Henfordshire
Royal Cromwell Stables
Victoria’s smile stretched wide as she hugged her favorite horse, ‘Royal Symphony.’ The majestic mare snorted, nuzzling the princess, making her giggle. The sunbathed the stable and paddocks in warm hues, casting long shadows across the straw-covered floor.
“Easy there, Symphony,” Victoria laughed, trying to push the mare’s big head away from her perfectly coiffed hair. “You’re messing up my royal appearance.”
Symphony, undeterred, nudged Victoria playfully, her velvety nose brushing against the princess’s cheek, so the girl planted tender kisses on the horse’s soft pink muzzle. But as Victoria stepped backward, her heel found an unexpected hole in the gravel covered ground. She stumbled, arms flailing, until two strong hands caught her.
Victoria’s heart raced as she looked up into Liam’s eyes—deep green, like the forest after a summer rain. Her ‘thank you’ got stuck in her throat, replaced by a mix of embarrassment and defiance. She scrambled up, distancing herself from him.
“How dare you!” she snapped, her pride wounded.
“Should I have let you fall?” Liam’s voice was calm, unruffled.
“I think, all things considered, I would have preferred it.”
Liam sighed, his gaze unwavering. “Look, Vic—”
“That’s ‘Your Royal Highness’ to you!” Victoria interrupted, her eyes flashing. Tears threatened, but she refused to let them fall. Not in front of him. Never.
“Okay. Sorry again, Your Highness.”
“ROYAL Highness,” Victoria corrected sharply. “Learn how to properly address me before you speak out of turn again! Or better yet, don’t speak to me AT ALL!”
Victoria turned and hurried away, making sure nobody could see her. She ran, even though royal children weren’t supposed to. But she didn’t care. As she glanced back at the stables, Liam was still there, a distant figure that tugged at her heart.
Suddenly, she crashed hard into someone, and strong arms caught her before she fell.
“Get your hands off me! How dare you… oh.”
Jack’s expression revealed his thoughts—clearly unimpressed.
“Yeah. So, care to share why ya runnin’ about as if the devil himself were after ya, or didcha forget to bring the horse with ya before galloping through the fields?” he drawled.
“Share what? Nothing to share. I was merely in a little bit of a hurry.” Victoria’s tone turned pouty. She definitely didn’t want to share anything. Accidentally, she turned to look at the stables behind her in the distance where Liam still stood in the same place. Jack noticed her gaze, grimaced, and inhaled deeply before saying.
“Vic… yer runnin’ about like a chicken with its head cut off. So just go ahead, tell me what happened THIS time, or I’ll take you straight back to the stables and ask there.”
“You will do no such thing! I forbid it!”
“Didcha hit yer head? You forget who you’re talking to. Do ya really think that crap works on me, even though it never has before? Ya out here, alone, AGAIN, no guards, which we both KNOW for a fact ya ain’t supposed to be doin’. Victoria, how many more times do I have to urge ya to be careful!? Told ya before, you bein’ you ain’t no joke! Fine, I was coming to look for ya anyway. You saved me a trip, so I’ll let all that nonsense slide. But show some respect to yer elders. I’m thrice yer age, and you’ve caused me enough trouble with your wild antics of late. Now, either walk your noble behind up this path and into my house and sit down for a serious talk, or I’ll take you home and spill everything.”
Victoria’s anger flared, and she spun away from him, her hair flying as she stomped toward Jack’s front door. He chuckled behind her.
“Yup. Just like her momma, same temper. This ought to be fun. Glad Izzy took Cody to see her folks—I’m thinking that girl will explode so badly, it’ll scare the horses and mah dawg when I get to doin’ what I am ’bout to do.”
Inside, Victoria stood by the window, defiance etched on her face.
“Why don’t you take a load off, kid? Sit down. Coffee?” Jack drawled.
“I would prefer tea.”
“Too bad, yer gettin’ coffee.”
“Jack? Where are your chickens?”
