Living Proof

Chapter Twenty-Three

Boromir let his fingers trail lightly along Kaia's hair. "Where are you?"

"Right here," she murmured, peering up at him. "Wishing the morning would never come."

"You are not the only one."

She rose onto one elbow. "I won't sleep soundly until you return, you know."

"It would be better if you tried," he told her, trying to smile as he reached up to brush a loose curl behind her ear. "You need your rest and before you yell at me, just know, I am only concerned with your well being."

To his relief, she smiled. "I know," she told him, bobbing her head. "And I know it's silly to worry, since that won't change a blasted thing, but I'll worry just the same."

"I wish you wouldn't."

"I know." Her eyes softened. "But, I will. I will worry every moment you're gone and I will not sleep peacefully until you are back here, safe and sound."

"Worrying about me will do nothing to help you rest at all."

"I know, but I also have no control over it. Haven't you realized that by now?"

He tried to smile, but couldn't quite make his face obey. "If something should happen to me, you will remain here at least until the baby is born, won't you? Faramir will be here to look after you both, if need be."

She nodded. "Of course."

"Good. At least then I know you're safe. Ioreth will also look after you both for as long as you wish to remain here."

She sighed softly, sinking back against him. Her hand came to rest against his chest, her head in the curve of his shoulder. "But, you will be careful, won't you?"

"Love, I am never not careful."

"You threw yourself between halflings and orcs."

"I had to. You know that."

She didn't reply at first, but then, with a soft sigh, she whispered, " I do know that. You protect those you care about and I've not met your hobbits, but I've the feeling you most definitely cared about them."

"I'd never seen halflings until that morning at Rivendell," he told her, staring up at the rough ceiling, his fingers moving along her silky hair once more. "And I know they are grown men, all of them, but they are so small, it was difficult to remember that. I looked after them to the best of my ability, tried to teach them how to defend themselves. And they did, you know. At Amon Hen. Galadriel had given them daggers and they did not hesitate to use them."

"They saw you were in trouble and something tells me that you meant to them what they meant to you."

"They did not know what I'd done."

"Boromir," Kaia lifted her head once more, "they knew you were willing to sacrifice yourself for their safety. And I'll wager that if Frodo knew that as well, he would forgive you in the blink of an eye."

He gazed at her, his fingers moving lightly along her cheek now. She had no idea just how powerful her pull over him was, had no idea that all she need to was ask, and he would give her whatever her heart desires. He'd never felt about a woman the way he felt about her, none had ever touched him the way this one did.

The light glinted off the delicate ring on her left hand. He'd fought the notion of marriage for so long, convinced that Gondor and his duty to her came before anything else. And honestly, there had been no woman for whom he'd give up everything for.

Until Kaia.

If she asked, he would resign his commission, would find some other way of supporting her and the baby. But he knew that she would never ask, nor would she accept that from him. She loved him for who and what he was—warts and all—and he was a better man for it.