A few days after the ball, I had still not been able to get off my mind, the Royals slightly odd behaviour. That, along with Derek's off behaviour towards them.
As I help my mother stock the cupboards full of our recent shop, I turn to her, to ask for her opinion on such a matter.
"Mother, do you know much about the Royals?" I wonder, and she turns to me, a slight smile on her features.
"I know a few things, but am not too familiar with them, why? what is it you wish to know, my love?"
"I'm just curious as to why they would not feel secure at the ball. It's as if they were not very pleased with the whole situation?" I place the last of the vegetables away and go to sit at the kitchen table, mother coming to sit opposite me.
"Maybe there was someone there they were not expecting? Or someone they disliked? You know how rowdy the village folk can get." A flash of anxiety rushes through me as I worry that it was indeed my presence which had disturbed them. After all, I saw them glance in my direction far more than once.
"You do not think it was my presence, do you, mother?" I ask about my worry and mother gives me a slight smile, grasping my hands from across the table.
"I'm sure they felt the absolute opposite about you, dear. I would even imagine they were thrilled by your presence, especially considering you were the only woman the Prince even spoke to that evening"
Mother states and my eyebrows furrow.
"How would you know that?" I ask in pure confusion, however this is just met with a slight smirk.
"I have friends, dear, they told me all the little details you seemed to miss out" She quips and I sigh at her cunning mind.
"Mother, I do not know what little details I left out, but if I did not tell you it would have been because I did not know" I remark back, though
her eyes glint as she looks at me with admiration.
"My dear, the Prince was said to have been absolutely enthralled by you. He couldn't take his eyes away according to Miriam in her letter" tears begin to well up in her glassy eyes.
"Mother don't cry! I am not even sure of my own feelings at the moment, let alone the Prince's" I slightly laugh, to which mothers eyes roll and she grins slightly at my disregard.
"You, my girl, are impossible. So much like your father was. Maybe that's why you get along with the royals so much. Anyway, I'm so happy for you, my love and your father would be too".
A while later and I'm out fixing the garden with Stefan, Katie playing with her dolls with mother on the now old and rickety bench father had made when we had moved in.
You see, we hadn't always been residents of the outlands.
We actually had a little home in the village square, as father worked in the Palace. He was a guard for the royals, but for reasons I'm still unaware of, he was let go and we had no choice but to move. Mothers seamstress business had very little income at the time due to her being pregnant with Katie. Father was also amazing at carpentry, but this still would not be able to comfortably pay for our residence in the village as well as necessities for out family.
Father died roughly 3 months after we moved, about a week after mother had just recovered from her illness which left her bed bound with Katie still nestled inside her comfortably.
The cause of the death of my father is still a mystery to us all.
Tending to the garden's is something Stefan and I have done ever since we could walk. Mother said I took my first steps when I was playing in the garden with Stefan, and I feel as though it may be my calling. There's somehing about feeling the earth between your fingers that you just cannot replicate. The blades of soft grass between your bare toes and wind in your hair that fills you with the desire to see what more such a beautiful world has to offer. I suppose that is why mother said Stefan and I were anything but saddened by the news we had to move to the outlands. We'd always been the ones who had longed to stay in the woods after dark or spend a night under the stars. So moving out to the fields sounded more of a dream to us than a nightmare it would to other townsfolk.
"Evangeline! You have a visitor!" I hear mother shout to me an excited expression etched into her every feature. I smile and nod at her before standing up and brushing off the dirt from my skirt, Stefan rolling his eyes as it makes little different.
"Let's hope it's not your Prince, sister" He mumbles, to which I reply with a hit to his shoulder, but a smile cannot help but creep onto my face.
I walk to the gate seperating the front of house from the back and walk through, to be met with Derek. Though, not the usual smiling Derek I have grown accustomed to greeting.
My face falls as I see his hands are intertwined behind his back and his eyebrows are upturned with emotion as he speaks to my mother. Her hand coming up to his cheek as she pats in lightly with a look of sincerity.
"Derek, are you all well?" I ask, my hand instinctly coming to grasp at his bicep in consolation.
He looks to my hand as my mother departs, telling us she'll give us our time.
I can see Derek's eyes begin to gloss over, but I cannot whitness anymore so I pull him in a tight embrace.
"Derek, please tell me what is the matter"
I whisper in his ear as his arms wrap tightly around me in reciprocation.
"It's Carter," He sighs and I my embrace becomes instantly tighter around him, fearing the worst.
"Is he well? Please tell me he's-"
"He's well... he's very well, in fact" Derek says, and I feel a sad smile on his lips as he buries his face into my neck. My eyebrows furrow as I gently grasp his chin to make him look me in the eyes; and when they land on me, I feel all my worries wash away.
He's not crying out of sadness, I see now, he's overcome with pride.
A smile makes his dimple pronounced, and I run a finger over it lightly as he rests his forehead on mine for a few moments.
"What has happened, Derek?" I ask with a slight laugh at this complete misdirection.
"He's got a job, at the palace". My grin imitates his as we both are overcome with a great swelling of the heart.
"The palace? That's amazing! What is the job?"
Derek sniffs and lowers his eyes briefly, before looking back up to me.
"It's in the stables, working with the horses. He's going to be able to keep Thunder there as well" He sighs happily and I wipe a stray tear from his eye.
"I'm sorry for my emotion, it's just been a while since anything like this has happened to us" I Shake my head at his first words.
"Please do not apologise for being human, Derek. I'm so happy for you all, especially little Carter. He really deserves this opportunity" I explain, to which Derek's hand moves from his grip on my waist to my cheek, as mine slide to rest on his shoulders.
I sighs happily again, his gaze at me filled with an emotion I am not yet acquainted with.
"What is it?" I almost whisper as his intense stare seems to take my words away.
"You know, Carter said something the day we met. He said, you were our lucky charm and-" He sighs and looks down, before returning to my gaze.
"I'm beginning to think he was right".