Prison of Tides

Chapter 18 - Surprise

Caspian's Point of View 

     The last week of our honeymoon flew by, and after our time in the island sun, Jasmine was absolutely glowing. With each day, I fell more in love with her.  The way her laughter sounded like wind chimes, the way her husky voice spoke any sentence as though it was poetry. I was convinced that I had married living divinity, and that it was spilling from her into my soul.

     As we returned to the palace that morning, we were greeted by my mother.

     "Caspian! Jasmine, dear! Oh, how we have missed you both so much! Come now, are you hungry? Tired? We have so much to catch up on - you've had so many gifts come in that we have to sort, we must figure out living arrangements…" She trailed off, rambling about a million things that I had no desire to get involved with. I would let the ladies handle presents and houses and decorating, just as I let them handle the wedding.

     Jasmine smiled, waving at me as my mother dragged her off to do whatever was on the agenda first. I, on the other hand, was eager to catch up with Jacob.

     Making my way to his room, I pondered what he had been up to since I'd been gone. Knowing him, he'd probably gone through at least three women in as many weeks. I knocked on his door before opening it up. Sure enough, he was in bed with someone, who was hiding under the covers. I couldn't contain my laughter.

     "Caspian!"

     "I see you've been having fun. We'll catch up later. Sorry to interrupt; I'll go bother Cherry while you… finish up."

     "Er… wait." I saw red hair begin to peek out from under the covers. It was Cherry, wearing one of Jacob's shirts. My mouth dropped.

     "Cherry?!"

     "Guilty as charged," She giggled nervously. "Welcome back. How was the honeymoon?"

     I covered my eyes. "I'll answer that when the two of you aren't in bed together. Really sorry for interrupting!"

     I practically ran out of the room. I ask him to keep an eye on her and find them in bed together after specifically asking him to go after anyone but her. What the hell had happened while we were gone?

     I decided to walk the grounds, enjoying the flowers and chirping birds that lined the trees. After some time in the garden, I received a call.

     "Hello?"

     Chief Bennett's voice was on the other end. "Hello, Prince Caspian. Happy to have caught you. I trust you enjoyed your honeymoon?"

     I smiled wistfully. "Yes, we had a wonderful time. What can I do for you, Chief?"

     He cleared his throat. "Well, it appears that Mitchell has decided to plead not guilty."

     "What does that mean?"

     "It means a trial. The good news is, there's no way he'll be found not guilty. The evidence is overwhelming."

     "Why would he want a trial, then?"

     He paused. "If this goes to trial, both of the girls will have to testify."

     I was speechless. "But we have the videos. Why won't those suffice?"

     "He has the right to face his accusers, and he's insisting on it."

     "Oh, my gods." This was not good. Jasmine had gone the majority of the honeymoon without the flashbacks, without the panic attacks. This would surely bring it all back. And Cherry, who was clearly doing better if she was in bed with Jacob. I was concerned that this would be a hindrance to their healing.

     "This also means that the jury is going to see the videos, Caspian. You may want to prepare her. I can do that, if you don't think you can. The trial is scheduled to start about a month from now."

     "I think it's best if it comes from me. Would you be able to come by and go over details with her and Cherry?"

     "Absolutely."

     "Can you come by tomorrow? I'd like to give her the night to process this before overwhelming her with the details."

     "Of course. I'll be by in the morning. I'm sorry this news comes so soon after your honeymoon. I figured it was better to get ahead of this than to drag our feet, wouldn't you agree?"

     "Absolutely, Chief. Thank you for letting me know. I'll talk to the girls when I see them. Take care, and we'll see you tomorrow."

     "Take care, your majesty."

     With that, I was left with the task of breaking this news to both my wife and to Cherry, who was even more fragile than Jasmine. Perhaps it was good that she and Jacob had developed a relationship, that she would have someone to lean on.

     A few hours later, Jasmine had been released from my mother's grasp and found me on the shore, contemplating the best way to have this conversation.

     "Hello, dear." She greeted me with a kiss on the cheek, linking her arm in mine. In that moment, I decided to enjoy a walk on the beach with her, one more hour of happiness before knocking her sense of security out from under her.

