Absolution (closed)

[KieranSoares]

Tamblin, just awakening as Kitty returned, turned his head to look at the twins for a long moment. He knew well that Ashien had always been very much like Durban when it came to their father. Ashien felt some familial love, but he'd always wanted Tamblin to step aside and let things be the way they should've been. Ashien had always felt that his family should have stayed in Greece, that his father should have let Kitty go, that Kitty should've married Vincenzo. But now that Tamblin was about to be gone from their lives for good... Ashien didn't know how to feel. As for Kayla, Tamblin knew he'd always had a very strange relationship with her. He'd shown her more care than the others as she was the smallest, but he'd never cultivated more than a basic understanding with her. And now, all he could feel was regret that he hadn't been close with even one of his children.

"Kay... Ash," he murmured, offering a hand out to his youngest children. "C'mere..."

 

[heartofcourage]

Kayla carefully made her way to the edge of the bed, looking over at Ashien as he came to the side as well. “Yes, Da?” They both said together, Kayla reaching to hold Ashien’s hand on her own.

 

[KieranSoares]

"... I love you both," he murmured, perhaps one of the few times he'd ever said it directly. "An' I'm sorry for everything... But your brother's goin' t'make things better... An' your Ma's goin' t'have a chance t'be happy finally. So'll you. I hope y'get t'go back t'Italy soon. Or maybe yer Papa'll be able t'come here."

 

[heartofcourage]

Kayla looked down at the ground as Tamblin encouraged them that the future would be better. "But you won't be here."

Kitty stood off to the side, listening as the children struggled to come to terms with what they were being told by Tamblin. "Loves, things will be different from here on out. Nothing will be like it was. However, you will always have a place here in Inverness and we will always be a family."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I'll be gone, yes," Tamblin told them softly. "... But it's better for everyone this way. Me too. I'll finally be at peace... But I promise I won' go far if you don' want me to. Even if you can't see me, I'll keep an eye out fer you."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I don't think it's better." Kayla muttered as she felt Ashien squeeze her hand tightly. "I think it's terrible."

"I know, my love." Kitty said as she knelt and kissed Kayla's cheek, hugging the little girl tightly. "Things will be alright. I promise."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Brogan will see you do all th'things you couldn' with Oliver an' me around," Tamblin encouraged gently. "... I know it's hard. But things'll finally change fer the better."

 

[heartofcourage]

Kayla looked over at Ashien and then she moved in to hug Tamblin, giving her father what she always had: understanding and love. It was all that she could offer being so young.

 

[KieranSoares]

Tamblin wrapped his arms around Kayla, holding her tightly as his tired and weak body would allow. "Sweet lass..." He murmured. Soon he looked to Ashien, who had been silent the whole time. "Ashien... I know we've never talked much, lad... But know tha' I love you jus' as much as Kayla."

That broke the little boy, tears spilling down his face as he moved in to cling to Tamblin as well.

 

[heartofcourage]

Kitty took a step back to give the twins privacy as they said their goodbyes to their father. She turned at the sound of the door opening and saw Lynndon look in, his eyes instantly going to the scene as well.

“I’ll give you time alone, love.” Kitty said softly, knowing that Boar needed to say his goodbyes as well. “I know it will be hard, but you need to do it.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"I don' have anythin' to say..." Boar murmured so only she would hear, his gaze dropping to the floor. "He an' I 'ave been awful t'each other all my life..."

 

[heartofcourage]

Kitty reached out to draw him close, kissing his cheek as she hugged him tightly. "I won't force you, but I won't let you do something that you'll regret for the rest of your life, Lynndon."

 

[KieranSoares]

"After the twins, then," he muttered, his shoulders sagging as he thought of how much he and Tamblin had fought over the years, but how very similar they were.

 

[heartofcourage]

"After the twins." Kitty agreed, pulling away from him and standing to the side.

It was a short while later when the twins finished, each sullen and sad as they came to their mother and she ushered them from the room to give Boar time to spend with his father. She knew the meeting would be difficult and she was sure that Lynndon wouldn't give up in his anger towards Tamblin. She would never ask him to, but she knew that he absolutely had to do this.

"Go on, loves. Go see if Chessie has something sweet you can eat." Kitty encouraged Ashien and Kayla to go on and do something a bit happier.