“Fox took ’em. Two at a time, till they was all gone. Dang rascal. I brought my shotgun back from our little trip that ya joined me on unasked. Next fox I see is getting his pelt singed. First one will be a warning. If they’re not as smart as people say, the next one will teach him his final lesson for all eternity.”
“Oh, that’s horrible! You should speak to Papa about this. Those poor chickens!”
“What’s the king going to do? Forbid foxes from being foxes? And what are them damn animals supposed to do fer food? Ya think they go downtown to the supermarket? Or do you think your royal daddy and I can take turns watching the coop? Maybe he can post some royal guards out there.” Jack teased.
“Papa knows everything. He would think of something to do. Maybe build a bigger fence.”
“Waste of time and effort. Dang chickens fly over it and them dang predators dig underneath. And mah dog is pretty dang useless. I think her opening hours don’t line up with when the foxes are active. Must be a union thing. If I had Jackson’s Millie here, there would be nothing left of that dang fox, but a tail.”
“I do not like this topic, Jack, it’s quite gruesome!”
“That it is, but such is life. Fine, you don’t like that topic, let’s talk about you bein’ in such a hurry. What is going on between you and yer lil friend from the stables this time? Didcha fight? Ya both are actin’ more than weird—AGAIN. First I thought it was cos of yer trip, but now that it’s been weeks, I am thinkin’ something happened. First, I gotta chase ya both apart every time I go down there to them stables, now I can’t getcha both in the same field of vision without one of ya flippin’ out. Matter of fact, I am convinced something’s up. And I would like to know details from ya now.” Jack spoke while placing cups of coffee on the table, along with sugar cubes and milk.
Clearly nervous, and very much absent-mindedly, the princess started busying herself putting sugar cubes into her coffee until Jack stopped her after cube number 8.
“Victoria! Need some more coffee in yer sugar?! Whatcha doin’ girl?!” with a huff, he grabbed her cup, went back to the kitchen to dump it out, filling it up again, placing it on the table, adding two cubes, stirring and sliding it over to her “two is plenty, yer sweet enough.”
“Oh boy, and I don’t even like sugar in my coffee. Only milk. I don’t know why I did this … apologies Jack.”
With a deep sigh Jack switched out their cups, adding a splash of milk to the one that had been intended for him.
“I don’t mind it much. I drink coffee any which way it comes to me. So, talk.”
“Umm, well, I stumbled and I felt unfit to be in public so I tried to hurry home to …”
“Naw! Try again. Truth this time.”
“Jack, you are making a mountain out of a molehill.”
“Yeah? Okay, lemme show you the molehill, which is quite the mountain on closer look. So, few days ago I went to return my daughter to the palace when we were nearly ran over by some of yer staff running about like chickens with their heads cut off. Turns out sewer had backed up and flooded the downstairs toilets, include the butler’s room one, which is right off the kitchen. The royal staff handiman was on personal leave that day and the only plumber in town was away on a fishin’ trip. So, I told them I’d take a look. I will spare ya the gory details, but turned out there was an obstruction stuck in them pipes, collecting all the little bits and pieces, eventually cloggin’ the whole damn thing. Well, low and behold … this is the culprit. No worries, it’s been thoroughly cleaned.”
He pulled something from his pocket and laid it before the princess who immediately spat out the coffee she had been drinking.
“Get a hold of yerself girl! So, I was right with my guess. Busted then, again, so talk. What exactly are we lookin’ at here?” Jack wiped some stray splatter from his face, while getting up to fetch a rag to limit the mess.
“I … I … I don’t know what that is. Why would you think I had anything to do with that?”
Jack had cleaned most of the mess, tossed the rag into the sink and washed his hands, before returning to his seat, staring at Victoria.
