She had used Wil badly. Nothing could stop her from feeling that way-not even acknowledging that she had never intended to hurt him or had yet hurt him. She had intended to continue to allow him to adore her and care for him in return and she could be happy because he filled that empty hole in her heart that made her cry herself to sleep at night.

With her soul mate at her side, it was all so clear- hindsight and all that. She could have been happy with Wil- would have been. She would have even loved him completely, eventually.

One moment, a single glimpse of Alex made everything else go up in smoke.

She could never be satisfied with anyone else now, never completely happy. And Jewell, despite all the occurrences in her life that debunked the mythos of fairy tale romances, refused to settle for anything less then complete happiness.

She could never give her heart now to someone else with the acknowledgement of how deeply connected she and Alex were. Her soul, her very being and life energy, were wrapped up so tightly with his. She knew it would take centuries to unravel, to break her connection and absolute devotion to Alex.

She was a fool. They were both fools. They were set up to hurt each other again and again yet only to be ever content together.

Jewell had forgotten what if felt like- complete, heartfelt contentment. Curled up against his side, in their home, she cried. She cried knowing that she didn?t deserve to be as happy as she felt. She cried in realization that, although she missed him over the course of three years with every fiber of her being, she hadn?t even begun to understand even a tenth of what she had really been missing.

In a sleepy tone, interrupted by the occasional yawn, she had explained why she wanted only him at her side. How she could be herself with him- crazy, silly, sexy, dangerous, cold, cruel, maternal, scared?it didn?t matter. She could just be Jewell.

When she finally fell asleep, after countless reassurances that when she woke up he?d still be there, she did so with the sweetest smile on her face.

The kids had been ecstatic with Alex?s return. Amanda had spent the whole first day ignoring her lessons and dancing around the house singing. She had later tried to make a fire works display for the family and had come close to burning down her favorite weeping willow tree.

Moradin, who was not inclined to dance and sing, had become Alex?s faithful shadow whenever he was in the house. When he wasn?t in the house, he sat patiently on the second floor window seat that gave a perfect view of the lane, awaiting his return.

The triplets and twins (really, what was in the water in RhyDin?) were generally happy because everyone else was happy. The triplets had only the vaguest remembrance of Alex from before they had all left RhyDin- they had only been a little over one at the time. The twins had been even younger, a few months old. Their only impressions of their father were from last year, and even those weren?t strong.

Jewell was the happiest of them all.

For her, there was nothing like opening her eyes and not finding herself alone in her bed. She briefly entertained the idea of staying there all day and just looking at him. The sound of little feet padding down the hallway none too quietly broke her from that little dream. She would really have to pack the kids up and send them to stay with Amthy, Tara or Charna one night. Maybe all three of them together, seven was a lot of kids for just one.

Untangling herself from sheets and her husband, she crept out of bed ever so slowly. Assured that she hadn?t woken him up she made for her bathroom. As she passed the door she could hear more movement in the other bedrooms- she didn?t have much time before the army were all fully awake. She grabbed a quick shower and dressed before heading out to face the day. It was only an hour after dawn. She?d really have to teach the kids how to be lazy and sleep in late. But no, not when she had promised to take Amanda out dress shopping today. She hoped to get home early enough to catch her husband before he left the house to go off to wherever it was he went.

A fruitless endeavor.

The two girls, she would laughingly admit that ten-year-old daughter was one of her best friends, spent more then half the day moving from shop to shop in search of the cutest clothes.

Amanda burst into the front doors of the house, swinging shopping bags and shouting, ?We?re home!? Bags were deposited in the hallway as she went in search of her siblings to play.

?You little brat, come back here!? It was a half-hearted effort to get Amanda back before just picking up all the bags herself and moving upstairs to get rid of them. She couldn?t feel Alex in the house which she could chalk up to how large it was- they could be on opposite ends. Not likely. Him not being home just made her the tiny bit grumpy. But she learned to channel all the grumpiness into positive behavior by going to make dinner!