Queen for Us All

1 - The Calm before the Storm

Finally, my own space. I sat by the pool enjoying the sun and view, I could get used to this. Being alone for some may seem overwhelming but for me, it was refreshing. This is the first time in my adult life that I have lived alone. I had the twins at a young age, so I truly have never had the single life experience. I am excited to enjoy some of its pleasantries now. It's been about six months since the move, and I am truly happy.

The kids were opposed to me moving from the East Coast, but Texas had always been my dream. I wanted the big house with the pool, and finally I had it. This was my forever home. I wanted the kids to enjoy their lives and start their own families while I finally took the time to do the things that I wanted to do. I was a lawyer, consultant and had some real estate investments, so I could work anywhere. They finally understood my need to find my own happiness and when they saw that there was more than enough room for them and their future families they were all too happy to agree. Eight bedrooms, six bathrooms, an office, theatre, large backyard, pool, lake view and a pool house with three more bedrooms seemed to prove as an excellent incentive for them to be ok with my move.

A new single woman moving into the area was something of an anomaly, I had a few suitors already, which did not interest me, the majority of my life was spent being a mother and I had no intention of jumping into anything too quickly. I am a woman and I do plan to date, but nothing too serious at this point. I just wanted to enjoy the freedom of worrying about me and me alone. If I am being honest no one had caught my eye. They were either too old or too young or they had small children and were looking for a mother to their children. Don't get me wrong, I am a mother, but I have no desire to start over with being a mother to small children, my kids were grown, and any man that wanted to date me needed to have grown children as well. I am not one to have a list of requirements of the person I am dating but this was a non-negotiable requirement.

I even had a cleaning service, not that I needed one, with my OCD, but this place had too many rooms for me to cover by myself. I met the owner of the cleaning company, a young woman in her mid-twenties, she was a wonderful young lady and occasionally she would stop by and just talk. She told me that her mother died during childbirth something we had in common and she just enjoyed talking to me. She reminded me so much of my daughter we just clicked. She was my first real acquaintance and I also enjoyed her company. Talia, that is her name, invited me to a BBQ not far from me where she wants to introduce me to her family and friends, and I thought why not. I am still new here so what harm could there be. So, I will myself to stop sitting on the deck looking at the lake behind my house and get ready to be social.

I found a cute denim dress that faded from light blue to dark blue and some brown gladiator sandals for the day, paired with my brown LV bag and I was all set. "I must say Royal, you do look pretty damn good for a 42yr old mother of two." I laughed while I talked to myself in the mirror and proceeded to head out to my destination. I wasn't quite use to the hot days in Texas, but I found a way to make it work. Talia always complimented me on my style and she couldn't believe that I had two grown children, and I appreciated the compliment. As I arrived Talia was right there to greet me like she knew the moment I got there. The people were friendly, and all the kids were having a great time. I connected with some of the women my age and had some lunch dates and hang out sessions planned with them already. I was glad I came. Glad I didn't just stay home sitting on the deck reading my iPad all day. Talia had a very large family and I had met everyone but her Dad, and she was insistent that I couldn't leave until I met him, he was curious about the women his daughter had been spending a lot of her free time with. The BBQ was winding down, but I promised I would stay until he came.

Brian had finished his last meeting and was trying to get to the family BBQ before his daughter had his head. He was always busy and seemed to miss the small things that seemed massively important to Talia. Brian also needed to meet this woman that Talia had been hanging out with, he knew that Talia longed for a mother figure, but his mate had died bringing Talia into the world. He can't really say his heart was broken, because he really didn't get a chance to get know her. He discovered she was his mate, the mated, she was pregnant, then had Talia and died. He was busy learning how to be an Alpha while she was pregnant. He never questioned the Moon Goddess, but they didn't seem suited for one another, he felt the pain of her death but there wasn't much emotion tied to it. That pull that others had experienced, the love, the passion wasn't there for him. And as much as he wanted to believe it, the promise that was made to him never came true. 

 Their family was mixed with black and Indian and while he tried to teach Talia the customs of his ancestors he also wanted her to know where she came from and dealing with his late wife's family was always a challenge. But Talia needed the love and lessons from all her family so once a year he would bite the bullet and break bread with the entire family on his land. As he walked up to the pavilion this wonderful smell hit him like a lightning bolt. It overwhelmed him, he had to find out were it was coming from. He greeted the people as they approached but he couldn't shake this anxious feeling. Going around the whole area he couldn't find where it was coming from until he saw someone playing in the grass with Tyler, step by step the smell got stronger.

The smaller children were playing on the playground and Royal saw a little boy that couldn't quite keep up with everyone else but still wanted to have fun.

"Hi. My name is Royal, what's your name", I said.

"Tyler", he said.

"Well Tyler can I play with you."

"Yes Ms. Royal, you smell good."

"Really, what do I smell like."

"Peppermint", he said.

We became fast friends, he was 6, he wasn't as fast as the other kids, but he would be one day he said. We ran around the grass and he caught me several times while his parents looked on, happy that someone was giving Tyler some personal time and attention. They had 8 kids that were keeping them plenty busy.

The most excruciating pain hit me while I was swinging Tyler around, and we both fell to the ground, him on top of me of course as I wanted to protect him from harm. It felt like the wind had been knocked out of me, before my world went black all I heard was a loud voice that said MATE!!!