Page 35 of Ladybird

“I saw him kiss you from all the way down by the creek.” Luke didn’t sound happy about it at all.

“Oh,” she said, not wanting to deny it. “Luke, does it bother you that your uncle kissed me?” she asked, starting to get an idea of what was bothering the boy.

“I don’t care at all,” he told her. “I have a new friend now. I don’t need Hunter anymore.” He stood up and walked across the wagon, distancing himself and huddling down right behind the driver’s seat.

Her brother came over and put Martin in the wagon. “He wants to ride with you, Regina,” said Robin. “Would you mind holding on to Martin?”

“Of course I don’t mind.” She took Martin onto her lap.

“Robin, I want to ride in the back with Regina,” said Sage. “Can Hunter ride up front with you?”

“I suppose so,” said Robin, lifting his wife and helping her get settled. “Just move in from the end so you don’t fall out if we hit a bump.”

“Robin, I am thankful that you care, but you are being ridiculous. I am not going to get hurt and neither will I injure the babies.”

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t fall out,” Regina promised her brother.

“Well, all right.” Robin walked over to Hunter and together they went to the driver’s seat. In a moment the wagon lurched and they started back to the castle.

“Well? How did it go with Hunter?” asked Sage.

“Oh, so that was your plan, was it?” asked Regina. “Is it also why you wanted to ride in back with me now?”

“Mayhap. Now, do tell.”

Regina didn’t want to talk about the kiss with Luke in the wagon and Martin on her lap. Everyone seemed to have eyes like a hawk and ears like an owl.

“Everything is fine,” she told Sage, her eyes roaming over to Luke who seemed so hurt or dejected. “However, I think I know why someone is acting a certain way to someone else now.”

“What?” Sage made a face. “Regina, you are making no sense at all.”

“Since when does anything in our lives ever make sense?” asked Regina, feeling as if she were falling for a commoner just like her siblings and so many of her cousins had done as well. It was the last thing in the world that she thought would ever happen to her.