaching up, she lightly patted Sky's cheek as she said, "You're a good son, Sky; I know you will do the right thing . . . it will just take time for you to accept that it is what you must do. I understand, though. Believe it or not, I do understand." Clearing her throat, Riannon smiled as she continued, "Yes, well then; you should return to school. I wouldn't want you to miss anything important and of course, I don't want there to be any bad blood between you and Saladin."

Turning, Riannon leaned down to the table and quickly wrote something on a piece of stationary. Folding the paper in half, she pressed it into Sky's hand as she looked him firmly in the eyes, "For when you're ready to move on. It's the contact information for the girl I mentioned earlier. Her name and how you can reach her . . . you don't have to use it right away or even ever, but who knows? Maybe she could be right for you? Just think about it, darling. That is all I ask of you right now."

[Sky]

Sky sucked in his breath as he momentarily closed his eyes, feeling mildly irritated. His mother never gave up. Ever. She was always pushing something on him, whether it was Diaspro or giving up Bloom, and now this new girl. It was enough to drive him crazy . . . but still, that was just his mother's way. As irritating as it could be at times, it was her way of showing that she cared.

Forcing himself to smile, Sky nodded as he took the slip of paper. "I will think about it, mother." Seeing that a look of disbelief had crossed his mother's face, Sky smiled again as he said, "Really. I promise. Now, I really do have to go. Goodbye, mother."

Pressing another quick kiss on her cheek, Sky then turned and exited the room. As he walked down the hall, he felt his curiosity get the best of him; slowly he unfolded the paper just long enough to see the word 'Countess' written in his mother's rounded handwriting. Quickly, Sky shoved the paper into his pocket as he shook his head to clear his thoughts. Whoever this countess was, he wasn't ready to know her. Not when Christine still occupied his thoughts.

[Sky]

After Sky had exited the room, Riannon lowered herself back down onto her seat as she motioned for a servant to bring her a drink before dismissing him. Sitting in the empty room, Riannon silently sipped her small glass of brandy as she rested her head against the back of the chair. After that meeting with her son, she suddenly felt extremely drained. Sky had a tendency to do that to her. He was good and he listened to her, but she could feel that he did so with a certain amount of reservations and struggle. He was fighting her. He didn't know it, but he was.

She had lied, though. She was one of those mothers who wanted her son to be happy. If there was one thing she hated, it was bitter people. Despite how some outsiders might view her, she was not bitter. She loved her life and she loved her husband and son. She was happy with what she had been given - something she never would have had the pleasure of experiencing if she had run off with a certain young man named Robert prior to her marriage to Aldrich.

Closing her eyes, Riannon winced. She had left that part out of her discussion with Sky - the fact that she too had once been 'madly in love' with someone who her parents would never have approved of. Robert had been her older brother's tutor and he had been intelligent and charming and . . . Riannon shook her head. He had been good to her, but twenty-four years later, she realized that love wasn't rare. One could grow to love anyone. All it took was to start a family, to support each other through some hardships - family deaths, and the like - and before one knew it, love was present. Sky would learn that someday and he would be grateful to her for preventing him from ruining his life with someone who couldn't provide him with the most important gift of all: a child. A legitimate child.