     We walked in comfortable silence, taking in the sun setting on the waters of our kingdom before turning back.

     At dinner, Cherry and Jacob acted as though nothing had happened, although I caught Cherry's eyes before her face turned red. She immediately averted her eyes and turned her attention back to the conversation.

     Afterwards, I asked if I could see the three of them in the sitting room, nervous about delivering the news.

     As we sat on the sofas, they all looked at me with curious expressions on their faces.

     Jacob spoke first. "What's going on?"

     I scratched my head. "Well…"

     "Look, if this is about what you saw earlier today-"

     I shook my head. "Not at all."

     Jasmine piped up. "Wait, what did you see earlier?"

     "Look, it's not-" I began.

     "He saw me and Jacob in bed together!" Cherry blurted out, her face pink once more.

     "What? Jacob!" Jasmine frowned, clearly upset.

     "It's not like that!" I could see in Jacob's eyes that there was something different here. His arm came around Cherry's shoulders.

     "What is it like, Jacob?" Jasmine was livid. "You were supposed to make sure she was okay while we were gone, not take advantage of her!"

     Cherry spoke up once more. "We didn't… wait, what? You were only spending time with me because they asked you to babysit me?" She turned to Jacob, a hurt expression on her face.

     It was Jacob's turn to be upset, and he looked directly at her. "Cherry, I would have been spending time with you regardless of whether they asked me to or not. They just wanted to make sure that if you needed anything, or were upset, you weren't alone." He focused his attention on Jasmine and I. "I know I have a history as a player, but it's different with Cherry. I love her."

     We stared at him, speechless. Jasmine and I exchanged a glance. Jacob had never cared for relationships, let alone dropped the love bomb.

     "You love me?" She asked as he brushed a strand of hair out of her face, nodding before kissing her forehead.

     “I love you, too, Jake.”

     After a moment, a grin formed on Jasmine’s face. "In that case, I apologize for jumping to conclusions. I'm very happy for you two. Caspian, we can't go away again anytime soon. If we do, they'll get married without us there."

     We all laughed, the tension broken, at least temporarily.

     "So, Caspian, what did you want to talk to us about?" Cherry looked at us, her eyes twinkling. I'd never seen her look so happy.

     "So, I got a call from Chief Bennett today." With those words, the mood turned serious, all of the elation from minutes ago dissolved.

     "What did he say?" Jacob leaned forward, elbows on his knees.

     "The case is going to trial. Jasmine and Cherry, you're going to have to testify."

     They stared at me for a minute before Jasmine put her face in her hands, while Cherry's hand found Jacob's.

     "Why do we have to testify when he documented every disgusting thing he did to us and sold the f*****g videos?" Cherry's voice was shrill, and she pulled her hand away from Jacob, holding her head in her hands, her hair bunched around her fingers.

     "Exactly! They have the footage, they have the website, why do we have to relive this?!" Jasmine's voice held both fear and anger.

     "The Chief said he's exercising his right to face his accusers. Which means putting the two of you on the stand."

     "So we have to see him. We have to sit in the same room as that freak, watching him stare at us while we talk about every little detail. After the jury sees the videos. Gods, more people are going to see the videos." Tears started to flow from my beloved's eyes. I attempted to brush them away, but she turned her head. Cherry was crying as well, although she leaned into Jacob, letting him attempt to comfort her.

     "Bennett will be by tomorrow to go over more details with us. I wanted to try and prepare you for the discussion."

     Jasmine wouldn't even look at me. I heard her sniffling for a moment before she got up, running out of the room.

     "Jasmine! Where are you going?" I stood to follow her, only to feel Cherry's fingers on my arm. She shook her head.

     "Let me go after her. Trust me on this."

     With that, she exited the room, leaving Jacob and I alone.

     He sighed, rubbing his temples. "This is going to be rough, isn't it?"

