by Amanda Tru
All of their belongings that could fit were in the hold of the plane and any other cubby that could hold anything. She wouldn’t be coming back to the States to live ever again.
“I’d planned to take you to visit before asking you to marry me. I wanted to make sure you’d like it enough to live there.”
“I know. That would have been my preference too, but sometimes things work out differently.”
Like when her parents came to her master’s program graduation and told her they’d been asked to go on a six-month medical missions trip. Rather than waiting for them to get back, Mark’s parents had flown over, and they’d had a small ceremony on Jonathan’s property the day before. His parents had decided to spend a few days in Missouri before heading home.
“Mr. and Mrs. Bertolini, please be sure your seat belts are secured. We’re taxiing and currently first in line to take off.”
Casey tugged on the strap to tighten it just a bit.
Mark just smiled at her actions. “Nervous?”
“More about meeting the queen and everyone than the flight.”
The plane made a turn and began to pick up speed. In a few seconds, she felt the wheels lift off the ground. Casey kept her eyes glued out the window as they went higher.
After a wide turn, she saw sort of familiar sites come into view. She hadn’t been in Springfield often enough to know what the buildings were in the medium-sized city, but she recognized Serenity Landing High School, the estates on the lake, including the Langley-Cranston Estate, and the Pond Creek County Convention Center on the southwest side of the lake.
But then the little she knew about the area below them disappeared, and she settled back into her seat.
“You don’t need to be nervous about Adeline. She’s very excited to meet you.”
Casey leaned her head against Mark’s shoulder. “Your conversation with her went well?”
He’d talked to the queen early the day before, but Casey forgot to ask him how it went when they were finally alone. They’d both had other things on their minds when they made it to the apartment over the garage.
“It did. She apologized for her interference. Said she has a hard time sometimes remembering that we’re not friends, not like we were when we lived in Serenity Landing. Even then we weren’t the kind of friends we pretended to be. She was always the future queen, and I was always her security guard. She just wanted me to be happy.”
“You can’t be too mad at her. If she hadn’t bought you that Betwixt membership, we never would have met.”
“I know. She said she never would have considered it for any other employee, but she also thought of me as a friend. When she was in Serenity Landing last time, she thought she saw something in me that wanted a family of my own, so she signed me up. She also said she wished we could still be friends like we were during university but understands things are different now. She cherishes our friendship the way it was and my experience and expertise in security now. We’re going to be fine.”
“You haven’t said what your new position is going to be.” Casey knew it would mean more travel, and she wouldn’t be allowed to go on most trips with him. His focus needed to be on his royal charge, not his wife.
“I’m going to be the head of one of the security details.”
Sadness crept into Casey’s heart. Selfishly, she wanted him home most of the time, but being the head of a security detail was a big deal. She wouldn’t begrudge him that. “The queen’s?”
“Nope.”
“The prince consort?”
“Nope.”
Casey looked up at him to see the Cheshire grin on his face. “Then whose?”
“King Jedidiah and Queen Alexandra’s.”
“Who?” Casey didn’t know enough about the history of her newly adopted country.
“The last king and queen. He has Parkinson’s and retired a few years ago.”
She did remember that. Sort of.
“The queen asked me to take over as their head of security when their current one retires in a couple of months. The former king doesn’t travel anymore, and the queen mother seldom does.”
Hope began to blossom. “You’ll be home every night?”
He kissed her again. “Maybe not every night, but most of them, and you’ll have Thor to keep you company.” The puppy they found a few weeks earlier would make the trip with Mark’s parents in a few days.
“Perfect.”
“That’s what I thought when the queen offered it to me.” He kissed her several more times, all softly. “I did realize something else when I talked to her.”
“What’s that?”
“I never really loved her, not romantically. I thought I did. Maybe I could have if it had been an option, but I didn’t. Certainly not like I love you, Mrs. Bertolini.”
Casey was glad to hear that as it set one of her minor fears to rest. “I love you, too, Mr. Bertolini.”
After one more kiss, Casey pulled out some knitting as they settled back into their seats for the rest of the journey to their new home. Their first home together.
And Casey couldn’t be happier that a dating app and a stowaway cat had led her to find the guardian of her heart.
The End
1. Have you ever felt so strongly about someone or something, such as Mark about Addie, but realized it wasn’t God’s plan? How did you handle it? How did Mark?
2. 1 Peter 4:9-10—Who in this book lives out the hospitality and serving mentioned in these verses and how did they live it out?
3. Psalm 37:4-5—What were the desires of Mark & Casey’s hearts? How did God provide for these desires? Or did He?
4. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 talks about having friends and why they are important. There are many friendships in this book. Which ones stuck out to you and why are they a good example of a friendship?
