CHAPTER 505: THE LIGHT WE WAITED FOR (4)

The news that the missing prominent figure had resurfaced started spreading like wildfire with different variations. This had become the island’s dramatic ’return’, especially after the maternity speculation.

By the time dusk settled and lights flickered to life along the paved alleys, the entire island had been stirred into a frenzy of gossipy whispers. The tale of the missing Mrs Thornston—once presumed to have eloped, perished, or vanished into thin air—but was now reborn in ten different shades, if not more, each more dramatic than the last.

If truth were a thread, then fiction had woven a hundred cloaks from it. Till that day, the islanders themselves did not know that they were such good storytellers. No one knew who would have won an award, if one was being handed out for this.

At a corner tea stall, half-drunk patrons leaned in, their eyes gleaming with scandalous excitement, when someone read off their phone on the forums on the latest on Mr & Mrs Thornston. At this time, all references to Mrs were acknowledged to be Shelby and no other.

"I heard," said Random Person One, eyes wide and hands fluttering like wings, "that Mr Thornston swooped in, just like that, and kissed her in front of everyone! Like, bam! Right on the lips! She was crying, glowing, and he just held her tummy like it was the Holy Grail!"

His audience sighed dreamily, each imagining this in their own way, while one lamented silently, as to why he had postponed his health checkup that day, for he would have witnessed this himself.

"He didn’t say a word, but that action? It screamed, ’She’s carrying my heir!’ I’d sell my soul to have seen that moment live."

*Dramatic and dreamy sighs went around,*

"...wait! He has other kids already, so why would this unborn one be the heir?"

"Pfttt! Are you late to the party or what? This is the first child between them, so why would they make adopted children, their direct heirs?"

They all nodded in agreement with this person.

A nearby vendor snorted, blowing steam from his teacup.

"Pfft. That’s nothing." Random Person Two leaned in with the air of someone dropping a bomb.

"I’ve got something better! Word on the street? Miss Shelby did elope—but not with him. She’s pregnant all right, but the baby’s the assistant’s. Yep. But our Ian? —he’s so damn in love, he couldn’t bear to lose her.... and she wouldn’t consider losing the baby at all! So, you know what he did?" He lowered his voice to a scandalized whisper, " He killed the assistant. Snuffed him out just like the flame of a candle. Claimed the baby like a prize. Poetic, innit?"

Gasps echoed around.

"You watch too many movies! What a load of crap!?"

"Yes, that’s garbage!" Random Person Three flared up indignantly.

"Have you seen that man? Have you ever laid eyes on Ian Thornston? That walking mountain of divine muscle and command? He can literally make me orgasm, just by glaring coldly at me! You think a woman—any woman—would leave him for an assistant? A whole godforsaken assistant? Please! Get your facts right! His assistant would kill himself in his dreams, even if he dreamt of that!"

How close to the truth this person was!

A cynical voice from the shadows muttered, "Don’t you know love is blind?"

"Believe me," said Random Person Three, flapping a napkin with flair, as she went about refilling coffee cups for her customers.

"Love with that kind of man definitely grows a second pair of eyes as backup, even if they’re contacts! And if not, I’d gladly donate mine! One cannot afford to be blind when in a relationship with Ian Thronston!"

Laughter rippled through the crowd until someone from the back raised their voice:

"I told y’all it’s all just speculation!" barked another person, slamming her hand on the table.

"Honestly, I think the whole ’he was comatose’ thing was just that third-party bitch stirring drama."

"You mean... that ...."

She nodded as they did not need to mention the person’s name. Everyone knew who they were talking about, but for some reason, they were hesitant to say her name. Aliya gave them the creeps for some reason. To have the guts to try to insert oneself into a marriage was one thing, but into a Thornston marriage was a whole lot of other things!

"Just look at them now! Holding hands, glowing, all lovey-dovey—please! For all we know, they just finally went on the honeymoon they skipped the first time!"

The crowd erupted again, some clapping, others groaning, all feasting on the ambiguity. A few people offered their own theories—everything from secret royal identities to magical awakenings and parallel universe doppelgängers. They were having the time of their lives, but beneath it all, they were truly happy for Ian and Shelby. Aliya had faded into a background that no longer existed.