     I nodded. "I know you know some of what happened, but it was bad, Jake. Watching the videos - it was awful. I did it for Jasmine, because she wanted to see. She was mortified with just me watching, let alone others. And as many as there were of Jasmine in a week - there's five months worth of that of Cherry. She'll never admit it, but her treatment was much worse than Jasmine's was."

     "So everyone in that courtroom is going to see them being r***d, over and over again?"

     "Yes."

     "He's f*****g sadistic. He's doing this s**t on purpose. He's doing it so he can watch them squirm, to have power over them again." He stood and poured us two whiskeys, his voice getting louder as he spoke.

     "That's what it looks like." I finished mine in one swallow. "Do you think we should go after them?"

     He shook his head. "I think they need some time. I've never seen Jasmine like this before."

     "Neither have I. Even when we found her." I paused for a moment. "You know, when we found them, he was… he was raping her, when we found them."

     "You mean you saw it?"

     "Yeah."

     He poured us a second drink. "That's rough, Caspian. Have you like… talked to anyone?"

     I shook my head. "I've just been trying to focus on her. But now, it's coming back up. Thinking about other people seeing it, thinking about him forcing her to watch it and talk about it. He's going to get off on it."

     We both polished off the drinks.

     He raised his eyebrows. "Does this call for another round?"

     I held out my tumbler.

     "I think the only wise move here is to be there for them. Be whatever they need. Take care of them." I sipped the whiskey as he spoke.

     "It's the only thing we can do. We can't swoop in and fix this. We can't just make it go away."

     Jacob began to pace. "Believe me, I tried to make it go away."

     "What do you mean?"

     "I went to see Raymond. Your dad wanted me to convince him to spare them the trial. I wanted to spare them the trial. It only managed to get him riled up."

     "When did this happen?"

     "While you were gone."

     "Well, thanks for trying. He's too narcissistic to consider skipping trial." I paused for a moment, needing a break from the subject. "So you and Cherry, who would have thought?"

     "Tell me about it, man. Don't get me wrong, when I first saw her, I thought she was hot. But the second I looked into her eyes while we danced at your wedding, I knew there was more to it. I can't explain, but I've never felt a connection like this before. And just to reiterate, we haven’t had s*x, not that it’s any of your business. It's nice to just hold her, to be with her."

     "That's how it should be. s*x is great, but the intimacy is what makes it.  Cherry's a sweet girl. A bit of a wildcard, which is definitely in line with your personality. I think you'll be good for each other."

     "I think so, too. So tell me about you and Jasmine. How was the honeymoon?"

     I grinned.

     "That good?"

     "Better."

     He ruffled my hair before sitting down beside me. "That's the life. You and Jasmine, you're the real deal. Everything was okay? You know, taking it to the next step after everything."

     "It was perfect. There were a few rough moments, but we use a safe word."

     His eyebrows furrowed. "Safe word?"

     "Yeah, it's a word that lets you know you've got to stop. It's easier for Jasmine to say it, since stop has meant nothing in the past. 'Stop' brings her to dark places."

     "That's smart. This is why you're next in line to make decisions for the kingdom."

     I laughed. "I'm next in line because I’m the only child my parents either had or took in that’s interested in the throne."

     "Same difference! But really, though. I'm glad things were good with her. I was a little worried, but after that little show you two put on in the kitchen before your wedding-"

     Groaning, I put my palm to my forehead. "I thought I was being discreet."

     It was his turn to laugh. "Discreet is not the word I would have used."

     "What word would you have used?"

     "Horny?"

     I practically spat out the last of my drink.

     "I mean, if the shoe fits, Caspian!"

     We may have been a little intoxicated.

     "Alright, Jake. I'm cutting us off. We have had enough liquor to cope with this bullshit for the night." Looking at my watch, I saw that hours had passed. "The girls aren't back yet. Perhaps we should check on them now?"

     He nodded. "Yeah. I know the spot they swim when they're upset. Follow me."

Jasmine's Point of View 

     A trial. Testifying. Watching the videos. Him watching me watch the videos while other people watch. It was too much. Fully clothed, I threw myself into the water, just needing it to be erased.

