“You wouldn’t have.”
When she set her cup of coffee on the side table, the blanket she’d been sitting under slipped, and he realized what she was wearing.
His favorite t-shirt.
“Where’d you find that?” he asked with a nod of his head.
“The bathroom floor. I hope you don’t mind.”
He shook his head. “Not at all, but I do want it back.” He raised a brow. “This isn’t one those things where the wife borrows a shirt and the husband never gets to wear it again.”
She shook her head. “No. I’ll give it back later.” A yawn punctuated the end of her sentence.
Darius pushed back the covers on the other side of the bed. “You can come back, you know. Take a nap or just rest a bit longer.” He grinned. “Or even just come talk to me for a little while.”
After another sip of her coffee, she set her cup back down and stood. She curled under the covers and rolled onto her side to look at him. He slid back until he was propped on his hand.
“I kind of like this,” he told her softly, reaching out to brush a strand of hair off her face. His finger traced down over her shoulder until his hand rested on her hip. “You, in my bed, just being here together.”
Esther scooted a little closer. “You know, technically this is my bed.”
That made him laugh. “Whichever. I’m glad you’re in it. With me.”
She rested a hand on his chest. “Then we’ll just call it ours.”
He slid his hand around to her back and pulled her closer. “I can get on board with that.” First one kiss, then another.
Then he murmured against her lips. “But I do think I’m going to need my shirt back.”
A week after dinner and dancing and a night in her husband’s arms, Esther waited for him to be out then spent a few minutes alone in the bathroom with a pregnancy test.
Positive.
She wouldn’t tell him, not until she’d seen a doctor and knew everything was all right. With Darius still gone, she called the same doctor she’d seen the previous spring.
Without pulling strings, it would be a few weeks before they could see her. Early November.
Meantime, she would be learning how to be a grownup before she found out for certain she would be a mother.
Louis and his sister were moving into the house next door this weekend. Her father had thrown a ton of money at the contractors to get them to finish it quickly, and she’d seen them working day and night to get it done.
They hadn’t discussed the plans in great detail, but she knew Louis and Vesta would have put together a plan to teach her and Darius how to do the things grownups knew how to do.
Those lessons would start Monday. There would be no excuses. No “I’m sick.” No “I don’t feel like it.” No “I have too much homework.” If one of them had a legitimate excuse, the other had to pick up the slack. All Louis and Vesta would be there for was to instruct and assist, not actually do.
She knew it was the best thing. They were both so far down on the succession lists, and would only get farther, that they wouldn’t be the quintessential royals forever. They would always have the money to have cooks or housekeepers, but they wouldn’t live in palaces forever. Eventually, her father would die, and Astrid would be queen.
Esther and her siblings would move on.
Benjamin would have a family of his own, though it seemed there were more living quarters in Akushla than there were in Cabo Juan-Eduardo. Though both families had other properties, at some point they’d have to find their own.
She was sitting in the living room, reading a book by a woman named Tamara Leigh. Medieval knights. Sword fights. True love.
Swiping at a tear, she laid her Kindle down. The rest of the story would wait.
“You all right?” Darius flopped down on the other couch.
“Reading a book. Made me cry.”
“You ready for all this?” He pointed toward the other house, visible out the window.
“Don’t have much choice, do we?”
“I guess not. It doesn’t start until Monday, though. Would you like to go out for dinner tonight? Nothing fancy. Maybe that New York pizza place and frozen custard for dessert.”
“Sure.” She really did like both of those. A calzone would hit the spot. A frozen custard concrete would be delicious later.
“We haven’t talked about the news that came out this week,” he reminded her.
“Queen Christiana had her baby. A boy named after her brother, Prince Nicklaus, who isn’t actually dead like they thought for so many years.” Since Esther had become more certain what the pregnancy test would say, this one hadn’t been as hard.
“Actually, I was talking about your brother’s press release this morning, but that too. Are you all right?”
Her brother’s announcement with Anabelle hadn’t been as difficult on Esther as she expected - for the same reason. “I spoke with Kensington this morning. He wanted to make sure I knew they were announcing it, though he doesn’t know the reasons why I’m not there. Just so I wasn’t surprised.”
“I’m glad it didn’t catch you off-guard.” He glanced at his watch. “Want to leave in about twenty minutes?”
“Sounds good.”
He left, likely to tell security their plan.
Should she tell him without a visit to the doctor? No. Not until she knew everything was all right.
Half an hour later, they walked into So Cheeeezzy. Darius said it was far more crowded than it had been when he had visited with a study group over the summer, and seemed busier than it should be fairly early on a Friday night. They waited about fifteen minutes for a table.
The building looked sort of like a converted house from the outside. The dining room was one large room with what appeared to be a patio area that had been enclosed and made a part of the interior. That’s where they were seated at a small table for two.
The waitress introduced herself as Ginni before taking their drink orders. This particular night the special was the same as their regular lunch special - pizza or calzone - though the waitress made a point to let them know this wasn’t always the case.
