Crowned Upon

Chapter 13

James hasn't been inside the Kendall household for even ten minutes, but he's already sitting on the living room carpet with Finn's two little sisters, Hannah and Grace. Hannah is 16 and Grace is 14. Both of them have red hair that looks exactly like Finn's. After shaking Finn's father's hand, the girls immediately whisked James away.

Finn just smiled and shook his head. "Don't break him! They'll probably fire me if I return him to the palace in pieces." He excused himself to change out of his work clothes.

Mr. Kendall went into the kitchen to continue working on dinner and the girls had led him into the cozy looking living room. James loved how easily he was accepted into the house. He rarely met anyone without it being a huge production.

Hannah handed James another photo. James had commented on a school photo of Finn that was hanging on the walls, and Grace immediately dug out a few photo albums from the cabinet along the wall. James examined the new photo. It was a picture of a woman with three small red-headed children in her lap."That was our mom." Grace smiles at the memory.

James hides his shock well, but he didn't know that dead mothers was something he and Finn had in common. Then again, he really didn't know Finn at all. It was pretty foolish of him to agree to come here, but looking into Finn's warm eyes, James would agree to anything.

"She's really beautiful." James comments. "Finn looks just like her."

"So you think I'm beautiful, huh?" Finn's voice is suddenly in his ear. James turns to find him now wearing jeans and a grey tee shirt. It's the first time he's seen Finn outside of his equestrian uniform.

Grace saves James from having to think of a response. "Oh this is the best one."

James can't hold back a chuckle at the photo she hands him. A young Finn is standing, facing away from the camera, wearing nothing but cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. His face is turned, flashing a mischievous grin at whoever is holding the camera.

"Seriously?" Finn chides his sister with a laugh. "My first time bringing him home, and you're already showing him my ass? He's never gonna come back now."

He plans on bringing me here again? The thought pleases Jamie. "It's okay! You have a cute butt." The words are out before James can stop them. He immediately clamps his mouth shut, mortified.

The girls snicker. James is sure his face is bright red. Finn only laughs, though. "Well thank you."

"Dinner's ready." Mr. Kendall calls from the kitchen. James couldn't be more thankful for his timing.

Dinner is just as casual and easy going as his arrival. Conversation flows freely, alternating between James answering a couple questions about life at the palace, but mostly him chuckling as Finn, Grace, and Hannah share stories of their childhood. Mr. Kendall doesn't speak much, but at each of the stories, he smiles in a way that makes his eyes shine.

James offers to do the dishes afterward, but Finn insists that Tuesdays are the girls' day for dishes. So instead, they head outside to the stables. Finn immediately leads Jamie to a stall that houses a beautiful black mare with grey hair around her eyes. "This lovely old lady is Ebony. She was my first horse."

"She's beautiful." James reached out to stroke her strong jaw. "How old is she?"

"Twenty-eight." Finn answered. "I got her when she was thirteen and I was five. She was too gentle and lazy to be a workhorse like our neighbors wanted her to be, but mom thought she'd be perfect for me to learn to ride on. So she bought Ebony and gave her to me for my fifth birthday."

"Do you miss your mom?" James asked after a moment of silence.

"Everyday." Finn replied. "It's been six years since she passed. Breast cancer."

"I'm sorry." James said, regretting bringing it up in the first place.

Finn smiled sadly. "It's alright. I don't mind talking about her. It keeps her memory alive." He reached up a stroked between Ebony's eyes with his thumb. "Do you ever miss your mom?"

James took a deep breath, choosing his words carefully. "It's hard to miss someone you never knew." He admitted. "I've heard a million stories about her, seen all the pictures, but she still doesn't feel real, like she's mine." He'd never been so brutally honest about his feelings towards his mother before, but he felt like he could tell Finn anything. "I think Rosie feels more of a connection to her. They're nearly identical, and Rosie is sort of expected to fill her shoes. She takes care of mom's old rose garden, and she still mourns her. But I never really have. Does that make me a bad person?"

Finn doesn't hesitate before responding. "I don't think you could ever be a bad person, Jamie. You don't have it in you."

Jamie smiled. "So are we gonna ride or not?"

Finn smiled a real smile, finally. "No. We're gonna race."