     As I swam, my skirt, once so light as it flowed around my ankles, bogged me down. I discarded my clothing, not caring as it drifted to the ocean floor. Under the waves, I screamed, finding my way to the boulders and hitting them until I could no longer feel my hands.

     My heart felt as though someone had reached their hands into my chest only to squeeze the life out of it. I couldn't stop gasping, the cool water inside of me bringing only a bit of calm.

     After a moment, she found me.

     "Go away, Cherry. I want to be alone."

     "I don't think you should be alone right now, Jasmine." Her hand reached out to grab my shoulder.

     "Don't f*****g touch me! Leave me alone!" The sound of my own voice scared me, the anger and force behind it. The current picked up and pushed her ferociously in the direction of the shore, far away from me.

     I realized then that my rage was radiating from me, and that it had quite literally pushed my best friend away. Taking a breath, I brought her back to me, taking care not to let myself explode again.

     "I'm sorry, Cherry. I didn't-"

     She held up her hand, shaking her hair. "I know. Don't worry about it. I'm upset, too. That was intense, what you just did. Is that normal?"

     "I don't… I've never… Everything is just so intense right now. I don't know where that amount of force came from."

     She nodded. "Look, I know this is hard. Maybe we should focus on what you just did for a minute. I think you should try it again, but try to control it this time."

     Nodding, I closed my eyes. I really wanted to swim with the turtles. I felt them nearby. I called to the water, asking it to flow towards me.

     The water remained still.

    "Cherry, it's not working. I'm trying to make the water push the turtles to us, but it's not flowing. What's happening?"

     She looked behind me and pointed. "Jasmine, look!"

     Turning, I saw that the turtles were swimming to me of their own accord, grazing my bare skin as they circled me before moving past us.

     "What just happened?" I asked, bewildered.

     "You asked the sea to bring the turtles to you, but it looks like the turtles got the message themselves instead."

     "You think?"

     "I see."

     "Let me try again. I want to see an octopus."

     "An octopus it is."

     I felt the water around me, envisioning the tentacled creature in my mind. I asked him to come to me. Within minutes, he came into view, watching me curiously.

     "Holy crap."

     "Why do you think I can do this now?"

     "I don't know! Nothing's changed. I mean, I'm married and had consensual s*x. Nothing that should impact this."

     Cherry looked at me for a moment, her pale figure practically glowing in the dark water. Her eyes glazed over before snapping out of her trance. "Unprotected s*x?"

     "I mean, yeah, we're married and -" I stopped dead in my tracks. Cherry and I stared at each other.

     After a moment, I spoke again. "Cherry, I think we should go ask Louis to take us by the drug store." She nodded. With that, we emerged from the water.

     Crap. I'd forgotten my clothes, lost to the sea.

     Touching my toes to the water, I felt them, near a shark. I asked her to bring my clothing to me, and she fulfilled my request.

     "No way, Jazz. You just had a shark do your bidding."

     "Pretty cool, right?"

     We got dressed and snuck into the palace, careful not to alert our men as we put on dry clothing and made our way to the garage.

     At the drugstore, Cherry and I debated which pregnancy test to purchase. Was there really a difference? After a while, we elected for the most expensive brand. I was royalty now, why not opt for the one that claimed to detect pregnancy up to a week before your missed period?

    While we were there, we got some bandages for my hands, which were completely raw and bleeding from beating the rock in my fit of rage.

     Louis was curious as to our late night adventure, but Cherry coyly told him it was a secret mission. His eyes glistened, amused by us as always.

    When we arrived back home, we immediately went to her room. The last thing I needed right now was Caspian walking in while I was taking this test.

     I didn't want to be the one waiting for the results. Caspian and I both wanted children, at least three. I hadn't expected it to happen so soon. They say it normally takes months of trying. Still, I couldn't help but get my hopes up, envisioning a large belly with my husband's gentle hands around it, a little baby that would look up at us and coo.

     I sat on the tub, my leg bouncing, praying for the blessings a child would bring. Cherry stood over the sink, watching the results.

     "Alright Jasmine, do you want me to tell you, or do you want to see?"

