*The Enchanted Forest*

The naked bodies of a man and a woman felt warmer together as they layed on the blanket on the hilltop, staring up at the stars. They felt their hearts beating as one and they knew, they couldn't live without the other. The woman laid her head on his chest as he played with her hair with one hand and intertwined his fingers with hers in the other. There was steam coming off their bodies after making love in the chilly night. Regina shivered and David took out a second blanket from his bag to lay it on top of them to warm her up.

"I still can't believe you could love someone like me."

"I still can't believe you love me" Regina answered with stars in her eyes.

"Remind me how we met again. I just love hearing you tell the story."

"Well, the king wanted me to come out and meet the people. He said that it had been too long for me to be married to him for 6 years and never have met the people of my kingdom. So, I went out one day, and I met everyone, they were such wonderful,but easily persuaded people, and they're very quick to judge."

"Except for one."

"Yes, except for one." David smiled and closed his eyes to hear the rest of the story. He sure did love the sound of her voice.

"When they first met me, each of them were afraid at first and thought I would be a selfish, gold-digging queen. And they believed that the only reason I married the king was for his money. Not true, it was my mother who made me. Anyways, before I left the kingdom to go back to the palace, my carriage driver said that there was one more stop we had to make, way out in the middle of nowhere. At first I was a little apprehensive, bcuz being out in the middle of nowhere makes me nervous sometimes. But when I got there, it was such a sweet little farm, where the grass was green and the sun was bright and it reminded me of my old horses stables. And I knew right then, that this felt like home to me. I stepped out of my carriage with a big dumb-founded smile on my face and a nice woman greeted me, she told me her name and introduced me to you. The minute I laid eyes on you, I could tell, that you weren't judging me. The woman had some concerns about the condition her farm was in and she didn't have the extra money to pay to have it fixed up, so I asked her if she could show me around and I would see what I could do. She had you show me around, bcuz she wasn't feeling too well. You showed me the sheep and their bad conditions, then you showed me the stables and we talked and talked. And you know how they say time flies when you're having fun, it seems like that's different when you're with someone you love or are attracted to. Bcuz this was the first time, since Daniel, that I had had so much fun just talking, and it felt like we were in the stables for days. I could've stayed there all night, but your mother came and found us and said we had to leave. I was so sad, I didn't want to leave, but I told you and your mother, that I would tell the king of your conditions and we would have them fixed soon. And we did, the next time I visited you, you wanted to show me the beautiful forest, so you showed me around it, and we talked and talked and we had our first kiss. Then I cried like an idiot, bcuz I knew I had to stay loyal to the king, which was impossible with you. You reminded me so much of Daniel, but you were different. Daniel was such a gentleman and I loved his courage and kindness, but you made me feel something, something I had never felt before. When I was with you, I felt good about myself and I felt as though I could help people. And now we're here seven years later and I couldn't be happier."

"And I couldn't be happier, either. You are so beautiful and you are good, you should always feel good about yourself and the person you are. You're a wonderful woman and you deserve the best. That's why you're the queen."

Tears rushed down Regina's face and she couldn't take it anymore. She wanted to live with this man for the rest of her life. She truly didn't care about being queen, she just wanted love and she had found it, twice. The first time ended in tragedy, but she wanted the second time to end differently. If she hadn't become queen, she would've never met David, so maybe, just maybe, this was meant to be. They stayed on the hilltop for hours and made love until the sun was bright and it rose, making the sky grow different shades of a beautiful pink. Regina had to go back to the palace, but she wondered, if this was meant to be.