Giselle's adventures in wonderland - A Love Legacy spin-off - Part 2

The blue and white house in Barnacle Bay was just lovely ....

and the trio had adjusted to their new life in the pirate island just fine!

The house was comfortable ... a little too comfortable, for being a pirate's house actually - in Giselle's immagination pirates lived in far less modern hideouts - but it was great for the three of them .

Ricky in particular was very happy with the new house! and his new spartan bedroom ....

And Kent seemed to like the place as well. And one day, he told Giselle what was on his mind ...

Kent: do you like it here hon?

Giselle: sure! It's a little too modern for being a pirates' house, but it's comfortable! And the island is just wonderful, isn't it?

Kent: it is ... It's the greatest of things to see you happy, you know that? So well ... since you seem to really like this place ... I thought that maybe ... we could settle down here?

Giselle: sure! We're already settled down ... till we get bored!

Kent: but I meant ... settle down for real this time ... you know ... make a family and everything ...

Giselle: oh ....

Giselle had thought of having kids . But not right then and there . At some point , in her life , when she had explored all that was to be explored , only then she would settle down and make a family . She thought Kent agreed with this . And actually he did! Only, he wanted to make a family now ... but they had just arrived and hadn't explored the whole island yet! What about sailing away to explore the world? This place could be their headquarters , yes, but not a permanent residence ....

Giselle didn't know what to say and , instead , she sat down and started to read a book ....

Kent: Giselle ... stop reading ... we need to talk ....

Giselle: can we talk later? I need to finish the chapter first....

Ricky: this is getting bad ... I must get out before the storm blows ....

Kent: really, Giselle .... it's important ...

Giselle: Kent, I'm sorry but I don't know what to say ... I thought we were happy like this ... I don't want to settle down and make a family right now ... I thought we were already a family! I'm not ready for kids yet , I want to explore the world .....

Kent was hurt and , without a word, he turned on his heels and walked out of the house ....

Giselle was sorry she had hurt him and tried to follow him but .... she stopped when she saw they had visitors ...

 The old lady , that Viktoria Inkbeard, had chosen that very moment to pay a visit ....

Giselle was surprised ... how could she have found out where she lived? It was ...  a little strange, wasn't it? But the lady had been so nice to her on her first day at Barnacle Bay! And had promised to tell her the whole story of her pirate ancestors ... and Giselle couldn't wait to find out!

So she left Kent to his wanderings and she invited Viktoria in for a cup of coffee .

Viktoria: what a lovely house you have , hon! Mind if I have a look around?

Giselle did mind actually, but thought that maybe it was an old lady's privilege to have strange habits and behave a little inappropriatedly in other people's house ... besides, this lady had pirate blood in her! Maybe that's what made her behave that way ....

Viktoria: so ... you know why I'm here for, right?

Giselle: I ... guess so? You came to tell me about your pirate ancestors?

Viktoria: yes ... but there's more than that . I came to reveal you a secret ... a pirates' secret . But you have to give me your word that you won't tell it to anyone else, not even your family ....

Giselle: why of course! I give you my word! Tell me , tell me , what's this secret about?

Viktoria: it all began a long long time ago .....

 The sun had risen over Giselle's island, painting the sea of a strange shade of pink .

This didn't mean that they would have a lovely sunny day ... in fact , a sudden rain was already pouring from the sky!

Kent was worried for his wife ... she kept being sick! And after their conversation the day before, he was now sure she was blaming herself for their misery . While, honestly, it was just life had turned out. Sometimes life gave you what you wanted , sometimes it just surprised you , but in the bad and in the good side ....

Kent had always been a positive person, even in the worst of situations, but now he really feared for his wife's health ... it didn't help that she thought their condition was her punishment for being too selfish .... and now it seemed that the worries of her mind had started reflecting in her body and that was not good ... she looked so ... ill ....

Giselle saw Kent coming and she didn't want him to see she was just about to cry. She set aside the painful memories and forced herself to smile.... she saw in her husband's face that he was worried and she didn't want to give him one more reason to make his life miserable ....

With a smile she told him that everything was fine and gave him a morning massage for a fresh start of the day .

Which he exchanged very willingly ... he was glad to see his wife smiling although he wasn't sure it was a true smile what he saw on her lips ...

Ricky: morning guys ... so ... feeling better today, sis?

