Author's Note:
As you've probably noticed, there has been a title change so it fits in better with its two prequels, Searching for that Happy Ending and Still Searching. Isabella is at the point of almost annoying me. But I think that's the point. Needs some sense slapped into her... Well, not literally.
Anyway, it seems that many readers are confused as to the setting of the story. In the first story of this trilogy, Searching for that Happy Ending, Isabella tells of the move of her tree house family to the small town of New London, very similar to England's London, though very small and stuck in about the year 1915. Isabella was about two and a half at the time, Layton a little over one and late Jack Roxton just a few months. The Roxtons have a large house on the outskirts of New London, while Finn, Challenger, and the Malones all have row houses on New London's main road.
I hope that cleared some stuff up for y'all. (oh, no, my Southern culture is showing through...)
~*******************************~
It was Saturday morning and like most Saturday mornings, Layton Malone was amazingly bored. And today's boredom was compiled with his lingering anger and resentment from the previous day's argument with Miss Roxton to create his foul mood. Sweet little Jane-dear had tried twice to rouse him from this mood but had failed miserably and sulked from his room, her chipper mood another casualty of Arthur Layton Malone's bad temper.
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in," he grumbled, tossing his baseball against the wall.
"Your mother says to get out of the house," his father told him as he stuck his head through the door.
"Where am I supposed to go?" Layton asked, keeping his eyes locked on the wall in front of him as the ball went back and forth.
Ned reached out and grabbed the ball, forcing his teenage son's attention to shift to him.
"I don't care where you go, Layton, just stop moping and ruining everyone else's day."
"Why don't you just send me away early? I mean, if I'm so annoying then, no wonder you want to ship me off with the Roxtons.
"Layton, we're not sending you away. You're free to stay if you want. We just thought you would want to go with Isabella."
"You're right, but that's not the point, now is it?"
"Go get some air, Layton. Cool down, take a break, think things over. Maybe Nathan wants to play catch or the boys have a rugby game going.
"Okay," Layton begrudgingly agreed. He grabbed the ball out of his father's hand and shoved it in his pocket.
"And if you see your sister, you owe her a sincere apology."
Layton shrugged his lanky shoulders and walked out of the door.
Outside it was a beautiful, clear day with the warm Plateau sun making him very comfortable in his light shirt and trousers. He walked along the main road with his hands in his pockets and his head hanging down. Nathan and the younger boys played football in an empty lot and their loud shouts filled his ears as he passed by.
"Layton, want to play?"
He shook his head and kept going.
Further down the road, his classmates sat on his friend Alex's porch swapping jokes and stories.
"Hey, Malone! You're just the bloke we're looking for. We need to make it even. How about a game of cricket?"
"Sorry, baseball's more my game," he responded, removing the ball then tossing it up and replacing it.
"Oh, chaps, forgot Malone's an American," one of the guys from Isabella's grade said, drawing laughs from the group.
"Not American, just the son of some. We're all Plateau-born here."
The young men chuckled and Layton passed by.
Somehow he found himself at the Roxton stables. There were usually five horses in the stalls, Layton's own Abby, Bella's Riptide, the Lord and Lady's mounts and Maximillian, the stallion Isabella and her father had recently acquired from native traders. The wild mount was currently being trained to be Nathan's eighth birthday present. Now the building seemed strangely empty since Isabella was with the Zanga and her parents were out riding. He went to Abby and stroked her long snout.
He heard familiar giggles and patted Abby goodbye, searching for the source of the laughter.
"So the stallion comes around the bend over there, crazy and wild, kicking up a whole cloud of dust. Lady Isabella is just laughing and laughing as the Lord is holding on for dear life. Since neither of the ladies of the house were keen on helping Lord Roxton, I grabbed Max's reins and stopped him. Unfortunately, Lord John went flying, right into that mud puddle over there. He roared and Lady Isabella nearly fell off that fence post you're sitting on," Charles Myers, the stable boy, told his story to a very welcome audience of Jane Anne Malone, who's bright blue eyes laughed with gaiety. Charles leaned against his shovel which was thrust into the ground as he took a break from clearing the paddock, pointing to each part of the field mentioned as he told the story.
"What happened then?"
"Lady Isabella got pulled into the mud puddle with her father," Charles smiled broadly. He seemed to be treading lightly around the young lady. He'd been taught throughout his young life that ladies in the upper echelon of society were to be treated with the utmost care and he was a polite, well-trained boy. While the Malones were not of noble blood like the Roxton family, in their little town of New London they were revered as such.
