James POV -
We sit with my mum and dad for well over an hour, they already know everything about Carly's parents because I have told them over the years, but Carly doesn't know that, so she explains to them what we have decided about not telling other people unless we absolutely have to, we talk about all the things Carly and I discussed earlier today, my dad agrees with the idea to switch to the school out of state right away, he agrees it will be better for all of us to be anywhere but here until after the baby is born, mum doesn't say much at this point but I know she agrees as well even if she doesn't like it. Mum talks about all the baby clothes she is going to knit and sew, dad talks about toys he is going to build, they even talk about making the crib, the highchair, the bedding, everything that we could possibly need, except a car seat of course. Looks like we won't need to do a whole lot of baby shopping, just a car seat and some smaller odds and ends. Dad already works with his hands, he is an excellent carpenter by trade and makes a good living from his custom builds. The quality of his work is something we could only ever hope to own, but their generosity exceeds even my expectations.
When Carly talks about us working and both studying until the baby is born my mum won't hear a word of it. She insists that they will send us some money each week to help with shopping and she has also decided she will make a whole bunch of maternity clothes for Carly as she grows into her bump. Being a seamstress at heart my mother can whip up a dress in less than an hour so I don't think Carly will need to go clothes shopping until after she loses her baby weight. Maybe not even then. Mum tends to go overboard at times and I see this being one of those times.
I can see Carly wants to object, their generosity, so unfamiliar to her, is almost too much for her and she is feeling a little overwhelmed. But I know my parents, they mean every word they have spoken, they intend to give Carly the chance to graduate without the stress of not having enough money to survive. After a while I can see Carly is getting tired, she might not realise it yet, but this baby is going to be tiring on her human body. Magical babies require more than regular babies and it can be draining on the mummy to be. Even though my parents are still babbling on, excitedly, Carly is struggling to stay awake.
"Mum, Dad, Carly is tired, she has had an emotional day, she needs rest." I interrupt what I am sure was going to be an in depth description of the carvings my dad plans to put on the crib.
"Oh, of course, how silly of us, of course you're tired dearie, not to worry, are you OK to walk home? Or would you rather stay here?" This was a first from my mum, she was fine with Carly and I being together, but she had never allowed Carly to spend the night. Probably to try to avoid this situation. Maybe now we are already pregnant, the rules and restrictions will change. I mean, they were minimal to begin with, we never felt like we were being held back, but now, well, who knows…
"I can walk home, it's no problem" Carly says, but I am not ready to let go of her yet, so I stop her.
"Don't be silly, stay?" I practically beg her with my eyes, I don't want her to go home. To my delight, she nods her head sleepily and with difficulty, pulls herself up from the sofa. "I'll be back in a little while," I say to my parents, and I take Carly's hand and guide her up the stairs to my room.
Once she is settled, it takes a matter of minutes before she is deeply asleep. I had laid down with her, holding her close while she drifted off. Now she is asleep though I have to go back downstairs. There are some things I need to discuss with my parents. They are sitting in the same spot as before, close together, happily chattering about the future of our coven, when I return. They both turn to me with love shining clearly in their eyes, but there is also concern there, they know what Carly suffers through at home, they are worried about their reaction to the news and the effect it could have on Carly.
3 Weeks Later…
The next few weeks are intense, ever since finding out Carly is pregnant we have been planning and preparing. Mum and Dad were perfect, their reactions putting Carly at ease instantly, and their insight into what we would need has been invaluable. Dale and the coven were just as excited as mum and dad, which I knew they would be, like I said, a baby is always welcome news to a coven. Dale spoke with the dean of the college after I told him about our situation, about how Carly didn't want to be near her family for a while. He knew what I was referring to, having been the one to put a stop to their violence. Though the college had an arrangement with our coven in place already, they made extra changes to help us. I am sure Dale offered some incentive to encourage their generosity, but even if he did, I won't know about it until I graduate and take control of the Coven's finances. I am just grateful for all the help that is being offered to us. Anything that helps Carly get away and be happy is fine by me.
