Psyche listened to her daughter’s screams from the next room. She rubbed her hands together and sighed with worry. Eros sat next to his wife and rubbed her shoulders.
“I wish we could help her,” Psyche mumbled under her breath. “She sounds as if she is being killed.”
Eros took a deep breath and let it out before answering. “She will be fine. Artemis has her under great care.”
“She did not request my presence,” Psyche blubbered. “It is quite an important time in her life. She struggled for so many months.”
“Without us, this child would not be happening,” Eros pointed out just as another blood curdling scream filled the room.
“Hedone still does not want it. She has hated it since its creation. Surely we cannot let her dispose of the child!”
“Never,” Eros assured. “We will care for her like she is our own if necessary. I still firmly believe that Hedone will love the child once she sees it.”
“She has spent the last few months just lying around and complaining. I do not suppose that she could ever love that child. She is so set in her ways and is constantly complaining about her lack of alcohol.” Psyche sighed and then suddenly yawned. The bags under her eyes were clearly evident. Hedone’s condition had taken a toll on everyone in the house but mostly Psyche.
Eros kissed his wife’s temple softly. “It is not your fault. You have done a magnificent job of keeping Hedone away from the evil substances. Her child will be perfectly healthy.”
The screaming suddenly came to a halt. Both Psyche and Eros looked to their doorway unsure of what to expect. They could hear the low hum of conversation on the other side of the wall. After a moment, Artemis entered the room. She looked to both of the new grandparents with a grim expression. Psyche stood up in alarm.
“Please tell me that everything is alright!”
“Everything is fine,” Artemis assured. “You can go in and see them both now.”
Psyche raced into to see her daughter. Eros followed more calmly. They found Hedone in her own bedroom tucked into her own bed. She was leaning against a few pillows and looking into her arms at a bundle of blankets. Psyche smiled at her daughter and joined her on the bed. Eros walked over to the other side of his daughter and they both gazed into the blankets. Inside was a little round face of a beautiful baby.
“She is so quiet,” Hedone whispered as she stroked her baby’s cheek.
“A baby girl,” Psyche marveled. “She is beautiful.”
“She is so small,” Hedone countered. “Her life is fragile and yet she is in my arms.”
“Is it not magnificent?” Eros asked. “Her life rests in your hands.”
The little girl stirred and grunted a bit. There was a small tuft of orange-red hair on her head. She suddenly opened her large eyes to expose simple baby blues. Her eyes gazed directly into her mother’s. Hedone kept eye contact with her baby until suddenly she let out a big wail.
Both Eros and Psyche covered their ears in alarm and Hedone would’ve done the same had her hands not been full. Artemis entered the room suddenly and looked at the family.
“Cradle her,” the goddess commanded to the new mother. “Rock her back to sleep.”
Hedone did as she was told until her squirming child stilled once again. She didn’t fall back asleep but she stopped her crying. Hedone sighed when the noise had gone.
“This is just the start of your adventure as a mother,” Artemis commented. “You will have many more restless nights to come with that child.”
Hedone’s expression showed one of discomfort. “Can I just rest for now?”
“Of course,” Psyche agreed holding her hands out for the child. Hedone passed her over without much of a second thought.
“She needs a name,” Eros requested as Hedone snuggled into her bed. Psyche moved off the bed and was cooing at the child in her arms.
Hedone yawned. “I do not care. Name her as you please.”
Psyche furrowed her eyebrows at her daughter and sent a worried expression to her husband. Eros just nodded to her once to signal that her silent message was received.
“You are equipped to take on the role of a mother with our assistance, correct?” Eros asked.
Hedone rolled her eyes clearly annoyed. “Whatever answer allows you to leave me alone!”
Eros looked worriedly over to his wife. They both left the room with the goddess and the baby. Eros led Artemis to the door.
“I thank you for your services,” he said sincerely.
“She shall be a calm child,” Artemis predicted. “Hedone will never be the mother that she needs. She was never prepared for this role and never will be. I am sorry if that should disappoint you.”
“It does disappoint,” Eros mumbled. “It does not surprise.”
“She is also a demi-god,” Artemis warned. “She will not live forever if you do not take action. She will also be shunned down to Earth if you do not keep her a secret. Mortals are not allowed to live among us. If you want her with us, you must turn her.”
“Understood.” Eros had no plans of keeping her on Olympia. She did not belong with them in the immortal world.
Artemis excused herself and left their home. Eros made his way back into the main room only to find his wife smiling at the bundle in her arms. Eros joined her and stared at the new little child before them.
“I love her already,” Psyche whispered. “We cannot allow for any harm to come to her. We must protect her from the worst.”
“Even if the worst is her own mother?” Eros asked seriously.
“Especially then,” Psyche replied without missing a beat. “We could raise her. We have not wanted another child because of Hedone but perhaps now is a good time. We can learn for our mistakes. We do not shelter her. We do not prolong her life unless she wishes for it. We could care for her.”
“Hedone needs to take responsibility,” Eros argued. “She should have to have the same struggles and decisions as we did. They are her mistakes to make.”
Psyche let out a deep breath just as the baby in her arms grunted a bit.
“She still needs a name,” she pointed out. “Hedone allowed us that much.”
Eros looked over at the child. She seemed to have a sweet face and calm demeanor. That was quite peculiar for a newborn. She needed a name as peculiar as she seemed to be.
“Peyton,” Eros decided.
Psyche smiled over at the little girl. “Peyton. Perfect.”
