Arian's Pool Ch. 04

Benny walked across to his usual spot by the remains of Mike's shelter and lay down, content that all was well in the world.

And so I turned my back to the steamy mist ready to back up onto the stone seat.

"Maggie?" I heard the voice I'd been hearing in my dreams for so long now and thought it was just the effects of the pool and another way for Arianrhod to calm me down. I heard the thump of Benny's tail and turned to see what he was so happy about.

There in those same crappy denim cut-offs I'd seen him in almost a year ago was my lover, my love, and I had to look twice.

"Mike?" I gasped.

"Maggie!" he called and started to run towards me.

He stopped as I turned and he could see me cradling Ceri, my cheeks aching from the huge grin I had on my face. Again, it seemed that Benny detected no danger with Mike around and sat proudly at the side of the pram I'd pushed through the woods for this morning's work, his tail thumping the ground at the sight of his old friend.

"Maggie!" he called across the still water of 'our' pool, his mouth flapped as I turned and showed him the child in my arms. His mouth hung open for a brief moment and the look of surprised but still happy shock on his face. He unbuttoned his cut-offs and all but threw them down, and tore off his T-shirt, kicking his trainers into the grass beside him. "Why... why didn't you tell me?" He stepped straight into the water sliding down and took one step across to me and put an arm around me to stare down into the gorgeous face of his young son, just a fortnight old.

"You stopped coming," I said, "I thought that you didn't want to see me anymore. After Christmas I contacted Bart's and they said that you had taken a sabbatical and wouldn't tell me where you were or take a message. I had no way of contacting you did I."

"I came back," he said, "Every day for a month, I've all but built a bloody log cabin back there," he said. "I came dozens of times, but I couldn't find the pool. I couldn't find the place Maggie, I tried for days and days, I parked in the same spot walked in the same direction, but for all those months I couldn't find the pool, and it's not even on the maps." He looked up, a few tears in his eyes, "I put pegs down so I'd know where I'd checked, but when I came back I'd find them in a pile where I parked. It was spooky, first I thought it was kids but there was no way anyone could get to our bit of wood, I even camouflaged them, but then each morning when I woke up, they'd be in a pile by my shelter.

I headed to what I thought was the nearest village and walked around looking for a house numbered seven that backed onto woods and looked like yours and even calling Benny's name. No one had ever heard of and English girl called Maggie, I don't think I was in even in the right town.

I figured that I'd really blown it and I was lost and devastated. I took time off from Barts and moved further up here, rented the cottage I stayed in before, five miles from here. I took a couple of months off but had to go back to work.

So I started to share my time between Bart's and The Worcester and Hereford, I wouldn't give up on my woods, I wouldn't give up on us." He looked amazed and perplexed at the same time. Then he grinned, "It came to me this morning, driving here; figured I was trying too hard, and perhaps... I know this sounds daft, but perhaps the pool had to find me."

I pushed my cheek next to his to impart some tenderness to him, and his stress after months of struggle. I told him of my efforts.

"For a fortnight I couldn't even find the pool, then did all of a sudden. I came back once or twice a week during my pregnancy," I said, "I felt you were close, or at least trying to get close."

"That absence made me realise how much I still loved you, still needed you."

"And then you found me?"

"Yes..." he said looking puzzled, "well at least after I spoke to this little old lady."

"Did she talk to you about the pool?"

"Yes." He looked quizzically at me.

"According to the old lady you spoke to our pool is actually Arianrhod, The Welsh moon goddess's and Saint Ffraid's."

He looked at me, stunned.

"Yeah," he said in shock, "A... tiny little Welsh lady in black?" I nodded and smiled to him, "I was about to give up hope, I could smell your perfume, I was screaming your name, and she walked into the clearing with her walking stick. Do you know her? Was she here?"

"Did she tell you about love, and Arianrhod?" He nodded, "and I bet she called you Ceri?" He looked at me with a grin and nodded,

"And you met her too?"

"Yep," I gently rocked our son and held him up so Mike could look at him again, "she's the reason that your son is called Ceri!" I said. "When did you meet her?"

"About five minutes ago."

"Really," I said, "I met her four and a half months ago."

"Wow!"

"Small world isn't it," I kissed Ceri's cheek, "Trouble is," I whispered, "she died five months ago."