“Okay, so you wanna be difficult. This here style I know, it’s from back home. There’s only one place downtown that sells these types of bracelets, so I called them. They remembered you well. You wrote the name Liam out in yer own, very distinct handwritin’, which I am very familiar with, and had them engrave it. And I pull it from the sewer lines, while you and its intended recipient are at odds. Fill me in kid. And be careful whatcha say next, cos the minute I think yer lyin’ to me I will take ya straight home and tell yer momma all about this. So, this can either be another lil secret of yours that I keep, or someone will end in trouble.”
Victoria knew him well enough to know she had no real choice.
She sighed.
“I went to see him right after we got back, to give him the bracelet and invite him to my 15th birthday party, but he was so mean to me, Jack. I don’t know why, everything was fine before we left, he even promised to take me to the farm where he grew up and tell me more about his youth, but then he was so cold to me, said terrible things and that he didn’t want to be my friend. That I am just like all of them. Whatever that means.” Victoria lost the battle for her composure and started sobbing so hard that Jack jumped up, pulled her off her chair into his arms, calmingly stroking her back as she cried into his shoulder, in between sobs she told him the entire story in greater detail, along with her hopes and dreams regarding the boy.
“Okay, I get it then. So, you feel rejected and panicked. And now ya can’t stand to be in the same ZIP Code with him.”
“I was raised to keep my composure even under pressure and all was well until he touched me, that’s when I panicked and lost it.”
“Oh, he better not have touched ya! I know I ain’t yer daddy, but close enough!” Jack rumbled, pushing the girl away to look at her face.
“NOT like THAT, Jack! He just … I stumbled and he caught me. Nothing bad, per se, just, bad for me, because of all that happened.”
“Okay, now all that is starting to make a lot more sense.”
“Does it? Because I still don’t understand his sudden change. It’s like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!”
“Well, that part we could guess to death. I’ll ask him.”
“You will not! Are you trying to humiliate me? I told you all this in strict confidence! You can’t tell anyone, that was the agreement!”
“Chill, Vic. I ain’t no fool, nor was I born just yesterday, I know how to start that conversation without saying we talked. And you didn’t tell me in confidence, ya told me cos you didn’t have a choice. But dontcha worry, sweetheart, I gotcha. Can I show him the bracelet?”
“NO!” Victoria pulled away and grabbed the bracelet off the table, sliding it in her pocket.
“Ya think if I really wanted that back, I couldn’t get it now?”
“I’d swallow it before I’d let you show him!”
“That’ll be delicious for yer delicate palette, considering I pulled it out of rottin’ sewage. I know I said it’s clean to touch, but I wouldn’t let mah dog stick that in her mouth.”
“Eeew! I should have burned it. Like the letters!” Victoria exclaimed, then realized she accidently told Jack even more. Averting her gaze she reached into the pocket of her riding jacket, pulled out the bracelet and placed it in Jack’s outstretched hand.
“Letters too, huh? So this is the real deal. The first heartbreak. Not how I imagined that would happen, but life’s full of surprises. You’ll get this bracelet back. Eventually. After I am done with it and after you promise not to flush it again.” Jack said, slipping the bracelet into his own pocket.
“Heartbreak? I don’t love him. It was his friendship I mourn.”
“Vic, I got a lot of friends, even female ones, and none of us have bought each other jewelry unless we have known each other for literally ages or if we had deeper feelings for each other. I bought yer mother a necklace once, back when things were a lot more than friendly between us and she and I share a daughter together. You and Liam just met a few months back, so you aren’t THAT tight, so I don’t know if yer in denial or lyin’ to me, either way, ya needa stop and realize it, so ya can deal with it properly.”
“I can’t believe we are talking about all this. I wanted to forget it all.”
“Same here. I can’t believe I am the one having that first heartbreak talk with a girl that ain’t even my kid. I honestly don’t know what to tell ya, Vic. Life sucks? There are other boys out there, more deserving? Havin’ a hard time sayin’ that, cos I also know Liam and he just ain’t the flighty type. Something must’ve gotten to him.”
“Is there anything I can say to make you NOT talk to him about me?”
“Nope.”
