As long as the situation didn't persist for centuries, and even then it would likely adapt. A stray breeze led to him taking in the scents—nothing to indicate the presence of an intruding demon. The snow didn't bear with it the acid-copper taste of youki, ruling out the possibility of an ice demon encroaching on his territory. It also didn't feel like the heavy-freezing death of the north. It felt lighter, purer, just barely affected by the Makai's ever present energy imprint.
Following the flakes on a wind he stepped—slippered foot landing in a good four inches of snow. The thin barrier between foot and wet was no match. Shivered, fur standing on end until he summoned his energy, a twist here, a shove there—and four protected paws touched down in cool, but not unpleasant snow. Insulated by a layer of shiny silver fur, Kurama let out an approving rumble, this form was far more suitable. The sudden increase in volume wasn't the only difference, what was once a tropical jungle let out into snow covered pines.
He reached out and touched the plants as he passed, tasting their essence even as he memorized his trail. He'd need to make sure he knew how to get home after all. The portal should still be there when he returned. At least that was his best guess at whatever led him here. There hadn't been the spider-webs on skin feel of Reikai's barrier, but somehow he'd stumbled out of the demon realm.
There was no other explanation. He couldn't help staring in wonder about him at the plant-life dozing under winter's chill touch. They were far weaker than the flora he was used to touching, but something about the essence seemed lighter, purer—lacking the hardness that comes from surviving due to sheer necessity. Untouched by Makai's ancient malice and ever present youki that led to the rise of dangerous plants such as the Death Tree. He hadn't felt this in centuries.
Not since demons were cast out of the mortal world. Amongst the scent of snow and pine, whiskers trembled in the winter air. There was an odor he wasn't used to—at least not outside the larger cities where some unscrupulous demons dealt in certain, high commodity foods. The scent of human lingered on the wind, near and immediate unlike the fire and woodsmoke curled at the edges of his perception.
Nose rose and fell, didn't even realize it as paws followed. Humans could not get into the Makai. And the stench of death had yet to permeate the air. The barrier allowed none save for dead flesh to cross its threshold; otherwise someone would have wised up long ago and started a human ranch. It would have killed the smuggling market. There it was, two largish lumps in the snow, just off to the side of what he thought was a road under all the wind-blown snow.
He padded right up to the nearest, nudging the body with his nose. Still warm but cooling fast. He could hear the heartbeat slowing, hypothermia setting in. Even if he were feeling particularly altruistic there wasn't much he could do. The woman's life was fading fast, unraveling as the ghost began to lose its hold on the mortal form. Kurama turned away from the doomed human, turning to inspect the smaller lump beside her.
He used his tails to clear the accumulated snow in a quick flick, revealing a much smaller form than he'd expected. He almost growled at the sight, what kind of caretaker took a kit out in this weather? The human-kit was in much the same predicament as the mother. This kit should be holed up in a den, waiting out the winter with mother and litter-mates.
Didn't humans know any better? Paws shifted into clawed hands as the world rippled. His sense of the fading life beside him fluttered in response, the dying child shivering against something he could only sense. Kurama knew the feeling of a Reikai portal when he sensed one. Death, the greatest thief of them all.
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Then the child surprised him. Indigo, almost purple eyes opened. Not even enough to properly see, but it was enough for Kurama to guess why mother and child were out. Now that he was looking he could see red fuzz where hair should be, cut unevenly—sheared off to hide yet another sign of an impure bloodline. The little one's ki was reaching toward him, desperately searching for the licking tendrils of his youki.
His youki probed back, curious. Kurama frowned, there was something else there. He wasn't sure how to explain it, a plain dish, with a faint twinge of something. Youki twinned about the frayed edges of the child's ki. Young enough-he could coax the little one's energies the way he wanted to, not as set in stone as the mother's.
