Epilogue Part Two
Everything Has Changed
Nathaniel stood in the kitchen, stirring the eggs in the bowl he had in his hands. He had woken up early, careful to let his sister still sleep. He left the house and went outback where his father had built a little coop for the chicken. Nathaniel took a couple of eggs and brought them back into the house to cook them in the kitchen. When he walked downstairs, he had seen his father asleep on the couch. He remembered the conversation he had with his sister, and gave his sleeping father a sympathetic look.
When he came back, his father was gone and the blanket was neatly folded onto the couch.
The only recipe he knew to make were, very simply, scrambled eggs. Nathaniel poured the yolk into a pan and let it turn to scrambled eggs over the fire. He stirred continuously, and soon enough, he had made four plates of scrambled eggs, all topped with sliced tomatoes he had picked that very morning.
"Tobias?" A tired voice called out. Nathaniel looked up and saw his mother coming down the stairs. She slowly walked to the kitchen and tilted her head when she saw her son instead. "Nathan?"
"Hi Mom," he said with a wide grin. He pushed one of the plates forward. "I made breakfast."
Beatrice smiled, walking around the kitchen counters and squeezing her son's cheek. "They look great, Nathan. Did you make them yourself?"
He nodded proudly. "Yup. I went and got the eggs myself, and I sliced the tomatoes myself."
"I have to say I'm surprised. You and your sister don't come near the kitchen unless it's to complain that you're hungry or to get your plate. Why the sudden change of spirit?"
Well, Mom, I was feeling guilty for causing a fight between you and Dad, he would have. "You haven't been feeling well, and I wanted to ease your mind for breakfast at least."
His mother smiled. Beatrice looked over her shoulder over to the couch and was surprised when she didn't see her husband sleeping there. Instead, she saw the blanket he used folded and the couch neatly tucked in. "Where's your father?"
"I'm not sure. He came down and, I guess, took a nap on the couch. When I came back he was gone." Nathan played dumb.
She nodded, taking a long pause before continuing. "Well, you needn't worry. He's probably fine."
It was clear that Beatrice was saying that because to comfort herself more than her son. Kristine would have understand and would have stopped the conversation there, but Nathaniel didn't quite get the hint. "Oh, Mom, I'm not worried. He's probably with Pete."
Beatrice chuckled and stroked her son's cheek before telling him to go wake his sister up. As he left, she walked over to the window, pulling the robe around her closer to her body. She turned her head left and right to try and find a trace of her husband, but he wasn't in her line of vision.
Although she really shouldn't have, Beatrice exited the door and walked across the lawn to Abby and Pete's house. She coughed a couple of times on her way, sometimes stopping to recuperate her breath. Nevertheless, she made it to the doorsteps and knocked, waiting for a reply.
The door opened and Eve had shown herself. Eve smiled and invited Beatrice inside, closing the door behind. "My mom is in the kitchen," Eve said. Beatrice thanked her and walked over to the kitchen, who Abby was surprise to see walking.
"You should be resting. You're sick." Abby said, putting down the plate she was making.
"Good morning to you too. I came here asking if you had seen my husband this morning?" Beatrice asked.
Eve chimed in. "He's outside with my dad."
Beatrice walked out the door which led into the back of the house. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw Tobias laughing with Pete, a beer in his hands. Once she saw this, however, her pace quickened and she grabbed the bottle out of his hands. Tobias was surprised to see her here, but more worried she had found him drinking beer early for in the morning
"I was looking for you." She said flatly before greeting Pete.
"I was with my friend." Tobias responded, mimicking her tone.
They stared at each other for a small while before Beatrice cleared her throat. "Nathan made us breakfast and he wants you home, so let's go."
"I'll eat it later, Tris."
"Our son wants you home right now."
Tobias opened his mouth but when his mind processed what he was about to say, he quickly closed it. "Fine. Goodbye, Pete."
"Toby." Pete nodded and watched as the unhappy couple left the backyard.
