Chapter 101 - Will He Stay or Will He Go?

Delia got dressed and went to find Cordell. No time like the present she thought. When he wasn't upstairs, she went to the wine cellar and found him sitting at the table having a morning coffee. Delia took a deep breath and said, "We need to talk Cordell." 

As she sat down with him, Cordell became worried.

"Nothing good ever follows the words 'we need to talk,' pretty lady," sighed Cordell and wanting to prolong the inevitable added, "Can I get you some coffee first?"

"No. Thank you," replied Delia, "It's just, I am not sure how to say this."

"Just say it. It can't be that bad. I have been a very good boy. You can't be kicking me out - can you?"

"No, no - on the contrary."

"You are leaving?"

"Cordell! Stop talking! Just let me say this. I - we - oh damn - you are going to be a father."

Cordell was confused. "I don't understand. I am going to be a father? Jewel - no - YOU!  You are pregnant?"

"Sadly, yes...about 4 months along now."

"Not sadly. DELIA! This is wonderful news. Me, a father! And you are the mother of our child. How can you be sad? You don't care for me? You won't leave me will you? No - you can't. Please Delia. I know I promised not to push but you know I love you even if you don't love me."

"Oh Cordell. I am sad because now we are bound together in spite of how hard I have been trying to protect you from me. You don't know my secrets. They are ugly. Everyone I fall in love with seems to die tragically. Look at Troy. I care too much for you to allow that to happen to you."

"Hmph! You didn't love him and anyway Troy was stupid fool. He kidnapped Jewel and tried to kill me when I went to get her back. How is that your fault? Delia, pretty lady, please. Let's get married. Let's raise Jewel and our baby together. We can be a real family. It's what we both want, no?"

Delia got up and started to pace. "I won't marry you, not until you know everything. Then, if you are even still here afterwards, we can talk."

Cordell got up and walked over to Delia. He wanted so badly to take her in his arms and comfort her yet he was afraid to approach her. But she hadn't said no to him. He looked at his pretty lady and quietly asked the one question he wanted to know, "So, you do love me then?"

No sooner than he said it, he knew it was the wrong thing to say.

"Cordell! Don't ask me that. This is hard enough already. I said I wouldn't marry you - at least not until you know all my secrets locked away in the other room."

"Please, forgive me for being so forward. It's no secret how I feel about you - and Jewel too. I adore her. And now you are carrying my child. I couldn't be happier. It's a dream come true."

Delia knew she was hurting him and took a calming breath before she spoke again. "No, forgive me. All I ever wanted was someone to love, raise a family and grow old with. Unfortunately, my life has been a turmoil of the supernatural and unexplained. Even you!
I was lonely when I found your lamp. That is why I said I wanted to find my one true love. Maybe fate is what caused you to set in motion the things that resulted in where we are now. But right now, emotionally, I am a wreck. I need some time."

Jewel began to cry upstairs.  "My little princess is unhappy. Let me go see to her. We will figure this out Delia. I will make you very happy," replied Cordell as he turned to go take care of Jewel.

As Delia watched him go she knew she was in love with him. He was so good to her. She was afraid her love would destroy him, but now she needed him more than ever.

Cordell could hardly contain his excitement. He picked up Jewel and began to talk to her. "Little Princess, you will soon be a 'Big Sister Princess'!  Hah! Your mommy is going to have a baby! And we are going to get married so I can be your Daddy forever."

Jewel laughed at Cordell and repeated what he had just said over and over, "Daddy - baby - daddy - baby," and dissolved into giggles.

Delia followed Cordell upstairs to Jewel's room and stopped outside the door when she heard him talking to her daughter. It made her feel awful that she told him she was sad. He was just so happy. But things are not as they seem and he may just leave her once he finds out.

Cordell put Jewel down when he saw Delia and asked hesitantly, "Can I feel - the baby? I mean, if it's okay."

"Of course," said Delia gently. She didn't wish to hurt him anymore than she had or was going to in the days to come.

Cordell put his hand on Delia's growing baby bump and squealed when it kicked his hand. Delia couldn't help but laugh. He looked up at Delia and exclaimed, "Oh - it's a girl! Joy! Pretty lady, we should call her Farah - it means joy. She will bring us nothing but joy - Farah Joy!" Then Cordell began to talk to the baby growing inside Delia, "Hi Farah, this is Daddy. I love you!"

Delia almost began to cry. "Cordell, stop it. You can't possibly know the gender of our child."

"Oh, but I do. Another sweet little girl. I will have two little princesses."

