Hello my wonderful readers, and welcome to book three! *Three cheers!* It's been nine years since Tintin and Nollie's engagement in the alleyway, and I have someone I'd like you all to meet. You'll meet her in a few seconds. :D Happy reading!

One

Henry Jamison

She was the most beautiful creation ever thought of, with her fiery-red hair and clear blue eyes. Tintin and I both agreed, there was no sweeter soul than that of our daughter, Kiara.

Six years ago, when Kiara was born, all the action and mystery in Tintin's life died down a bit. The quests he was sent on were much simpler and he stayed in the country for the most part, but that all changed a few months ago.

It was the middle of July, and what a gorgeous day it was! Tintin had decided that morning at breakfast that we were to have a picnic in the park to celebrate the glorious day. Kiara, who picked up her father's curiosity, was delighted at the idea, as the park was her favorite place to be. We quickly made some sandwiches and other picnic snacks, packed them and the picnic blanket inside the basket, and drove off to the park.

We were unpacking when a man dressed in a fine business suit walked up, obviously wanting to speak with us.

"Good morning, sir!" Tintin called from the trunk of the car, "How may I help you?"

"You don't remember me?" The man asked, taking off his top hat, "Funny. I'm Henry Jamison. We met in school when we were just boys."

"Henry! Forgive me, it's been quite a while," Tintin laughed, going over to shake the man's hand. When Henry retracted his hand bitterly, Tintin looked confused.

"Obviously that is so, for I suppose you've forgotten about my father's incident—" Henry glanced over at Kiara, who was throwing daisies in the air playfully. "Is that, by any chance, your daughter?"

"Yes—that is my daughter…" Tintin's voice sounded edgy, and I could tell he was figuring out that Henry meant business… But what for?

"Lovely little child. I suppose this is her mother?"

"Nollie has nothing to do with any of this—"

"Nollie? Funny name. I feel as if I've heard it before—oh, now I remember. Weren't you the girl whose parents were murdered? And then your aunt?" I swallowed and nodded. "Ah, I remember that story—the one about your aunt. Did you ever find the reason for the killings of your family members?" Tintin's temper broke.

"All right, stop bothering with my family. Nollie, watch Kiara while Henry and I sort this out…" I called for the girl, who skipped back over to my side without a care in the world.

"What is it, Mama?" She asked, and I put my arm around her shoulders protectively before bending down to her eye level.

"There's a man here—he's talking to your Father. We're probably leaving right afterward." Her blue eyes clouded with sadness.

"But I want to stay in the park!" She whimpered, "Can't we stay for just a little bit longer?" My heart ached at her innocent plea. She had no idea what was going on—nor did I, for that matter, and if I tried to explain, she just wouldn't understand.

"I'm sorry, darling. Maybe another time, all right?"

"Whose the man that's talking to Daddy?"

"An old friend of his—they knew each other when they were boys."

"Does he have any children?"

"I don't know that, Kiara."

"Well why don't you ask? Maybe if he has children they can come and play with me."

"Darling—" I called, but it was too late. She was already bounding across the grass to Tintin and Henry. I saw Tintin's eyes flash as she approached, and Henry's eyebrow rose. I walked slowly to them, listening to the conversation between my daughter and the stranger talking to my husband.

"Not yet, little one, not yet." Not yet? What did that mean? Was his wife pregnant, or was he not yet married? I wondered.

"Do you want to have children?"

"That's quite enough, Kiara," Tintin announced, placing his hand firmly on her shoulder.

"But he hasn't answered my question—"

"I said that's enough. Now go back to your mother." Kiara obeyed and went back to me. It wasn't long after that when Tintin came back to us, shaking his head.

"What is it?" I asked, but he didn't look up.

"Not here, Nollie. Let's just go." We packed up quickly and ate our lunch in the car on the ride home. Nobody spoke.

Once we arrived at the house, I carried the picnic basket into the kitchen and set it down on the countertop gently before putting a teapot on the stove, heating up some hot water, and making myself a cup of tea, before going to the parlor, where Kiara was running her fingers through her china doll, Lucia's, hair.

"Darling," I murmured softly, and she looked up, red hair falling away from her heart-shaped face, "Why don't you run along upstairs with Lucia—maybe she'd like to play with your stuffed dog?"

"Wilkins doesn't like Lucia," Kiara laughed, and I cringed at her toy dog's name. She had come up with it when Tintin told her the story of our trip to Egypt, and every time she mentioned the dog it brought me back to that daunting time in Mr. Oyphemus' house.

"Well maybe you could read Lucia a story or something, dear. Go on, now." She hurried up the stairs to her room, and I heard her shut the door quietly. Tintin came down at that point, and I smiled gently at him.

"Tea party?" He asked, glancing upstairs.

"No, she's going to read Lucia a story." I sat down on the sofa, resting my arm on the armrest, and looked outside.

"That's always fun."

"Well what was I supposed to tell her to do? Go play the piano? Or go through Father's books?" He was silent for a few minutes after I said that.

"He's blaming me," he finally said, "His father—he's in prison, and he's blaming me."

"Who?"

"Henry."

"Why would he blame you?"

