Chapter One
Three years later...
Bethie hid behind the rose bushes, a smile dancing on her lips. She could hear the loud footsteps coming closer and closer, but she knew she was pretty well hidden as long as she could stop herself from snickering. She watched a pair of familiar shoes came into sight, but they proceeded to walk right on past where she was and she grinned.
"What are you doing?"
Shrieking, she leapt up and narrowly missed slamming her head into her mother's face. Allura gave an answering shriek, startled by Bethie's reaction, and little Ethan turned at the cacophony behind him. He grinned when he saw his mother and pointed a little finger at her.
"I found you! You're it, Mama!" he crowed.
"You make grandma proud, kiddo!!" Allura cheered, picking him up and squeezing him tight.
Bethie tried to look mad at her but she and Ethan just looked so happy together that she couldn't muster up enough righteous indignation to do so. Ethan hung on to Allura's neck tightly, grinning Skech's grin, and Bethie chuckled.
"You had grandma look for me, didn't you," she accused playfully.
"Noooo."
"Alright, but you better hide well, because I'm gonna get you."
Ethan squirmed out of Allura's arms as Bethie came at him with her fingers twiddling in the air. He laughed that joyful free sound that only children had and Allura laughed as Bethie chased him around her. She watched them go around and around, laughing until her sides ached.
"Oh stop before I fall over," she bade them.
Bethie caught Ethan up and tickled his round little belly. She pressed a loud smacking kiss on his chubby cheek and moved to sit on a stone bench nearby. Allura sat next to her and she handed Ethan a cookie. He eyed it dubiously, having learned long ago that grandma was not a world-class baker.
"Chef made a batch this morning," she told him dryly.
He took it without a second thought and almost immediately had melted chocolate all over his hands.
"Prince Kiren from the Lorus Quadrant arrived this morning," Allura said carefully as Bethie tried to wipe up her son's busy hands.
"Oh did he? Well, I'm sure he'll have a wonderful visit. Make sure he stops by the giftshop before he goes home."
"Cute, Elisabeth. He seems like a nice man, not much older than you, and you might have fun with him."
Bethie looked at Allura with surprise.
"Are you matchmaking, Mom?" she asked.
Allura looked contrite, which didn't happen often and that told Bethie that her mother had something on her mind...and probably had for quite some time. She sighed and set Ethan back down. She glanced sideways at her mother, thought of how beautiful she was still and how the eyes of the princes who came to visit tended to linger on the Queen before moving on to Bethie. She didn't think that she was even close to her mother when it came to looks because there was a spirit that sparked in Allura's eyes even after all these years that Bethie thought she did not have. She felt older than she was and she was weary of having to deal with potential husbands. It showed when she greeted them and they were left to wonder where the spirited princess who flew the Red Lion was.
"I'm fine," she said.
"I know," Allura said. "I've never seen you happier...but I also think that you could be much happier if you just let yourself."
"I don't need a man to make me happy."
Allura snorted.
"I know that and I'm not saying you need a man per se...it's just that sometimes I think you look a little lost, Bethie."
"I have you, Dad, and Ethan. Even Alana when she pokes her head out of her nunnery..."
"It's not a nunnery," Allura said but it was more automatic than anything else.
Alana had truly become the High Priestess of Arus and Bethie could not help looking at her with awe when she came down from the mountain compound she stayed in with Rathul and occassionally, Archent. At sixteen, Alana had radiated serenity without having known about the magic inside her, but at nineteen, she was the perfect picture of peace. Her dark eyes were soft and gentle, her voice an even timbre. Sometimes, Bethie felt like she had to tiptoe around her, especially when she wore the black robes that she favored when she was in her compound. But then, when she visited the castle and played with Ethan, her long blonde hair free and her smiles more frequent, Bethie saw her little sister again.
That didn't last long though, and the robes would inevitably come back on and Alana would disappear for months at a time, meditating, and seeking out the Core, learning more about it. She taught Bethie a few things and told her that in time, she would have to teach Ethan, but not yet. Alana's life was far from the ordinary, but she kept ties with those she loved. Jason went up to visit her from time to time and they still shared the mutual respect and admiration that had brought them together three years before, but it never went further than that. Last Bethie heard, he was seeing someone in Voltronia and it was declared a very good match by ANN.