“I figured. Could you at least tell me what he said then? I really would like to know, maybe then I can find true closure.”
“Ya betcha. I’ll be yer little spy. How in the world did I let myself get sucked into this nonsense again?”
“Face it Jack, I am your bonus daughter. Nothing you can do about it. Thank you for listening. And sorry about the mess. I’ll send someone from the castle down to …”
“Oh for heaven’s sake, kid! I can clean myself. If ya felt bad enough, you’d offer to clean it yerself, seein’ how ya made the mess.”
“Me? Cleaning? I am a royal princess Jack!”
With a grimace, he took both her hands in his, turning them this way and the other, then looked at her.
“Don’t appear to be broken.”
She pulled her hands from him, now the one grimacing.
“You know what Mama and Papa would tell me if they caught me on hands and knees scrubbing your floors?”
“They’d tell ya to use a mop?”
“Stop it! No. Grandma Vivien always told me not to engage in such menial activities, for when you do it once, it becomes expected of you. I don’t want to EVER have anyone expect me to clean.”
“Thought ya wanted a taste of real life, to fit in with the real world. 99% of us can’t afford to have others clean for us. Good lesson.”
“Well, that will be the small part of being that 1 percentile group that I shall thoroughly enjoy then.”
“Finish yer coffee, Vic, so I can take ya home. Tomorrow mornin’ I have business at the stables anyway and will see what I can get out of that boy.”
“Thank you Jack!” Victoria beamed, planting a peck on his cheek, then gulping down the rest of her coffee before heading out his front door.
“Come on, Jack, what are you waiting for?”
Chuckling, Jack shook his head and settled his Stetson atop it. He finished his coffee, contemplating the tangled mess he’d gotten himself into.
“I just had to get involved with that AG. Now I’ve got her, our daughter, and HER daughter trying to drive me insane with this girly nonsense. And like a fool, I walk right into it too. Every. Single. Time. Ev’ry time!”
The next day found Jack at Cromwell Stables early, well aware that it was one of the quieter, least hectic times. Conveniently, he spotted Liam rubbing Royal Symphony’s golden-white neck, gently whispering to the mare. Symphony snorted back quietly, as if sharing a secret conversation.
“Howdy, partner. Happy to find you in such a talkative mood this fine morning,” Jack offered.
Liam’s head snapped back, staring at him as if he’d caught him with his hand in the cookie jar.
“How about ‘Good morning, Jack. How are you?’” Jack suggested, amused by the boy still frozen in place.
“Did you need me for something?”
“Yeah, I do. Come with me—I need some help.”
The boy immediately followed Jack to the side of the stables, taking instructions and quietly completing each task. Jack covertly watched him, doing his own share.
“So, how are things between you and Vic?” Jack asked casually.
Liam immediately fumbled the stack of tools he’d collected, dropping them all to the ground. Despite clumsy efforts to catch them, he blushed bright red and started gathering them. Jack crouched down to help and, at the right moment, dropped the bracelet.
“Oh, looks like ya lost something kid,” Jack pointed at it.
Liam looked at the bracelet, shaking his head. “Not mine.”
Jack picked it up, pretending to examine it, then held it out before the boy’s face. “Says your name on it. It’s yours.”
Liam took it, turned it, his eyes widening. He handed it back to Jack as if it had turned into a rattlesnake.
“NOT MINE!”
“All right, you’re correct. And remarkably honest, which is a brownie point for you. It isn’t yours, but it was supposed to be. Vic bought it for ya in Chestnut Ridge and had your name engraved on it in her handwriting. A very personal and thoughtful gift, wouldn’t you say?”
Liam glared at the bracelet again, the side with the engraving dangling before his eyes, clearly affecting him. When he tried to take it, Jack pulled it away.
“I’d like to hear your side of the story. I already heard the other side, but I like to know both so I can get close enough to the truth.”
