Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 449: Heal Together

Chapter 449: Heal Together

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Arthur didn’t want to be confused anymore. He wanted her and he will get her by any means possible. But he didn’t want to get her by having secrets with her.

He wasn’t even sure if this secret will affect their relationship. But he leaned towards that since he knew how much it affected her when he hid his illness from her. This one involved her, and he decided to keep it from her selfishly. He knew she’d get mad.

Will she cancel the wedding over this?

"What?" Talia looked at him and his reaction made her believe that he said what she thought he said.

Hugging him around his neck, it slowly sank in. Everything that happened to her after her return from Basmia.

It makes sense, right? It was a miscarriage!

Without knowing what it was, she had tried to rationalise it with a lot of things, ending up getting confused.

But it was a miscarriage... I lost my baby...

"It makes sense now..."

Tears dripped from her eyes and she held Arthur closer. Her heart filled with pain that ripped her soul to shreds.

My baby... If I had known, if I was a little more careful, if I was better protected against Ralph... Would it have happened?

Arthur saw her shaking in his embrace and his hands shook. He tried to gulp in the sorrow in his throat and tried to say words of comfort, but he couldn’t speak a word. Caressing her back, he tried his best not to lose himself.

"How long did you know?" Talia asked gripping his collar. The fact that she didn’t even grieve for her baby properly made her feel more guilty.

Did my baby get flushed in the toilet without me knowing it?

"After we reached Rosandale," he said. He knew where this conversation will lead. This previously happened and it made a very big emotional rift between them.

"That long? Why didn’t you do anything then?" she fisted her hand and hit his chest.

Talia didn’t shout, but her voice trembled and her lips quivered in sorrow.

"Why are you telling this now? Why didn’t you take this to your grave?"

"Aren’t you the man? Shouldn’t you be protecting me from sad happenings?"

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"Why?"

She sobbed, scratched, and hit his chest. She felt pain so bad she let it all out.

Arthur felt his soul leaving his body. He thought he had lost her. He regretted his decision to tell her the truth.

-----

Meanwhile, in the distance at a dark corner, a couple of cops who were patrolling the streets were wondering about their next step. They were asked to ’safely bring the Princess and her fiancé’ to the nearest precinct.

But they didn’t want to disturb the couple who are about to marry in a week. They were in each other’s embrace seemingly discussing something.

Although they are breaking the law by visiting a closed public beach at an odd time, they were still hesitant.

Doesn’t all the public places belong to the crown and isn’t the Princess’ brother the Crown? How will they gather the courage to arrest the Princess on trespassing charges and how will they bring her to the police precinct?

They decided to wait until someone else arrives.

-----

Talia cried for a short while, but then she paused noticing the hands holding her were trembling.

"I’m sorry, Iris... I am sorry for not telling you back then."

It was then she realised something.

I didn’t lose MY baby, WE lost OUR baby!

What have I done? I blamed the man who protected me from emotional anguish at a time when I was physically suffering and recovering from the trauma of getting held by a psycho. He protected me by keeping that terrible news from me.

But he knew. While he watched me suffer physically, he silently suffered mentally, shielding me from further spoiling my emotional wellbeing. He watched me losing our baby and he was with me the whole time, taking care of me.

I didn’t know I was losing our baby, but he knew and he hid his grief from me, to protect me.

"Fred," she got out of his embrace and knelt in front of him, and cupped his cheeks in her hands. "My dear Fred, you must have felt alone back then."

"I...hah!" he grunted expressing the frustration he felt till then regarding that issue.

"I’m sorry I didn’t protect you, Iris. I was useless to protect our baby. I let our baby get flushed in the toilet. I am-"

"Fred, Fred," Talia held his closer in her embrace. His voice broke and the heaviness in his voice expressed how much of a deep pain he’s in.

"Let’s not do this, Fred. Let’s not play this game of finding out who’s to blame. It is not your fault, it is not my fault either. No one is to blame here. Sh!t happens and let’s not blame ourselves."

She gently kissed his head and caressed his hair, speaking softly to allow him to calm down. She still was in pain, but she felt like she can recover; they can recover from it together.

"I am glad you kept it from me back then. Had you told me, I am not sure if I might have recovered as swiftly. And thank you for letting me know now, Fred. I was the one who asked you to be honest and I am glad you kept your word."

"Are you sure? You are not mad for real?" he looked at her.

Talia’s heart hurt seeing his puffy eyes. "I am not mad. I was emotional at first, but I remembered it is a loss for both of us. Fred, let’s heal together. We do have the rest of our life." She placed a kiss on his forehead.

"I love you, Fred. Thank you for being selfless although I am very selfi-"

Before she finished, her lips were covered with his, and Talia reciprocated the kiss. They forgot where they were and Arthur’s hand slipped inside the cardigan she was wearing while Talia’s hands slipped inside his pants.

"Are they-" the police officer gulped seeing the couple getting awfully comfortable with each other.

"Yes, should we-"

"Definitely! Trespassing along with indecent exposure and lewd conduct is-"

"For sure!"

"Let’s pretend we don’t know who they are and..."

"Yeah...that way they can leave, right?"

"Yes."

Reaching a decision, both the officers switched on their torches.

"Hey there... what are you doing here at this time of night?" the cop spoke in a loud voice.

"Holy sh!t!" Arthur got up, lifting Talia. He zipped his trousers and urged Talia to run.

"Are they cops? We are screwed!" Talia fixed her clothes as they both ran. Thankfully, her clothes were mostly intact.

"Faster!" Arthur held Talia’s hand as she struggled to run through the sand.

Both of them knew if the news got leaked that they were confronted by cops, it would be a disaster.

They reached the motorbike and Arthur turned to see the cops slowing down and they even switched off their torches.

That’s weird. Did they know who we were?

"Fred! Go!" Talia scratched his shoulder. She had forgotten everything and was very excited. "Wow! Escaping cops is fun!"

"Is it?" Arthur asked and started the motorbike.

"Oh, yeah! Let’s make it more fun. Fred, try and reach the maximum speed," she said and Arthur looked at her.

"It is dangerous."

He knew in motorbike accidents usually the one in the back will get hurt badly. He was sure of his skills, but he will not put her life in danger.

"Fred, do it anyway!" her voice turned serious and Arthur looked at her in the eye.

"Wear your helmet," he said and watched her wear it reluctantly.

"Let’s take it this way, Fred. If we survive today’s ride, then we can be sure that our married life will be blissful. So do it for our marriage!" she rubbed his abdomen.

"This is the stupidest thing you ever said, Iris. I will never agree to this stupid request." He said.

He couldn’t understand what got to the usually careful woman today.

At that time a police helicopter flew above with glaring lights focused on them, asking them to surrender.

"Leave, Fred!" Talia smirked.