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His knees hurt today. The twinge in the right one causing him to stumble and reach for the corner of the oak bedstead he’d climbed out of moments before.
“Are you okay love?” His wife asked sleepily. A light flicked on as she spoke - no doubt so he could see better in the darkness of their bedroom.
His glasses were probably hidden somewhere.
It was early, well before even she would normally rise for the day but he already knew she’d been awake for a while. “A little stiff.” He answered. “I’m not sure whether an old man like me can keep kneeling on a stone floor and damp hay each evening,” he added quietly.
“The calf was healthy though?”
“Hmmm. It needed a gentle poke, but yes, we got there in the end. All ends well.”
“The animal comes first.”
It did, but on this occasion Siegfried was also knackered and thoroughly chilled to the bone. The winter nights felt longer these days and each call he attended brought a fresh new ache to ponder over - from his right foot, to his knee and onwards to the ears on his head that remained burned with frost. Some days it felt like a high stakes roulette guessing which part of the body would swell up before he arrived back at Skeldale.
“Where are you going now? Have you had another call?” She asked.
Siegfried shook his head. “Toilet.” Even his bladder had gone for a Burton at some point. He’d been up once already. “Try and go back to sleep my love, you need it. You will be up soon.”
He saw her nod in agreement. “Be careful on the landing,” she whispered. “I didn’t get a chance to put the last two boxes into my old room.”
“Noted.” He’d already seen and moved the two boxes filled with various garments and blankets that had been abandoned there when he’d returned from the last call. A change of bedroom, new furnishing and a lick of paint hadn’t helped his aching bones - in fact they had caused more, but he would do anything to help his wife to feel less like she worked at Skedale and more like she owned the bones of the place with each day that passed.
“You already moved them didn’t you?” she asked him knowingly.
“Earlier. My spine will thank you later.”
Her laughter in return warmed his soul. “Go use the bathroom you fool.”
His spine, of course, was also knackered. Particularly in the lower back region where the coccyx bone was currently bearing the brunt of needing to leap over a fence the week before.
A good soak in the bathroom tub would have helped, there was no doubt about it, but water was still precious and a cold shower really had felt more sufficient upon his return. Maybe one of these days he would just throw caution to the wind, damn the water rations and fill the white porcelain with scalding hot water and invite his wife to join him while he was at it.
He was sure she wouldn’t mind, or tell anyone come to think of it. And what on earth was the government going to do to him if they found out? Ban him from taking a bath?
Siegfried shook his head at the ridiculousness of it all. Even his own behaviour, which was as ridiculous as it could be under the circumstances.
Poorly animals.
Sore bones.
Sore backs.
Worrying about the future and their boys.
He was an old man, and currently a sore one at that.
”See?” He told his reflection in the mirror Audrey had made him hang over the sink. “An old man is what I am and an old man is what I will continue to be.”
At least he was able to still use the facilities by himself - god forbid if that all went to pot.
At some point in the last few months the invisible line that indicated each of their ‘sides’ of the bed had blurred so he was not in the least surprised to find Audrey’s head lay upon his pillow upon his return to the bedroom. The sight of her laying there on his side without care warmed his heart completely and immediately pushed the ridiculousness of his current mood into the distance. Instead he allowed himself to bask in the beauty of the vision before him - his past, present and future all in one person.
Audrey.
His housekeeper.
His love.
His wife.
And now the goddess herself who cradled the part of her body that carried their child with her hand.
“Are you warm?” He asked her tenderly, already knowing the answer. She had removed her nightdress at some point during the night and was now quietly laying naked on his side of the bed, her skin exposed to the freezing air. Not being overly familiar with the internal workings of a human (although he had improved) it still surprised him even at this late stage of her pregnancy how beautiful her body continued to be as it adjusted to the life that grew within it. Tonight however, she appeared restless and inpatient. The glow to her skin signalling to him she would be hot and sensitive to the touch. Sensing her distress, and knowing she settled easily against his bare chest, he quickly followed her lead and removed his own sleepwear, flinging the garments over the end of the bed.