Half remembered stories, a hypothesis he'd toyed with, in case something were to go horribly wrong during a heist. He ignored it, trying to hold on to the memory, felt it fray in his grasp as his human name was repeated. The snowcapped woods of a century old Ningenkai faded, leaving the city-night fallen over the dojo-courtyard. He could feel the wooden veranda through his jeans, legs beginning to cramp up from meditating for hours in search of an elusive memory.
That child had been haunting him all day, and now he had some answers. Answers that prompted more questions. What happened to the ki-d? He knew for a fact he hadn't had one around the Den, at least not for very long. Kurama sighed as the fragments of Youko's memories sank away. At least he knew what to look for now. His name called his attention again. Mother stepped out onto the veranda, pulling the sliding shoji screen shut behind her. No need to let bugs in, "I thought you went to bed? That's what he'd said, earlier. Probably where she was headed now, giving the simple, light sleeping yukata she was dressed in.
Kurama untangled his legs, feeling the pins and needles of restored circulation, "I did. I had trouble sleeping," he let out another breath, "Many things to think about. He frowned, she wouldn't have bothered coming out of the house to just say good-night. She could have done that from the corridor. He cast back into memory, what could this be about? Dinner had been fine.
Afterward they'd made plans to visit a shrine just off dojo grounds tomorrow, and then he'd begged off, leaving Mother with Aneko…. He did not however miss the taste of salt in the air. There was a hint of old pain in her voice. And then he died. Kurama remembered nothing of the affair, but it was the only possible reason given the lack of new pictures. He truly did not care about the progenitor of his human shell. It was Mother who had cared for him.
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Mother who didn't give up on a distant son who held everything in contempt. He didn't know how to tell her this, because she wouldn't understand. Most children wanted to know. Most would be raging mad they didn't know. But male foxes left the den, leaving the females to care for the litter. Neither human nor fox thought much about father-figures. But he didn't want to hurt her further so he just let her talk. Let her talk about the man she met in University, who dropped out and joined the police academy because an officer came to speak in one of his criminology classes. As she talked, Kurama finally realized what this was all about.
This wasn't a trip to visit relatives. It wasn't even to let him know about his father. No, this was for her. All they had left to talk about was death. Of a death not even in the line of duty, but in a screech of fire and twisted metal brought about by someone else's carelessness.
He could sense the question she never quite got to ask, and he knew immediately what his answer was. He'd always been her support pillar. I know I said I wouldn't post anything till it's finished. But…this one almost is. It's prolly 4 chapters long, and I'm almost done with number 3.
The Fourth Child (Family Matters #3) by C.J. Carmichael
I really like this fic. If it seems familiar at all, an older version was once posted on a separate account I made years ago, ShioriRecca. I felt guilty working on something other than my main fics so I published it there. Still do, but I wanna post it. I'll probably be refurbishing a couple of these older, mostly finished fics while I try and get the ball rolling on my Final Fantasy fics.
Trying to get back into the swing of writing. As always, please leave a review if you like it. I'll probably post the next chapter in a week or two, or when I finish the fourth chapter. Just In All Stories: Story Story Writer Forum Community. Kurama had never realized how much his death had stolen from him. Luckily, the important things are never lost. It only took an old photograph to remind him. Crossover, but not time travel.
The Fourth Child
I own nothing but the words that tell this tale. Is downsizing their lives worth spending more time with the family? This is also a conversation that could have taken place in the therapist office that's another problem, the therapist felt more like a narrator trying to explain to the reader why we should root for them to stay together. What I felt needed to happen was some indication that both Claire and Kirk understood things would have to change in the marriage.
Another difficult question that wasn't even raised was this unplanned pregnancy. Again, because of the genre it's published in, Claire isn't allowed to ask what many women in her place would. When Kirk said he was in love with another woman, she knows she's pregnant, it's very difficult for me to believe that she wouldn't think about termination. Conveniently she finds out as she's ending her first trimester but that doesn't mean she wouldn't question exactly how many months and if she's still is in the window of that being a possibility. The marriage is in crisis, they have three kids, is it fair to bring in another in to this mess?
