the Wedding Chest

8/12/2023

Dominic had never spoken of his first son before, and Miho was listening intently as he related his tragic story....when it started to become all too familiar.

..and she suddenly felt overcome, and could barely breathe.

Dominic noticed. "Are you alright?"

"Your village?" she asked. "Was it Avilion....on the Ailbe River?"

"Yes! How did you know?"

"Because...because.. I was there..."

"I had received a vision that there would be an attack and that I needed to go up there."

"So I told the King, and he immediately dispatched his Special Forces."

"But we arrived too late. The enemy had already destroyed the entire village and killed everyone. It was a horrific scene. We searched through what was left, but could not find any survivors."

"The King's Forces went in pursuit of the enemy, but a few men stayed behind to bury all the dead. Then after they left, Winston and I went on one final search of the rubble. And we heard a small, faint sound coming from under the rubble of one of the few houses that had not been burned."

"Under the rubble, we found a chest, and inside was a baby...a little baby boy."

"His parents must have hidden him to keep him safe, and I assumed that they'd both been killed in the attack."

"So I took him home with me, and raised him as my own son."

Everyone turned to look at Baron,

... then at Dominic. Could it really be?

Miho got up and went to get the old chest.

"This is the chest in which I found Baron."

Dominic went white, in shocked disbelief.
"That's....that's the chest I made Amelia as a wedding present...."
He paused, "Please....would you look inside the lid? Is there a heart encircling the letters A and D?"