Chapter Text
Violet Sorrengail’s morning is going as well as she expected it to go.
Meaning it is hectic as hell.
“Andarna! Come on, we have to go! We’re gonna be late!” Violet shouts from the foyer of Brennan’s house.
“A queen is never late, Violet. Everyone else is simply early,” Naolin says primly as he walks ahead of Andarna down the stairs from her bedroom.
Well, her and Violet’s shared room.
“Naolin, I don’t think quoting Queen Clarice from The Princess Diaries is applicable in regards to three year olds going to preschool.”
“Oh contraire, sister-in-law! Dame Julie Andrews ALWAYS applies to any situation.” Naolin, Brennan’s husband, says as he steps down the stairs and meets her by the front door.
“You’re a terrible influence.”
“Is it because I’m gay? Violet Sorrengail, please tell me that your mother’s prejudice hasn’t started to seep into you?!” Naolin proclaims dramatically before throwing himself against the wall and sinking to the floor as he weeps.
Violet just rolls her eyes, used to her brother-in-law’s flair for the dramatic. “You’re lucky I love you so much, you lunatic.”
A creak on the steps cuts off whatever witty retort Naolin was concocting. Both adults turn to see Violet’s daughter stopped halfway down the stairs.
“Andarna, come on baby, we have to go so we get you to school on time.” Violet says happily, looking up at her three, soon to be four, year old daughter.
Her little girl just shakes her head, refusing to move further down the stairs.
“Auntie Rhi is gonna be your teacher though! Aren’t you excited to see her?”
Her daughter just shakes her head again, golden blonde hair fluttering around her head.
Violet and Naolin share a glance.
“Sweetheart, school will be so much fun! And you’ll make new friends and do cool activities!” Naolin encourages, hoping his added reassurance helps Violet get her daughter out the door and into the car.
“And we can even get ice cream after your first day so you can tell me all about it! How does that sound?” Violet adds, hoping the promise of a treat appeals to her daughter’s sweet tooth.
People may call me a bad mother, but I’m not above bribery if it gets us out the door faster.
But it does work because Andarna finally heads down the rest of the stairs to slip on her little black Mary Jane’s, completing her first day of school look.
Violet had laid out three options for Andarna to pick from, but Andarna refused to wear anything other than her Cinderella inspired dress. The blue velvet and white lace butterfly overlay does look wonderful with Andarna’s blonde hair and big blue eyes, but Violet didn’t want her to seem too overdressed for preschool.
She tried to convince her daughter to change her mind and wear something more casual, but Andarna Sorrengail inherited all of her stubbornness from Violet’s side of the family.
Which is the only side that matters, as far as Violet is concerned.
They don’t talk about the father’s side of the family. Unless it’s related to a court date or having to block his newest phone number, Violet spares absolutely no thoughts towards her ex husband.
And Andarna never asks about her father either. She calls him “dad” on the occasional supervised visits that Violet allows, but otherwise her daughter doesn’t spare her father a second thought.
And Violet is glad for it, since she would rather not give her ex-husband any more of her time or energy than she did in the years they were together.
He got too much of me—too much of us—already. He doesn’t deserve anything else. Violet thinks as she crouches in front of her daughter, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her in to kiss Andarna’s forehead.
“You ready to head out?” Violet asks quietly.
Her normally chatty girl has been unusually quiet all morning, more nervous than Violet’s ever seen her.
But this is big day for Andarna. For them both.
Her brave little girl stares into her eyes—Violet’s blue-hazel eyes—and eventually nods her head.
“Alright then. Let’s get you to school, my big girl.”
Violet grabs Andarna’s little hand in hers and they walk out the front door, waving l at Naolin who watches Violet buckle her daughter into her carseat before getting behind the wheel.
“What music do you want to hear on your first day of school?” Violet asks looking in the rear view mirror briefly to see Andarna.
“Taylor!” Andarna exclaims, the happiest she’s sounded all morning.
“You read my mind.” Violet replies with a grin, moving to select her Taylor Swift playlist.
They wave at Uncle Naolin until he’s out of sight, driving away from home and towards Andarna’s new preschool.
——————————————————————
“Alright girlie, let’s get you inside.” Violet says as she unbuckles the car seat.
Andarna is back to being timid and quiet, her joy-filled singing from car ride over a thing of the past.
She wordlessly grabs her little lunchbox and backpack set—both pink and covered with Disney Princesses and their sidekicks—before hopping out of the car and reaching for Violet’s hand with both of hers.
Violet carries the lunchbox and backpack in her free hand, feeling butterflies in her own stomach that she sees reflected in her daughter’s face as they approach the entrance to the school.