This is another thing I felt should have been addressed in that therapist's office. Kirk's rage at finding out was again, ridiculous. You came home to tell your wife that you LOVE somebody else, and have been dating her and making out with her, you lost the right for moral superiority. Claire should have also worked on her own plans for survival going forward. Can she support herself?
I'd have liked to see her become more independent and self sufficient even as they work to repair the damage. Claire's regrets at not ending up with Grady was another plot point not given it's due. Conveniently Grady is in love with somebody else so there is no real danger that Claire will really leave.
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Kirk's attitude toward Grady in that one scene was just bizarre. He throws a jealous fit out of nowhere. Hypocrisy Kirk isn't very attractive. Meanwhile Grady's and Claire's conversation seemed to be lifted from a s "how to understand your man" text. We have to teach our boys, just as we do our girls, women aren't here for the male ego.
There is a vein of blaming the victim in the conversation between those two which made me very uncomfortable. I couldn't help but wonder what the attitude would have been if Claire had been the one lying, meeting up for drinks and make out sessions? Would Kirk get the same type of counseling she did? I have my doubts. In general it is set up that Claire has very limited options and the expectation is she should forgive. I think they should have separated for a bit before the resolution. Kirk would have to deal with his children in ways he hasn't before because Claire did all the heavy lifting and maybe he'd have a better understanding of how easy she made his life.
Maybe all the years together and the children they share are enough to work beyond this. Claire thought at one point "She would willingly trade some of that success for his spending more time with the children. He has to take personal responsibility for that choice and accept that he's going to lose his family and stop whining that Claire doesn't understand how hard he works, because clearly she isn't invested in all the material goods that said success brings.
Meanwhile Claire needs to stop crying victim that he's not there for the family because that isn't his priority. How do they resolve this disconnect? Do we see the changes they both have to make in the marriage? Do they cut back on the material goods? Do they share both the financial and child-rearing responsibilities?
I understand staying in the marriage after something like this. However it's not ever going to be the happy ever after the way it's presented here. She wondered who he was talking to that one time and he got all upset? Well that is going to happen for a long time Kirk, maybe it'll be in the back of her mind for years before she stops wondering.
Same with his calling to say he has a business dinner. Just because Janice the other woman leaves doesn't mean there won't be other woman and other opportunities. This isn't a problem which can be fixed in months and a few sessions of therapy to end with unconditional love and trust. Stories like this can't end with the traditional hearts and flowers HEA, it's so much more complex and open ended. View all 19 comments. Oct 07, StMargarets rated it liked it Shelves: This is a cheating story.
The story opens with the hero lying to his wife about staying at work late and then anticipating seeing the OW. The OW is a work colleague who has used the hero as an emotional prop after her divorce. She wants to take their emotional affair to the next level and make it physical. The hero balks at this and the next scene is the ambivalent hero telling his pregnant wife he doesn't know this yet and mother of his three children that he has fallen in love with someone e This is a cheating story.
The hero balks at this and the next scene is the ambivalent hero telling his pregnant wife he doesn't know this yet and mother of his three children that he has fallen in love with someone else. It does not go well, as you can imagine. The rest of the story is the hero coming to his senses, and trying to make up again as the heroine takes the three girls to their lakeside cottage for the short Ontario summer. The hero joins them on weekends, so the heroine has plenty of time to lick her wounds and gestate baby 4. I'll add to her points by saying I hated how he made the heroine responsible for his emotions.
He couldn't deal with the temptation and he just had to tell the heroine so she could talk him out of it. Why else would he say such a thing and then expect to talk about it? Was he waiting for permission to cheat? Was he trying to hurt the heroine, couched in passive-aggressive terms?
