He couldn’t help it.

He’d given into her. The way she smelled, the way she walked—hell, the way she looked at him, with that wildfire in her eyes. She moved like sin, and she tasted even better than that. In the end, Ashley had fallen for the red speckled woman, and made her his own—again.

He’d known that it would result in a child. He could always tell… but when she started lumbering off and craving everything in sight… and yelling at him besides, he had made himself scarce. Having gone to his cave at the core of this island, he waited for the sound of the all clear from his Porter—who had become his father’s sidekick against his mother. Everything else abounded. All the problems with Wallace… Kerberos still had not been found, though his scent was still prevalent on Ischia. But sweet Porter. That laugh and that spotted hide of his. He was every inch his father’s child, no matter how much Marlyn might begrudge it.

And so, when Porter had gone below, to warn his father that Mummy was coming, Ashley steeled himself for the worst. She was like a thundering cloud hanging over his head…  ball and chain he loved to wear… but she was terrible when she was pregnant.

So, he goes topside, placing his feet in the sand and reveling in the sunlight. Winter does not touch this island, but the winter months are some of his favorite. Quiet perfection. Unlike his beautiful Marlyn, who had become anything but quiet. It seemed he brought out the worst in her.

And he loved her all the more for it.

“Porter tells me you’ve eaten the rest of the Kelp again. What am I to tell our daughter when she goes to reach for some? That mommy is constantly eating it all?” He smiles cheekily at her, turning about and whipping just the bare tip of his tail on her rump...

And preparing for monsoon Marlyn.

Gods, it was good to be in love.