Giselle: sure! Kent just gave me a lovely massage ... and now I'm ready to start the day! I feel strong and ready to go fishing! Wanna come with us Rick?

Ricky: are you sure you're okay? You look ...pale ... and no, I think I wanna go exploring the island a little bit more ... maybe I can find something different to eat ....

Giselle and Kent went fishing under the rain ....

And Giselle got her first jellyfish! mmm yummy .....

but at least she was feeling better! The fresh sea air and the smell of fish didn't seem to cause her sickness anymore .... she felt stronger, in fact!

But as she was about to eat her fish ... the nausea came again ... and she had to run to the toilet to throw up....

It had to be the fish! But it was painful ... because it was so much like that time ....

Viktoria's secret had turned out to be a major treasure quest . She had told Giselle all about her pirate great grandfather and what he had told her , before dying. And what he had left her ... a lot of jewels, golden coins and .... a treasure map . 

Viktoria had looked for the place for all of her life but couldn't find it . The map said there was a place on the pirates island where a treasure was hidden. Which would lead to other, greater , treasures .

Viktoria was too old to keep looking for it, so she hoped that Giselle would do it for her . And then they could share the treasure . 

So she had started her quest . She had explored half of the island and had finally found the spot marked on the map! But to her great surprise, there was no treasure in there . Instead, there was another map ....

She had searched and searched , and everytime she thought she had found a treasure, she found another map , hinting for another treasure.

It was becoming very frustrating ... but also very intriguing . Viktoria had got bored and was starting to think that it was yet another of her great grandfather's jokes. So she had left Giselle at it and she had stopped following her around.

But one autumn night, Giselle had made a discovery ....  at the back of all of these maps there was something else ... something that looked like strange drawings. But if you joined all the pieces, the drawings turned out to be yet another map! Which could only be seen if read against the light!

The newly found map was showing a cave .... which was hidden under the waterfall and could only be found on full moon nights, because the moon beams would show it under the water ....

Giselle was so excited for her new discovery! She couldn't wait to explore the place ... it was cold, but she didn't care ... that treasure quest had become a real obsession to her!

It didn't matter that Kent didn't approve ... or the fact that she had just found out she was expecting. In fact, she had to get a move on with it, now that her belly wasn't too big and she still had strength...

So, one cold night of full moon she sneaked out and reached the waterfall as the map said. She followed the moon beams and found the cave!

Without giving a second thought she dived to reach it ....

The next thing she knew, she was in the hospital . Apparently she had just woken up after a few days of coma ... some kind of incident she couldn't remember had happened .

She wasn't completely awake and couldn't really focus, but she would never forget the doctors telling her that she had lost her baby and there had been complications and she was not likely to fall pregnant ever again.

And Kent's face. He was devastated. And she felt so guilty.

Giselle could see Kent was happy that she was alive ... but it was like the sparkle didn't shine in his eyes anymore . He loved her and hated her at the same time .

Once home, they ended up spending lots of time alone ... away from each other.

She had really thought that would been the end of their marriage . And it had all been her fault ! She had been so selfish and stupid ... and most of all she would have never forgiven herself for losing her baby.

It seemed that being permanently incapable of conceiving would be the right punishment to such a selfish person like she was ... she was not worthy to be a mother . But it destroyed her that Kent would have to pay for her as well ....

The weight of her guilt was too hard to bear , and Giselle had slowly fallen into depression . Her husband and brother cared for her and comforted her , but everything was useless because she couldn't forget herself . It seemed that Kent had forgotten what had happened, he was the sweet husband he had always been . But for Giselle, it was even worse! Why was he kind to her when she had been selfish and hurt everyone? She really deserved a punishment!

The pain was so much that it was like she was slowly letting herself die. She didn't want to eat or drink and had lost interest in anything , even her beloved books . 

Till one day she found some piece of old cloth with strange drawings stuck in one of her pockets. It was a map ... and she remembered : that's what she had found in the cave under the sea ... another map. But this map was the real treasure ... it marked a series of uncharted islands to explore ..... some part of her reacted and felt a slight feeling of excitement ....

Kent found her staring at the map and saw her face .

After ages, his wife's face was flushed and her eyes sparkling!

He took her in his arms and looked at her in the eyes ... and told her what he felt was the right thing to do: to leave the past behind ... and move on. If sailing away was what she needed to be happy ... so well be it! Himself and Ricky would follow . They would have done anything to have her back with them .....

