Chapter 1

Raine had often accused Regal of worrying far too much about the future. They knew going into this—marriage—that they would face problems later on, but she had wanted to live in the moment and eventually he did too. Being apart had been too painful, whatever the future had in store, they would simply have to face it together. Raine had been fine with this philosophy forty years ago, but things were different now.

She laid awake in bed as she usually did these days and listened to Regal's soft snores. He hadn't snored at all in the past. One thing she could count on him not having a problem with was falling asleep. She could count the minutes on her fingers of how quickly he could do so. Perhaps that was a good thing. Getting a good night's rest did wonders for one's health.

His hair had started graying ten years ago and now it was almost as white as hers. The texture of his hair was different as well—it seemed softer a bit more fragile and not as voluminous, but he at least still had a lot of it. When she was looking at him, she thought she was looking at a different person. She'd expected him to grow older, but when it actually happened, she was unprepared for it. There were laugh lines where there hadn't been before, crow's feet about his eyes that had taken her by surprise.

Body-wise, he was still pretty much in shape, but he felt different. It was hard to describe. Perhaps he felt softer to her fingertips and not nearly as rock solid as before.

He grew tired sooner than usual and she usually was left to herself when it came to nightcaps. Not that she didn't spend any time at all with him, but he would fall asleep during movies and anything else that didn't involve movement. And for whatever reason, it was difficult for him to do much of anything after 10pm as if he was adhering to some sort of bedtime like a child would.

She turned on her back from him with a sigh. She knew it would only get worse from here. Out in public, however, people always commented on how nice they looked as a couple. More than once women would pull her to the side telling her how lucky she was to have someone who aged so gracefully and who still took care of himself. It was true. She'd seen far worse looking seventy-six year olds and Regal didn't look half bad with a well-kept beard and mustache connected to a line of hair that started at his sides. In fact, he would still draw glances from younger women who were into nice-looking older guys—and there were quite a bit of those women around.

Thinking of those things, she felt horrible the way her mind was criticizing him. She didn't have the right to be upset about how he looked different from before. His core personality shined through. He'd never changed in that respect and Raine suspected he would be that way until his dying day. But he did act different. He had been wise before, now it felt as if he was a guru of sorts. He used lines like "Back in the day" or "I remember that time when". When he started talking like that, it made her feel like a child in his presence. She was only ten years younger than him, but she still felt as if she had things to learn whereas Regal seemed to have learned all he could. He was no less curious or inquisitive; he simply seemed to already know so much.

"Raine…?" he murmured in his sleep.

Yet another thing she had gotten used to. Almost every night he would say her name in his sleep. She supposed she should be flattered or glad that it wasn't some other woman, but he never used to do such things before. There would be a pause in his snoring and then he would start again. She wondered if she ever answered him, he would respond, but it was a silly notion.

She herself fell asleep later on in the night and was interrupted by the sunlight of morning. Regal was a deep sleeper so rather than having to sit through annoying alarm clocks, she woke him herself. It was a system that had worked perfectly over the years. She would almost feel guilty for interrupting his very restful sleep, but it had to be done.

He would wake in a daze and it would take him a few minutes to be fully functional. On his worst days, he would stumble out of bed and fall flat on his face. This was one of his better days and he knew how to walk properly for the most part. He had a pretty one-track mind in the morning and it wasn't until he was done with the bathroom that he would come back and say "Good morning" to her. She smiled as she usually did and said it back as cheerfully as she could. The phonier she sounded the more amused Regal would be and today he was quite amused.

"I bet you didn't sleep at all last night," Regal told her knowingly

"When do I ever?"

"Maybe you should do something that tires you out right before going to bed."

"But that sounds…tiring."

"Exactly," he said with a smile that made his wrinkles look more pronounced.

"I'll think about it. Be safe at work today."

"And you too."