When she returned with their drinks, they’d both decided on the special. Darius ordered a personal pizza with salad. Esther decided on the calzone with garlic bread on the side.
“How was school this week?” Esther took a sip of her soda.
Darius shrugged. “Fine. Got my work done. Passed a test. I only have one project to work on this weekend.”
“That would be nice. I have three. I’ll be working all weekend.”
“Would you like to go to church again?” Darius sat back a bit as the waitress set his salad in front of him. He thanked her as she asked if they needed refills.
After they declined for the moment - both glasses were only half-empty - Esther nodded. “I liked the church.”
“Would you like to try one of the Sunday school classes Jonathan mentioned?”
Esther poked at her ice with her straw. “Maybe. I’m not sure I want to be that...”
“Potentially exposed?”
“I think that’s the best way to put it. I guess I’d rather keep my circle of acquaintances small.”
“Agreed.”
She wondered what he would be like if they didn’t have to worry about their identity being revealed. Would Darius prefer a wider circle of friends or to keep the number small and intimate? Was he a true extrovert as she suspected, or would he have more introverted tendencies?
“What about Friday night football?” she asked suddenly. “Do you watch American football?”
He shook his head. “Not really, but could be fun.”
She pointed discreetly to a table nearby. “The school spirit apparel over there made me wonder.”
Darius leaned over. “Excuse me, is there a football game tonight?”
One of the kids nodded. “Yeah. It starts at seven. That’s why there’s so many people here at 5:15.”
<
br /> “Wonderful. Thank you.”
“Are you new in town?” the kid asked. “Your accent isn’t from around here.”
“We haven’t lived here long,” Darius confirmed.
“Just wanted to make sure you knew the football stadium is at the middle school, not the high school.”
Esther tilted her head. “That’s odd, isn’t it?”
The kid shrugged. “It’s a whole thing. That stadium was still pretty new when the high school was built about ten years ago, so they decided to wait until later to build a new one. It will open at the high school next year. Supposedly.”
Ginni arrived again, this time with the check for the kids. She turned to Darius and Esther. “Your food is about ready. I’ll have it out in a minute.”
The kids at the table all pooled their cash and left it in the folder before standing. The girl Darius had been talking to smiled over at them. “Maybe we’ll see you there. Have a good night.”
After they left and their food arrived, Darius looked at her and grinned. “Looks like we have plans tonight after all.”
12
Darius thought it would be great fun to visit an American high school football game on a Friday night, but there was something else he’d been thinking about. “I have a plan.”
Esther looked up from her bite of calzone. “What’s that?”
“I’m thinking we did everything kind of backwards. We spent those days together in Sargasso, but we never courted.”
That made her smirk. “Courted? Really?”
“Dated. Whatever. We spent four days together. Then we ignored each other for months. Since the first trip to San Majoria, we’ve been learning to be adults. We’ve gone to Savarino’s, but could we try just dating? Getting to know more about each other like we should have a long time ago?”
“Working with Louis and Vesta will help with some of that. We’ll spend a lot of time together learning stuff.”
“True, but I’m talking about something more than that. Actual dates where we go to dinner and a movie or playing miniature golf.”
Esther almost snorted her soda out her nose. “Have you ever played miniature golf?”
He grinned back at her. “Nope, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn.”
Esther just kind of shook her head. “Are we going to look out of place tonight?”
Darius glanced down. They were both wearing slacks and dressier shirts, probably a bit much for So Cheeeezzy even. “If we hurry, we can run home and change, maybe grab a light jacket for after dark.”
“Do we have any Serenity Landing Patriots gear at home?”
That made him laugh. “Unlikely, but we can run by the store and get a shirt. I’ve seen them there.”
She wiped her mouth with her napkin. “Sounds like a plan.”
Ginni came by a moment later, so Darius asked for their check and a box, because he knew he wouldn’t eat the whole pizza. He texted Ian who was eating at the bar and received a reply approving the plan.
As soon as they finished, Ian drove them to the store, where they grabbed shirts that would fit, then went home to change.
They were only there for a few minutes before leaving again. Ian drove them to Serenity Landing Middle School. Though the game wouldn’t start for another forty-five minutes, the parking lot, and stands, were already pretty full. Ian drove around the crowd surging toward the gate to a road that ran along the side of the field.
At the far end, a semi-truck with the school logo and Serenity Landing Patriotic Pride Band written on it was surrounded by parked cars, but also had a little more room for Ian to park their vehicle in the grass.
They could already hear the pounding music coming from the loudspeakers before they emerged from the car. Darius linked his fingers with Esther’s as they walked along the road toward a back gate. They ended up joining the marching band as they walked into the field area.
After paying the ticket taker, they walked past an ambulance and onto the track toward the larger set of bleachers.
“Esther?”
They stopped when they heard someone calling her name. Darius recognized her as the woman from school.
