“Finally, if you need something, anything, just ask someone and they will get it for you. Clothing, food, whatever you need,” said Gwen.
“You’ve given me much already. I haven’t felt this healthy and well in months. So much has happened and I had to leave so quickly. I hope that someone on the island has buried my beloved,” he said staring off across the property. He looked at the rows of plants in the garden and then stared at the women, then back at the plants.
“Are you alright?” asked Ajei.
“These plants, they are from the Greek islands and don’t grow well in this climate. How are they so hearty? There are olive trees, Oleander, Bay Laurel, Cyclamen. I see Sage and others that can be grown here but how are these so beautiful?”
“My aunt has a green thumb,” smiled Ajei. “Aunt Claudette is amazing with the gardens and she’s teaching the four of us about the plants. Would you like to join us? We’re about to get a lesson from her.”
“I would love to! Gardening was one of my great passions back home. My wife had an amazing green thumb. She was always digging in the dirt. Our people, my people on the island, often said I behaved more like a farmer than a prince.”
“I would think that’s what made you loved by the people on the island,” smiled Ajei. “My people believe that the closer you are to the earth, the closer you are to your creator, whoever that might be.”
“Are you a gardener?” he asked.
“No. Not by choice,” she laughed. “I’m a nurse.”
“Are you all healthcare workers?”
“I couldn’t do what Ajei does,” smiled Gwen. “I’m a fashion designer. Mostly indigenous designs, gowns, wedding gowns on occasion.”
“I’m an engineer,” smiled Sophia Ann. “My field is a specialty field but I love what I do.”
“And you, beautiful Kate?” he asked.
“I used to work for the CIA and the military,” she smiled. “My husband, Cam, is a former Navy SEAL, like many of these men. Others are Army Rangers, Marine Special Forces, Delta, and others. They’re extraordinary men.”
“It sounds as though you all are extraordinary women,” he said taking a seat on the bench. “Like my beloved, Marie Nicole. She was a beauty, inside and out. I met her while we were both at university in England. She was studying early childhood learning and I was studying business. All very proper.” He had a sad smile on his face and the women listened intently.
“I would see her often on campus but was too shy to ask her for coffee. Then, one day, she approached me and said she’d like to know how a prince could be so shy. It made me laugh. We were inseparable after that. After we married, she was devastated that she couldn’t provide an heir. I didn’t care. It didn’t matter to me. Living a healthy, happy life with her was all that mattered to me.”
“That’s very romantic,” said Kate. “For most royals their sole purpose is to procreate.”
“Royal seems a stretch for me,” he smiled. “My parents were much like me. Our titles, prince and princess were informal and truly used only to show respect for our lineage. Those on the island simply called me Nici.”
“Is that what you’d like us to call you?” asked Sophia Ann.
“No,” he said thoughtfully, shaking his head. “There’s an interesting way that you all say my full name. I like it. Rather odd, isn’t it? I’m nearly seventy and suddenly I like my full name.”
“Stranger things have happened,” said the woman walking toward him. “Hello, Nicolai. My name is Claudette and my family has owned this property for nearly three-hundred years.”
“Shall I call you Princess Claudette?” he grinned. Claudette burst in to laughter, shaking her head.
“If you do, my fourteen siblings are going to be in line to have their titles as well.”
“Fourteen! Your poor parents,” he frowned.
“Yes,” she laughed. “They had quite a handful with all of us. But they were the most patient, kind, loving and adoring people you could have ever known.”
“I’m sorry. They’re gone?” he said softly.
“Yes. And no,” she smiled. He tilted his head inquisitively. “Nicolai, you come from the beginning of civilization or nearly so. There are strange things that are only explained by blaming the Greek gods, ghosts, and spirits. Right?”
“Yes. That’s true. We believe firmly that the gods make things happen.”
“We believe that too, but it has more to do with the spirits that occupy this property. You cannot have hundreds, perhaps thousands of deaths somewhere and there not be lingering souls. My parents are two of those.”
He smiled at Claudette, nodding. No doubt he was wondering if she was sane or if she were pretending.