Liam’s jaw clenched, and he glanced around as if checking for eavesdroppers. His voice dropped to a near-whisper. “It’s stuff I can’t talk about. Stuff from the past, before my time.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “Stuff? What stuff?”
The boy just shook his head, avoiding looking at Jack directly.
“Just … stuff. Bad stuff. Stuff I don’t like to talk about and stuff I shouldn’t talk about.”
Jack raised up and leaned against one of the stalls, his eyes narrowing as he studied Liam. The air smelled of hay and horse sweat, but tension crackled between them.
“Naw, that’s not enough,” Jack said, his voice gruff. “I get it, you got some dark secret, who doesn’t? What I do know is you used to be so friendly with Princess Victoria and she is now heartbroken cos she can’t comprehend why you suddenly dropped her like a hot tater, even though she done nothing wrong far as I know, and I dare say I know that kid better than I’d like, since she apparently picked me to be her bestie or something like that. According to her, out of the blue, you’re colder than a winter frost, even though according to whatcha just told me, that terrible secret you feel so burdened by is nothing new. So, what gives?”
Liam’s jaw tightened. He glanced down the long stable hallway toward the stall outside of which Victoria was brushing down her favorite horse, Royal Symphony. The princess always insisted on doing this herself, her laughter echoed, and Liam’s heart twisted, which reflected in the boy’s face like in a mirror. He’d been drawn to her from the moment they met—the way she rode, her fiery spirit, the kindness she showed even to stableboys like him.
But now, he kept his distance. “It’s complicated Jack,” Liam finally replied, “I knew something, but had forgotten all about it, until very recently I was looking for something, but instead found something that made bad memories come back to me all at once.”
Jack snorted. “Ya call that complicated? Kid, lemme tell ya, at yer tender 16 trips around the sun ya haven’t met complicated yet. So you’re a stableboy, and she’s a princess. Story as old as time and about as complicated as a broken bridle. I don’t even wanna know how many books been written about that. So, instead of pouting in some corner lashin’ out at that sweet and very undeserving girl just because ya weren’t born a royal and have some bad memories, as much as I will have to admit our Victoria there costs me my last nerve at times, but she don’t mean to, she’s as sweet as they come, she don’t deserve getting treated like all that, so rather than running her off acting like a damn fool ya should work on findin’ some happy endin’ scenario for ya both, dontcha think? Be it as friends or whatever, but just doin’ what ya been doin’ ain’t cool, son. My own son done gone got himself a girlfriend that is from an entirely different world in a way, she’s wealthy with famous parents, cousin to yer very own queen actually, and mah boy is, well … like me, on a good day we got two dimes to rub together between the two of us, and that ain’t cos we’re lazy, just because the world needs workers too, not everyone can be a CEO, a celebrity or a royal. Yet, he recently told her daddy he was gonna marry her one day and her daddy was just fine and dandy with that news. In other words, mah older boy and I are jus like you and yer daddy, simple people, but yet, if ya reach for the stars, ya may not get one, but ya won’t come up with a handful of mud either. So, ya see, I ain’t blowin; sugar up yer rear, I know what I am talkin’ bout here and I know full well it’s possible, just gotta keep at it.”
“No, I get all that, but my problem is a lot more complicated.” Liam’s fingers traced the worn leather of his belt. “Victoria deserves than me. She’s royalty, and I’m the son of a—”
“Liam STOP! You are just a commoner,” Jack interrupted. “like the queen was. I knew Her Majesty before she was a queen and her background is a lot of things, definitely wealthy but nothing royal-like and that’s all I am gonna say about that. So don’t play that game. You’re a good kid, Liam, and so you’ve got a secret. Either out with it, so I can figure out if it’s really that damn bad as ya think or ya move on but remember to be decent around Vic AFTER ya apologized to her nicely or y’all answer to me.”
