The Raven Prince

chapter one

^^^^^ how I feel Tatum should look. This is how I pictured her in my mind. If I find a picture on google that looks close to her then I will post it, pinky swear.*** please don't steal my drawing!!!!

Chapter one

Tatum sighed in contentment as she assessed her beautifully iced cake. The detail was perfect, clean, sharp, and precise just like all creation before. She set her icing bag down on the counter next to the now finished cake before she carefully transfered the giant pastry from the counter to the large, orange plastic tray.

Up front she heard the bell ring, signaling that a customer had just entered. "Be there in a minute!" She called from the kitchen, loud enough for the customer to hear. She glided towards the service counter, careful not to drop her masterpiece in the process. "See anything that would satisfy your sweet tooth?" She asked, sliding the cake into one of the show cases before spinning around to face her customer with a joyful smile on her face.

It's no secret that Tatum loves to bake. She had always had that passion. When she entered college she knew that she wanted to make that passion a career. As soon as she finished her degrees, she opened her own bakery in a small, compact building in the center of town.

Tatum had always been a happy go lucky girl, whole always had a smile on her face and a pep in her step. Though she was considered a rare, unearthly beauty by everyone around her, she thought herself plain. But looks never mattered to her, no, it is what lies within that matters. Her father always said that 'you could be the most beautiful woman in existence, but if you were ugly on the inside, well, then you might as well be a troll!' She believed it, for she had gone to highschool with girls like that.

The customer caught sight of Tatum's beautiful smile and went blank. Never had he ever seen such a smile before. It just seemed to light up even the darkest corners of the bakery, he was mesmerized, staring and babbling like an idiot. His hands started to sweat and his knees begin to shake. She stared at him with a kind, joyous smile, but had an expecting look in her eyes, no, not the demanding kind, the patient, curious kind. He tried to speak, but he couldn't seem to form sentences, this woman's beauty stole his words away. She waited patiently, the smile never leaving her face. Finally, he managed to pull himself together, "um, uhh, yeah, un, uhh, do you have any cupcakes?" He asked dumbly, then kicked himself, 'of course she have cupcakes, this is a bakery stupid!' He scolded himself. The woman just nodded, her smile growing with excitement,
"Yes, yes, we do sir, they are here at the end. I have red velvet with cream cheese icing and sprinkles, then below those are the vanilla based cupcake with zesty buttercream icing the ones to the left of that are chocolate with peanut butter based frosting with crunched up buttercup sprinkled on top. " She explains, making his mouth water uncontrollably, they all sounded so good. He couldn't decide so he settled for one of each. She gently picked them out and placed them in a leaf green box with cake and handed them to him. "Thank you ms...." He started hoping to get her name. She smiled and handed back his change.

"Jones. Tatum Jones." She replied, "and your welcome, mr.." She said trailing off as if awaiting his name. Goodness, he could listen to her talk all day, her voice is soft and melodic, the sweetest song he had ever heard.

"Forteworth. James Forteworth, nice to meet you Tatum Jones. I'll be seeing you." James said before spinning on his heel and walking out the door, making a mental note to stop by every day. He is going to make Tatum his, that's a promise.