Chapter Eight:
Once Upon a Time
"...the dragon entered and attacked the knight, but he was as swift as the wind as he grabbed the princess's hand who was trapped up in the highest tower for most of her life. They jumped on his horse and escaped the fiery flames of the chained beast…"
The group of girls were attached to Victoria's every word, except for Daniela who wasn't quite impressed, as she narrated the story. It was like a ritual everyday after lunch on the staircase with Victoria sitting at the top telling her fantastical and exciting fairy tales to her classmates.
"...they wandered in the forest for quite some time trying to find their way back home, gradually falling in love with each other, until one day they ran into a gnome who could grant them three wishes, only if they decided to lose their memory of each other forever…"
All of the girls gasped.
"So they decided to-
"Girls!"
The young girls all turned to see their teacher standing at the bottom of the staircase with her arms folded. "Class started five minutes ago."
"Sorry Madame Fuente." they all quickly stood and began walking towards their classroom.
"What happened next?" asked Sarah desperate to know the ending "Did they live happily ever after?"
"Yeah, did they take the wishes?" inquired Henrietta
"I'll finish the story tomorrow." smiled Victoria as she sat behind her desk
"But we have to know now!" pleaded Clara "Please.."
"They both die." Daniela answered
The girls turned towards her confused.
"Really?" asked Sarah with tears forming in her eyes
"Yep." she shrugged "The gnome killed them."
"What?" Victoria frowned "That's not what happened!"
"Says who?"
"Me! It's my story!"
Sarah began to cry aloud
"I've heard it before so therefore it's not yours!"
"Yes it is I made it up!"
"Who cares it's not real anyway!"
Madame Fuente went over to the girls worried "What is going on?"
"Nothing Madame Fuente, Sarah is just crying as usual." reported Daniela
"Because you scared her with that awful ending!" rebutted the princess
"I can't help that she's a crybaby!"
"Stop it you two." she halted "I want to see both of you after class." she said before walked back towards the front of the the classroom "Everyone open your mathematics textbooks to page sixty-four, today we will be learning fractions…"
"Thanks alot." Daniela spat before opening her book
Victoria was confused as she tried to remain focused on the lesson in front of her.
Tiana was in her bedroom hurriedly trying to pick out a dress to wear before heading out to a meeting for her charity.
"Which one?" she asked Luisa as she held a dress to her body as she looked at her reflection in the mirror
"The peach colored one looks nice your majesty." the servant answered "But so does the toupe.."
Tiana sighed "I don't know why I'm making such a fuss over a dress, it's just a meeting after all. Forgive me Luisa."
"But this meeting is very important to you because this is your last chance to get large sums from wealthy donors! It's okay to make a fuss!"
Luisa was right, she was finally able to meet with people willing to grant thousands to her organization and she couldn't mess this up. Especially with King Edward VII.
Tiana smiled "You always know what to say. I'll go with the toupe."
"Excellent choice your majesty, I'll go get your escort ready." she left the room
The young queen slipped on the dress as she headed into the closet to pick out shoes when she tripped over a box that was on the floor.
"I thought that I put this away." she said as she picked it up and placed it on the bed. She opened it up with the folded letter from Vincent laid on top. She ignored it as she dug through to the bottom.
She found herself doing this every other day, going through her momentos box, cradled with precious and priceless belongings from her life in New Orleans. Her eyes welled up as she gently held fabric and ribbon from her mother's sewing basket.
For a moment, everything stopped as memories flooded her mind to the days she saw her mother working hard with needle and thread creating beautiful dresses for the rich and poor of Louisiana…
"Babycakes can you hand me those cloth shears…"
"This dress is going to the Johnson's and you know where the pink one is going right?"
"Ya'll, the senator's daughter wants to buy one of my dresses!"
Tiana smiled at her mother's memory and felt at peace for a moment, until guilt entered her heart again as she sat on the bed. What happened last week with the Duke? Why did she let him get that far? Why did they both feel the same way?
She didn't even have feelings for Javier in that way, they were just friends, she loved Naveen, but the way that he was holding her...and looking at her...felt so similar to her husband.
She hadn't talked to Javier since then, and it was for the best, she decided to alienate herself from him as much as possible...and to not tell Naveen or anyone what happened. It wasn't anything to tell after all.
"What is going on with me…" she said softly to herself
"There you are!"
Tiana quickly turned to see Naveen walking inside the room. "Naveen?"
In a swift move he picked her up and spun her around "It's so good to see my wife again…"
She was confused as she welcomed his kisses "You're back."
"Yes, I arrived in Maldonia hours ago, the drive here was brutal." he said as he held her "Where are the children?"
"The boys are out with your father and Victoria is at school." she mentioned idly
"Perfect, I was hoping that we cou-
"Where were you?" she asked with no expression
"Tiana, listen I-
"Answer the question Naveen." she said trying to hold in her emotions "Where were you?"
"Austria."
"Why?"
"I can't tell you the details of everything right now…"
"So you leave your family for three weeks straight with only one phone call and you can't even respect me enough to tell me why you left?" she almost yelled
"Tiana you're overreacting."
"Don't you dare tell me how to feel, when I had to tell our children every day that you'll be home soon when I didn't even know where the hell you were!"
The king sighed "Alright, I admit that I should've called more. But the circumstances that surrounded me didn't allow me to call often."
"Whatever." she said as she walked out of the room
"Where are you going?" he followed her out
"I can't tell you." she continued walking down the corridor "I'll call you later."
"Tiana," he grabbed her hand "Don't be like that."
"Why can't I?" tears started forming in her eyes "You get to be that way everyday, and all I have to do is take it…every single time."