Jane laughed as she threw her handful of grass she'd been twirling at the older boy. The blades got stuck in his dark hair and he lost all sense of propriety. He returned a volley of straw which caught in same colored curls. She scoffed in indignation, placing her hands on her hips. This action sent her tottering off balance and she began to fall from her perch. Layton ran to catch her, but, dropping his shovel, Charles beat him to it. He caught her in his outstretched arms, stumbling a little before he gently set her to her feet.
"Lady Jane, you must be more careful."
Jane's resulting blush reached through her whole body. Layton couldn't help but laugh. Her sweet face turned lethally angry as she now saw her brother.
"Arthur Layton Malone! You were spying on me!"
Her arms crossed over her chest and her boot lightly tapped the soil. It was apparent Jane had learned everything about being angry from Isabella Roxton.
"I wasn't spying!" Layton cried back in objection. "You were laughing loud enough for the whole town to hear. I was in the stable with Abby."
She simply humphed in response. Charles was doing his best to look as small as possible. Layton's mood was lifted a little so he smiled at the boy. He remembered being a thirteen year old boy. In face, it had been then when he'd made the deal with Cobi to compete for Isabella's love, a competition that had landed him in the argument he'd had with Isabella the day before.
Isabella... Right now Cobi was probably making her smile in a way he had failed to produce from her lately. Or worse, kissing her...
He shivered with jealousy, killing the brightening of his mood.
"Well, Dad told me to apologize, so I'm sorry for my behavior earlier."
~*~*~
Early Saturday afternoons were always relaxing for Isabella. Everything in her life could melt away and she could simply sit out in the simplistic beauty of the Zanga village. Sometimes Cobi sat with her and sometimes she was alone. Sometimes she wrote things down and other times she sat out empty handed. Today was one of the days she just sat and Cobi was with her, his hands gently massaging her shoulders.
As always she was struggling not to feel guilty as she did whenever she was alone with either Layton or Cobi. They pretended everything was fine and that they were totally comfortable with the situation, but Isabella didn't believe them. She could feel the strain it was putting on the boys' friendship.
Actually boys wasn't so accurate anymore. At eighteen, Cobi was well past being seen as an adult in his own culture and could also be recognized as such in most other societies. He acted like a young man and Layton, though only fifteen, was close at his heels.
Pausing his kneading, Cobi leaned forward to attempt to kiss her neck. Isabella flinched away. Jacobi's hands fell to his sides and she could feel the confused look on his face without turning to look at him. He was so predictable when it came to this.
"What's wrong, Bella-sa?"
She looked over her shoulder to respond, but the angry remark caught in her throat. She just simply was sick of being in an angered mood. Besides, Cobi had done nothing to immediately incur her wrath and so she softened under his deep brown gaze and sighed, "Cobi, I have to tell you something."
His eyes flashed with worry mixed with excited wonder. The Zanga prince had no idea what Isabella was going to say. In his sixteen years of knowing her he was still unable to predict her.
"What is it?"
She bit her lip, her gray eyes scanning his face hopefully. "We're leaving the Plateau. The Professor has figured out a way back to the outside world."
Cobi felt as if a spear had just been plunged into his stomach and stretched his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. "When are you leaving me?"
She winced at the pain in his voice. It wasn't "When do you leave?" or even "When are you leaving the Plateau?", it was "When are you leaving me?"
"I was actually hoping you would be coming with us," she responded gently. "The Professor has room."
There was a stunned silence and Bella was worried. Because he had pulled her tight against him, she could not see his face and only felt the tightening of his muscles around her.
"If your parents say it's okay, I would love for you to come," she tried again.
"I'm the prince, I don't need anyone's permission," he answered in a harsh whisper.
Isabella tensed. "Cobi, what are you thinking?"
"Would I be able to return, to come back to my people?"
"There will be several return expeditions. You can come back whenever you want. I will make sure of it."
There was more silence. Isabella felt her throat constricting from the emotional pressure.
"If I don't go, you will automatically choose Layton. I lose by default."
The previously repressed anger bubbled to the surface. She pulled away from him, facing him and standing, arms crossed over chest. "This isn't about that at all! Jacobi! I am not just a prize you and Layton are competing over. Does anything matter to you any more other than winning that damn contest? If nothing does, you are well on your way to losing! Both of you!"
Cobi rose confidently, placing his arms on Bella's shoulders and holding her firmly in place when she tried to squirm.
"You matter, Bella-sa. You know I love you," he assured her.
"So are you coming or not?"
"I'll come." He leaned in to kiss her but she ducked away.
"Good. Go tell your parents. We're leaving in a few hours to go back to New London. I have church in the morning."
