Page 4 of Royal Bastard

I scrambled from the tiny little house and out into the city streets. I didn’t really have anywhere to go. It was only then that the reality of my life over the last few years crystalized. There was no one I could call. Not just because I didn’t have their numbers anymore, but because Aaron had designed everything that way.

I glanced back at the house to see him stood in the doorway. My entire life was in that house. Him, our daughters, my hopes for the future; it was all in that house. Where was I supposed to go?

The girls had never been to a birthday party with other children, or had one, they’d never been to slumber parties, and we didn’t go out to visit friends or family. Aaron had worked to alienate all my old friends and even my parents from our circle. I’d felt so much guilt over the girls that I’d allowed him to do it.

I made my way through the darkness of the dimly-lit streets, afraid to stay out of the light, but ashamed that I’d just been kicked out of my home, so I clung to the darkness. I was probably in shock too, otherwise I might have seen the sense in seeking out a shelter. Instead, I spent that first cold night huddled on a bench in the park before I’d become too overwhelmed to stay there. The old oak tree with all its carved initials and declarations of eternal love taunted me with their promise, the same promise Aaron had made to me.

When a homeless man came and declared I was on his bench, I got up and left.

I wished I’d brought my coat, I can remember that part now. I’d found a restroom door unlocked in the park’s bathroom facilities and huddled in there until the morning came and I could finally hear the world come back to life. I’d stared, still in shock, as cars rushed by, all with a destination in mind. I had no idea where to go.

Aaron had always been too proud to let me sign up for welfare, even during our leanest times, so I had no idea how to get that, or where to even go. I had no clue what to do. I dug around in my purse and found $15 and decided I needed coffee. I’d found a diner that sold coffee for a dollar and went in. I wanted more than the single cup, but I didn’t know how long the money I had would have to last me. I had a debit card for Aaron’s bank, but would I be able to withdraw anything? I wondered, before I said no to that idea. I had to think about the girls. They might need something.

“Honey, do you need some help?” The waitress that had brought me my coffee came back now and looked down at me with compassion. Not pity or derision, just compassion.

“I think I might, actually.” The diner was still empty then, and I was glad of it because a tear streaked down my cheek before I could stop it. “I have no idea what to do.”

She’d helped me, given me directions to a shelter, and had even come to check on me there once her shift ended. I’d made it through that first day, then that first week, and now, a divorce and a year later, I was on the verge of something even better. I’d had a nervous breakdown, I can’t deny that, I’d been in a hospital for a little while. Aaron and his girlfriend had driven me to it, but I was getting on with life now.

I stood up from the wall, brushed off the back of my clothes, and took a deep breath. That was the past. My future was one more building away. I straightened out my clothes, wiggled my feet in my shoes, and headed out once again. I’d managed to push down my anxiety, and maybe it was just brazen stupidity, but I made myself walk. I wanted to see Violet and Dahlia again. I wanted to hold my girls again, and this job would make that happen, I just knew it would.

Before I knew it, I was in the building and talking to a woman named Alana. She’d introduced herself to me the minute I stepped off the elevator on the twelfth floor and taken me to an employee break room to discuss my paperwork and to sign papers. I wasn’t going to be a full employee of the firm, but I still had paperwork to fill out. I’d watched Alana as she talked me through each set of papers, and the kind way she looked at me without condescension, the way her brown eyes would light up when I said something she thought was funny.

I’d forgotten I could be funny while I was married to Aaron and it was a trait that had emerged as the days had worn on. My sense of humor made it easy to diffuse tense situations, or to change the subject when I finally reconnected with my parents and they found it uncomfortable when I tried to let them know I hadn’t meant to become so distant. My parents were never overly emotional, and my displays of affection had always been discouraged, but I felt I owed them some kind of explanation. My humor got me through what basically amounted to their rejection.

When anger at them, at their callousness, made me want to scream and demand to know why they’d stopped asking to see their own daughter, I’d turned it into humor. This woman, this Alana, looked like she might be a friend, if I took the chance. She was pretty, with lovely, almond-shaped dark eyes and darker skin, but it was the gentle tone of her voice that put me at ease.

“Now, Henry can be scary to some people, the more timid personality,” she warned me as we walked to his office for a formal introduction. She’d paused outside the door and looked back at me, her glossed lips arched in a smile. “Don’t let him know you’re afraid, or he might just eat you alive.”

She wiggled her brows at me and I had to smother a laugh. Yeah, we would get along just fine.

“I’ve heard about this guy, I’ve brought my douchebag-away.” I held up my middle finger but scratched at my eyebrow with it to poorly hide what I meant. “I’m nobody’s fool anymore.”

“I read your file, I had to as part of our decision process. I just want to say, Evie, you’re one strong woman.” She looked down at her red-painted nails and bit at her lips before she looked up again. “I really admire you and your courage.”

“Thanks.” I felt tears prick at my eyes and had to fight to push them down. “Great, you make me cry right before I meet the dragon-king.”

I waved at my eyes and we both laughed before we took a breath to calm down. “Ready?”

I looked at her with a gleam in my eye, ready to face the world. Until I saw his face and got a glimpse of just how gorgeous he was, that is. My jaw dropped as the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen brought his light gray eyes up to look at me. Maybe I wasn’t ready after all.

I glanced over at Alana long enough to see her try to hide a smirk before I took control of myself and walked in with my hand held out in a professional way.

“Hi, I’m Evie, your trainee from Second Chance.”

That’s how I wanted it to go, anyway. What really happened was I went to step into the room, said hi, and immediately caught a loose piece of carpet with the heel of my shoe before I fell down to the floor as hard as I could. I swear, I bounced!

I was so embarrassed, all I could do was lie there as I heard Alana cry out my name and blink as a pair of designer, black leather shoes appeared before my eyes. I just smashed my face into the carpet and groaned in mortification. Could I just die now?