To My Love

To Mg Love: The Present and The Future

     He scooped up the meal in his hands as if it was going to be stolen at any moment. He didn't need forks nor did he want them. Maybe he didn't know what they were. He hasn't really been the type for royal life. "I thought you were a prince in your past life." I teased, knowing he must be starving. "I was, I'm just not used to such savory food." He stuttered.
"Then why don't you savor it..." James mocked under his breath. I kicked him in the shin and get him a side eye. Esra could hear James, but chose not to say it. I looked over at James once again, tempting him to initiate the next conversation. I cannot speak to him through my eyes like I could with most men, it was pointless. "So Esra I feel as if I should not lie to you anymore." I said with a cowardly tone. I was not scared, it was just the fact that I said the word "lie". He stopped eating and straightened his posture like he was getting ready for the biggest news he's heard in a long while. "Well don't just leave me on edge, speak up lass." He insisted. He was not scared of what I would say, more or less scared of what would happen after.
     "The reason we have brought you here is not to have a family reunion." I exhaled every word as fast as I could just to get it out of the way. He looked at me with all seriousness and began to laugh. With a dirty wheeze he laughed almost rolling out of his chair. "Hell, I knew that! Why would you come looking for me?"
I let out a deep sigh of relief. "My mother gave me a little parchment before she...well it had your name on it and my mother has always wanted me to take the throne and I thought, maybe if I found you, you could help me." I stumbled over my words like small pebbles on a road. "Help us." James corrected, and then I agreed "yes us.". Esra looked at me and then at James. He was not so giggly anymore, and the laughter and relief soon faded away with the gap of silence. Say something, anything. I prayed in my mind.
     "I have a...well I don't know if it's still there but I have a trunk of all of my letters I received from my mother, after I was exiled. My right to the throne was sent in one of them." His words flowed so smoothly like he had been waiting for someone to take the burden of the throne off of his shoulders. The way he was so grateful I asked to take it away from him, it made me feel like I didn't want it. But I owed it to my mother, and to James...and to the bared growing in my womb.

     We took the map that Esra had sketched for us and took the carriage instead of going on foot. But we took the more poor looking one, so we would not draw attention to the thugs. While we passed through the ally ways and back roads to the little home that Esra told us to go to, I felt the need to appreciate the life I had lived, without power or responsibility. I had lived a normal and free life and was about to give it all away for my legacy. For our legacy.
"I love you." I whispered to James with the most meaningful tone. I wanted him to know and I needed him to know. He looked at me with the same smile that he always flashed at me when I said those three simple words. "I love you most." His words burned my heart and made a tear draw from my eye and dry into my cheek.
     We stepped out of the rickety old carriage and into the small brick house. My boots picked up as much of a clump of mud it could. We stopped and pinched our nostrils shut and the same time. My head ached at the soiling smell. It smelled like a giant bed pot had been sitting and melting in the sun. I walked further into the house and went into the third room as instructed by Esra. There was no door but there was a stained curtain that hung from the frame, as an excuse for the door. There laid and large trunk, tipped over but not opened. James moved in front of me and unlatched the buckle that locked the lid. He looked up at me as if it was for an effect. "Get on." I scoffed and motioned my hands forward over and over. He took my glove off my hand and lifted up the lid with it. The dust cloud that released from the many prices of paper blinded and choked me. We both coughed and swatted at the puff of dust.

     We spent hours reading through every letter. Learning facts, and learning absolutely nothing useful to me. I pulled out the very last letter while James sat up asleep in his chair. I sat there in silence and waited for something brilliant to happen, telling me this is the one. But nothing even sparked. Until I read the first four words...
Long Live The King.
My heart fluttered knowing this was it. This his claim to the throne. I sat there in silence but I'm my own mind I was dancing vicariously. "James!" I shouted. James jumped awake and gripped his sword as instinct. "The letter! It's here, his claim is here!" I shouted again waving the letter in the air. He woke fully and snatched the letter from my hand. The candlelight showed his face lit up and cheerful. "This is it, this is our chance!" He said under his breath with a lift of excitement. He dropped the letter and scooted over to me and grabbed my hands. Holding them to his chest, I could feel his heart pound faster and faster. I laughed in joy and almost even cried. Then a curtain of silence fell over us and we stared into each others eyes, knowing this may be the last of our freedom.
"Marry me." James whispered.
His words floated in the air like a graceful butterfly. I wanted to. James was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. He was my world since it ended. He has been my present. And now he was going to be my future. And so was our child.
"Yes."