He gently wiped her tears away as he kissed her lips "Tiana I am so sorry. I didn't know that you were feeling like this. I can make it up to you."
"How?" she looked into his eyes
"Come with me to Lisbon today. I have a press conference there and I would love for you to be there by my side."
She shook her head "Naveen I have a very important meeting in a few hours and-
"It's cancelled."
"What?"
"It's cancelled, I cancelled it and rescheduled."
She stepped back "Why did you do that? Do you know how important that meeting was?!"
"Yes, but only because I want to spend more time with you. We both work nonstop and this will be a small break for us both."
"But you're going to Lisbon to work!"
"A press conference isn't nearly work, I'll just be answering questions for an hour. Besides we can go to that chocolateria you've been wanting to try."
"I don't know."
He wrapped his arms around her "Come on Tiana, say yes. Say yes, say yes…" he teased
She rolled her eyes "Okay. But we have to bring back enough chocolate to be able to make my famous soufflé before dinner tonight!"
"You got it!" he kissed her " Anything for mi rainha…"
…
After some time on the train, Tiana fell asleep in her and Naveen's private cabin and was confused to see that the sun was setting.
She slowly got out of bed and looked around for her husband before stretching and opening the door to the channel. She walked into the humidor room to find him sitting by the window having a brandy.
"Someone was tired." he smiled as he offered her a seat "Sleep well?"
She nodded her head "Guess I was more exhausted than I thought."
"All is well. Get as much rest as you need, we deserve it."
A steward offered Tiana a glass of champagne and she politely declined.
"You're not thirsty?" Naveen asked as he replaced his drink with a new one "It's Bollinger La Grande."
"Now you know that I don't drink."
"Still?" he joked "I thought that I would've changed that about you by now."
Tiana rolled her eyes "I thought that you loved me the way that I am?"
"Oh I do. Especially the way that you grite meu nome." he smirked
"Naveen!" she whispered "We are in public…"
"Not really, this entire cabin is ours and you should have a glass before we reach our destination." he handed her the champagne
She slipped a bit before drinking the entire glass setting it on the small table "There!"
"Atta girl!"
She laughed as she looked out the window "Speaking of our destination, shouldn't we have arrived in Lisbon two hours ago?"
Naveen knocked back the rest of the brandy before answering "Yes."
"Did we miss our station?" she got up in a panic trying to alert the steward "Is this the right train?"
"Tiana" he stood trying to get her to calm down "This is the right train and we didn't miss our station."
"What?" she sat back down across from him confused "Then why are we still moving?"
"Because we're headed to Paris."
"What are you talking about?" she asked her eyes focused on him "Please tell me that you are joking."
"I'm not joking Tiana…"
"Tell me that we can get on another train back home right now Naveen!"
He went over to try to calm her down "Tiana I can explain…"
"I don't want to hear it!" she moved his hand away from her "You can explain why we are in our way to another country but not why you were away for nearly a month with no calls?"
Naveen sighed "Tiana just hear me out…"
"What if I don't want to hear you out? What if I'm tired of the way you have put us, especially your children on the back burner for the last few months?" she recalled "Naveen I told you that I didn't want to go to Paris anytime soon! We're never home as it is! You don't listen!"
He ran his hands through his hair "I know but there are reasons why we had to go now."
"Why?" she frowned "Why was it so important to go now? To cancel my meeting, spend even more time away from your kids, oh wait! To lie to your wife so that she will go along with you? Tell me Naveen was it worth it?"
Naveen was silent
"I'm supposed to be home right now with my children, but instead I'm hundreds of miles away from them worried sick that they they will come home to both their mother and father gone AGAIN!"
"Tiana I understand your anger, but I told the children that we were leaving soon and besides the nannies will-
"Forget the damn nannies Naveen! That's what we're here for!"
"Why can't you be happy that we are taking a holiday together? We deserve it, those kids will be fine!"
She was silent as she stared at him with tears falling down her face "I can't be happy... because I'll be on holiday with you."
And with that she walked back into their cabin and locked the door with a dumbfounded Naveen still standing wondering what he did wrong.
"Faldi Faldonza." he huffed as he lit a cigar
"What is her problem?" asked Agnes and Agatha after Victoria told them what happened earlier that day
The princess was sleeping over for the night with the twins in their boarding room at the school, although both redheads were down with a cold and couldn't attend class; they had enough energy to talk about Daniela.
"I don't know. When I first started school here she was so nice to me. Now it's like she hates me."
"I never liked her." stated Agatha "She's weird."
"You don't like anyone." said Agnes to her sister "Did you get in trouble?"
"No, I just can't tell my stories anymore."
"What?" they both exclaimed
"That's not fair!"
"It's okay guys." she smiled "There are other ways."
There was a knock at the door, Agatha got up to answer it to their entire class standing in the hallway in their night gowns.
"We heard that Victoria was staying here tonight." disclosed Henrietta "We would love to hear the true ending to her great story!"
Agatha turned to her sister and best friend for their approval.
The girls' eyes brightened "Yeah, sure come in!"
The young girls quietly giggled as they made their way into the bedroom, some seated on the bed surrounding the princess and some seated on the floor.
"Can you start from the beginning?" asked Helen
All of the girls began to groan
"I've waited all day to hear the ending!" said Sarah
"How about we vote on it?" she suggested
...
"...Alright majority rules! I'll start from the beginning. Sorry Sarah."
The little girl sighed "It's okay."
"Once upon a time…" she began slowly "...there was a princess who all of the kingdom loved…"
Daniela lifted her face from the keyhole as she shook her head "They love you now, but not for long…"