Once we knew for sure we had somewhere to go, I encouraged Carly to bring odds and ends to school with her so we could pack gradually, we had a few weeks before I graduated so that allowed her to move out without being detected.
After I spoke with Dale, he had promised us some additional funding for essentials, that along with what mum and dad have promised to send us, would cover our bills easily, I checked with dad, he went over some of the expenses of running a household that we can expect since this is all going to be completely new to us, Gas, Electric, Water, those type of things, he also took a guess at about how much our bills would come to each month and confirmed that the money that will be provided by the coven and my parents would cover it all, I suspect that he will send a little extra as well to be safe, the money I will get from the college should cover all of the materials for classes and have some left over as well, which was a huge relief, that meant that if we both work only part time we should have more than enough money to buy all the food we need as well as begin a savings account for when college is over or for emergencies. I may be willing to accept help while I am at college, but I want to try to get an understanding of personal responsibility as well. The less of their money we have to use, the more we will have as a safety net and the more likely we will be to survive after college has ended. I must admit that for a brief moment, I did worry that we were too young, that we might mess this up and wind up going without, but I think with the hand Carly has been dealt so far she is more mature than her 18 years and Mum reckons that since I already considered this, I am unlikely to go down that route myself. She said that the fact that I even considered it shows her I am mature enough to handle living without my parents.
The night before my graduation, I couldn't sleep, I was too wired, anticipation zipping through my body, even the sunset last night had not worked, usually they relax me and allow me to centre myself and gain some stability, but with everything we have planned and all that has happened in the last month I have been struggling to remain calm. The only time I am able to feel really at peace is when I am with Carly. When she is in my arms, or even just in the room, my mind settles and everything makes sense. I lay there, running through everything, trying to make sure this all goes as smoothly as possible. I want this to be stress-free for Carly, she has enough to think about without worrying about our journey. Finally giving up on sleep at 3 am, I roll out of bed and load up the laptop. I double checked the route to the hotel Mum booked for us again. I have already spent hours looking at this map, memorising the roads and turns, once I reassure myself that i haven't forgotten the way, I pull up the map to the apartment and after a quick glance I see I still remember the way, I program the address into my phone for when we get closer so we find it easily. Then I look around the room to see if there is anything else I need to load into the car. Once I am sure I have everything I need, I check the clock and see it is only 6 am. I take my time in the shower and then head downstairs to start my day.
The graduation ceremony drags on, feeling endless. Once that is finally out of the way Carly and I head back to my house and wait for my parents. I serve us some lunch that mum had prepared earlier and we chat about the little things, what we are going to do when we arrive, what we plan to do before school starts back up for both of us, that kind of thing.
When mum and dad finally show up, they are not empty handed. Dad hands me a box containing a credit card for emergencies and a ring. The ring is solid and holds a blue topaz stone in the centre with a crescent moon and a single star engraved into the surface. The gemstone and sigil of our coven, and I see that mum is giving Carly a necklace with the same stones in the shape of our sigil. These stones, with the sigil carved into them, help to identify us to other covens when we come across one another. There are not many covens left in the world, since the witch trials continue to this day, though in secret. The witch hunters, like all hunters of supernatural beings, hide themselves, they hunt in the shadows and destroy as much of a coven as they can rather than singling out individuals. Carly wearing our sigil will identify her as one of us. The gift has a deeper meaning than she can possibly know for now, but soon it will all make sense. Once I tell her what I am and what our child will be. The necklace will grant her a certain amount of protection from any other witches we might come across. Thankfully it is exactly the type of thing she would wear and never take off.
We hug my parents and hop into the car, we are finally on our way, and as much as I love it here, I am glad to get Carly away for a few years, this will give her time to accept who she is and come home a woman when the time is right. It will hopefully also give her time to accept me for who I am and it gives us time to be who we are meant to be without her family trying to suppress her.