“Go on,” Esther told him. “Get us seats. I’ll catch up in a minute.”
It took a few minutes, but Darius found three seats together in the top corner of the bleachers.
He could see Esther talking and laughing with the woman as they walked toward the stands. They disappeared from sight for a moment. When Esther reappeared, she was alone until she reached Ian’s side where he’d been keeping an eye on both of them. She scanned the bleachers until she spotted Darius waving at her. A minute later, she was seated between him and Ian.
Darius leaned closer to her ear. “Think the music is loud enough?” He had to yell to be heard.
She shook her head. “I can barely hear it.” Her wink made him chuckle.
They sat with their legs pressed together by the crowd on the bleacher and took in the scene. About 6:30, the teams warming up on the field went to the field house. The band lined up on the opposite end and marched on as an announcer asked everyone to stand for the national anthem. According to the same voice, the eighth graders were joining the band for the night. They must be the kids in jeans and t-shirts between the lines of musicians in dark blue uniforms with red and white capes. Silver plumes waved off their dark helmets.
Three of the band members mounted platforms and acted as conductors. Darius felt a little weird. It wasn’t his national anthem, so a hand over his heart like he would in Eyjania didn’t seem right. Instead, he just stood politely, focusing more on the technical abilities of the band.
The crowd cheered as the band struck up a livelier fight song that had everyone clapping and singing along. After the band, cheerleaders, and others formed two lines the football team ran onto the field.
When the players began to settle on their benches, the crowd quieted some and sat back down.
“That was...” Esther started.
“Interesting,” Darius finished for her. He’d never paid much attention to the pre-game format at sporting events. Usually, he was in a box high above the field where he pretended to pay attention while wishing he was anywhere else.
Sports weren’t really his thing.
About fifteen minutes into the game, Esther leaned closer to him. “Do you understand any of this?”
Darius chuckled and shook his head. “No, but it’s still kind of fun.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder so he could talk into her ear easier and pointed toward a couple of families sitting a few rows down. “How much do they care about the game?”
She shrugged. “As much as anyone else?”
“They care, but not that much. The red-headed mom and the brunette next to her are talking and laughing, but not paying a lot of attention.” The crowd cheered. Those two were a second behind and only half-hearted.
Two red-headed kids - maybe eight-years-old, maybe twins - played with a boy a little older than them. The larger of the two men in the group snapped his fingers at the younger kids as they pushed each other.
“So what’s the deal?” Esther asked.
“Watch them for a few minutes, then tell me what you think.” He settled back against the chain link fence behind him as Esther leaned against his side.
As the crowd erupted in another cheer, she sat straight up. “I’ve got it.”
Two minutes after Esther realized what Darius meant about the two women, there was a break in playing time. At the end of the field, the band struck up a song she’d heard at least twice already. She pointed toward the moms who were now standing up with a phone and camera pointed toward the musicians. “Their kids are in the band.”
Darius chuckled, a low, vibrating sound she felt as much as heard. “Very good. I noticed them trying to record the national anthem while still being respectful. When they turned around, they wore matching band mom shirts.”
For the rest of the game, they didn’t watch much foo
tball. Instead, they people watched, quietly trying to come up with stories for different members of the audience, even some from Spring Meadow across the field in the other stands.
The marching band came onto the field, performing a show about surviving a shipwreck - complete with a platform boat with mast and crow’s nest pushed around by other band members.
“I can see why the moms are here to watch them,” Esther took a sip of the soda Darius bought her from the stand nearest them. “I thought they did a great job.” The announcer told them the band would be doing their show at several competitions over the next few weeks.
“What about them?” Darius pointed toward a couple of teens in the next section.
Esther stared at the two kids. Odd to be thinking of them as kids, when she and Darius weren’t far from being teenagers themselves. “I think they’re on their first date.”
Another chuckle ripped through Darius. “Kind of like us.”
By the end of the game, the Patriots had suffered a huge loss - over 40 points for Spring Meadow to none for the Patriots. As they worked their way out of the stands, Esther wondered if she’d see Abi again. She hadn’t realized Abi’s husband was the drama teacher in Serenity Landing.
But she didn’t see her friend again. Their car was parked near the band. Darius spoke with one of the band members, looking at the large instrument the kid was putting away.
A minute later, they were all in the car, pulling slowly out of the lot.
“Are we still getting frozen custard?” she asked Darius. The creamy treat was a favorite.
“We can.”
Ian nodded from his seat behind the wheel. It took over ten minutes to get to Andy’s Frozen Custard, though it was less than a mile from the stadium.
Ian found a spot about halfway down the parking lot in front of a closed bagel restaurant.
He trailed them to the walk-up counter and stood behind them in line. Darius had long ago become used to having someone with him and more or less ignored whoever was looking out for him most of the time.
Esther stood in front of him so Darius slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her back to his chest. Being with her like this was comfortable. His chin rested on the top of her head.
Crowns & Courtships Compilation Volume 1 Page 60