Mommy's Little Princess

Chapter Ten

>>>>the private beach<<<<

Rhiannon Botello's POV

The ride down the forestry is both amazing and terrible at the same time. To ride down the slopes and bumps, I had to hold onto Declan, and I could tell he was enjoying this way too much. Far too much. As we ride down, I suddenly notice that there are palm trees. Palm trees in Wisconsin.

"They're fake!" Declan yells over the roar of the ATV. "They're made to look almost exactly like a real one, but the original owners of this land wanted it to seem like Florida or Hawaii!"

I take in the information and suddenly feel honored to be on this land that someone once worked hard to keep beautiful. So the beautiful scenery was great. But me having to touch Declan meant that both of us felt sparks and that my heart was in overdrive. I just hope Declan couldn't feel it.

Finally, we make it through the greenery, and the wheels of all the vehicles hit the sand. White, beautiful sand. My combat boots, being skin tight, will ensure that no sand gets in my shoes. And as long as I don't get wet, there shouldn't be very much sand in my hair.

Declan turn of the engine of the ATV as soon as its off then I get off himself. Vienne and Brett walk over to me. "So how was the ride down?" Vienne asks with a little extra sass. I roll my eyes and pinch her nose quickly, and she laughs.

I look around the beach that is fenced in by a dock, and a lot of thick trees and weeds. The dock houses a speed boat, a yacht, and a pontoon boat that could hold at least 25 people. From the looks of it, the pontoon would be the only source of shade, and I do not want to get tanned anymore than I am.

So, I take off my button up blouse, hat, and shorts knowing that they'll stay on when I shift. I shift. I feel all eyes move to look at and my black-blue inky colored fur, and liquid amber and green eyes. "Wow," Brent says aloud. I wink, pick up my clothes and hat and book, then bound over to the pontoon. I easily slide in and then upshift. I sigh in relief when my bathing suit is still on.

I slide my clothes back on and get the hat into a comfortable position on my head so that I can watch everyone, but it looks like I'm sleeping. I inhale the warm air, and hum in content. Even if there are a bunch of guys here who I don't really trust and my mate who kind of, sort of, maybe doesn't want me...

I can relax for once...

It's been a really long time since I was able to relax. 

I watch the lake, lost in the rhythmic percussion of waves on sand. My eyes are steady to the horizon, face aglow with the warm rays. My lips bear the semblance of a smile, just enough to show that I enjoy my thoughts, whatever they may be. The lake is the finest of mirrors, never showing exactly what is above, but converting it to an image so beautifully smudged and broken.

The water of the lake beneath my home is always too cold and dangerous to swim in. One drowns easily in those waters.

This lake is gentle and carefree, the love of the families around it feed it so that the animals and nature within it and around it can live happily and in harmony. Of course, nature has its circle to turn but that doesn't mean the lion can't kiss the deer now and then. Take now for instance.

Declan is the lion, leader of his pride, and his cronies are his pride members. However, my fan plays happily with the strange but amusing members of the pride.

The guys happily let Vienne push them off the man-made lily-pad in a playful manner before swimming back up to it and letting her push them off again. She has that strange effect on people all the time. No matter who they are or what the situation is, if she is comfortable, then the situation becomes positive.

The only thing I worry about is her closeness with Brett...If something bad happens, I don't want her to be too connected with him. 

However, from what I can tell, if something bad were to happen, he wouldn't care. He'd say connected with her. I can trust Brett to be a fatherly or brotherly figure, I think. She needs one of those and it seems like Brett is doing a pretty good job of filling in. I wince when suddenly, Patrick lifts Vienne above his head and chucks her off the lily-pad, but she's laughing the whole time so I guess I shouldn't worry.

I hear steps on the boat, and lift my hat up a bit. I grimace as Declan walks over. "What do you want?" I ask, exhaling.

"You don't forgive me for what I did, do you?" he asks,

"No," I sigh, sitting up. "I don't. It wasn't a formal rejection but it was enough to hurt. I get that what happened with Gwen had to be traumatizing, but you do understand that I was hurt, too, right? Not just by you. My whole life I've had no one to care for me but my cousins and humans. Vienne loves me in equal exchange to the love I give to her."

"I get that, but this is different," he says. "This is where I am trying to decide if I need to spend the rest of my life being completely devoted to you. When you're young, it's easy to believe that life will be like a Disney movie: you'll meet your soulmate, fall in love at first sight, and -- after 40 or so minutes of mild conflict and maybe a few talking animals -- you'll live happily ever after. Yet many of us find ourselves giving up hope when our "happily ever after" doesn't appear on the schedule. And in a dating world where Tinder is king, finding a true soulmate can start to feel like nothing more than a fairy tale. I mean, thank God we're given a soulmate by genetics, but we're each other's second chances and I almost effed my chance at it up."

"Yeah, you did," I shrug in agreement.

"But I wanna try..." he says quietly. "I don't know how this is going to work out, but I wanna try this."

I frown, "Just try it...right? If it doesn't work, it doesn't work...right?" I check.

Declan nods, eyes lighting up a bit. You sure about this?  Octavia asks.

I pause. Am I?

I'm sure, I tell her.