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Delia and Cordell began to prepare for the new baby and added another crib to Jewel's room. Delia still hadn't allowed Cordell to get close to her and he hadn't pushed her. But now, she was in her 6th month and he didn't want to wait any longer for Delia to do what she need to do so they could be together. He didn't care what her secrets were, she had freed him from a life of enslavement and he owed her all that he had to give.

"Delia, you are beautiful pregnant," said Cordell as he rubbed his hand over Delia's ever growing abdomen. He took a breath and continued, "little Farah is growing fast inside you - it won't be long now. I think you and I have some unfinished business that we must deal with before she decides to make her appearance."


"Do we have to do it now?"

"It's time my pretty lady - or should I say ladies?"

Delia knew this time was coming and was prepared, at least as much as she could be. "Cordell, please know that after we do this, you may want to leave. If you decide you don't want to be a part of my life, I will understand. You and Farah may leave and I promise not to stop you. You will never have to see me again."

"That won't be necessary. I love you."

"Love doesn't conquer all Cordell. I won't blame you if you want to leave. Are you ready?"

"Yes, lead the way pretty lady," said Cordell with a smile.

How bad could it really be? he thought to himself as he followed Delia through the secret bookcase door into her hidden room.

When he stepped into the room it brought back memories for him. It was in her secret room in Riverview where he was hidden away, locked in his lamp. It was also where she released him from that same wretched lamp. He never really thought much about what was actually in that room before now.

This time as he took in his surroundings, the hairs on the back of his neck began to rise as a shiver ran down his back. He was speechless with a huge lump in his throat.

He was startled by the sound of Delia's voice.

"Come please. Let's start here - at the beginning. This is my first husband. I have had four husbands. Troy would have been my 5th. This is Francisco and our three children, boys, that he sired before he died. He froze to death outside our house. That is his urn and my mother's is here too. She died when I was 17."

"I am sorry, where are your children now?"

"Just wait. Please let me finish. Do you believe in ghosts?"

"Well, I have never seen one, but I have heard a lot in my years so I suppose there are spirits that don't leave. Why?"

"See the girl in the picture? That is our daughter, conceived after his death. He actually gave me two children after he died. She, Francie, was the first. I was convinced that I dreamed the whole thing. When I realized I was pregnant Francisco had been dead for a year. I panicked and ran, leaving my grown sons behind but still wasn't convinced it was a postmortem pregnancy."

"Over here. The boy in the picture is my son, Aiden. Nicholas Riverhawk was his father. I met him in Hidden Springs where I went to have my baby, Francie and hide. Nicholas married me when I accidentally got pregnant," then Delia laughed to lighten the mood and said, "I seem to have a bad habit of forgetting about birth control. My relationships are not normal to say the least. Nicholas was a witch but I didn't know until he died of electrocution. Aiden was quite young when he passed. It turns out Aiden inherited his tendencies and could do magic with his hands. I was so distraught and began to have dreams of Franscisco again. And well, a year before Aiden graduated high school I found out I was pregnant with Francisco's child postmortem. And I ran again. This time to the swamps of Twinbrook."

"Wait," interrupted Cordell, "this is not possible. You are a mortal and do not live this long. All of this must be a lie. It cannot be true."

"Cordell, please - just wait. It will make sense. Now, let's go to my life in Twinbrook. This was possibly the worst my life ever was. I was despondent when my little boy Alexander was born. He was a ghost child. Doomed to be forever trapped between two worlds. I know how to create powerful potions and began to research how to cure him. Francisco appeared to me again, no doubt wanting some love, but I had already figured that one out. But he wanted to see his child. It was so sad. Long story short, I met Goodwin Goode, a real creep. He was greedy and never loved me. He knew about ghost babies and wanted to 'help'. I fell for him but we did cure Alex. He was a teenager when we finally cured him. Then we got married. We had two children together whom he could have cared less about. He died using that thing - the Philosopher's Stone - to make gold. I had to run again. But he gave me two of the most beautiful children I ever had. Hope and Pierre. The three of us moved to Bridgeport."

"Okay...Delia...these potions...they are why you are not-"

"Old - or dead? Yes. I can make many potions. They are powerful. Some are harmless, but others, well, in the wrong hands, could be deadly. I promised myself I would never share them with anyone."

"The man I am kissing - that is Vladimir. He is the only other person that ever knew about this room, except for Goodwin who found it accidentally. Vladimir was a vampire with his own sordid past and agenda. But he accepted me and all of this," said Delia chocking back tears.

"You loved this man very much - and he you," whispered Cordell. "Vampires live longer than Genie's Delia."