 

[KieranSoares]

After the twins walked away hand-in-hand, Boar slowly approached his father, sitting at his side. It was a long time before Tamblin spoke first, their conversation too quiet to hear. But Kitty could see when Boar's shoulders began to tremble, and Tamblin drew him down into perhaps the first embrace they'd shared since Boar was small. That completely broke the young and angry man, leaving him sobbing and clinging to his father, apologizing for everything he'd ever done to make Tamblin's life harder, and every time he'd wished Tamblin dead.

 

[heartofcourage]

Kitty quietly left Boar with Tamblin, knowing that the two had much to talk about. She made her way back towards her rooms, closing the door behind her as she thought about the situation. It was certainly sad, but she knew that this was what Tamblin wanted. Even if the healers could magically make him well again, he would have chosen death and at the hands of one of his children.

Making her way to her small desk, she pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and sat down, thinking about what she was about to write. There was one person she needed to tell herself, above all others.

'My love, the time has finally come to start thinking about what the future will be. Tamblin will soon be gone from this world, taken at the hands of Brogan as he wished. If you will still have me, after all of this time, please come to Inverness. I still love you. I still miss you terribly. I need you, Vincenzo. Kitty.'

Kitty carefully sealed the letter, hoping that it found its way quickly to Venice, and she hoped that he would reply all of the same things that she had just confessed.

 

[KieranSoares]

Without Oliver in the way, the letter was sent off for Kitty immediately, along with one from Warwick about Valentina. Everything was about to change for the little girl as well.

Tamblin managed to last out the second day, but as Kitty sat at his side with Brogan, it was clear that the man was slowly fading. He was beginning to slip in and out of consciousness without warning, even in the middle of conversations, even sentences, and his breathing had grown raspy.

 

[heartofcourage]

Kitty bathed Tamblin’s face with a warm cloth, trying her best to soothe him in his final hours. She could remember those mornings when she had woken before him, before all the troubles had began, and would just stare at him while he slept. He had been young and peaceful, in his prime. Nothing like the man that he was now.

“It’s alright to let go, love.” Kitty said softly to Tamblin. “Your Ma will be so happy to see you again.”

 

[KieranSoares]

Tamblin's hazy, dark eye opened to look up at Kitty, and it took him a long moment to really comprehend her words before he responded just above a whisper. "... I'm scared, Kitty..."

 

[heartofcourage]

“Why?” Kitty asked softly, seeing the fear in his gaze. “I think you’re incredibly brave.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"... Bein' brave doesn' mean yer no' terrified..." He murmured. "... No one knows what happens when it all ends... No one knows if men like me really go t'some horrible Hell t'burn forever... Or if it all jus'... Stops."

 

[heartofcourage]

“I don’t think you’ll burn.” Kitty said softly. “And I do believe that there is something else. Restful peace. Time to make things right with those that have gone before us.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"I wonder if Da ever found peace..." He muttered. "... Maybe I'll be able t'apologize to Marius." His eye closed as pieces of his memories came back about the man long gone that had once been someone they'd all trusted and even loved. When he looked to Kitty again, she could already see the light fading in his gaze. It was about then that Brogan entered quietly, pausing until his father looked to him. Joining Kitty's side, Brogan took Tamblin's hand.

"I love you both," Tamblin muttered. "... I won' go far... I'll make sure you get th'happy endings you deserve."

"Thank you, Da," Brogan spoke softly. Tamblin's eye closed as Brogan gently gathered him into an embrace, letting him go with one last promise that he was loved, between the wife he'd been afraid to love, and the son he'd tried to distance himself from for Brogan's own sake. As Tamblin began to relax between the two, murmuring a final few words to someone else, perhaps someone waiting for him in his dying mind, he let out one last breath, and fell still.

 

[heartofcourage]

Kitty shook the moment that she felt Tamblin leave them. The man who had been in her life since she was a young girl, the one that she had promised to love and had betrayed, was gone. She pulled back, looking down at him as he finally looked peaceful for the first time since their early years together. She couldn't help the tears as they came, mourning him the way that any widow would.

Looking over at her son, she knew that he probably felt much of the same. His father had moments of greatness, moments of madness, and every emotion in between. Their life hadn't been easy together, but they had all tried their best to love one another when it counted.

Reaching out, she touched Brogan's cheek with a shaking hand, giving him a small smile even as she cried. "Long live the King."

 

[KieranSoares]

Letting Tamblin lay back on the bed, Brogan looked to Kitty as tears streaked down his face, but his expression remained calm if pained. He wrapped her up in his arms now, sharing with her a sorrow that came from being the only two people who had ever come close to understanding the late mad king.