Selfless Love

Lullaby

NOTE: The lyrics belong to Frank Churchill and the Walt Disney Company.

It was around two in the morning when Riftan finally finished his council meeting. Who would have thought that plans to expand the orphanage and other organizations funded by charity would be such a complex matter? 

He walked quickly to his chambers eager to slide under the covers of his comfortable bed and pull his beautiful wife into his embrace. 

When he opened the doors to their bedchamber, Maximilian was nowhere to be found. The sheets on her side of the bed had been thrown across the middle of the bed like she had been asleep and had suddenly hurried quickly out of the bed. 

Andrew. 

Their son must have been having a restless night. Riftan closed the doors to their chambers and made his way down the hall to their son's room. For a while, Andrew had slept on a small bed in their room as Maxi and Andrew had grown used to sleeping in the same room together and weren't comfortable being apart but eventually once they finally settled down in Anatol, Riftan and Maxi decided Andrew should have his own room.

Riftan slowly turned the doorknob to his son's room trying to be careful and not to make the door hinges creak and wake his son. He poked his head into the room and what he saw warmed his heart more than words could ever properly express.

Maximilian sat with Andrew in her lap in a rocking chair on the far side of the room surrounded by dim candlelight. 

Andrew liked to have a little bit of light in his room because when he would wake in the night he would quickly be reminded of where he was and that he was safe and not in that awful prison cell which had been void of any light in the evening. 

The soft light gave her a halo around her dark red curls. She smiled down at their son who had laid his head against her chest, unaware that her husband was watching them. Riftan could see his son's droopy eyes blink slowly as he fought the urge to fall asleep in his mother's arms. With the last of his strength, he stretched up his little arm to play with the ends of strings that hung from the front of her nightgown. 

Riftan leaned against the door frame. How long he stood there, he didn't know and honestly, he didn't care. He could have stood there for the rest of his days and been a happy man, watching his wife lull their son to sleep. 
Riftan thought this moment couldn't be more perfect but Maximilian as usual surpassed his expectations. 

She began to sing their son a lullaby. 

Baby mine, don't you cry
Baby mine, dry your eyes
Rest your head close to my heart
Never to part
Baby of mine

Her sweet voice relaxed not only her son but her husband as well who desperately fought the urge to sigh, fearing he might alert them or worse startle his son. 

Maxi slowly stood up from the rocking chair and carefully walked over to her son's crib. She gently laid him down and then pulled a small blue blanket up to his chin. 

Riftan couldn't resist walking over and standing next to his wife wanting to see the peaceful look on his son's face as he slept soundly. Riftan gently placed his hand on Maxi's waist trying not to startle her too badly, but she still jumped slightly in surprise before quickly relaxing once she realized who it was. She smiled warmly at him before she leaned her head against him as they stared down at their son. 

Riftan wasn't sure what came over him, but he found himself beginning to sing the next verse of the song.

If they knew sweet little you
They'd end up loving you too
All this same people who scold you
What they'd give just for the right to hold you