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“I refuse,” Hedone shouted while barging into her parents’ bedroom.
Psyche and Eros groggily sat up as their daughter approached the bed with a squiggly daughter in her arms. Hedone handed over to her mother.
“She will not sleep.”
“We have not heard her cry,” Eros argued.
“She has not much,” Hedone replied. “She will just not let me rest. She continues to fuss around. I refuse to deal with it anymore. I have not had a sip of alcohol in ten months now. I have not left this house for ten months. I have been in your nonstop presence for ten months now. Take her away from me so I have time to myself, please.”
“What time is it?” Psyche wondered while rocking the two week old baby in her arms. Hedone hadn’t had much time to really be a mother. She wasn’t proving to be very reliable either. Every chance she got, she would hand off her daughter to her own mother. Psyche accepted taking care of Peyton. She loved having another baby in her arms. She had missed when Hedone was that age and when it was that simple.
Eros discouraged that of course. He kept saying how Hedone had to take care of the child herself. She almost never did. The only time Peyton was in her care was when she was asleep.
“It is four in the morning,” Eros answered his wife.
“I am going back down to Earth. I will have my own fun and I will return when I feel that I want to,” Hedone proclaimed.
Eros got out of his bed and stood over his daughter. “You will do no such thing. You have a life dependent on you now. You must take responsibility for her now. She cannot grow up without you.”
“Yes she can,” Hedone argued. “I will take her down to Earth where she belongs. I will give her to her father who can raise her. I do not want her but I suppose that he might. She does not deserve to be here with us immortals anyway.”
“You have been given a gift,” Psyche whispered dangerously. “This child does not cry for your attention. She just wants it. She does not cry when you forget to feed her. She does not even cry when her clothes are soiled and she hasn’t been changed. She is so calm and yet you toss her away like trash. She does not belong on Earth. She belongs with her mother and with her family.”
“I do not want her,” Hedone repeated slowly. “She is in my care and I still do not want her. Either you can take her or I should have to dispose of her myself.”
Psyche gasped and hugged the child closer to her.
“Eros,” Psyche begged.
Eros sighed. “We will not allow for this child to be uncared for. If you so choose to leave her in our care, then that will be your choice.”
Hedone narrowed her eyes clearly not believing her father. “Should I choose to never return home?”
Psyche suddenly began to sob quietly. Eros’s heart broke hearing her.
“That will be your choice,” he repeated.
Hedone nodded and without a glance back, left the house. Her parents both heard the front door slam. Eros rejoined his wife in their bed and put an arm around her shoulders. She still held the baby Peyton in her arms and was opening crying now.
“What have we done with our daughter?”
Peyton grumbled suddenly causing Eros and Psyche to pay attention to her.
“Our daughter shall be dealt with,” Eros promised. “While she is in our care, let us focus on Peyton.”
Psyche looked down at her granddaughter. “You will have a great life and you will be loved. We promise you nothing but the best we can give.”
“Of course,” Eros agreed. “She will loved immensely. After all, she is my granddaughter.”
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“Gramma, read me a story again!”
Psyche smiled at the little four year old before her. Peyton bounced excitedly in her bed as she prepared to sleep.
“Which one?”
“Snow White!” Peyton proclaimed excitedly.
“Again? We just read that one last night and the night before,” Psyche said with a laugh.
“She loves the romantic stories,” Eros said from the bedroom doorway.
“Grampa,” Peyton yelled just as excitedly as before. “Are you going to stay for the story?”
Eros nodded. “I’ll listen in.”
Psyche began the familiar tale of the princess and the prince that fell in love despite the witch that stood in their way. In the end, Peyton was yawning and nodding off. Her baby blue eyes had now darkened to hazel and her orange-red hair turned ruby. She was the most adorable child in all of Olympus or so Psyche kept saying.
“You enjoy that story?” Eros asked once it was over.
Peyton nodded sleepily. “It’s happy and it makes me feel warm inside.”
Psyche smiled at the tired child before her. “That’s because it has a happy ending.”
“I like those,” Peyton said softly with her eyes closed.
Eros smiled mischievously as his wife joined him out in the hallway. Psyche closed the bedroom door behind her to let her granddaughter sleep.
“What is that look?”
“No look,” Eros denied quickly. “She just makes me wonder sometimes.”
“Wonder what?”
“Wonder what type of woman she will be when she is older.”
Psyche smiled at the thought. “She will be strong and confident.”
“And a full supporter of love?”
Psyche frowned suddenly. “Oh no! You cannot be thinking that this soon.”
“I’m not thinking anything,” Eros muttered with his smirk still.
Psyche crossed her arms. “You were not thinking of having Peyton be a matchmaker like you?”
Eros shook his head but his smile remained. “Oh never, my dear.” He planted a soft kiss on his wife’s lips. “What kind of life would that be?”
_____________________________________________________________________________
Hedone seems to be out of the picture… for now. I have a feeling that we have not seen the last of her!
I am SO sorry that this chapter took SO long and that it’s SO short. I’m so so so so so sorry! I can’t stress that enough. I’ve been so busy with life and stuff. I know, I’m awful. Just yell and me in a comment.
Hopefully, I will update this on time next weekend. The next chapter will be Peyton’s childhood and some of her teenage years. Her mother will be there as well from time to time.
So I hope you enjoyed. I don’t think this was worth the wait but I hope it can hold you over for another five days or so.
Thanks for reading and putting up with me for being so awful at updating. :P
~GermanSam