As you've probably noticed, there has been a title change so it fits in better with its two prequels, Searching for that Happy Ending and Still Searching. Isabella is at the point of almost annoying me. But I think that's the point. Needs some sense slapped into her... Well, not literally.
Anyway, it seems that many readers are confused as to the setting of the story. In the first story of this trilogy, Searching for that Happy Ending, Isabella tells of the move of her tree house family to the small town of New London, very similar to England's London, though very small and stuck in about the year 1915. Isabella was about two and a half at the time, Layton a little over one and late Jack Roxton just a few months. The Roxtons have a large house on the outskirts of New London, while Finn, Challenger, and the Malones all have row houses on New London's main road.
I hope that cleared some stuff up for y'all. (oh, no, my Southern culture is showing through...)
~*******************************~
It was Saturday morning and like most Saturday mornings, Layton Malone was amazingly bored. And today's boredom was compiled with his lingering anger and resentment from the previous day's argument with Miss Roxton to create his foul mood. Sweet little Jane-dear had tried twice to rouse him from this mood but had failed miserably and sulked from his room, her chipper mood another casualty of Arthur Layton Malone's bad temper.
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in," he grumbled, tossing his baseball against the wall.
"Your mother says to get out of the house," his father told him as he stuck his head through the door.
"Where am I supposed to go?" Layton asked, keeping his eyes locked on the wall in front of him as the ball went back and forth.
Ned reached out and grabbed the ball, forcing his teenage son's attention to shift to him.
"I don't care where you go, Layton, just stop moping and ruining everyone else's day."
"Why don't you just send me away early? I mean, if I'm so annoying then, no wonder you want to ship me off with the Roxtons.
"Layton, we're not sending you away. You're free to stay if you want. We just thought you would want to go with Isabella."
"You're right, but that's not the point, now is it?"
"Go get some air, Layton. Cool down, take a break, think things over. Maybe Nathan wants to play catch or the boys have a rugby game going.
"Okay," Layton begrudgingly agreed. He grabbed the ball out of his father's hand and shoved it in his pocket.
"And if you see your sister, you owe her a sincere apology."
Layton shrugged his lanky shoulders and walked out of the door.
Outside it was a beautiful, clear day with the warm Plateau sun making him very comfortable in his light shirt and trousers. He walked along the main road with his hands in his pockets and his head hanging down. Nathan and the younger boys played football in an empty lot and their loud shouts filled his ears as he passed by.
"Layton, want to play?"
He shook his head and kept going.
Further down the road, his classmates sat on his friend Alex's porch swapping jokes and stories.
"Hey, Malone! You're just the bloke we're looking for. We need to make it even. How about a game of cricket?"
"Sorry, baseball's more my game," he responded, removing the ball then tossing it up and replacing it.
"Oh, chaps, forgot Malone's an American," one of the guys from Isabella's grade said, drawing laughs from the group.
"Not American, just the son of some. We're all Plateau-born here."
The young men chuckled and Layton passed by.
Somehow he found himself at the Roxton stables. There were usually five horses in the stalls, Layton's own Abby, Bella's Riptide, the Lord and Lady's mounts and Maximillian, the stallion Isabella and her father had recently acquired from native traders. The wild mount was currently being trained to be Nathan's eighth birthday present. Now the building seemed strangely empty since Isabella was with the Zanga and her parents were out riding. He went to Abby and stroked her long snout.
He heard familiar giggles and patted Abby goodbye, searching for the source of the laughter.
"So the stallion comes around the bend over there, crazy and wild, kicking up a whole cloud of dust. Lady Isabella is just laughing and laughing as the Lord is holding on for dear life. Since neither of the ladies of the house were keen on helping Lord Roxton, I grabbed Max's reins and stopped him. Unfortunately, Lord John went flying, right into that mud puddle over there. He roared and Lady Isabella nearly fell off that fence post you're sitting on," Charles Myers, the stable boy, told his story to a very welcome audience of Jane Anne Malone, who's bright blue eyes laughed with gaiety. Charles leaned against his shovel which was thrust into the ground as he took a break from clearing the paddock, pointing to each part of the field mentioned as he told the story.
"What happened then?"
"Lady Isabella got pulled into the mud puddle with her father," Charles smiled broadly. He seemed to be treading lightly around the young lady. He'd been taught throughout his young life that ladies in the upper echelon of society were to be treated with the utmost care and he was a polite, well-trained boy. While the Malones were not of noble blood like the Roxton family, in their little town of New London they were revered as such.