Raine worked as a principal at the school she'd been teaching in for years. As much as she had tried to fight it, she eventually was promoted to principal, a job which had proven stressful and challenging, but only in the beginning. After she learned the secrets of delegation and trusting her staff both from asking Regal for advice and her own common sense, things became far simpler and even enjoyable. The level of work had become doable as opposed to a never-ending mountain of impossible work.

She got dressed as well but by the time she made it downstairs, Regal was gone. He had managed to make and leave her a quick breakfast, however. It was something she had come to expect from him. Even after all these years, she wasn't the best in the kitchen and she doubt her skills could ever surpass that of Regal.

Taking all the things she would need that day and stepping into the Rheaird waiting for her outside, she flew off to school. It was just another day, but for some reason she could not cast off her darkening mood which had creeped up on her that morning. She would hide it for as long as she could.

Raine had gotten home in the evening after having a meeting with her teachers as to what she wanted to see from them that year and what they could expect. As soon as she could, she dressed herself down and curled up on her favorite couch in the living room and continued the story she'd started yesterday. Eventually, she heard as her husband came through the door. He went upstairs first to dump his effects and then change his clothes. After that he would come down stairs, say "Good Evening" and then say that he was about to start cooking. Cooking wasn't so much a chore for him, but a time to relax so she stopped making a fuss about this ages ago.

This time was different. He sat down across from her and laid back comfortably on the sofa. She peered over her book at him and noticed that his eyes were closed. She wondered if he would just fall asleep there and never actually get to cooking.

"It completely slipped my mind," he said tiredly. Now he was looking at her with those intelligent blue eyes of his. "I suppose that's a bad sign," he said with a crinkly grin. "There is this business function that's going to be occurring in a few hours and I'm supposed to be there. I promised I would be there so that I could meet new potential investors and entrepreneurs."

"Ah, I see, and you want me to come with you?"

"Who better to have at my side? Unless, of course, this is too spur of the moment."

"I love spur of the moment," she said with a smile putting her book down. "I'll go look for a suitable dress."

"It's been awhile since I've seen a genuine smile from you. I must be doing something right."

"What do you mean? I smile all the time."

"Well, I just hope for tonight, I can be the reason for your smile."

He would say things like that and immediately make her feel guilty. Maybe he knew already of her unhappiness. It didn't take either of them long to throw on something that they could get by on and soon they were on their way.

Raine wore a long dark blue dress that sparkled in the ample light overhead. It was both backless and sleeveless. She wore her hair in her usual style albeit a little longer. She wore petite gold and blue boots for the occasion—she hated heels with a passion.

Regal looked just as suave as usual despite "throwing something on"—it was a three piece. His suit jacket was a darker blue than hers and its richly material shined in the light. His waistcoat was a textured baby blue and revealed an interestingly knotted tie. She'd seen it before, but it never ceased to amaze her just how many knots existed and that he knew how to do them. This one in particular was called the agape knot, named because of the gap it left in the center of four overlapping material at the top. This time, however, the gap was filled by a small baby blue rose with tiny green leaves sticking out. Of course, Raine thought sardonically. His hair was pulled back into a low ponytail with a blue ribbon tied into a bow.

Rain paid mild attention to the conversation Regal drummed up with various attendees. It was enough attention to add something intelligent to the conversation at least. Instead, she was admiring all the nicely dressed men and women here. Younger looking men…But she stopped herself. Regal was right there beside her. What if it turned out that he could actually read her mind? A silly notion, but still…one could never be too careful.

"Would you like a drink?" Regal asked her pulling her out of her train of thought

Raine shook her head. "I think I'll be fine for now."

"And how are you liking things so far?"

"It's a party of people trying to make money. Splendid," she said back.

"Maybe I'll try to find more interesting people for your benefit. Entrepreneurs are often that."

