5,781 Miles Apart

Chapter Two

Osten's POV

"It is with much sorrow that I inform you that I will be stepping down as Head of Security of this great nation of Illéa. But I will be leaving you in good hands, Prince Osten Schreave will be taking over as General of the army in my place. I look foward to seeing him achieve greatness."

General Leger steps away from the podium, shakes my hand, and I take my place at the podium. "People of Illéa," I begin, "For eighteen years you have seen me on television, in newspapers, in magazines. You watched me grow up. You have helped me get to where I am today. You pushed me and helped me strive to get to where I am today, and I greatly appreciate it.

"I remember the first time I really got into military. I was ten years old and I threw mashed potatoes at a nearby gaurd." Soft chuckles emit throughout the room and I feel the corners of my mouth raise involuntarily. "My mother, our dear America Schreave, punished me by forcing me to shadow that gaurd for the whole week."

I look over at Clay and he smiles. "He is now one of my closest friends and confidants. As I got older, I decided I wanted to make it my life. With the approval of my family, I joined the gaurd and General Leger took me on as an apprentice. Not a day goes by that I don't thank him, mentally or verbally, for making the choice of accepting me, the one who put glitter on his ceiling fan blades and covered all of the doorways in his room with duct tape, as his next in line for General. Thank you, Illéa, I look foward to serving you, just as you have served me and all of my family all these years."

I step away and thunderous claps and whistles come from all around the room. My nieces, Kerttu, Scarlet, and Giovanna, all jump up and down clapping their hands.

I step down off the stage and Giovanna runs up to me, wrapping her arms around one of my legs. Eady and Eikko have the cutest children.

I pick her up and hold her in my arms as I greet the rest of my family.

Kaden slaps me an the shoulder and tells me how proud he is, Josie gives me a side hug because of their youngest daughter, Avery is sitting in her arms.

Eadlyn pulls me into a big hug and Eikko shakes my hand. I even get a hug from the very shy six year old Kerttu.

I get to Mom and Dad and Mom sets down Atlas, Kaden's middle child on the floor to give me a hug. "I'm so proud of you, sweetie." She whispers in my ear.

I chuckle. "Thanks, Mom."

Dad gives me a firm handshake and then a hug. "I didn't know you had to do a speech." He says, putting his hands in his pockets.

I shrug. "I didn't either."

"You improvised all of that?" He questions and I nod. "Impressive."

"Well, he's definately not my son then." Says Mom, with a huge grin on her face.

I grin and shake my head. "You two are nothing but trouble."

Mom laughs. "You should have seen our Selection."

Dad immediately groans and mom playfully slaps him on the shoulder. "Hey, I wasn't that bad!" She exclaims.

"Yes, sweetheart, you were." Dad says.

I shake my head and walk over to Ahren, Camille, and their children.

"Congratulations, Uncle Osten!" Their youngest son, Bryant says.

"Yes, congratulations, Uncle." Their oldest, Azura says.

"Merci beaucoup."
-Thank you very much.-

I then approach Ahren and Camille. They both embrace me and congratulate me on my new position before Ahren switches the topic. "So Osten, is there any special lady in your life that we have yet to hear about?"

I shake my head. "No, and if there is, I haven't heard about it." They both chuckle.

"Go on, go on. There are more you need to talk to." Camille says, pushing me away.

I walk over to both of the Legers. Miss Lucy and General Leger both pull me into a group hug. "We are so proud of you." Miss Lucy whispers in my ear.

"Thank you." I whisper back, squeezing them both a little tighter.

"I look foward to watching you succeed." General Leger says. "Now go on, the press are dying to speak with you."

I turn around and see the number of people lined up outside of the rope barrier some of the gaurds set up and hear them yelling my name as well as the names of other people in my family. I sigh and turn to face them

                                                      ------

Time for dinner rolls around and I enjoy the steady chatter coming from all of the family and all of the friends gathered around the table.

Out of the middle of no where, Mom begins speaking very loudly. Loud enough for everyone to hear. "No, Lucy. He hasn't even had a girlfriend yet. I hope he hurries up and gets married. I need more grandkids."

I roll my eyes and stare down at my plate, ignoring all of the laughs around me. Kaden slaps my shoulder. "Don't worry, Osten, you'll find her someday."

"Yeah, I doubt that." I mumble under my breath.

"What was that?" He questions, "I didn't hear."

"Nothing." I say to him. Luckily he drops the topic and tries to wipe off all the baby food Avery  managed to get all over everything in a three foot radius. Mom told Kaden and Josie that I was just like that when I was a baby, and now they are both terrified she'll be a mini-me. "I think I'm just going to head upstairs for the night."

"Okay. Have fun with that." He says, not really paying attention.

I stand up, and am about to leave the dining room unnoticed when I'm interrupted. "Osten," my mother's voice rings throughout the room, "Where do you thing you're going?" She questions.

"I'm getting pretty tired. I'm just going to head on up to bed." I know she doesn't think it's a very good excuse, and she opens her mouth again to speak. I know she's about to tell me to sit back down, so I'm already walking back to my seat.

"America, it's been a long day. Just let him go." General Leger's voice cuts in.

She looks in between the two of us and caves. "Okay Osten. Goodnight. I love you."

I walk over and give her a hug and a kiss on top of her head. "I love you too, Momma."