“Hmmmm.” He heard her purr and he carefully slipped between the sheets and pulled her body towards him. “Rest yourself on me. Is your back still tender?”
He felt her gentle nod in return. She was exhausted and uncomfortable and she put him to shame by not complaining a dot.
When the news of their impending parenthood began to circulate, most were happy in return but there had been some who’d made no secret of their disgust. ‘Should’ve been more careful,’ ‘didn’t know he had it in him…’ (this had briefly hurt he could admit - Tristan) ‘been at it all along,’ and finally ‘at their age as well.’ The latter had been a favourite to hear and while they had both agreed with the sentiment - they were too old, they continued to ‘do it’ at their age robustly whenever or wherever they could.
Admittedly though neither of them were spring chickens - him more than her. And while the pain in his knees, shoulder and back continued to confirm this to him on a daily basis, his wife had risen to the challenge with joy and energy.
‘Your mother and father were the same age when they had Tristan!’ She had announced upon hearing the complaints, and right she had been - however the fresh and sudden reminder that his parents had still been active in ‘that’ respect was a cross Siegfried would need to bear considering his and Audrey’s own impending blessing.
And what a blessing it was.
“Come here,” he whispered gently to her. Without pause he pulled her body closer towards him, her skin felt as clammy as he suspected it would be. “Rest the Little One on me, you know I don’t mind.”
It was his pitiful attempt to carry some of the weight she bore, but he also couldn’t help feeling overjoyed by the thought of their child’s movements connecting them both together.
“Lively tonight,” he noted, as a small kick to his chest caused his heart to skip a beat.
“He’s inpatient like his father.”
They assumed a boy - multiple old wives tales of swinging wedding rings above her navel confirming the gender with glee - but they had prepared for both. Two names chosen with care and love were waiting in the wings.
“A true Farnon.”
“Hmmmm. What bought the old man comments on earlier,” her heard her ask as another well timed kick gently winded them both. “It wasn’t what Tristan said was it?”
Possibly, he pondered. His brother, although not cruelly, had continued his gentle ribbing of Siegfried’s age, aches and pain over breakfast that morning. “Well I’m not getting any younger my love. Sometimes I do feel like an old man.”
His wife huffed.
“You’re not over the hill yet Siegfried.” She told him while propping herself up on her elbow. He tried not to stare at her glorious swollen breasts as she shifted. Old man or not, his wife would continue to have a stirring affect on him until his dying day.
“True, and yet…”
She nudged him playfully. “Well, just think on, for the next few years you’ll have someone chasing you up and down that hill.”
That thought made Siegfried’s heart flood with joy and terror once more. Him, a father. Even with Audrey’s reassurance he would be the best father there could be, far superior to his own, he still had his doubts. “By this time tomorrow? Is that what you think?” He enquired nervously.
“If the back ache and shooting pain is anything to go by.”
There would be no lying on stone floors for a while, he decided. Not for an extended period anyway. “I’ll stay here then, close.” He told her with a huff as another well aimed tiny kick bounced off his ribs.
“Thank you. I’d like you to be here.”
Another kick.
“See, our child has already taken your side even before it’s made an appearance,” he quipped while running his hand across Audrey’s tummy towards her inner thighs. Someone had once told him certain activities would help move the process along…
“Behave!” She giggled tiredly as his fingers brushed what he knew to be a sensitive nipple. “I’m knackered, you’re knackered…like I said earlier, our child is inpatient like its father.”
“Our child will keep us both on our toes I suspect. Old man or not.” Siegfried replied. He bent his head to kiss his wife’s lips tenderly. Because how could he not.
“Promise me something,” she said as their lips finally parted. “Please stop calling yourself ‘old man’ and running yerself down. I don’t like it. There’s two of us in this room who love that so-called ‘old man’ very much. Admittedly one hasn’t got owt to say at the moment, but I reckon they soon will and are more likely to make more noise than you ever could.”
Siegfried smiled and kissed his wife in return. He silently conceded that this was the least this old ma- ‘father to be’, could do.
“I promise my love. I promise.” He said out loud so both of his loves could hear it. The firm but tiny kick to his ribs he received in return would hold him to his promise he had no doubt.