The Golden Desires (18 page)

Trent
looked at her face but whatever was happening,
she just didn't seem to feel it.

"Isabella.
Your belly," he said quietly, pointing to the glowing.

She
turned her head downwards and finally saw the small light shining through her
skin, as if it was translucent. Automatically she put her hand over it, and
through her hand felt a warmth of comfort that made her feel extremely protective
all of a sudden.

Trent
watched her face change as she touched the glow, and then saw her reach her
hand out and take his, bringing it to her belly so he could put his hand there.
As he touched her skin he instantly felt the warmth and the pull of it. It was
a different kind of feeling - one he had not felt before so he found it hard to
determine what it was. Impossible to pinpoint but almost like an extremely
strong need to do whatever it would take to protect Isabella. A determination
to be the best man he could possibly be, from this moment in time and on for
the rest of his life. As if everything - his future, her future, and the future
of
everyone
- depended upon it.

"How
are you glowing like that?" he asked her quietly but she only shook her
head.

"I
do not know. But it feels … nice. Like it is alright … like it is meant to
be," she said and he nodded in agreement.

"Yes."

Whatever
it was, they both felt the pull toward each other to look after each other and
ensure they both remained calm and happy.

"Is
it…" he started to ask and then dismissed the idea, thinking it could not
be possible, but the same thought had already blended into Isabella's mind.

"A
child? Have we just made a child?" she asked him and he was surprised as
she was to hear the question come from her lips.

Trent
touched her belly once more and revelled in the
feeling of the heat, before pulling away. As he did so, the glow began to fade,
until they were both then left wondering if it had indeed happened.

"I
must speak to my mother about this. Perhaps it is normal for this to happen to
women?" she asked and
Trent
nodded at her but kept his doubts to himself. He
knew of no such thing happening in his time and place, and expected that these
people were still humans so child rearing would not be any different … but he
had to concede that things
were
different here, so he could be no judge of what
was normal or not.

"Shall
I come with you?" he asked her before she kissed him again, gently and
softly, taking longer to enjoy her lips against his, before she started to
move.

"No,
I think I should like to speak to my mother alone, if you do not mind,
Trent
,"
she said, standing up and putting on her dress. "She may not feel
comfortable with you there when I ask her about such things."

Isabella
looked at him, lying naked on the bed, and smiled before leaning over and
kissing him again.

"I
very much like the way you look, lying like that," she said and he found
himself blushing once again, as if
he
were the one who had never had sex before.

He
stood up and pulled her close.

"And
you are very beautiful, Isabella. I am very lucky to be in this place, with you
…
paired
with you."

They
kissed softly before she pulled away.

"I
must go. I shall see you perhaps at dinner?" she asked and he nodded.

~~~~~

Isabella
ran out the door, eager to find her mother and talk to her. When she finally
located her, she pulled her aside.

"Mother,
can I please talk to you about something private?" she asked and
immediately saw alarm on the face before her. "It is not about anything
bad … I don't think."

"Of
course, Isabella. Do you wish to talk in our home, or elsewhere?"

"Yes,
I think inside your home is best," she said, with a slight longing for the
home that was until today hers, but now she would regard as only being that of
her parents.

The
two of them walked to the house and once inside, her mother invited her to sit
and talk.

"Is
all well with you and Trent? Is there some problem?" Crisiana asked her
daughter, feeling extreme concern due to Isabella normally being so carefree
and happy.

Isabella
smiled shyly at her mother.

"All
is well, Mother. Trent and I are … fine … good," she said and felt her
face go deep red, a look that she saw resulted in a knowing glance from her
mother even though Crisiana did not say anything with words. "But I must
ask you, when you became with child - when I was in your belly … did you …
glow? Here?" she asked, moving her hand to her lower belly to show the
location the golden glow had emanated from.

"Glow?
No. Glow how?"

"It
was like a golden light, coming from my skin, and when I touched it I felt
warmth from it.
Trent
could see and feel it also."

"No,
Isabella. I do not know what that means. I cannot help you with this. I do not
think that happened when you were in my belly," she said, taking her
daughter's hands in her own while a look of concern crossed her face. "Oh
my daughter, are you alright? Should we be worried about this?"

"I
shall go to the temple to see the elders. They may know what it was…"

"It
is not still happening?"

Isabella
shook her head.

"No,
it happened for only a few minutes this morning," she said and stood up.
"I shall go to the temple now. Thank you."

Crisiana
hugged her daughter tightly to her before letting her go, watching her walk out
of the door.

~~~~~

Once
again, as she walked into the
temple
Isabella
felt an overwhelming sense of being home … being
somewhere that she was meant to be. But more than that, she started to feel her
belly warm and react to it also. She placed her hand over the area, through her
slip dress, and once more felt the comfort of the heat emanating from it.

She
was standing like that when she heard a voice call out to her.

"Isabella!"
she heard Elder Rhys exclaim with more surprise in his voice than she had heard
before.

He
moved closer to her and she could see his eyes fixed where her own  hand was.
When she looked down, she could see that the golden glowing was visible through
her dress.