I think he was trying to hurt her and this was a power move on his part. So his refrain throughout - we have to talk - felt like bullying to me. He wanted her pain and emotions on a platter for some weird reason. All the marriage counselor did was assure the heroine that many relationships can become stronger after cheating when trust is restored. This is about as helpful as this statement: She was madly in love with her high school boyfriend who dumped her to marry the girl he got pregnant. It's an elephant in the room the author skirts around.
But don't feel bad for the heroine. For instance, she is jealous of her old flame's new girlfriend who is on the run from an abusive husband - really heroine? So why three stars? While the author never resolves their marital differences, she does change the focus. She shifts the focus from the marital drama to the idyllic life of 8 short weeks on the Muskoka lakes.
This is old money territory. These people are seriously well off While I didn't grow up in Canada, my son did. The school year here is long. You are only free from school on June 30 and you are back after Labor Day. That's it - that's all you get - 8 weeks. And that's what resonated with me in this story.
It's ironic that I read this during our Canadian Thanksgiving three-day weekend. The last scene of the story is Thanksgiving which takes place in early October - not late November like in the US. Many people celebrate out at their lake houses on this day like the characters because it's a good time to close up for the winter. The change of seasons. Watching your children grow all those water skiing scenes.
There is a certain poignancy and comfort in focusing on the home fires. So author changed the focus on a less-than-perfect relationship and made it feel like a happy-enough ending. So read that one if you enjoy a cheating story that makes sense. View all 7 comments. Claire has been married to Kirk for 12 years, they have 3 daughters and Claire has just learned there is fourth on the way.
On the day Claire is about to tell Kirk, the slime ball blindsides her by saying he's in love with someone else, a woman that works at this office [not his secretary], Claire is pissed and tells him to leave. Later Kirk suggest they try counseling because he has some epiphany and realizes what he's doing is what his Dad did to him and his mom. But, and this is rich he actual Claire has been married to Kirk for 12 years, they have 3 daughters and Claire has just learned there is fourth on the way.
But, and this is rich he actually tells Claire, I will stop seeing the other woman if you agree to counseling; like WTF, how about just divorcing his lying, cheating ass. While Claire is at home, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and taking care of the kids, Kirk relaxes by wining and dining some skank instead of his wife. Kirk actually tells Claire that he feels she doesn't appreciate him, that she is always nagging him to help with the kids, to come home earlier, to spend more time with them.
So, instead of saying "hey, wife lets go to dinner", no he takes the office girl. Perhaps the only silver lining is that he never slept with the other woman, he only had an emotional affair and the occasional make-out session. Even though counseling helps and Claire and Kirk eventually reconcile, I still think Kirk is an ass.
Instead of putting so much effort into having his emotional affair, he should have put the effort into being with his family and if he felt that his wife didn't give him enough attention or he felt neglected, he should have talked to her first, not the other woman. As for the other woman, she knew he was married, that he had a family, what she did was just low, getting involved with a married man and nearly ruining a family just because her marriage didn't work out.
I would have liked the book better if there had been a confrontation between Claire and the other woman. I didn't like the topic of the book, but the fact that it got me raving gives it a decent score. Rating 3 out of 5 Read Book This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. My issues with this book are that I was actually on the husband's side instead of the wife.
She deserved to get dumped in my honest opinion. A lot of attention goes to the husband starting a relationship with another woman, while his wife 'languishes' at home. I wasn't seeing that at all. Which is brutal and harsh, but so much less than the skillet to the head I would have given the bovine snot licking nematode woman that I couldn't feel bad for her.
Honestly, had the roles been reversed and it was the heroine in the hero's position, the calls would be long and loud for the heroine to dump the marriage and move on. The wife is sooo OTT in her twenty year obsession that she even tries to break up her dream beau's new relationship, because then he won't be available to help her out and fantasize over. I am not against a little happy daydream every once in a while - Viggo Mortenson as Aragon is a total happy moment for me, as is Vin Diesel as Riddick- but really, this woman was emotionally cheating for TWELVE YEARS and then wonders why a man she treated like a lap dog is ready to dump her sorry hiney.