Beatrice walked beside her husband, her arms crossed and her steps heavy. Tobias occasionally looked down at her, but chose not to say anything. In this situation, they both thought they were right, and it didn't look like one was going to succumb to the other's ideas.
The door opened as Nathaniel greeted both of his parents with a forced smile. He led them both to the dining room before going back out into the kitchen. Kristine had finally come down and scoffed when she saw what her brother had made. "You're such an ass kisser."
"Oh come on, unlike you, it bothers me when I'm in trouble. Besides, I even made you one, so stop being so pissy and take your plate." Nathan countered, bringing his parents' plate into the dining room. Kristine followed with the two other plates and set them across from her parents, who definitely looked like there was something going on between them.
Nathaniel watched excitedly as his father, notably, took a piece of the breakfast. He knew, whether it was good or bad, his mother was going to compliment his work; "Breakfast is delicious, Nathan. I'm so proud of you doing this," Beatrice told her son with a smile. She too turned to Tobias to see what he was going to say, which admittedly took him longer than expected.
"It's just scrambled eggs." Tobias said flatly as he finished his plate and left the dining room without another word, bringing his empty plate with him.
Beatrice watched the smile falter on her son's face. She took his hand from across the table and gave him another reassuring smile. "Don't pay attention to your father's attitude. We had a disagreement last night about something and he hasn't been in the best mood. Don't worry, it wasn't about you two, although I am disappointed in what you guys did."
"Mom," Nathaniel jumped in. "I can explain. You see, I -"
Beatrice rose her hand and shook her head. "I don't want to hear it. What's done is done, and there's no excuse to give. You two will be grounded, and that's final, but I'm not going to come back to this topic. I'll go see your father, you two clean up please."
Kristine watched her mother leave the room before slumping in her chair. "The next six months are going to be hell."
"No they're not. Mom and Dad are going to get past this - they always do. Don't you remember the stories they told us? Remember the one where-"
"You don't believe those are true, right? Nathan they were bedtime stories."
"I believe they're real."
"Nathan," she repeated, sighing and shaking her head. "The only bedtime story I remember is the one about The Prince and the Servant, and that's only because you liked it so much Mom told it to us every night. Where did you get the idea that story characters were our parents?"
"They just sound so much like what our parents would do. I don't know, I just always had a feeling they were telling us their actual backstory in the form of a bedtime story. Remember when she said that the Prince had a Royal Birthmark? At school, they told us that was real, and look," Nathaniel hastily pulled down his shirt and revealed the skin where his chest connected to his shoulder. He pointed at the Birthmark. "It looks exactly like the royal Birthmark they showed in class!"
"Oh my, Nathan," Kristine sighed. "Mom made up that story so we could feel better about our blob of a Birthmark. It's not a crown, it's an oval with weird spikes coming out."
"It's a crown, Kristi. Open your eyes."
"So you're saying that Dad was a prince and Mom was a servant? You're saying that with a sane state of mind? Seriously? And what does that make us? Prince and princess?"
"Who knows. Mom and Dad never talk to us about their past, or our grandparents, of any other relatives. Okay, remember Aunt Christina and Aaron? They always came to visit in a carriage. You know who else rides in a carriage? Royalty."
"So what if Aunt Christina is royalty? That's pretty cool, right?"
"I thought so too, but then I saw Aaron's shoulder, he doesn't have the Royal Birthmark. And I thought 'maybe he just didn't get it' but Royal blood is thicker than normal blood." Nathaniel pulls down his shirt again for more effect.
"This is insane. You can't possibly be suggesting we originate from Royalty. I don't want to hear more of this, so let's go clean up and get on with our day."
Kristine grabbed the plates and went to the kitchen, placing them in the sink and cleaning vigorously each plate. For some reason, Nathaniel made her angry, and she was taking it out on the plate. She felt angry thinking about a possibility of her family being Royal, mainly because it was a reality that could never happen.
They weren't Royal. The Smiths weren't Royal.