Violet had been hoping that knowing that Rhiannon would be Andarna’s teacher would make this first year of school easier on them both, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Andarna is her whole world. The most important person in her life.
They’ve been together everyday since she entered this world screaming and wailing nearly four years ago—plus the nine or so months it had taken to grow her, technically.
Violet certainly hadn’t planned on being a mother—much less a wife—when she was just twenty years old, but her life took a radical turn when she got pregnant while still in college.
She had been working towards her Bachelor’s degree in Library Sciences from Basgiath University, ideally hoping to work in the Archives of Navarre like her father had.
But she had been careless, missing one too many phone alarms reminding her to take her daily birth control pill.
And then she’d been late for her next period.
And then she’d missed the following period entirely.
She didn’t even think her sore breasts or nausea were symptoms of her budding pregnancy, given the chronic pain she dealt with daily. She was used to her body rebelling against her, she figured it was just another day in Violet Sorrengail’s faulty body.
So her best friend Jesinia had encouraged her to take a pregnancy test to rule it out. When the home test was positive, Jesinia accompanied her to a women’s clinic near campus to have a doctor confirm what Violet already knew in her heart.
Violet was pregnant.
Turns out that Violet’s already dysfunctional body has been growing another person inside of it for about five or six weeks, according to the doctor.
She had run through Violet’s options: she could keep the baby and raise them, she could look into adoption, or she could terminate the pregnancy.
Violet couldn’t handle deciding anything day, so she and Jesinia left the clinic as her mind raced to try to figure out what the fuck she should do.
Dain had been so excited when she told him, said that her missing her birth control reminders was a blessing in disguise since he said he had always planned on marrying her and having her carry his child.
Telling Dain, her boyfriend of three years, that she was pregnant was an empty experience for Violet.
They’d grown up together, had been best friends since childhood; their parents were close colleagues so they were always around each other as they grew up. They’d been shoved together when they were little and never really branched out to having other friends until they were older.
But they’d always had each other. They were friends for years before Dain bucked up the courage to ask Violet to be his prom date. He’d been a senior and she was a junior, but she had figured that he just didn’t want to go alone so he asked her.
She accepted, thinking she would have a nice night hanging out with her friend and they could laugh at how ridiculous people looked while dancing.
Until he had asked her to slow dance before the prom was over. Until he cupped her face in both hands and pulled her face to his and kissed her on the middle of the dance floor.
It was everything Violet had thought she wanted from the time she turned fifteen and realized Dain was no longer just her childhood friend.
And from then on, they were dating.
And then she had to tell her twenty one year old boyfriend that she was pregnant with his baby at just twenty years old.
So her then boyfriend turned into her husband five months before Andarna was born because her mother and Dain’s father were both military people and very conservative. Their esteemed reputations couldn’t handle a “bastard child pregnancy scandal,” according to Dain’s father.
So, at the behest of both of their families after they’d also strongly encouraged Violet to keep the baby since she would have all the help and support she could want, they got married.
And then they got divorced about a year and a half later before Andarna was two.
Irreconcilable differences.
Violet’s real reason of divorcing him because she realized he’s a manipulative, controlling prick apparently wasn’t what a court of law was looking to hear.
The only good thing to come out of that relationship is her daughter.
“Vi, there you are! Hey, Andarna!” Rhiannon’s voice rings down the hallway as she waves excitedly to her best friend and honorary niece.
Violet grins hearing Rhi’s greeting, forgetting any thoughts of her ex in favor of making sure her little girl has the best first day ever.
“Good morning, Ms. Rhi! Andarna, say hi.”
Andarna just waves silently before hiding her face in Violet’s thigh.
She shares a look with her best friend before leaning into hug her. “There’s a little girl who’s a bit nervous for her first day. She’s been silent all morning.”
Rhi’s dark eyes stare into her knowingly before she nods.
“Andarna, why don’t you come into the classroom with me and we can show your mom your cubby?” Rhi asks brightly, grinning at the little girl.
Andarna looks up at Violet who smiles and nods towards the classroom before they follow Rhiannon into the classroom.
It’s definitely a preschool room. There cubbies are all on the wall right beside the doorway, each already having the children’s first names and last initials on colorful paper above each cubby. They quickly find the one for “Andarna S.” and put her backpack and lunchbox into her designated section.
There’s a little play area in the back right corner, complete with different stations to play at like a kitchen and construction tool work bench as well as a big rack of all sorts of costumes for dress up.
Next to that is a reading nook with a couple of bean bag chairs and comfy pillows to lounge with beside three bookshelves stocked with children’s books. There’s a chest full of plush toys as well.
Closer to the front of the classroom is a section with a few kid-sized easels, a water table, and a big bin of blocks and legos.