"Whatever. I'm fine with how things are," she said to her mother.
"That's the thing. I don't want you to be just fine. I want you to be great, excellent...even ecstatic."
"Been in that thesaurus, huh?"
"Oh give me a break. You know what I'm saying."
"When the right time comes, it'll happen. But for now...I just want this time with my son and my family. I don't want to start anything new. I'm just...it's still..."
"Do you miss him?"
"Yeah, but he writes when he can and..."
Allura let out a disbelieving laugh.
"I meant Skech, Bethie. Not Jack."
Bethie blinked. Her best friend had been away from Arus for the last three years and they hadn't seen his face since. He did write back when he could and Bethie waited hungrily for word from him, though they came few and far between. But when they did, she felt as if he were right there and he always told her of everything he'd done since he last wrote which meant she often took more than hour to read what he had to say. However, the other day she did notice that when she wrote to him about Ethan and her life, of the princes that came asking for her hand, he didn't address anything she said. When she checked the address on his letters, she saw that he sent the same one to everybody. It had hurt, a little, but she dammed it up because she needed to know he was okay more than anything else. Three years was a long time to not see each other, but she liked to think that when he finally found his way back, he would be the Jack she remembered.
"I suppose that answers my question," Allura said thoughtfully.
"I do miss, Skech, but not as much as I used to. Like when Ethan was first born or sometimes when I think how he might react to the things that Ethan does." Bethie's smile turned sad. "It's Ethan that I miss and I see him in little Ethan. That hurts a lot more."
Allura watched the three-year-old spy on a butterfly and attempt to catch it with his sticky hands. Without a doubt, Ethan was a perfect copy of his uncle and sometimes, she found it too painful to look at him as she remembered the three-year-old son she'd played with and tickled.
"Yes, I know what you mean," she said.
Another pair of footsteps alerted them to a new visitor to the gardens and neither of them were surprised to see Keith coming up the path. Ethan saw him first and was pumping his little legs as fast as he could, launching himself into his grandfather's arms as Keith laughed. There was a lot more white mixed in with the black now, but Keith still ran five miles--every other day instead of everyday--and carried himself much the same way he had when he and Allura first met. He and Allura loved and fought as much as they ever did and age had settled well on both of them. He took a bite out of the cookie Ethan offered, ignoring the fact that there was a blade of grass stuck to the top of it, and smiled at the two women sitting at the bench.
"I thought I'd find you here. Whenever a prince comes knocking, you two automatically hide. The last one would have made a good match, Allura."
"I can't believe you can say that with a straight face," Allura retorted. "He was a pompous, arrogant..."
"Exactly. Perfect for you."
Bethie laughed as her mother glared at her father. Keith just smiled angelically.
"Prince Kiren is already making noises about hunting you down," he said to Bethie. "I'd find a better hiding place if you're serious about not wanting to see him."
"Daddy, why can't you just put a blockade up or something when these damned princes say they're coming?"
"Damn, damn, damn," Ethan echoed in sing-song.
Bethie had to hold back a laugh as this time both her parents glared at her.
"Don't say that, honey," she said to Ethan. "That's a bad word."
"You said it, Mama."
"I didn't meant to."
"Anyway," Allura said. "Cursing aside, you will have to see him during dinner because unless you get some deadly flu, which Olivia assures me you never had, you have to be there."
"Fine, but I'm bringing Ethan."
"Why wouldn't you?" Keith said, puzzled.
Bethie grinned. Pushy as they were, they were not going to make her do anything she didn't want or hide things to get a good match. Defending the birth of her son had been one of their top priorities when things had gotten back to normal and the attacks on her character had begun. She knew how the prince who had asked if Ethan would be put up for adoption if she married again had been at the receiving end of Keith's temper and was not even allowed to set foot on Arus to apologize. He and Allura had fallen in love with Ethan the second they saw him and had spoiled him rotten as soon as they could. Bethie loved them more for it and thought herself blessed for having parents like them.
Allura stood and kissed the top of her head. She lifted Ethan from Keith's arms and handed him to his mother. Winding her arm through her husband's, she led him back down the path. Bethie watched them go, the perfect couple, and understood then what her mother meant when she said that sometimes Bethie looked lost.
"I'll see you tonight," she said to them.
But they didn't hear her, their dark and light heads bent closely together, lost in their own world.