And through it all, the truth drifted quietly like mist, untouched and perhaps unwelcome on an island where gossip was the sweetest currency.

While these speculation went on in different forms, turning more absurd coming out of the next person’s mouth, the parties in question had just completed their exam, and the calm doctor was as ready to rid of Ian as much as she was amused. Who said Ian Thornston was an imposing figure whose wife had left him?

He was a love-stricken puppy by his wife’s side, and the doctor was more than ready for him to leave. As an obstetrics doctor, she had seen her fair share of patients, but these two just reminded her that she was still as single as the day she was born.

’I need to find myself a man!’

She lamented as the couple finally exited the room. The hallways were clear when Ian and Shelby stepped out, as Currey had done his job and cleared the place beforehand.

"You really do not want to know the gender?"

"No need, my Elfin. Whether it’s a brat like Gabriel, or a cute girl like you, I’d love it anyway, because it’s about you and me...."

Shelby smiled, feeling touched.

"Let’s go get you something to eat before we continue...."

"But the kids-"

"They can wait!"

Shelby smiled as Currey drove them to a quiet restaurant that had been fully reserved in its entirety for the two of them.

Shelby was truly relaxed and frankly starved for human food. The thought of that made the baby flutter, as if it also wanted some of that.

Inside a quiet, sun-drenched room, tucked far away from the island’s buzzing chaos, and facing the sunset, the couple sat on a plush sofa, an untouched cup of tea growing cold between them.

She had her legs tucked under her, as her go-to comfortable pose, belly gently rounded beneath her soft tunic and was scrolling through her phone with an expression somewhere between disbelief and outrage.

"You should leave the screen for a while, Elfin... the food will be here soon."

She raised her head briefly to Ian, who was by her side,

"Apparently," she muttered, squinting at the screen, "you killed Murray and claimed our baby like a bloodied trophy."

He looked down at her, one brow arched. "I did what now?"

She angled the screen so Ian could read the gossipy blog posts, too. "Oh, and I eloped, too, by the way .... With Murray."

Ian clenched his fists, not even wanting to think along those lines as Shelby giggled.

".... But you, my darling Ian, were too besotted to let me go. So, you murdered poor Murray in cold blood and declared our love to the world with a kiss."

Ian finally chuckled at the dramatics Shelby was putting on. But Ian did agree with them, for that would have been Murray’s fate, if not worse. However, Ian knew that none of his assistants and people around him had the guts even to think so.

"At least they got the kiss part right." He leaned closer and brushed his lips against her cheek, grinning when she rolled her eyes.

"This island is absolutely unhinged." Shelby was still trying not to laugh. "There’s even a debate on whether I’m truly a witch because of my looks, and if I was actually dead from the accident and came back to life after a ritual sacrifice."

"Well, technically," he teased, settling a hand gently over her belly, "you did come back to me. After everything. And this baby is proof that we survived it all."

The amusement softened into something tender.

The waiter, who was bringing in the food, froze in his tracks, unsure whether to approach them or not.

Shelby looked at Ian. She really looked at the man who had always been there for her through thick and thin, he man who had saved her from the brink of death too many times that she could count.

"I did survive, didn’t !? Thank you for coming for me," she whispered.

He nodded, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "More than that. We lived."

He paused as each of them thought back to their own perspectives of the accident and what had ensued afterwards.

".... And I don’t care what they say out there. They’ll forget tomorrow and find a new story tomorrow ....."

’... or I can make them forget....’ Ian thought to himself, but instead said

"But we’ll still be here."

He kissed her forehead, a slow, grounding gesture. "Always."

The waiter blushed and turned back to go find Currey. He felt that it was too much to intrude on such quality time.

They sat like that for a while, the noise of the world distant, almost unreal, but Shelby’s tummy growled, making her blush.

Ian sent a silent signal to Currey, and the food was served within seconds. Ian took his time, feeding his Elfin as if they were the only two people left in their world.

In there, there was no scandal, no gossip, no whispered myths, no Faes and definitely no throne issues. Just the truth of two people who had clawed their way back to each other and found love again in the wreckage.

Whatever was to come next was something that Ian did not want his wife to face, for the real battle was about to start...

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