5. Casey had a stowaway cat. Discuss a time when trying to help someone did not work out the way you thought it would. What was the ultimate outcome?
6. Queen Adeline signed Mark up for the dating services. What were her motivations? Was Mark’s reaction appropriate? How would you have handled it? Have you ever had a friend do something for you that you weren’t crazy about?
7. If you had gotten a text from a stranger, such as Mark got from Casey, how would you have responded? What are some examples of people in the Bible helping strangers? Gen. 19, Joshua 2, & Luke 10:25-37 are just a few examples.
8. Casey & Mark have a discussion about their future & locations. What would you be willing to change for a potential spouse? What did Casey & Mark decide to do and do you think it was a good plan?
9. Have you ever had the instant connection with someone you just met, as Casey & Mark seemed to have had? Who was it and what happened? (doesn’t have to be a love interest)
10. What do you see for Casey’s & Mark’s future?
www.carolmoncado.com/
When she’s not writing about her imaginary friends, USA Today Bestselling Author Carol Moncado prefers binge watching pretty much anything to working out. She believes peanut butter M&Ms are the perfect food and Dr Pepper should come in an IV. When not hanging out with her hubby, four kids, and two dogs who weigh less than most hardcover books, she’s probably reading in her Southwest Missouri home.
Summers find her at the local aquatic center with her four fish, er, kids. Fall finds her doing the band mom thing. Winters find her snuggled into a blanket in front of a fire with the dogs. Spring finds her sneezing and recovering from the rest of the year.
She used to teach American Government at a community college, but her indie career, with nearly two dozen titles released in the first 2.5 years, has allowed her to write full time. She’s a founding member and former President of MozArks ACFW and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.
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Find the latest information and connect with Carol at her website: www.carolmoncado.com
Crowns & Courtships
Heart of a Prince
The Inadvertent Princess
A Royally Beautiful Mess
The Indentured Queen
Her Undercover Prince
The Spare & the Heir
Crowns & Courtships Novellas
Dare You A Kaerasti for Clari ( in Out of the Blue Bouquet)
Love for the Ages
(available as a thank you to newsletter subscribers –
visit carolmoncado.com/newsletter to join)
The Monarchies of Belles Montagnes Series
Good Enough for a Princess Along Came a Prince
More than a Princess
Hand-Me-Down Princess
Winning the Queen’s Heart
Protecting the Prince (Novella)
Prince from her Past
Serenity Landing Second Chances
Discovering Home
Glimpsing Hope
Reclaiming Hearts
Serenity Landing Lifeguards Summer Novellas
The Lifeguard, the New Guy, & Frozen Custard
The Lifeguard, the Abandoned Heiress, & Frozen Custard
Serenity Landing Teachers Christmas Novellas
Gifts of Love
Manuscripts & Mistletoe
Premieres & Paparazzi
The CANDID Romance Series
Finding Mr. Write
Finally Mr. Write
Falling for Mr. Write
Mallard Lake Township
Ballots, Bargains, & the Bakery (novella)
Introducing Chautona Havig
By Carol Moncado
Dear Reader,
Thank you for joining Mark and Casey as they tried to figure out if their differences were too big to overcome!
From the time I wrote their first scene together in Good Enough for a Princess, I knew bodyguard Mark thought he was in love with Crown Princes Addie. It would never work. I always wanted to know more about what happened to him after she found her Happily Ever After—and now I know!
If you want to know more about Addie and Charlie, you can read about them in Good Enough for a Princess. Jonathan and Kenzie found each other in Discovering Home—and you can find out more about Gwendolyn and Adam there, too.
The Crossroads Collections are all so much fun in how they intertwine! Figuring out how Mark and Casey’s story fit together with Amanda’s story was a blast.
Up next is the final book in this amazing collection!
When I read Chautona’s summary, I knew I couldn’t wait to read the story! I hope you enjoy it, too!
Endless zoological facts? Check!
A cute girl who sticks around anyway? Yep!
What more do you need?
A picture of a mandrill monkey? Got that too!
Keep going to read Random Acts of Shyness by the amazing Chautona Havig!
Author of Guardian of Her Heart
a novella by
Copyright Notice
Random Acts of Shyness, original copyright © 2019 by Chautona Havig
All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or recording—without express written permission by the authors and publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed or broadcasted articles and reviews.
Each book in this collection is the intellectual property and the copyrighted material of the respective author and/or publisher and is reprinted as a part of this collection (anthology) only once and only by permission of the owners. The publisher makes no claim on, or to, the property of the owners which exceeds that permission. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the authors’ imagination or intended to be used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, organizations, places, or persons living or dead is purely coincidental and beyond the intention of either the authors or the publisher. The characters are products of the authors’ imaginations and used fictitiously.