"She died?"

"Yep," I said, "four hours before I met her."

He was a doctor and struggled with the concept,

"She... died?"

"Yep, she gave me this..." I held up my pendant, "four hours after her daughter-in-law found her dead in her chair." I turned and looked up, "Thank you Nanna!" I shouted at the top of my voice with a laugh, and Benny sat and stared up huffing again. He closed his eyes for a moment as if someone had stroked his head.

"Bloody hell." He said. "She told me that she figured I must have upset one of the ladies and chances are, if I'd learned my lesson, I was forgiven. I figured that was because I... well because of what I did to you that autumn Saturday. She told me that I could find what I wanted if I truly loved; if I really knew what I wanted and more importantly who I wanted.

She pointed across the clearing I was in and said what I wanted and needed would be just around the corner." He looked down, "She pointed, and I turned to look. When I turned back she was gone."

"That's our Nanna Bennett," I said, "I'm her heir apparently." I let go of my pendant.

"You were here, weren't you... when I was looking for you?"

"Yes," I said, a tear forming in my eye now, "I came back often, it was like I could feel that you were going to be here or wanted to be here." I rested my head on his shoulder. "I realised how much I loved you and desperately wanted you back."

"I woke at three this morning in London, knowing I had to come, had to be here," he grinned, "I've gone AWOL from work with just a 'I've got to go to Wales, it's an emergency' phone message for my boss. He can manage what work I have on today. I had to be here Maggie," he smiled at me and stroked my hair, "I was dragged here by some force or another, I had no choice."

He pulled me tighter to him,

"I don't care what it was that called me back, I just know that I'm back and I don't want to be anywhere else, or with anyone else."

"You..."

"Maggie, I've missed you and I know that you can probably never forgive me, but I really thought I'd wrecked it with you, or at least with the Goddess and the Saint, and I'd lost you for ever."

"Mike," I said smiled at him in confirmation, smiling and raising our son between us, "I never stopped loving you, not for a second." He kissed me.

I knelt slightly and cupping my hand in the water of Arianrhod's sacred pool I poured some across the forehead of our baby son, and he opened his eyes, yawning and looked straight up into the shocked but handsome face of his father for the very first time. I looked up, hugged Ceri to my face and spoke words I'd got Jess to teach me.

"Diolch yn fawr Arianrhod, Diolch yn fawr Santes Ffraid." I said looking up to the sky.

"Wow," said Mike, "Hello Ceri," he bent and kissed his boy on the forehead, then raised up and kissed me. I backed up to the seat that Ceri was born in and sat down on it, and Mike sat next to me, and Ceri had his very first bath, and didn't seem to object in the slightest.

The water was warm and caressed all three of us in the same way. I handed Ceri across to his father who was of course a Doctor and had delivered quite a few babies, so took him calmly and gently, not the bumbling sit-com 'new father' reaction I'd hoped for! So, we had our very first family moment.

We walked Ceri back to his pram, dried him and wrapped him up again and he yawned and nodded off, his very own Gelert standing then sitting, before lying sentinel next to him.

"Swim with me Mike," I said and I took his hand and we walked into the lake, "Swim with me and let Arian's pool do its work." We started kissing again and the months apart just melted as we clung to each other kissing and holding each other tight. I could feel his hard cock squeezing between us so putting my arms around his neck I raised my legs and wrapped them around him. He was very strong anyway, something that had always turned me on about him, and pretty soon he lifted me slightly and slipped his penis into my pussy and I clung to him even harder as he made love to me in the water. We were both making love and chuckling, laughing and giggling as I leaned back so we could look into each other's faces, and of course kiss.

I felt him pump hard into the back of my vagina, and thanks to the pool I'm sure, I felt no pain even though another human being had travelled through there less than a fortnight before.

With the addition of the love we shared I felt my orgasm start in my loins and I hissed into Mike's ear.

"I'm gonna come baby," I said, "come with me..."

"Are you sure?" he said. After all, it was obvious to him that I wasn't functionally sterile after all.

"Yeah," I said, thinking that Arianrhod knew where I stood; mind you this time I was so much more confident as I'd gone on the pill straight after Ceri was born. Once bitten and all that.

