Love Untouched

Surprise

Edited!

            The sun begins to rise over the horizon causing the sky to become a beautiful shade of orange and red. Milis’ eyes flutter open and she gets up to watch the sunrise. The window is open, allowing a soft summer breeze to drift into the spacious room. Her husband is next to wake. He yawns loudly and stretches his arms above his head. Upon noticing his wife, Eric walks toward her and wraps his arms over her bare shoulders. He kisses her head and she leans into him, loving the feel of his closeness. As the sun continues upward, Milis looks up at Eric’s charming face.

            “Why can’t our kingdom look as beautiful as this?” She asks.

            He shrugs. “We’re working on it. If it’ll bring a smile to your face, I’ll make sure that it’s done.”

            “Eric?” Milis turns in his arms and rests her head on his chest. “What if our request is denied and we return to Liam alone? What will we do then? How will our reign survive?”

            He sees the tears brimming in her eyes and brings her face toward his. After kissing her tears away, Eric smiles. “You don’t have to worry about any of that. Everything will be fine.”

            But as King Eric says these words, he knows very well that all of Milis’ fears are real. What if they don’t get what they asked for and return to their home empty handed? How will their nation survive? The answer: It won’t.

***

            “You came in pretty late last night,” Jag states as he and Aber get dressed for work. “Do I need to ask who you were with?”

            Aber feels his face heating up as he remembers last night- her face, the taste of her lip gloss, their kiss. He looks at Jag’s smirk and rolls his eyes. “I don’t believe it’s any of your business, now is it?”

            Jag puts up his hands in surrender. “Touchy are we?”

            The farmers share a laugh before heading to the yard. Abernathy grabs a shovel and his gloves from the shed to begin his work.  While the younger farmer starts his daily duties of watering and harvesting, Jag sits under a shady tree and watches. He had only just begun to notice how big Abernathy had gotten over that last week or so. His muscles had grown immensely and his shoulders had gotten broader. Jag looks down at his scraggly arms and toothpick legs.

            He sighs. “Man, I’ve got to work out more.”

            Aber looks over at his friend and laughs aloud. “If you’re serious about that, can you come over here and help me out?”

            Reluctantly, Jag stands and approaches the kneeling farmer. As he bends over to help weed a rather large grouping of potatoes, he notices Abernathy had stopped working. He struggles to try and pull the weeds alone.

            “Aber,” he says as he grabs hold of the weeds. He yanks on the green menace but it doesn’t break its hold on the soil. “Aber,” he says again. “Can you give me a hand here?” At the silence, he looks up.

            Princess Bellezza leans against the white fence around the farm. She smiles at Aber as he stands and removes the hat from his head. Jag does the same and steps forward to bow in respect. He had never seen the princess up close before- none of the farmers had dared to get too close. He looks over at Aber who can’t keep the grin off of his face as the she starts talking about last night.

            Jag had to admit that it’s no wonder how Abernathy fell for her. She’s gorgeous. Curly, dark locks rest atop her head, away from her face as to show off her beautiful dark eyes. Her smile is so bright and happy that it’s mesmerizing, hypnotizing- it’s contagious. He steps away from the fence so that it doesn’t look like he’s ease dropping.