The night dragged on, but Raine had to admit that they did meet a lot of interesting people. Entrepreneurs were also another name for inventors, she discovered, but many of them knew little about business and about how to sell their products. Regal passed on all of them though complimenting them on their ingenuity and Raine agreed with his decisions. They hadn't created something with buyers in mind—they had created something simply to create something and they expected someone else to see its monetary value.

Nearing the end of the night, Regal spied a dark-haired male who dressed in a manner similar to him and when Regal pointed him out, Raine noted that his features were quite handsome. His hair was long and radiant, parted in the middle, his shorter hair on the side creating a bit of a split bang upon his forehead.

"He looks like your type," Regal said pleasantly to Raine who must have been gazing a little too hard.

"Now why would you go and say a thing like that? You're my type."

"Yes, of course," he said dismissively. "Let's go introduce ourselves and hope he has something good to offer."

Raine couldn't be sure, but she thought she saw a mischievous glint in his eye. After knowing Regal for so long, she long since discovered that there were different sides to him. The more comfortable he grew with her, the more open he was with himself. Yes, he was still a predominantly polite man, but he wasn't above teasing and joking around even if he wasn't nearly as good at it as she was. Sometimes it was hard to tell when he was teasing or messing around because it was often quite subtle. She was almost certain that this was one of those moments. She wondered once again if he could, in fact, read her mind.

The man seemed shocked that the great Regal Bryant would want to hear about his proposal. He stumbled over his greeting, but one could tell that he was quite honored to meet him. The man had a solid, athletic build, Raine noted, and his smile seemed to brighten up his entire face.

"How endearing," Regal said to the young man after his embarrassing struggle of trying to introducing himself. "Isn't he, Raine?"

She wondered why Regal would want her opinion here, but she simply told him yes.

"I've been to your amusement park dozens of times," the man whose name they knew to be Derrick said.

Raine wasn't sure why a grown man by himself would go to an amusement park of all places multiple times, but she kept her mouth closed.

"And I've ridden all the rides quite a few times. I enjoyed it, but, you see, something is missing, if you don't mind me saying."

"Of course not. There's always room for improvement—a good company should always keep that in mind. Please continue."

"You need a ride that defines the amusement park. It doesn't have its own individual identity—it is simply called Altamira's Amusement Park. It needs something big, something fast…something daring. That was when I began drawing up a blueprint for that very thing. Not that it has a name, but I believe it's quite incredible. I've had scores of other engineers check over my work and they've all agreed that it was a sound plan—just that it would be quite a bear to actually put into reality."

"You really do have a passion for amusement parks," Regal commented.

"Well, I suppose, but you can blame my little sister who drags me there every chance I get."

"I like your ideas, Derrick. Come see me in my office tomorrow and we will discuss this further."

Derrick was taken aback by this. "Y-You're serious about this," he said with surprise.

"I never say something I don't absolutely mean. I look forward to seeing you soon."

"Thank you, sir—your grace!"

Regal laughed pleasantly at the young man. "And you have an enjoyable rest of your evening."

The two of them left the other in a good mood that would no doubt last for a long time. Raine glanced back towards the young man and grinned to herself. There was a naïveté that she liked about him. It was a trait she hadn't seen in quite a long time.

"Raine, perhaps you'd like to be there when I have this meeting with him."

"And why would I suddenly be interested in something like that?"

"Because I couldn't possibly face him by myself," he said feigning concern.

"Right. I think you're up to something, but I can't put my finger on it."

"Since when have I ever been able to hide anything from the ever intelligent Raine?"

So far not at all, Raine thought, but things could change. This new Regal seemed capable of such a thing, at least.

The party was winding down so they left soon after. The night was certainly unexpected and as they flew out on their Rheairds, the temperature wasn't too bad. She could have stayed outside forever in such perfect weather, but Regal could not she was sure. Raine left him to go to bed, but she stayed out a while longer to look at the stars. It was late at night, but she felt restless. She couldn't stop her thoughts from returning to the sweet looking Derrick nor could she stop her dreams…