He came and I felt his knees buckle and we slipped down into the hot water, both floating gently. I felt him pour his copious come into my pussy and I wondered how I'd ever managed to live without it for so long.

We swum though the water, still holding each other until we hit the bank.

We lay back on the grass and kissed each other again. I heard Ceri mewling quietly and before I knew it, I had warm milk leaking down my breasts, so I walked over and picked him up and he latched on. I sat down next to Mike and he watched intrigued as I fed our son. He put his arms around me and held me, while I held our son and I looked up at my man and kissed him.

"I love you Maggie," he said.

"I love you Mike."

The sun came out and bathed our pool, sorry Arianrhod and Brigid's pool, in wonderful warm spring sunshine. We were home.

Mike took a two week leave of absence and stayed with me in the house for the very first time. He had a walk around and yes, it hadn't been my town he'd visited calling for us. Although the very first thing he did was to get both of our smart phones and copy the details to each, clocking my house into the satnav on both of his phones.

That night I took him and Ceri to Jess and Dai's place and had dinner. Jess saw me and my beaming smile and was all over Mike and knew the second he walked through the door that he was Ceri's father. She came over to both of us and hugged us.

"Diolch yn fawr Santes Ffriad" she whispered.

"I'll tell you later," I whispered to Mike, and later than night safe in a real bed for the first time, I told him all about Nanna, the pool, my dash to their late one night and of Arian and Brigid.

In the way of that particular secret, neither of us has ever talked about what happens at the pool outside of the sisters.

Much as it tore at my soul to leave, if only for a short time, I went back to London with him via Bristol and introduced my Dad to his third grandchild. Dad was a bit upset because I hadn't been to see him in four months but recovered quickly. I kissed him and told him how sorry I was that it had only been phone calls, and said that once I discovered I was pregnant I didn't want to let anyone know in case it all went wrong. My whole family knew about my supposed sterility and rather than admit that Mike and I had been led astray by a magic pool, we just said that we were neighbours and Ceri was just a happy accident that I knew nothing about for four months.

Dad was enchanted with Ceri and they still have a wonderful bond, he's just Grampy Wagner. Dad was even more impressed when I asked if I could leave Benny with him when I went to see Theresa and her family in London, with I promise I'd pick him up on the way back. We stayed that night, and Benny didn't even stir from his now customary spot by the fire when we left the next morning.

In London, we both had siblings to tell.

First Mike met my sister and her family, and I stood at her front door, while Mike lifted Ceri out of the car in his seat.

"Auntie Maggie!" screamed my niece Ashley as she opened the front door to my knock, rapidly followed by her brother Sam, "Have you brought Benny?"

"No, sorry!" I said seeing Theresa looking from the kitchen to the front door at me, "But I have brought some new friends for you to say hello to."

Theresa walked towards the door drying her hands seeing Mike at his car on her drive.

"Hi Maggie!" she said.

"Theresa, this is Mike, and this," he handed me the car seat with his sleeping son in, "is our son Ceri..."

Theresa cottoned on in seconds and screamed a heartfelt "Maggie! Oh Darling I'm so pleased for you!"

She didn't know whether to grab me, shake Mike's hand and grab him, or coo over her new nephew.

She settled to do all three in a shade under three seconds. I was giggling in the shared excitement and Theresa's lovely hubby John was there in a few seconds and shook Mike's hand.

Bundled into her huge kitchen, we told them the story we'd told Dad that we'd met in the woods, had meals out, drunk lots of coffee (we didn't mention it was all in the woods and naked!) and once we knew about Ceri's arrival we were shocked and delighted but didn't want to talk to everyone about a tragic loss if it all went wrong.

Theresa was sat in her kitchen rocking chair, the same one she'd held her children in, and completely ignored everyone else and I knew who Ceri's first set of godparents would be. I all but wrestled him from her as he had started to fret for me to feed him.

"Give me the bottle!" she called out, "I'll do it!"

"On tap Theresa," I said starting to unbutton my blouse from the top.

"Oh Darling Maggie!" she cooed again, "Right, everyone out into the garden and leave me and Auntie Maggie to our work."