"He was murdered by a rival vampire clan. They tried to kill me to get to him, but he rescued me and then they killed him. I made him vulnerable."

"And the girls. Your children. Vampires too?  Where are they now?"

"Oh God. This is so hard. I discovered a cure for vampirism but not before Vlad was killed. He was going to turn me since our daughters were vampires - that and a number of other reasons. The vamps that tried to kill me turned me instead. We were in danger so we fled to Roaring Heights. After we got there I found out my youngest daughter was pregnant. She had a very hard time with her father's death and turned to a boy at school. She drowned in our pool shortly after her son was born."

"His name was Lucas. Over here are pictures of him and me. We were very close. I raised him as my own."

"And this, this is your spell book?"

"Not spells, potions. Like medicines. Only more powerful. Cordell, Lucas was a werewolf. Evidently the boy that Victoria was sleeping with was one."

"And I suppose you cured him as well?"

Delia looked at her feet before answering. "We didn't know until the onset of puberty. We had to go to Riverview to find the herbs and ingredients needed to produce a cure. He wanted it badly. He is happily married with a little girl now."

"So, are we almost up to date now?" sneered Cordell as he spied Troy's urn. His stomach was churning. He couldn't believe the wild stories she was telling him. "You found me in Riverview."

Delia was crying now. "Yes. These are Troy's remains."

"What is this cauldron? I thought you weren't a witch. WHAT are you?" demanded Cordell as he stirred the contents of the pot, "and what about the fairy house? What of it? Do you have a stash of fairies trapped in here?"

"I, I don't know. I am just a mortal with the ability to read people and create powerful potions. The house was here. My mother. Well, there is more."

"MORE!" exclaimed Cordell who had never seen anything like this before. He had seen a lot in his thousand years, but never anything as bizarre as this. "How can there be more?"

"Over by the desk. This old PC belonged to my mother. As did most of the things in this room. The alchemy station, cauldron, books and the fairy house. I didn't know about it until after her death. I accidentally found her hidden room. She tried to tell me before she died. She muttered things about the supernatural. I thought she was delusional. But Cordell, in all of these years, I have never read her journals. I was afraid."

"WHAT? You - Why? Delia! Are you fucking crazy?"

Cordell suddenly began to rise in a stream of smoke and Delia jumped up.

"Cordell! What are you doing?"

"I am trying to calm myself before I leave. Delia - assuming all of this is true, and I have a bad feeling it is, why didn't you read her journals?"

"I was afraid!!!!  I had no one to share it with and children to care for. Vladimir was the first person that would have helped me through it, but he was KILLED before we could do it! God, I need to get out of here."

Delia turned and ran into the other room in tears.

Cordell ran out after her.

"Delia, Stop! Stay here. Let's talk. Please just calm down. I just need to think. It's a lot to digest."

Cordell reached for her arm and begged, "Please, look at me."

Delia didn't want to look at Cordell. She was afraid of what she would see. She thought she was prepared for him to leave. But she wasn't. She wanted him to stay with her whole being.


Delia looked at him and began to cry harder.

"Cordell, please understand, I didn't want to have to tell you this. But the baby, Farah, I couldn't let you both stay with me without you knowing the truth about my sordid past. After she is born, I will sign my rights away and you can take her and go or I will leave and you can stay here. You decide."

Cordell turned and walked away to clear his head. There was no way he was leaving.

"Come here pretty lady."

Delia walked over to him hopeful. He didn't call her Delia.

Cordell reached up and began to wipe her tears.

"Here, let me dry those tears. Your face is too beautiful to be filled with sadness. Let me and Farah and Jewel replace that sadness with joy.

"You - you aren't leaving? I thought you were angry."

"Oh Delia, darling, it was a lot more than even I ever imagined. Yet, what I see in front of me is a scared yet strong woman trying to do what she thought was right and thrown into a world she knew nothing about."

 Delia threw her arms around Cordell.

"You are staying?"

"Yes pretty lady. I love you."

Delia began to cry harder, this time tears of joy. She knew that the name Cordell had picked for their child was perfect. Farah Joy. For this child is bringing nothing but joy to her life.


Then she thought about her 'curse' and pulled back from Cordell.

"Cordell, all of the men in my life, well they - - -"

"What? Died?"

"Yes! They all died a premature death. I am afraid for you. I am a curse."

Cordell burst out laughing!

"My pretty lady, if I only get to spend one year in your arms, then I will die the happiest man on earth. You did not kill these men nor are you a curse. Either they were greedy or it was an accident. Please don't worry about such trivial nonsense."

Delia looked at Cordell and said honestly, "I don't deserve you."

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