Kent: you okay hon?

Giselle: yeah ... yeah I'm feeling better now ... I guess my stomach doesn't like fish anymore ....

Kent: are you sure you're not ill? You don't feel you got temperature, do you? Ricky is worried it's some kind of illness coming from mosquitoes bites ....

Giselle: no ... I don't think it's that kind of thing! I feel fine now ... it's just my stomach ... I think I ate some bad fish and now everything I eat gives me nausea ... maybe I should avoid eating fish for one day or something and see if it gets better ...

Kent: if you say so ....

Giselle: yeah, don't be worried , it's nothing ... and to prove you I'm fine ...

Giselle: I challenge you to a pillow fight!

While Giselle and Kent were having fun on the island, Ricky had set off for his usual swim.

Although he still didn't have enough courage to venture through the fog, he had become strong and felt more and more confident in the ocean.

In fact, now he felt confident enough to dive!

What he found under the ocean was amazing! He wanted to explore this cave ... but the tentacles coming out of it were rather discouraging ... but what if the squid was guarding something? Like legends' dragons with treasures?

Ricky knew he needed to train his diving skills more before he could explore the cave ... so he just swam around looking for seashells hoping to improve his skills soon enough to explore more ....

He was having so much fun diving , he didn't realise that evening had come .... but when a dark shadow obscured the few light that was still left , Ricky was forced to look above him ... and what he saw nearly gave him a heart attack ......

Kent looked at Giselle reading . She knew her well now , and he knew that reading was her way to suppress worries .... to avoid thinking of things that scared her ....

Kent: G. ... I don't want to bother you while you read but ... it's rather late ... where's Ricky? he should have been back a long ago .... don't you think something might have happened to him?

Giselle: don't worry Kent ... he can take care of himself ... although it's true he's never been this late before and ....ouch!

Kent: what happens?

Giselle: I don't know ... I just feel ... weird ....

Kent: oh goodness ... what can I do?

Giselle: I don't know ... it's very weird ... like my head is turning ... it's ... a familiar feeling somehow although I don't know how it could .....

Kent: oh my goodness you're not dying are you? 

Giselle: ooooh ..... so it really was this familiar feeling! I can't believe it ....

Kent: Oh my goodness my wife is dying! What will I do?

Giselle: Kent! I'm not dying ... it's quite the opposite actually! Just turn around, will you?

Giselle: look at me ... don't you see anything different?

Kent: oh ... in like a second that I looked away you look more beautiful ... and you don't look sick anymore! And you even changed your clothes ... How could that be? What's going on G.?

Giselle: can't you see? There's a baby on the way ,  Kent! 

Kent: what? what???!!!!! are you ... are you sure?

Giselle: I am !

Kent: but ... how?

Giselle: I don't know! The doctors had said it was improbable that I would be able to conceive again but ... well, it happened so ....

Kent: oh my, it's a miracle!

Giselle: it is ... but it's really there, look!

Kent: ooh ... can I ... feel?

Giselle: sure! 

Kent: oh my ... it's ... amazing ... 

Kent: and ... I think I feel it moving!

Kent: Giselle ... it's so wonderful ... it's a wonderful miracle ... I think I'm gonna cry ... 

Giselle: I can't believe it either ... I can't believe I was given a second chance ... I promise you Kent ... I'm gonna make you a proud daddy this time ... 

Kent: and I'm sure you're gonna be a wonderful mother G. .... we're gonna be wonderful parents together ...

Ricky: hey, what's all this emotion going on here? You should be hugging me! I was nearly attacked by a shark! Hey people, I'm here!

Giselle: oh Ricky! Thanks goodness you're back, we've been worried! And look , I have a great news for you ....

Giselle: you're gonna be an uncle!

Ricky: whaaaat?

Giselle: look!

Ricky: oh my goodness ... it's true! there's a baby in there!

Ricky: how could this happen? It's amazing sister! It's a miracle!!!!

Giselle: it is ....

Ricky: oh sis , I'm so happy for you!!!!!

Giselle: thank you Ricky!

Ricky: can I build the baby a crib? and a few toys? Or I can go get him or her very nice sea shells to play with!

Giselle: sure you can!

Ricky: it's gonna be fine this time G. ! I feel it ... it's gonna be just fine!

To be continued ......