I actually didn't worry about breast feeding with someone else in the room, as I'd gotten quite good at feeding my darling boy without anyone noticing, but Theresa just wanted some 'girlie time' and I sat in her precious rocking chair and she stroked his cheek, my hand, his hand, and generally loving every second of it. She put a coffee on the table by the rocking chair and once Ceri had finished she took him from me and winded him, encouraging me to drink my coffee and relax.

Once Ceri had nodded off, Theresa just went into Mummy mode and changed him and dressed him and put him down for a nap in his car seat. She did it whilst making sandwiches, drinks for the children, then sandwiches and tea for the adults.

She looked at me and gave me a smile just like Mum used to and leaned over to kiss me.

"You'll get used to it Maggie," she grinned, handing me a sandwich and a mug of tea, "By the time you've had your third one, you'll be vacuuming the stairs and loading the dishwasher at the same time."

I could have stayed with my lovely sister for days, but we had other people to visit. We kissed everyone goodbye, promising that we'd all go out to dinner together the next evening.

Next it was a quick scoot across London to his Brother Hugh and sister in law Jennifer. Their greeting was slightly less effusive but they both hugged me and kissed my cheek,

"We were beginning to think you didn't exist," said Hugh with a grin.

"Yeah, Mike has talked about you for months and months," Jen slipped an arm through mine as Hugh dropped down to the car seat and his nephew just starting to wake up and take an interest in his surroundings. "I'm so pleased you found each other again!" she squeezed my arm.

I picked Ceri out and handed him across to Hugh who wasn't as well practiced as his older brother but managed quite well, and he sat down on his sofa and happily chatted with Ceri. I looked across the room and saw that while Jen looked captivated by their newest and youngest relation, she looked slightly scared of him as well.

Again, we promised we'd meet them at the restaurant for dinner the next day and head back to Mike's lovely flat in Kennington.

I put Ceri in his travel cot, and had a shower. While I loved breast feeding it was quite a warm day and I was leaking a bit. There had been so much love in the air that day that I found out that breast milk had soaked into almost all of the absorbent pads I brought along. It was just me, whenever I felt that level of love and contentment my nipples just opened up!

We had a slow morning, and we spent the afternoon with his parents at their North London home. They had the same story. We were neighbours, fell in love, high risk pregnancy, Mike moves to Wales to be closer to me, close watch for last few months, birth, blah, blah, blah.

We went back to the flat, got dressed, and got a black cab to the restaurant where all of our families got to know each other. Theresa took Ceri from his pram of course and cuddled him for almost the whole time.

Mike was being the host and I saw him chatting with his Mum and him taking something from her. He stood, and tapped his wine glass with his spoon.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," he said, "Maggie and I want to thank you all for your wonderful welcome to us. It's fair to say that Maggie, Ceri and I have all been through the ringer a bit in the last four months, but it's all finally come together at the last with the help of a tiny little old Welsh Lady that's been looking out for us." He sipped from his glass, "it remains for me to do one more thing, the thing I should have done six months ago."

He stepped back from the table, dropped to one knee and raised the small box that his mother had obviously given him.

"Darling Maggie, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" I squeaked, such was the surprise I felt, and he took my hand and slipped the loveliest engagement ring on my finger.

It was a real surprise though. We were so happy to be back together with our child that I hadn't even thought about it or that it was an option. There were happy squeals from all the women, and hearty handshakes from the men. It was wonderful.

We married two months later in the tiny village chapel St Brigid's, wearing my Mum's wedding dress faded from White to Ivory lace, just as Theresa had and she cried when I first tried it on and it fitted perfectly.

Dad gave me away, along with Benny who wore a white collar and black tie just like Mike did. Mike's youngest brother Ed the Royal Marine Officer came home from Afghanistan especially and was best man to his brother, the piss doctor.

Ceri was christened at the same time, Theresa and John, and Jess and Dai as God parents and Jess saw to it that the font had been quietly filled with water from Saint Ffraid's pool (sorry Arianrhod!) and over the next few days the story that Ceri was an 'Arian's child' had travelled the village, and what was in the font for attendance at services to go up and women and girls were apparently dipping their hands into it whenever they passed.

The reception was of course in Jess and Dai's restaurant and they did us proud. With all of the rooms filled, so we had no bridal suite to spend our first night in; we didn't really care mind you.