     "Give me the stick." She handed it to me, and I covered my eyes. "Oh gods, I can't look." I felt like I would be sick. I made my way into the toilet, dinner making its way up.

     When I sat up again, I saw the test. We were pregnant.

     "Cherry! Oh my gods! I'm pregnant. I'm having a baby! Caspian and I are having a baby!"

     Where there had been tears of anxiety moments before, now there were tears of elation. We were jumping up and down and squealing like little girls.

     "I must tell Caspian. Oh, my. I have to tell Caspian."

     She nodded, smiling. "Yes, you do."

     With that, I said goodnight to Cherry and headed back to our room, trying to figure out how to tell him the good news.

     I decided to change into something for the occasion, picking out a green, flowing dress with a deep V-neck. I went downstairs, searching the palace for him to no avail.

     I decided he must be on the beach. I went to the kitchen, where the chef was wrapping up for the night. Her dark hair was pulled into a bun.

     "Pearl, is there anything sweet to eat?"

     She smiled, her perfectly straight teeth shining. "Absolutely! We have some chocolate cake in the refrigerator, as well as strawberry shortcake. And as always, there's plenty of fruit."

     "Thank you, Pearl. You have a good night."

     "You too, Miss Jasmine."

     "Oh please, Jasmine is fine." I smiled at her.

     I made my way to the coast once more, seeking my gorgeous husband. My fears about the trial were no longer a concern. This baby was a beacon of hope, reassuring me that regardless of the trial, I had my family.

     I found Caspian and Jacob stripping, about to jump into the water.

     I whistled, followed by a "Hey handsome!"

     Caspian buttoned his pants and jogged over to me. "Hello, my love." He kissed my forehead. "How are you feeling?"

     I smiled up at him. "I'm okay. Great, actually. I love you, Caspian." I stood on my toes to meet his lips.

     "I'm glad to hear that you're feeling better. I was worried about you. What happened to your hands?"

     "I'm fine. Just needed a little time. I took out some of my rage on a rock, but I'm okay. I promise."

     He looked concerned, but didn't press the issue.

     "Come with me. I have a surprise for you."

     He gave me the grin that signalled his mind had gone to steamy places.

     Giggling at the look on his face, I spoke again. "Not like that, dear." I took his hand, starting back to the castle. Over my shoulder, I gave Jacob a glance. "Cherry's in her room, if you want to go see her."

    He waved in response, looking bewildered.

     In the palace, I went to the fridge, pulling out the chocolate cake and two plates.

     "Is this my surprise? Cake?"

     I shook my head. "No, it's not the surprise. This is us celebrating the surprise."

     "Oh, we're celebrating?"

     "Mhm," I brought a piece of the cake to his mouth, kissing him after he swallowed.

     "Do I get a hint?"

     "No, I think I should make you guess."

     "Alright… something to celebrate. You and my mother have designated an entire wing of the estate to us."

     "No, that's not it." I smiled, taking a bite of the cake.

     He leaned in, whispering into my ear. "You've purchased a very naughty outfit for Daddy to take advantage of you in?" His voice sent chills down my spine.

     "No, although that's a good idea."

     "I don't know, Jasmine. The suspense is killing me."

     "Alright." I took a deep breath, setting my fork down. "There's going to be another Gale joining us in about nine months."

     His beautiful eyes grew wide. "You mean…"

     I nodded. "Yes. We're pregnant."

     He stood, taking me into his arms and kissing me softly. His hands found my stomach and he kneeled, his forehead resting against my abdomen.

     "Hello, little one." He planted a tender kiss, looking up at me, his eyes misty with joy.

     "I love you, Jasmine. You're going to make an amazing mother, you know that?"

     "You're going to be the best dad in the world to our angel." My hands covered his on my stomach as he stood, leaning in to kiss me again.

     "My love," He murmured. "This is the best surprise. Let's go to bed. I know you must be tired. It's been a long day."

     That night, he held me, stroking my hair as he kissed my forehead. It didn't matter what nonsense Raymond was planning. As long as I had my family, I would be okay.