Jane laughed as she threw her handful of grass she'd been twirling at the older boy. The blades got stuck in his dark hair and he lost all sense of propriety. He returned a volley of straw which caught in same colored curls. She scoffed in indignation, placing her hands on her hips. This action sent her tottering off balance and she began to fall from her perch. Layton ran to catch her, but, dropping his shovel, Charles beat him to it. He caught her in his outstretched arms, stumbling a little before he gently set her to her feet.
"Lady Jane, you must be more careful."
Jane's resulting blush reached through her whole body. Layton couldn't help but laugh. Her sweet face turned lethally angry as she now saw her brother.
"Arthur Layton Malone! You were spying on me!"
Her arms crossed over her chest and her boot lightly tapped the soil. It was apparent Jane had learned everything about being angry from Isabella Roxton.
"I wasn't spying!" Layton cried back in objection. "You were laughing loud enough for the whole town to hear. I was in the stable with Abby."
She simply humphed in response. Charles was doing his best to look as small as possible. Layton's mood was lifted a little so he smiled at the boy. He remembered being a thirteen year old boy. In face, it had been then when he'd made the deal with Cobi to compete for Isabella's love, a competition that had landed him in the argument he'd had with Isabella the day before.
Isabella... Right now Cobi was probably making her smile in a way he had failed to produce from her lately. Or worse, kissing her...
He shivered with jealousy, killing the brightening of his mood.
"Well, Dad told me to apologize, so I'm sorry for my behavior earlier."
~*~*~
Early Saturday afternoons were always relaxing for Isabella. Everything in her life could melt away and she could simply sit out in the simplistic beauty of the Zanga village. Sometimes Cobi sat with her and sometimes she was alone. Sometimes she wrote things down and other times she sat out empty handed. Today was one of the days she just sat and Cobi was with her, his hands gently massaging her shoulders.
As always she was struggling not to feel guilty as she did whenever she was alone with either Layton or Cobi. They pretended everything was fine and that they were totally comfortable with the situation, but Isabella didn't believe them. She could feel the strain it was putting on the boys' friendship.
Actually boys wasn't so accurate anymore. At eighteen, Cobi was well past being seen as an adult in his own culture and could also be recognized as such in most other societies. He acted like a young man and Layton, though only fifteen, was close at his heels.
Pausing his kneading, Cobi leaned forward to attempt to kiss her neck. Isabella flinched away. Jacobi's hands fell to his sides and she could feel the confused look on his face without turning to look at him. He was so predictable when it came to this.
"What's wrong, Bella-sa?"
She looked over her shoulder to respond, but the angry remark caught in her throat. She just simply was sick of being in an angered mood. Besides, Cobi had done nothing to immediately incur her wrath and so she softened under his deep brown gaze and sighed, "Cobi, I have to tell you something."
His eyes flashed with worry mixed with excited wonder. The Zanga prince had no idea what Isabella was going to say. In his sixteen years of knowing her he was still unable to predict her.
"What is it?"
She bit her lip, her gray eyes scanning his face hopefully. "We're leaving the Plateau. The Professor has figured out a way back to the outside world."
Cobi felt as if a spear had just been plunged into his stomach and stretched his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. "When are you leaving me?"
She winced at the pain in his voice. It wasn't "When do you leave?" or even "When are you leaving the Plateau?", it was "When are you leaving me?"
"I was actually hoping you would be coming with us," she responded gently. "The Professor has room."
There was a stunned silence and Bella was worried. Because he had pulled her tight against him, she could not see his face and only felt the tightening of his muscles around her.
"If your parents say it's okay, I would love for you to come," she tried again.
"I'm the prince, I don't need anyone's permission," he answered in a harsh whisper.
Isabella tensed. "Cobi, what are you thinking?"
"Would I be able to return, to come back to my people?"
"There will be several return expeditions. You can come back whenever you want. I will make sure of it."
There was more silence. Isabella felt her throat constricting from the emotional pressure.
"If I don't go, you will automatically choose Layton. I lose by default."
The previously repressed anger bubbled to the surface. She pulled away from him, facing him and standing, arms crossed over chest. "This isn't about that at all! Jacobi! I am not just a prize you and Layton are competing over. Does anything matter to you any more other than winning that damn contest? If nothing does, you are well on your way to losing! Both of you!"
Cobi rose confidently, placing his arms on Bella's shoulders and holding her firmly in place when she tried to squirm.
"You matter, Bella-sa. You know I love you," he assured her.
"So are you coming or not?"
"I'll come." He leaned in to kiss her but she ducked away.
"Good. Go tell your parents. We're leaving in a few hours to go back to New London. I have church in the morning."