He should have done it, he would be much better off without her lame attempts at reconciliation and I shudder to think what kind of women their girls are going to be when they are adults. There was no real resolution either, more a 'we must stay together for the kid's sake'. But I don't believe this relationship will go the distance and I foresee a divorce in about 10 years. Hopefully the husband can find a woman who really loves him and this wife gets sloughed off with the minimum in alimony and is left to her sordid fantasy life all alone. Family Matters, an Anthology.
This one is a good marriage-in-trouble. I have the paperback and read it a couple of times over the years. I was fortunate to see the series anthology different couples on sale and picked it up for a re-read. H slowly slides down a slippery slope with a co-worker and tells his wife h that he has fallen in love with someone else after 12 years of marriage and 3 children.
The h has just found out she is pregnant with their 4th child when H delivers his news Own in: The h has just found out she is pregnant with their 4th child when H delivers his news. She doesn't disclose at the time and kicks him out. Readers who want something a little bit different in their romance. I have been in a kind of restless place lately wanting to get my hands on something unusual to read. I started with 2 books yesterday which I gave up reading after around half way through because the stories somehow didn't end up being what I was looking for.
And so not to give up on my quest to find something different, I turned to this little number in my TBR pile, a paperback I acquired a couple of weeks back because of its unusual theme. The Fourth Child delves into a topic that we come acros I have been in a kind of restless place lately wanting to get my hands on something unusual to read. The Fourth Child delves into a topic that we come across rarely in romance novels. Because lets face it, no one wants to read about infidelity that involves either the hero or heroine, wanting our time out from the real world to be as picture perfect as possible.
This book begins into the twelfth year of marriage between Kirk and Claire, whose life seems to be just about perfect to someone viewing it from the other side. Well into her 30's, Claire is the mother of three beautiful daughters with the news of a fourth child on the way when mere ten minutes later her husband Kirk drops the bombshell that he is in love with someone else.
Kirk's involvement with Janice begins innocently enough until six months later Kirk is forced to admit that their seemingly innocent get togethers have certainly turned into something of the more intimate variety which has Kirk questioning himself on whether he is ready to give up Claire and his girls for a few moments of guilty pleasure. Claire feels as if her whole world is crashing down right in front of her upon receiving Kirk's admission of his feelings towards another woman. Betrayal, anger, jealousy and a whole riot of emotions swirl through Claire making her want to curl up into a ball and vent out all the emotions that seems to be suffocating her.
And when Kirk tells her that he wants a shot at making things work in their marriage, though Claire is clearly hesitant to agree to it, she finds herself embarking on unchartered waters trying to find the right path on which they could both heal and learn to find the love that had drawn them together in the first place. This was an interesting piece of work because it takes the reader through a journey of discovery between two people who earlier had found reasons to tie the holy knot of matrimony, who had embarked on a life together and made a home together to suddenly find out that they have been drifting apart for the last couple of months.
The jolt that wakes them up, hurtful as it may be serves to be the point where both Kirk and Claire have to try to work things out, not only for the sake of their children but for themselves as well. Though Kirk was the one to stray from his vows, I found myself admiring him because he had the guts to come out with the truth and let his wife know before things had proceeded to a point of no return.
The challenges that Kirk and Claire face separately and together as they work things out all seem to be well thought out, with Claire and Kirk both facing some hard truths about themselves before they can finally reach a place where they are able to move forward and not look back. A well rounded tale that is certainly different from your average romance, a tale of family life, friendships that help you through the toughest times and a story of love and second chances that certainly had me racing towards the finish line without giving up - just to see how things turned out in the end.
Recommended for readers like myself who want something a little bit different in their world of romance now and then. View all 4 comments. Jun 01, Debbie DiFiore rated it did not like it Shelves: I just reread this again and I am so mad at myself. I read some reviews and I thought maybe give it a chance and I am so mad at me. I cried so hard. The scene where they have sex and then she says did you kiss her? Did you touch her? And he said yes and she broke down sobbing her heart out and my heart hurt so much for her.