The large adult-sized desk with a computer and two chairs is in the corner closest to the cubbies to have the best vantage point on all of the little ones that will be in the room.
There’s four round tables taking up the rest of the space, each with five little chairs around them. The green table and the yellow table both have five kids sitting there already, all chattering loudly to one another as they wait for the rest of the class to file in.
“The red table and the blue table are both open for whichever one you want to pick, Andarna.” Rhi tells her with a smile.
Andarna looks terrified staring at all of the kids and wraps her arms around Violet’s legs.
“Aw baby, you’re okay. What’s wrong?” Violet consoles, running a shaky hand through her daughter’s shoulder length golden waves.
“Wanna go home with you. Please Momma.” Andarna tearfully replies, clutching Violet’s legs in a vice grip.
Rhi leaves to give them a minute alone as Violet crouches down to talk to her daughter.
“Baby, I know it’s scary to do something new. But you’re going have the best time ever—you’re not even going to want to come home when I come back to pick you up later! You and I have an ice cream date to celebrate you being such a big, brave girl and going to school, remember?” Violet reminds her daughter, hoping the ice cream treat will be enough to get her through the day.
But Andarna’s eyes just well with tears as she starts crying, throwing herself into Violet’s arms and pleading to go with her.
“Momma, please I be good. I be very good. I go home with you.” She says between heaving sobs.
“Andarna, it’s not that you aren’t good. You’re wonderful all the time, please don’t cry…”
Violet is close to tears herself, wanting to actually say screw it and take her girl home and keep her all to herself.
But she’s seen how shy and unsocial Andarna is from not being around kids her own age frequently. Notices the way that she clams up around anyone she doesn’t know. Worries at how she’ll adjust to real school when she’s a little older since Violet is finally going back to work again.
Andarna is so smart and sweet and kind, it would be selfish to keep her to myself and to shelter her when I know how amazing she can be. People all my life have coddled me. I need my bright, wonderful girl to have all the tools she needs to go after what she wants and to know how incredible she is. Violet thinks.
Just as she’s steeling herself for more sobbing as she gets ready to tell her daughter she has to stay here, a deep voice comes from the doorway.
“I hadn’t realized we were lucky enough to have royalty in our classroom. Do you prefer I bow or curtsy, Princess?”
Violet and Andarna both look up—up, up, up to the point Violet thinks she’ll have a crick in her neck tomorrow with the angle it’s bent at—to see the source of the voice.
And what a sight he is.
Standing in front of them is easily the most attractive man Violet has ever laid eyes on.
When he looks at her to meet her curious gaze, she’s pretty certain her breath actually catches in her throat like all of her romantasy novels describe.
The first thing she notices about this god-like man has the most intriguing eyes; they are so dark they look like onyx gems carved into his beautiful face. He’s all sharp and angular, with dark brows that match his thick, dark hair and a perfect nose and a jawline that’s chiseled like marble and covered in the lightest hint of stubble. The old scar cutting through his left brow makes Violet even more curious about this man’s story.
She blatantly moves her gaze away from his face and trails down his biteable looking neck. He’s definitely over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and arms straining under the long sleeve black shirt he’s wearing. She thinks she can even see a hint of a tattoo peeking out of the collar of his shirt.
Violet is about to move her wandering eyes down to his waist and further south, but then Andarna sniffles and she reminds herself that her young daughter is still in her arms.
And here Violet is, ready to climb this extremely gorgeous man like a tree in the middle of her preschool classroom, little eyes be damned.
“You doing okay…?” The hot man asks Andarna as he crouches down to her level, seemingly oblivious to Violet’s ogling.
But the budding smirk on his supple lips as he meets Violet’s eyes briefly before turning his attention to Andarna tells Violet that he’s definitely well aware of her ogling him and he’s trying to be polite and talk to her upset daughter instead.
Which just makes him even more attractive.
“Andarna.” Violet supplies.
“You doing okay, Andarna?”
“I wanna go home with my momma.” Andarna replies softly, tears finally starting to slow.
Violet is honestly just proud that her daughter even answered him, given that he’s a stranger—and a man at that.
“The first day of school can be really scary. This is sort of my first day of school too. I would love it if you stay and give it a try today though. I could use a good helper around if you do decide to stay. That way we can figure things out together.” He asks just as softly, his dark eyes warm as they watch Andarna absorb his offer.
Violet expects Andarna to just throw herself back into her arms and beg her to bring her home, but her daughter actually seems to think over his offer.
“Andarna is the best helper. She always helps me back at home.” Violet tells him proudly, hoping her praise bolsters Andarna’s confidence.
“Hey, no shoving each other! Xaden, can you help?” Rhi’s stressed voice rings out across the classroom.
