A Royally Beautiful Mess

by Carol Moncado

  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 football. 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.

  The line moved slowly until they were next to order. Darius pulled out his now-working card and paid for both of theirs. Ian would buy his own as part of at least sort of looking less bodyguard-like.

  With desserts in hand, they turned to look for a seat. All of the benches in the area were filled with teenagers and families enjoying a post-game treat.

  “Weren’t there some tables over by the bagel place?” Esther asked before taking her first bite.

  “I think so.” He turned to Ian and tilted his head. The security man nodded.

  The metal tables had nearly filled up since they left the car and didn’t look very comfortable anyway. Maybe they should just go home.

  “You can join us.” A man in a Patriots t-shirt stood and moved to the chair next to the woman he was with. “There’s never enough seats on a night like this. Sharing is the name of the game.”

  “The game is football,” the woman mumbled around a mouthful of food.

  The man, a few years older than Darius and Esther, rolled his eyes.

  Darius glanced at Esther who shrugged, so they took the other two seats at the table. “I’m Darius. This is my wife, Esther. Thanks for sharing.”

  “Our pleasure,” he replied. “I’m Vince. This is my wife, Sam.”

  “Samantha,” she corrected him.

  “Only when she’s being formal.” Vince grinned as he scooped another bite of frozen custard.

  “Where are you from?” Samantha asked them. “I can’t place your accent.”

  “A small country in the Atlantic,” Darius answered for both of them. “I doubt you’ve heard of it.”

  Before she could ask another question, Esther jumped in. “Are you both from here?”

  “Born and raised,” Vince confirmed. “Or close enough. We went to school together at SLHS.”

  “So high school sweethearts?” she asked.

  The look on Vince’s face softened as he reached out and cupped his wife’s shoulder with one hand. “Not exactly. It took us a few years, but we’re where we want to be.”

  Samantha shrugged. “What can I say? I had a crush on another guy. Vince was my friend.”

  Vince chuckled. “I’ll say you did.”

  Darius exchanged a glance with Esther, glad the couple seemed to be amused with each other rather than on the verge of fighting.

  “So what if Charlie married an actual princess?” Samantha winked at Esther. “It’s far better to marry your ve
ry own Prince Charming, isn’t it?”

  Darius blinked a couple of times. Charlie? Princess? Did she mean Prince Charlemagne? The Serenity Landing single father who married now-Queen Adeline?

  Esther laughed with Samantha, though Darius thought he detected a bit of an undercurrent to it. “You’re right,” his wife told them. “Darius is far better than any prince from my country. I wouldn’t want to marry any of them.”

  The implications made Darius nearly snort frozen custard out his nose.

  The other three laughed as Darius coughed and wiped his mouth on his napkin.

  “You all right?” Vince asked.

  Darius coughed again then nodded. “Just caught me off-guard. Yeah. The princes seem nice enough, but I can’t imagine Esther ever marrying any of them.”

  Samantha leaned forward. “Have you met any of them? I mean, we met Addie, that is Queen Adeline, a few times, but I’ve known Charlie since elementary, so it doesn’t really seem like he’s royalty now.”

  Darius shook his head. “I’ve never met any of the princes.” Not from San Majoria anyway, until he had to correct himself. “Except maybe in passing when I was young. I think we were at the same events or fundraisers a few times.”

  Samantha pointed a spoon at them. “So how long have you two been married? Do you not wear rings in your country?”

  13

  With a blink, Esther wasn’t sure what to say. She’d nearly forgotten they didn’t wear rings.

  Vince shushed his wife.

  Esther turned on her best grin. “Oh, it’s fine. We eloped. In fact, Darius’s brother was the only one there, except my father who officiated. It was so sudden, we didn’t get rings. Just never got around to it I suppose.”

  She didn’t think about it often, but now that she was, Esther wondered if Darius would ever get her one. Maybe she should grab a band for each of them next time she was at the store. Nothing fancy or expensive, but they could figure out whether or not to use a family ring from either family or have a new one made - or not - later.

  “How romantic.” Samantha sighed as she leaned her head against Vince’s shoulder. “We eloped, too. Christmas Eve a couple years ago. I’m surprised we remembered rings, though we actually bought the bands right after the wedding because we were on a time crunch before the courthouse closed.”

  Vince laughed. “There was no way I wanted to go back to school without them.” He turned back to Esther and Darius. “We both teach at one of the elementary schools here in town. There was no way I wanted Miss Dean going back after break. She was Mrs. Roberts by then.”

  The conversation moved to different topics, with the Robertses telling Esther and Darius about some of the things to do locally, like Pumpkinfest in October.

  When they had all finished, they stood and said good-bye.

  As they sat in the back of the car, Esther noticed Darius seemed quieter than usual. Leaning forward, she asked Ian to stop at the superstore for a moment.

  “What are we getting?” Darius asked.

  She wouldn’t tell him. Traffic had cleared out so the drive didn’t take as long this time, even though it was further.

  Inside, she took Darius’s hand and marched over to the jewelry case. The most expensive ring available would be laughed at in her circles back home, but right now she didn’t care.

  “We just need two gold bands, please,” she told the saleswoman.

  Darius gave her a curious look, but acquiesced and tried on several before choosing one. Esther did the same. She just left it on as the woman entered the information into the register. After paying for both of them, Esther started for the car.

