Her Royal Secret

Chapter 3: Part 1

"Robert," I gasped and nearly swayed on my feet. Had Jasper not caught me immediately there would have been a replay of what had happened earlier in the day.

Because this was earth-shatteringly unbelievable. I stared at the man before me and covered my mouth with both hands as a scream threatened to escape. It was Robert in the flesh, the same tall, muscular man but his hair was slightly longer and his face which he had always kept smooth was now covered with stubble. Robert still had his kind brown eyes but seemed different, as though he had been through hell and back. His clothes were slightly too big for him, they looked borrowed. He approached me tentatively, as though he might scare me off and it was then that I noticed the haunted look on his face.

"Oh My God." I mumbled against my fingers and behind me I heard Jasper add in,

"You could say that again."

"Len, it's me." Robert said softly as though he was trying not to scare me. I realized that I made quite the pathetic picture, probably trembling and backing into Jasper as though I needed him to protect him. The wetness on my cheeks told me that I had started to cry, without even realizing it. To Robert, it probably seemed as though I had seen a ghost and was terrified.

I had to pull myself together, had to force myself to believe that I wasn't stuck in a dream and that the person standing in front of me was my brother, back from the dead. I resisted the urge to go to him and touch him just to assure myself that he was real. I held back the emotion that was threatening to overflow and make me break out into loud sobs. Behind me, I had Jasper's comforting touch letting me know that he was there for me no matter what. And in front of me stood my brother, my rock.

"I...I can't believe this is real." I told him, finally stepping forward. My hands went to his shoulders and it was as though being able to touch him ruptured something inside of me, something I had been holding back for a very long time. I didn't stop myself from throwing my arms around him and hugging him into me.

All the pain, the loss and the hurt that had been festering inside of me since my brother's death rose to the surface and was unleashed with a vengeance. He was comforting me, Robert who had been through God knows what was the one trying to calm me down when I should be the one taking care of him.

I wiped my tears with the back of my hand pulled back, taking in his face one more time just to make sure he was really there. I felt as though I would do that very often just to reassure myself that this wasn't a dream that I would wake up from. I had dreamt about my brother a lot, thought a lot about his death. I had wondered how alone he must have been, how terrified when he realized that his plane was going to crash. I had nightmares because of him but now?

He was here.

He was okay.