Liam hesitated, his voice trembling. “No, no no, you got it all wrong, Jack. That’s not what I mean. I’m not who she thinks I am. Or who you think I am. My past—”
Jack’s gruff exterior softened. “Everyone’s got a past,” he said gently. “But what do you mean you ain’t who you said? Sure ya are, I would know. They run serious background checks before you even can shovel manure here at the royal stables. I read through all that myself because your daddy was a candidate to replace me, and obviously, he got the job, I am VERY familiar with who you are and who yer daddy is. I know your father changed your and his last name at some point, for whatever reasons, none of my business. Last names change all the time, marriage, divorce, clearly that didn’t flag for Barrett Securities’ background check, and not for me either. So, my question again, why push her away? It still don’t make no sense. I mean, I am not normally one to meddle in others’ business, especially not that of young kids, but this reeks to high heavens. Something ain’t right here. Y’all ain’t just two bickering kids.”
Liam glanced around, ensuring no prying ears were nearby. Leaning in, he whispered to Jack, his voice laden with the weight of his revelation. “Jack, there’s something I haven’t told anyone and my father would kill me if he knew I told you. It’s a very long story, but the short of it is that my mother got in with the wrong crowd, they corrupted her, and she ended up being part of the opposition—the local chapter of ‘The Shadows of Liberation’. That probably means nothing to you, you weren’t here then, but your wife would know what I am talking about and so would Victoria and all the royals. It’s the same dangerous group that usurped all royalty worldwide, basically terrorists, they were also behind running the Cromwells and the Rinaldis of Tartosa out of their homes, taking everything from them, forcing them into exile for years before they were able to legally regain what was rightfully theirs. But my father wasn’t part of it, neither was I, obviously since I was still a small child. Father worked our farm all day long from dusk till dawn, my mum lost two pregnancies cos she still had to work the fields, yet still we couldn’t make ends meet, we had to sell more and more land to be able to pay the taxes, as did many other small farmers, so the opposition used that to rowel up people with nothing left to lose to do their bidding. My dad didn’t realize what was going on until it already was too late. My mother—she was obsessed with eliminating all royalty blaming them for the bad card we had been dealt. I was still little; she bought my silence with candy and toys, even took me to those secret meetings where they planned the deaths of the people I now work for. I was there when all that went down, on the floor, playing with my wooden toys while they were planning to murder the girl I have been spending time with and her entire family. My own mother! On the day of the revolt my dad finally realized what was going on, he tried to stop mum, the wife he had loved for so long, and whom he and I know for a fact loved him so very much, but she shot him in the leg so he couldn’t follow her and hold her back, telling him she loved him and that he needed to stay home in safety and take care of me. Then she left me, a four-year-old boy, alone with my father, both of us screaming in pain and fear. You have to understand, my mother wasn’t a bad person. She was so wonderful, kind, caring, my parents genuinely loved each other, even as a small boy I could see it, she was such a great mum; I remember laughing so much, playing with her and dad. We always went for picnics at the park on Sundays, I looked forward to it every week. I would have never thought …” Liam’s voice cracked, and he fought to hold back tears. “Why did my mum do that, Jack? She was kind and a great mum. She was warm and sweet, could kiss any pain away, never once raised her voice at me, and she and my dad were so much in love. Why? I don’t understand it.” Liam’s voice was merely a whisper now, he looked and sounded like a little boy now, no longer a teen on his way to grow into a young man. Jack listened, his eyes narrowing with understanding.
Jack’s eyes narrowed, etching compassion into the weathered lines of his face. “Where is your mother now, kiddo?” he asked, his voice a low rumble.
Liam’s reply spilled forth, a torrent of pain and guilt. “Dead. Shot by royal guards trying to protect the royal family from her and her crazy peers. If they hadn’t intervened, she would have killed them. After it all happened, Dad was shattered—heartbroken and humiliated. You see, he’d always been a staunch supporter of the Cromwells, as had his ancestors for generations. He raised me with that same loyalty, so my mother’s betrayal cut deeper. She didn’t just defy her country and her king; she betrayed our family.”