To Barbara
The day that I named Heath, we heard that Barbara had lost her beloved daughter, Kassandra. Since my Heath could easily pass for Mediterranean, I chose to make him of Greek origin—like Kassandra. So, I searched through list after list of Greek surnames that began with K and included those letters. I found Karras. I’m so sorry for your loss, Barbara.
To Peter Eiserloh
You inadvertently gave me the idea for this book. I was seriously irked with you that night, but I’m glad you interrupted my work and rambled on and on and on about bladders. Without you, I never would have “met” Heath.
I hope you rest in peace. You are missed.
With more care than necessary, Heath Karras pushed the door shut until he heard the soft click. Jacket off and hung by the door, his shoes followed. For half a second, he almost thought he’d done it. However, as he turned around, there stood his sister, bouncing up on the balls of her feet with the energy of a border collie and twice as cute.
“So… how’d it go? Did you like her? Was she pretty?”
Dodging the subject—futile. The moment thwarted, Selby made an English bulldog seem almost compliant and docile. Still, he tried. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Heath dug his phone from his pocket and plopped down on the couch, feet propped on the arm. The intensity with which he regarded that screen should have counted for… something. Again, wishful thinking. Selby slid across the coffee table and came to rest just inches from him, concern etched in every feature—concern and dismay. “Life cycle of a dung beetle?”
“Don’t I wish.”
“Ugh.” Selby slipped off the table and plopped on the floor beside him. A hand stole over his arm and squeezed. “Just tell me it wasn’t the mating chimps.”
Thank you, Lord, for that. I wondered where You were… again. But I need to remember. It could have been worse. I could have fixated on the chimps, so thanks for that, anyway.
“Um…”
Putting her out of her misery would benefit them both, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
That’s all she needed to know. “Oh, Heath, no. Not the bladders.”
“It’s better than chimps?” Even as he spoke, his confidence in that wavered.
“Well, that’s true.” Selby sat up. “It’s a new year, right? We’ll try something else. You don’t have to be trapped in this forever. It’s time to take charge.”
How many times had he heard it? How many times had he wondered why he didn’t put a stop to all meddling? I’m not in junior high anymore. And she’s not Mom.
“I’ll ask Kelsey about it. I mean, she knew Jordan…”
What else Selby said, he never heard. As he had many times, Heath tried to imagine a whole, rich life alone. Instead of a wife and children, he’d have his sister, the husband she’d find someday, and her children. Like every other time, it failed at the idea of a life without someone to love and cherish because of his issues with dating. If the Lord never chose to bring someone into his life—he’d deal with that when it came.
I just don’t want my personal issues to make it impossible. Is that too much to ask?
“—learned about this phobia. It’s kind of cool in a weird way. Venustraphobia. It means a fear of beautiful women. I think maybe if you went to a therapist—”
That caught his attention. “I’m not sure I have a phobia of beautiful women, Sel. I just make a fool of myself around them. I’m also not going to a therapist. Period. I’m just not. So…”
“Then we create your own regime. I’ll talk to Kelsey and…” She shook his head at the panicked look he hadn’t been able to repress. “Okay. Just remember that you promised me. You said if you hadn’t had one good date by the beginning of the year, that you’d try thing
s my way.”
There was the rub—he had. He’d been so sure that having a list of topics to focus on would work this time—what, with all the practice he’d done. Still, even as he nodded his agreement, Heath’s stomach churned. To get both of their minds onto a different subject, he did the only thing he could.
“Tonight’s hint…”
That did it. Selby jumped up, her eyes darting around the room as if he’d hide anything where she could just see it. “Well?”
“January third…”
She grinned, waiting for more.
“March.” Heath sat up and met her gaze with a smile—she loved him, this sister of his. Not just because they were related. He knew that. She enjoyed him. And if she did, someone else would someday.
Again, Selby asked, “Well?”
“It’s not St. Paddy’s Day without it.”
She raced for the freezer, tore through it, and found the mint chocolate chip ice cream he’d thrown in for a decoy. “I’ve got dessert!”
“Too bad you don’t have your gift.”
From across their apartment, they gazed at one another. Heath almost had to gag himself not to give another hint. She peeked into the fridge and shut it almost immediately. A slow spin in the kitchen didn’t help, but just as he thought she’d ask, something shifted. A second later, her head disappeared as she dug into the cabinets by the stove. Seconds later, she emerged with a wrapped cylinder.
There was his cue. While she tried to guess what was inside, Heath dragged himself across the living room and into the kitchen. “Just open it.” Two bowls and two spoons. “You know what it is anyway.” Ice cream scoop—the creation of two perfect bowls of ice cream goodness was underway.