Then she found the lipstick in the glovebox the other woman planted it for sure, the HO and she was devastated. And that all came out after she tells him she was pregnant. What a loser scumbag cheater!!! I would have nailed him with a baseball bat while he was sleeping. I still want to and I just don't buy the HEA. I think he will cheat again and leave her and marry a younger woman just like his Father did. Just a total douche canoe and I hope I never try and give it another chance.
I put myself in the corner for that decision. I should have spanked myself too. Bad Debbie Bad Debbie. Will be looking for some Old Garwoods and a nice chianti to get over this one. Only people who can handle cheating stories. I've been overloaded with reading angsty stories this past week while my hubby was working out of town, and I have loved it! This one was just the icing on the cake.
I loved the entire story, except I hated the therapist so much. Everything that came out of her mouth pissed me off. I didn't have much faith in therapists to begin with, but this one sealed the deal against seeing one if I should ever need to in the future. It wasn't an easy journey and there were many tears.
I loved every second of it. But I would not take the cheater back, he was a son of a bitch. And Janice was a bitch who knew the man was married. He was loving the attention of a younger woman who fed his ego. While the two had dates and dinners while pretending to work late, he did not remember his wife taking care of her three daughters at home alone. And he spoke openly in the face of his wife who was in love with another woman and did not even remember her feelings or how his attitude would affect her daughters.
And he admitted that he kissed Janice and she even left a lipstick on the glove compartment of his car. Real evidence of the cheating left by Janice for his wife to find out.
Saying that he did not have sex with Janice did not convince me, I got the impression that something more intimate happened between them. Already the place had the hollow, muted atmosphere he associated with afterhours and weekends. Occasional lunches became more frequent; open meetings evolved into secret rendezvous.
At what point had he known he was falling in love? Kirk still wasn't sure. But he did know the time had come to do something about it. Last week at dinner, Janice had told him she wanted more. He couldn't pretend not to understand what she meant.
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The place is deserted. I've locked the door. God, he couldn't believe it. She was offering him his ultimate fantasy. How many nights had he lain awake thinking of something just like this? Now he swallowed, his gaze automatically settling on the hint of cleavage between the parted layers of silky blouse. Had there been other signs she'd missed? They'd been making love less frequently. And saying I love you even less. Regardless of whether Kirk had slept with Janice, he'd broken his wedding vow to Claire. He was in love with the other woman, and how could Claire compete?
She was ten years older, overweight— and pregnant on top of everything! An affair doesn't have to mean the end of a marriage. If someone told me that before I've read this, I might said "Are you fuvcking serious? But after reading The Fourth Child I began to understand what the author meant by that. Though I've never been married nor I've experienced this kind of betrayal I still understand it.
As I said before, cheating is a big no-no for me, that it's not my cup of tea! So when I read the blurb I almost deleted it, b An affair doesn't have to mean the end of a marriage. So when I read the blurb I almost deleted it, but my curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to give it a chance. And I was surprised that I actually liked it!
Because unlike most cheating books, this one, really showed the readers how cheating affects a marriage, and relationship not only between the couple but with the entire family. I honestly hated Kirk at first. And I thought that there's no way I would like him. But then, as the story progressed I found myself admiring him because he had the guts to tell Claire the truth and mature enough to fight and make their marriage work.
He did his best to make Claire trust him and made her believe that she's the only woman for him and he's in it for the long haul. Can you believe that I was actually rooting for him? My heart broke for Claire. I loved how the author portrayed Claire's character.
You can actually feel her pain. She's hurt and having a hard time forgiving Kirk and trusting him again. And the question now is can you rebuild a relationship once trust has been broken? I loved how the author showed us the answer through Claire and Kirk. Yes, trust can be rebuilt and the relationship can be better than ever.