The man’s attention is drawn away from them to Rhiannon and the squabbling children she’s trying to get a handle on, huffing as he stands at his full height and moves across the room.
Xaden, Violet says to herself.
Andarna is watching him silently, no more tears flowing for the time being. Violet worries about setting her off again.
“What do you think, Andarna? Do you think you want to stay at school today?” Violet asks hesitantly.
But Andarna can’t seem to take her eyes off of Xaden, watching him separate a pale, dark haired boy who had been shoving another little boy near the book nook. Rhiannon takes the dark haired boy back to his seat at the red table while Xaden speaks softly to the other child, that now that she’s looking at him is literally a miniature Xaden with his dark hair and tan skin.
That must be his son… Violet thinks, angry at herself that she hadn’t even considered Xaden could be married with a kid—or children—of his own.
Andarna watches Xaden ruffle her classmate’s hair affectionately before he sends the boy to his seat at the blue table, where another little boy and two little girls sit. Xaden then makes his way back towards Violet and Andarna.
She can almost see the cogs in her daughter’s brilliant little brain moving as she weighs her options: the safe choice of going home with momma and doing the same things she always does OR the unknown choice of staying at school with all of these new people but getting to learn and do new things.
“Want to stay, Momma.” Andarna says resolutely.
“Oh baby, Momma is so proud of you. You’ll have so much fun and have so many cool stories to tell me and Uncle Brennan and Uncle Naolin later.” Violet hugs her brave girl with all of her might, even though knowing her little baby is growing up is emotional.
They pull apart and Violet smothers her with kisses all over Andarna’s face, ending on the tip of her nose.
Her daughter giggles for the first time all day and Violet feels some of the tension in her body relax a bit at the sound.
“Are you gonna stay and be my helper?” Xaden asks, standing nearby and watching them with a strange look on his face.
Andarna nods.
“You be a good girl and listen to Ms. Rhi and Mr. Xaden, okay? I’ll pick you up after work and we will get a big ice cream sundae,” Violet tells her daughter with a grin.
Xaden and Andarna walk Violet to the doorway where she hugs Rhi goodbye in the threshold.
“Don’t worry, I’ll text you updates and pictures throughout the day.” Rhi whispers, smiling when she feels Violet’s shoulders sag in relief.
“Thank you, you’re the best. If it gets to be too much for her, I’ll come back and get her.” Violet whispers back before pulling away and backing up a step to slowly start to leave.
“Nah, I think she’ll be fine. She’s already pretty attached to Xaden, huh?”
Both women look behind Rhiannon to where Andarna is standing beside Xaden and clutching his dark jeans in her tiny fist.
“You’re my big, tough kid, Andarna. I’ll see you later.” Violet says with a proud grin.
Andarna nods sagely. “And I can handle my shit, Momma.”
Violet turns beet red as she smacks a hand over her face. Rhi snorts a laugh out and Violet can only hope Xaden doesn’t think her a bad mother after hearing her three year old cuss.
“Andarna, that’s a bad word—“
“You sing it in the shower, Momma!”
“That’s not for your little ears,” Violet replies, blushing harder as Rhiannon starts cackling and even Xaden chuckles once before covering it up with a cough.
“A little Taylor Swift never hurt anybody, right? Let’s go pick your seat while we wait for the rest of the kids to come in, Andarna.” Xaden says, nodding goodbye to Violet before heading back into the classroom.
“Bye Momma, I love you most!” Andarna says before trailing behind Xaden dutifully, already such a loyal helper.
“Love you too,” Violet answers, so proud of her little girl she could burst.
She’s also proud of herself for not actually drooling or throwing herself at Andarna’s teacher given how absolutely scrumptious he is.
I deserve a fucking medal or something for containing myself. Violet mentally pats herself on the back.
Especially when she gets a view of his backside. She is treated to the sight of his muscular legs working and straining under his jeans. Jeans that make his ass look positively—
“So Xaden is pretty cute, huh?” Rhi teases once the classroom door shuts, having watched her friend unabashedly stare at Xaden once his back was turned.
“You and I will have words about you conveniently neglecting to tell me that you have him as your co-teacher, Matthias.” Violet grits out as she smacks her best friend on the arm. “What is he, a fucking supermodel or something?”
“I see where your daughter gets her potty mouth from—“ Rhiannon laughs, dodging another smack. “I wanted him to be a nice surprise for you. You’re welcome.”
“You are the worst.” Violet tells her as she turns her back on her friend to leave the school and head back home to get ready for work.
“Love you, Vi! I’ll put in a good word for you with Xaden!” Rhi shouts down the hallway.
Violet flips her off without even turning to look back before striding out of the school doors, Rhiannon’s bright laugh ringing in her ears.