"Your Royal Highness, how are they doing?" Hubert Renfrey asked Cedric as he stepped into the library.
"They've both fallen asleep on his bed." He shook his head. "They looked exhausted."
"Sir, she thinks I'm the Young Lord's Father. What should I tell her when she wakes up?"
Cedric shook his head. He had to harden his heart. The sooner the woman left, the better.
"Continue to play the part of Devin's Father and negotiate whatever reward she asks for before she leaves tomorrow morning. Make sure you strike a tight bargain. Don't give her too much or she will come back and throw tantrums at us, demanding more in the future."
Hubert grimaced. "Sir, the woman does not seem to be the type that would do that. Perhaps you've read her wrong…"
"I can smell a mercenary woman a mile away." He scowled. "For tonight, let her sleep. Throw her out tomorrow after you give her the ransom money. At the very least, she earned it. She did keep Devin safe during the storm."
"Yes Sir." Hubert sighed.
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Morning dawned in a watercolor pastel world drenched with heavy rain.
Although the hurricane had dropped to the strength of a tropical storm and the windspeed had fallen to normal speeds, the water was still pouring out of the sky in buckets.
New Orleans was on the receiving end of the counter-clockwise rotating wing that contained the strongest wind gusts. This went along with the massive amount of moisture that accompanied such a huge storm.
Talia opened her eyes onto a space that she could not recognize. Everything was cream and gold with touches of primary colors.
"Waaaake waaaake Maaaaaaammmaaaaaa." A child's voice warbled beside her.
Devin!
She turned toward the sound and got a sloppy kiss from the two-year-old.
"Good morning." She smiled.
"Morning!" He responded.
"Oooh. You actually can talk."
"Talk!"
"Or are you just repeating all my last words?"
"Woards."
"Haha, you're just repeating what you hear."
"Heeeere."
She gave a tinkling laugh. It was perfectly fine. If he was imitating her words, he would eventually be able to piece them together.
A knock on the door signaled that his new nurse had arrived for her first day on the job.
"Morning Milady." She greeted courteously and took Devin to the bathroom to get washed. Devin would not let the nurse close the door and kept his eyes on Talia the entire time he was being cleaned and dressed.
It was then that the middle-aged man with the silver brown hair came knocking on the door.
Talia took a good look at him in the bright morning light.
He didn't look anything like his two sons. Maybe his wife was a gorgeous creature because neither Devin nor Cedric had inherited any of his mousy looks.
"If you don't mind. I'd like to have a quick word with you." The man stood at stiff attention.
She nodded and followed him to another part of the mansion where a sitting area overlooked the sprawling green lawn and the cypress trees.
They each took a seat facing each other on the cream and pink seating arrangement.
"Miss Fabian, I would like to discuss with you, the terms of your payoff compensation."
"Wait," she held up a hand. "My what?"
"Payment for the safe return of Devin."
"No, no." She waggled a finger at him. "I don't want anything from you. I'm just glad to be able to bring him back to his family.
The man sighed and placed an unsealed envelope on the coffee table in front of her.
"Please take this and consider it payment for services rendered."
Talia reached out and opened the envelope. It was a handwritten check for an obscene amount of money.
She shoved the check into the envelope and pushed it back to the man.
"This is not necessary. I won't take it. Just consider the small amount of money I spent on Devin as a gift from a new friend that he's made."
She stood up. "If you don't mind, I have to get back home. I need to check to see if the storm has damaged my apartment."
"Miss Fabian. This is your last chance to take the money. I suggest you take it because you won't get any more than this even if you demand it in the future."
Talia sighed and looked at the envelope.
She reached out and picked it up.
In one quick movement, she had torn the envelope in two.
"Ooops." She raised her eyebrows. "Oh well. C'est la vie*. Consider the money taken and accidentally destroyed. So now we don't owe each other anything."
Dropping the torn pieces of the envelope back on the table, she grabbed her duffle bag.
"It was nice meeting you, Mr. Blaxtone. Please give a hug to your son from me. He's a very very sweet child."
She paused, not sure if she should say anything more, but decided she might as well. She was never going to see any of them again anyway.
"Devin's just a little scared of thunder and lightning, so until the storm passes, just hug him a little tighter and give him more love." She hefted the duffle bag onto her shoulder.
"Also, if you turn on the music and sing along with him when the thunder rolls, he will sing along with you and be distracted from the scary noises."
Talia smiled at the man who was now staring at her with a strange expression.
"Oh yeah, one more thing…he especially likes happy songs with a nice catchy rhythm. We were singing 'It's Raining Wolves' in my car and he picked up that song so quickly that he was already singing along after a short while."
The man sat there, saying nothing.
"Goodbye Mr. Blaxtone." She gave a quick smile and made her way towards the door. "If you can please tell someone to open the gate for me, I'll be on my way."
She headed out into the hallway and found her way to the front door.
Since the rain was starting to pour again, she quickly ran down the wet path towards her car. It was still parked out in front of the house where she had left it.
She got in the car and drove the long winding path towards the iron gates, wishing she had one last chance to say goodbye to the little tyke, but she knew it would not be good for him.
He was too attached to her and she didn't want to distress him any more than he already was.
As Talia approached the gate, she tapped the brakes and waited for the gates to open. A couple of minutes went by and nothing was happening.
Suddenly, from her rear view mirror, she could see a tiny form running towards her car.
It was little Devin!
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* c'est la vie - that's life.