His father, once the life of feasts and parties, had withdrawn into silence and solitude. The music and laughter that once filled their home now echoed as ghosts. Money dwindled, they’d sold their farm, seeking refuge abroad, changed their last name, but the pull of home had drawn them back—a home tainted by shame. It was an ironic twist of fate that they would find employment with the Cromwells. The same family the terroristic group his own mother had been a part of had usurped and ran into exile for years, stripping them of their wealth, property and possessions, until a new government was put into place, undoing all the wrongs done unto them, restoring their former wealth and splendor.
“I’m barely a year older than Victoria,” Liam confessed. “We were both children when it all happened, helpless witnesses to our parents’ choices and fates. Now, remembering my mother’s intentions—to kill Victoria and her family—I’m torn. I can’t hate my mother, yet I can’t ignore the truth, and can’t look Victoria in the eye.”
Liam fidgeted, wiping his welled-up eyes clumsily with his sleeves. “I feel like a fraud, Jack. A liar. A monster. How can I face Victoria, knowing my blood is tied to her tragedy?”
Jack’s gruff voice echoed through the stable. “Kid,” he rasped, “I reckon I’m as lost as a sparrow in a storm. Ain’t got the words for this. Dayum, son! Wasn’t expectin’ anything like this. I am gonna have to think on all that.”
Liam nodded, tears welling up. “You see now? I can’t risk her getting too close. If she knew about this, she would despise me, rightfully so, so I rather her think I am rude and not worth her time than for her to ever find out the truth. I wish so much she hadn’t been so nice to me. I wish I hadn’t followed her and helped her when she fell off that horse. She was so nice to me…I wish she would have been rude. I wish I hadn’t gone to the palace to check on her the next day. I wish her parents had forbidden her to see me again when they found out about it and I wish you would have stopped us when you caught on. She was so curious about me, wanting to get to know me better, made me feel good, special, she showed me all those personal childhood pics and stuff of her entire family, her famous grandma when she was still performing, all those things like a real family as you imagine it. So, I wanted to show her my past, cos I couldn’t remember much, but couldn’t find any old photos. Dad said he didn’t know where those were, said maybe they got lost during the move. But then I remembered he always kept this old trunk, locked and buried under other stuff in the attic. I was always forbidden to look, but of course I did anyway, thinking the photo albums had to be in there. I picked the lock and found terrible reminders. Propaganda, photos of my mom with the other usurpers, all holding signs saying terrible things … and me as a little boy in the middle of it all as if I belonged. You can clearly tell it’s me. That’s when all the memories came back, I had honestly forgotten about it all until then, the only thing I remembered were the picnics on Sundays and my mum’s smile and laughter and her love. But then I did remember, everything all at once, including me seeing my mother shoot my father, then leaving me with him, bleeding and screaming for her, begging her not to go. I panicked up in that attic, I couldn’t breathe, my heart beat so fast I thought I was having a heart attack, the walls started closing in on me, so I just ran away, out into the fields until I couldn’t run anymore and just fell down. Later I realized I left the trunk open, so I went back — but the entire trunk was gone! Whoever took it now knows things about me and my family that could devastate dad and me, and they would devastate Victoria, her parents would have no choice than to fire us, guilty by association. Even if nobody else knew about it, I remember now and I cannot sit next to Victoria and act like I am not the son of the woman who wanted to kill her and her family, and who caused her family to lose everything, having to live in exile for years. I just can’t act like all is fine. I am 16 now, waiting till I am 18, and then I will go somewhere else and try to make a new life there. Dad won’t leave anymore, but I can’t do this, knowing what I now remember. And I definitely cannot be friends with Victoria, knowing my own mother was shot by her family’s royal guards while trying to kill her and her family. I just … can’t. Why did my mum do that?! She was kind and a great mum.”
Liam fought to hold back his tears, Jack grabbed the boy and pulled him into a fatherly embrace, well aware that he had been made part of a secret that felt like an immense weight on his shoulders and a dark cloud over his head.
EchoesOfLegacy 