"Because—when we were boys, his father killed their neighbor. It was an accident, the man was carrying a shovel over his shoulder, he swung around, the neighbor was there, smacked him right in the face, knocked him down… He never got up. Henry's father was pretty worried someone would think it was on purpose, so he dug a hole in the backyard and buried him there. He only told Henry, and that was because he was drunk and was in the middle of a flashback. The next day, he came to school… And I was the only person he told. Only me, Nollie. I was the only other human alive that knew…! He made me swear not to tell anyone, and I did, and honestly, I kept my promise…"

"And he thinks that you tattled to the police and imprisoned his father?"

"Yes. He thinks I did it for the glory and honor and money, but I would never break a promise for honor and money…! Especially imprisoning a man—an innocent man—"

"So that's it? That's all he came to say? That he hates you for possibly imprisoning his father? Tintin, you can prove him wrong—"
"That's not all he said. Right before Kiara came up to ask if he had any kids, he said that—to give an example to us of how it feels to have a family member imprisoned, if I didn't fess up, he'd take Kiara and tell the police we stole her from the orphanage—" In shock, I dropped my teacup, shattering it on the floor, sending tea and glass everywhere.

"No!" I nearly shrieked, before I remembered I had to keep my voice down so I wouldn't scare Kiara, "He can't! We have the birth certificate to prove that I—"

"It's all right, Nollie. We're not going to let him and you know that."

"Not going to let him do what?" We turned to see Kiara on the staircase, Lucia in her arms. "What is it, Mama?"

"Nothing, darling. Go back to your room, please."

"But I want to know what's going on!" She whined.

"Kiara Rose. Go up to your room right now," Tintin's voice was rough, and she obeyed. He turned back to me, shaking his head. "I hate being strict with her—"

"I know. But it's just—such a harsh punishment… For saying you didn't do it, when you didn't…"

"Exactly."

"Can't you report him?"

"Not without making a huge scene."

"But if he kidnaps Kiara, there will be a scene."

"But if he finds out we reported him, he may come after us and kill all three of us."

"This is exactly what you meant, isn't it, that Kiara would never be safe," I murmured. He nodded, and I was sent back into a flashback.

"Nollie, you look beautiful," said Rawnie, looking at me. I was gazing at my reflection in the mirror. The white dress I was wearing formerly was my mother's, but she had saved it just for me. I turned and made faces at myself in the mirror. I saw my sorceress friend roll her eyes.

"You ought to have learned by now she doesn't take anyone's advice on how she looks seriously," said Kioni, "Except Tintin."

"Why's that, Noll?" Asked Rawnie.

"Because of my Aunt Martha—she constantly called me ugly and stupid and skinny, so I stopped listening to her and everyone else's opinion eventually," I shrugged.

"Well Tintin can't see you right now because he's getting ready, so you've gotta take our opinions. Nollie, you look amazing." I smiled at Kioni.

"All right, I believe you," I teased, hitting the sorceress gently with my sash, "I have this entire time."

"Oh, Nollie!" Rawnie sighed. I looked at myself again and smiled. I did look good in my mother's wedding dress, especially with my hair pulled up and all fancy. There was a knock on the door and Kioni went to the entryway, opening the door just a crack so she could see who it was.

"Ah, thank you, Amaru," she said, closing the door. She turned back to me and let something drop from her fingers. My promise ring necklace.

"Best soon-to-be-husband ever," cooed Rawnie as I took it and put it around my neck, blushing.

"Okay, we have five minutes left. Rawnie, do we need anything else?" Kioni asked, and Rawnie shook her head.

"I don't think so. She looks absolutely ravishing, I doubt anything could make her look better." I looked at Rawnie playfully.

"All right then, I guess that means it's time to get Amaru," said Kioni as she left the room. I turned to Rawnie after the door closed after the older sorceress.

"Rawnie, I'm nervous," I murmured.

"No, really? I couldn't tell," she said sarcastically. "You'll be fine Nollie, and I know he'll marry you, even if the world explodes during the ceremony."

"Why would you say that?" I groaned, sitting in one of the chairs in the room.

"Because now that you know it's not going to happen, it won't."

"That makes absolutely no sense," I giggled.

"I know. But I got you to laugh." I rolled my eyes.

"You really think I'll be okay?"

"Nollie Angeline Roberts, you're the prettiest seventeen-year-old on this planet. You'll do fine, for the fifty-millionth time!"

Once Rawnie had calmed my nerves, Amaru came in and offered me his arm. He was the only man at the ceremony besides Tintin and Snowy and the Reverend, so he was my escort to the altar. I took his arm gently and he walked me out of the room and into the church. Right before the doors were opened, I felt like I was going to throw up. My stomach churned when the doors opened and Amaru took a step forward. I tried to concentrate on Tintin, standing there, watching me come in, but it just made me more nervous. I nearly ran out of there I was so scared. I saw him smile and I smiled back. This is it, I thought, your last few steps as an unmarried girl.

As I got to the altar, Amaru took his arm away and disappeared in the crowd. I walked up to Tintin on my own, praying I wouldn't trip. When I finally reached the altar and took Tintin's hands, I glanced out of the corner of my eye at everyone watching. Rawnie, Kioni, Niara, Snowy, Emilie, Amaru… So there weren't that many people, and these people were all my friends. I didn't have to worry about anything.

I didn't have to worry about anything. This whole thing with Henry Jamison was stupid, and I didn't have to worry about it. Tintin and I wouldn't let him have Kiara and that was that.

Well? Well? What do you all think of Kiara? Did you guess that there were going to have a daughter before you even started reading? Review with what you thought of her! Go on, it's right down there! :)