When she was done, she avoided speaking to her brother and pushed her way into their bedroom. She slammed the door behind her, walking up to the mirror next to her bed and staring at her reflection. With a swift movement, she took off her shirt and examined the Birthmark printed on her skin. She touched it with her fingers, tracing it to see where a crown could possibly be shaped.
This only made her angrier.
Kristine clenched her fists and grabbed the shirt, taking deep breaths to prevent herself from throwing a punch to the glass mirror. She slipped on her shirt and laid down on her bed, her arm draped over her stomach. She looked up at the ceiling, contemplating.
"It's impossible," she mumbled to herself. "We're normal people."
And that, they definitely weren't.
~
"You're being unbelievably stubborn, Tobias." Beatrice told her husband as they argued alone in their bedroom.
"Me? There's no stubbornness involved here, Beatrice. You said last night you regret being pregnant."
"Tobias!" She said angrily. "Of course I don't regret being pregnant. I love Kristine and Nathan, how dare you put words in my mouth. This is my body too, Tobias; it's not made to provide children for you whenever you please. I will never regret my children, but yes, I do regret the timing of this one's arrival. If you hadn't noticed, like I told you last night but you were most likely not listening because you only hear what you want to hear - this house is too small to raise a family of five! And, that is if I don't have multiple like the first time."
"And I told you last night that we will find a better place to raise our family-"
"Tobias," Beatrice repeated his name, softer. She approached him and slowly stroked his cheek. "We don't live in the castle anymore. We've been so careful not to have another child - at least until one of the kids move out. But accidents happen, and instead of arguing we need to figure out what to do."
Tobias rose his hand and took her hand in his, resting against her hand. He sighed and nodded, raising his other hand and placing it lightly on her stomach. "We can do this, I know we can."
"I know you want many children, and I do too. But there's just no room," she leaned her forehead against his. "I want so many children with you, I do, but our lives changed. We're not young anymore, and we're fifteen years older. Everything's changed."
He blinked away the burning tears in his eyes. "I know."
Beatrice nodded and wiped her own tears away. She stepped back and took a deep breath, looking at her husband. "Maybe, just maybe, things will change, Tobias. Maybe we'll have the family we envisioned."
"I'm going to go and look for houses tomorrow, okay? I'll find us a bigger one."
She nodded again, this time slower. "Okay, Tobias. I hope you'll find it. I'm going to go downstairs and get a glass of water. Have you thought of a punishment for the kids yet?"
"I was thinking of having them come with me to work. Not really a punishment, but I'm also not allowing them to hang out with the neighbors."
"God," she crossed her arms. "Cain has turned out to be such a disappointment. At least they have Eve, who's such a delight."
"Yes, if only Kristine would be like her best friend."
Beatrice smiled and left the room, going down the stairs and into the kitchen. Tobias followed behind her, turning his head to their children, whom were about to be punished. As he told them their punishment, Beatrice drank the glass of water slowly and watched.
Soon after, she began to start on lunch. Tobias entered the kitchen and stood behind his wife, wrapping his arms around her waist and placing his hands on her stomach. Beatrice stopped cooking to place her own hands on top of his, enjoying the warmth.
They were so preoccupied they didn't hear a knock coming from the door.
Kristine stood, fixing herself and walking over to the door. Nathan drew back the curtain to look through the window, and his eyes grew at once. He quickly hopped off the couch and pushed his sister away, opening the door fast and widening his eyes at the well suited, neat, and tall man standing on the other side.
This, they heard, and Tobias and Beatrice stopped what they were doing to rush to the door. "Nathan, don't open the doors unless we give you permission!" His mother scolded, pushing him and his sister behind her.
Tobias stepped forward, opening the door more and analyzing the person standing before him. Something in his stomach made him suddenly churn. "May I help you?"
"Your highness, your presence is requested in the kingdom, this time as King." The man said.
Beatrice gasped, taking a step back and leaning against the counter. Tobias glanced over his shoulder at her before stuttering, unable to find the words to respond. Nathan looked over at Kristine, who was shocked as ever.
Without a moment of thinking, Nathan wrapped one arm around his sister with a huge smile plastered on his face. "I told you!"
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