  “Nope.” Darius dragged her toward the food section. “We need to celebrate more than that.”

  Esther wasn’t quite sure what to think, but followed him, laughing as he chose his favorite snack food and told her to pick something out. She decided on tortilla chips.

  “Those aren’t a snack food,” Darius scoffed. “They’re real food. You need something chocolate or candy.”

  She raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m going to eat them when I want a snack. That makes them a snack.”

  He shrugged. “Fine. We have wine at home, don’t we?”

  “I’m sure we do, but I don’t know what to pick to go with tortilla chips and caramels.” She couldn’t have wine anyway, but she wasn’t ready to share that bit of information with him. “Maybe some milk and chocolate chip cookies. That would hit the spot.”

  His grin said he agreed. They grabbed a gallon of milk and then worked their way back to the snack aisle where Esther scanned the chocolate chip cookies.

  “How about these?” she asked, grabbing a bag of something called Soft Batch cookies. “Unless they’re real food.”

  Darius laughed. “Real food it is.”

  They checked out then walked to the car with Ian wandering out behind them.

  When they reached the house, they said good night to Ian who would hand security over to someone else.

  With the door to their room closed and locked behind them, Darius framed her face with his hands, kissing her unlike any kiss they’d shared. Intense and more forceful than he’d ever kissed her before, though responsive to Esther’s desire to slow down.

  “What is it?” she whispered as he trailed kisses down her neck.

  His grip on her waist tightened. “I’ve been looking forward to having you to myself all night.”

  She smiled as he pressed a kiss into the crook of her neck. “I don’t generally do this sort of thing on the first date.” How long ago had it been since they left for So Cheeeezzy?

  Darius kissed her again, taking her breath away. He moved back, his lips millimeters from hers. “Then it’s a good thing I’m your husband.”

  He kissed her again and everything else fled from her mind.

  It was Esther and Darius, the two of them, alone in their world.

  Later, she wore his shirt again as they sat cross-legged on their bed with a tray of milk and cookies between them.

  “When I can get back to Eyjania, I’ll get you a better ring.” Darius dipped his cookie into a glass of milk. “That’s how you eat milk and cookies, right?”

  Esther shrugged. “It’s how they do it in the commercials.” She watched as he dipped his again, leaving bits of cookie behind. “I think I’ll just eat and drink separately. Don’t think I’d like crumbs in my milk.” After eating one cookie, she knew she wouldn’t be able to eat much more, not after frozen custard earlier, though she only had a small concrete instead of a larger one.

  He swallowed. “Or is there a ring in San Majoria already set aside for your use?”

  “I have no idea. I know there’s a vault. I know Kensington found a ring in it for Anabelle. I know Astrid has an heirloom ring. I’m not sure if there’s specific ones though. Is there one for you?”

  “I always kind of figured there was, but I don’t really know. I’m pretty sure my mother is holding onto hers for Benjamin or Alfred to use.”

  “Why Alfred?”

  “Because he’s my father’s namesake. Benjamin because he’s the oldest, but I don’t think they’d planned to name a child after my father like that, not until he passed, then my mother prayed for a boy for that reason, I think.”

  “That would be hard.” She stared at the cookie in her hands. “Do you miss her?”

  His head snapped up, but she didn’t meet Darius’s eyes, focusing instead on breaking the cookie in two.

  “My mother?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “Of course I miss her. She’s my mother.”

  “I know, but not everyone is close to their parents. You don’t talk about her often.”

  “Until the last couple weeks, you and I didn’t talk about much of anything, ever,” he pointed out, trying to remain gentle.

  She lifted one shoulder in acknowledgment. “So you miss her? Have you even talked to her since we moved?”

  “A few times. Not for very long. She
doesn’t know where I am or the real reason I’m gone, unless Benjamin or Isaiah, or even your father, has told her.”

  “What did you tell her?”

  “That I decided to attend University out of the country, and I’d be in touch when I could. I might have insinuated that I didn’t have the best cell phone service and wouldn’t be able to get calls often.”

  She nibbled on one of the cookies. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault. The decisions that led to our marriage and moving here were ones we made together.”

  “Not entirely. I mean, in Sargasso, yeah, but my father basically forced you into it in Akushla, in your brother’s office.”

  He took a drink of his milk and thought Esther had the right idea. The bits of cookie in there were off-putting. “Yes and no. I think we would have made the same decision anyway, but I don’t know that it would have happened in fifteen minutes. Maybe at least had our families there.”

  “And somewhere besides your brother’s office?”

  “There’s a chapel in the palace. Maybe in there. It’s got some gorgeous stained-glass windows. I think Evangeline is hoping she can get married there. It only seats a few hundred at most, probably less. She never wanted a big fancy thing.”

  “Just a medium fancy thing?” He could see the smirk on her face. “Low key for a royal?”

  “Something like that. It’ll still be an event. I doubt anyone will be as low key as ours.”

  “Probably not.” She ate another bit of cookie. “Do you miss any of them, besides your mother?”

  “Yes and no. Genevieve and Evangeline are only about eighteen months older than I am, but we were never overly close. We didn’t have the same interests, and they had each other. There’s three boys after me, but it’s over two-and-a-half years between me and my next brother and four to the twins.”

  “So which sibling are you closest to then? Relationally speaking?”