"Elder
Rhys. What is it? I do not know what is happening," she said, bringing her
eyes up to meet his.

They
both looked down at her belly area through the dress, and saw that as the
ancient moved closer to her, the glowing intensified, and Isabella could feel
the power growing inside of her.

"Stop!"
she called out to the man before her. "Please. As you draw nearer to me it
is growing stronger, and I do not think … I do not
know
… what it is yet."

Although
being an ancient, and hundreds of years older than her, in this Elder Rhys
bowed down to her request, finding himself intrigued by it.

"Of
course, Isabella," he said quietly, backing himself away quietly. As he
did so, both of them could see that the strength of the golden light eased off.

"What
is it?" she asked him, naturally expecting that an ancient would have the
answers but she only saw him look at her, perplexed, shaking his head.

"I
have heard of some women - women who were destined to be ancients - going
through this, Isabella, but it has not happened in my lifetime so I cannot say
for sure.

"You
think that I am destined to be … an
ancient
?"

"Oh
yes, I have no doubt about that. You are a chosen one, Isabella. You are
destined to live a very long life, and in that lifetime you will learn many
secrets, and you will develop your powers fully."

She
looked at him, surprised.

"My
powers?"

"You
know already that you have the power to heal through touch - you brought Trent
back to life," he said and paused before asking his next question, knowing
it was a personal one but feeling that the answer was incredibly important not
only to him but also to their people. "As for what we have just seen …
what you have just felt … you and Trent have … joined in love?"

Isabella
felt her face darken in unease at the personal nature of the question, but
nodded.

"Yes."

"I
have never seen such a thing but I do believe that it must be your child,
Isabella. You and Trent saw each other long before he came here, and now he has
been able to successfully establish himself in amongst us, in our time. The two
of you, I believe, have always meant to be, and that means both of you have
been chosen, Isabella. Perhaps for a higher calling … a greater purpose … but
perhaps for the creation of the youngling now growing in you. I think that he …
or she … is where your path has been leading you toward, all of your life. The
child will be chosen also."

"But
I do not know if there is a child yet," she said, confused all of a sudden
about what was happening within her.

She
saw Elder Rhys look at her with a look of calm, acceptance and kindness.

"I
think you do know, Isabella. You
feel
it, don't you. You can feel its strength within
you - the combined strength of you and Trent. Focus on it and let the feelings
engulf you, and I think it is fair to say that you are with his child
now."

Isabella
remained quiet, allowing herself to feel the wide plethora of emotions flowing
through her. Excitement that it could be true - she might be having
Trent
's
child. Fear about what the combined strength of them meant - he had crossed
distance and time to be with her and the result was something new that no-one
in this lifetime had seen, so no-one knew what would follow on from that.
Happiness that she had been so lucky to find such love finally, after thinking
that she would never find it. But also sadness that if she already were with
child, her private time with
Trent
may have to end, at least for the moment.

~~~~~

Back
in their home,
Trent
sat quietly for a short time after she had left,
thinking about the mystery surrounding the golden glow he had seen coming from
Isabella. When he had touched her belly he had felt a similar energy to that
which he had felt when he had touched the ground, before he had made the change
over to this time, and even more so when he had touched the golden rock that
had
enabled
him to change over. It was a power that he already
knew could be all-consuming, and it made him fearful.

The
possibility that his own child, only really minutes old in its first stages of
formation yet, could emanate that kind of power, made him wary, not yet
believing that this could be the situation at all.

Lying
down, taking the moment to be alone and let his thoughts go free about all that
had happened so far, eventually he felt his body relax once more, and his mind
finally find peace. He did not know what he could do for, with or about
Isabella and he put trust in her mother or the ancients for being able to
provide her with guidance. If she were pregnant, there would be a child to
raise and she would have finally found her place in their village … a place that
she seemed to have been seeking for a long time, wondering where she was
supposed to be and what she was supposed to be doing.

But
for
Trent
, he still had to find a place to fit in and a way
to contribute. He sensed that everyone here just got on and did the tasks that
they naturally veered toward, but so far he did not know what that meant for
him, and in one way he was regretful that in his former life he had chosen to
get caught up in working with computers - something that didn't even prepare
him for being able to survive should something major happen such as a grand
scale electricity outage. Really, in his thirty years of life so far, he really
hadn't learned how to simply survive. He did not know how to grow food. And the
food that he did know how to cook, came from other food that was processed - it
was never entirely fresh.

With
that thought he quickly jumped up and got dressed, determined to learn, at the
very least, what he could about the land. Growing things - he had never done
that in his life but at the very core of humanity it was such a basic need in
order to be able to eat and to survive. And to him, it was as good a place as
any to begin living a different life. He would still go to the mill tomorrow,
as he had told Adrian he would, but for the remainder of today, he would go to
the garden and find someone to start teaching him the basics of growing food
for survival.

~~~~~

Isabella
left the temple feeling no less confused about what was happening in her body,
than she had been prior to her visit. She walked out into the sunshine and
after visiting her home and seeing
Trent
was not there, she went to the kitchen to ask the
cooks if they needed any assistance.