Dear Isabella

Chapter 4 By A Shot of Amber

Please remember to read and review or send all comments, questions, suggestions, and flames to Spahrians_Water_Reflection@hotmail.com. Thank you!

Dear Isabella Chapter 4

" Tyler, would you know how to post a picture online?" Serena asked casually.

" What kind of picture mom?" Tyler asked setting plates down on the table.

" Oh, um.a picture of my flower gardens. One of my friends and I were talking about flowers last night and she wanted to see a picture of mine." Serena replied dishing up some stew into bowls.

" Well then I could show you now if you like, it's really easy."

" How about after lunch? That way I can find a picture I like," Serena replied handing him a bowl of stew to take to the table.

" Okay," Tyler replied shrugging his shoulders and taking the bowl.

Serena smiled happily to herself has she walked over to the kitchen door to call everyone else in for lunch.

After the dishes were washed and put away and after Serena found a few pictures she liked. One of her gardens and another two of herself she went downstairs and joined Tyler at the computer.

" Alright, it's really easy to put a picture online, I'll just scan them for you and then it will be saved on the computer in a file folder that I'll put under your name."

Tyler turned on the scanner and opened the lid. " Do you have the picture you wanted to scan?" He asked turning to her.

" Yes, right here. I also thought I would send her a couple pictures of myself." Serena handed him the pictures.

" Okay," Tyler replied taking the pictures and laying them out on the scanner before closing the lid and turning back to the computer.

He clicked on a few buttons while Serena watched silently trying to remember everything, he did. Slowly the pictures appeared on the screen where Tyler saved them in three separate files in her folder.

" There you go mom, I saved them in this folder that is labeled 'Mom's Folder' so if you ever want to get your pictures, you just have to go here and double click on them and they'll appear."

" Wonderful, now how would I mail them out, like through email?" Serena asked.

" Oh that's easy." Tyler minimized the folder and clicked on the Internet the icon. Serena typed in her screen name and password and pressed on the enter button.

" You have mail," the electronic voice said has the mailbox door opened and a letter slid out.

" Hey mom, you got mail!" Tyler said pointing to mailbox icon.

" I'll just check it later," Serena replied desperately hoping that the mail was not from Darien. " Right now I want to learn how to send pictures through email."

" Okay, so you go here has if you are going to send an email and you type in your friends email address." Tyler handed her the keyboard so she could do that.

Quickly Serena typed in PrinceEndymion@aol.com and handed the keyboard back to Tyler.

" Then you go to this link to copy and paste anything you want to put in the email. This is where you hit the browse button and go to your folder and select the pictures you just scanned."

Tyler did this as he talked while Serena watched silently. " Then you go back to the email and type in any words you want to say and hit send when your done."

" There's nothing I want to write," Serena replied shaking her head.

" Alright, then boom it's been sent and your friend will get the pictures." Tyler hit the send button and closed the link. " There your mail has been sent."

" Wonderful, thank you Tyler for helping me out," Serena replied standing up and pushing her chair in.

" Anytime mom," Tyler replied closing her account so her could sign into his own.

Serena headed out of the room towards the laundry room. There was a dryer full of clothes that needed to be folded and put away before she took Alex to the movies. While she folded sheets and towels her mind thought about the little mail box icon showing her a letter. Painfully her heart skipped a beat with wonderment if that was a letter from Darien. She wondered what he looked like, if he was old, bald, and fat or young, pierced, and covered in tattoo's, kind of like Tyler's friend Jack.

Serena folded another pink towel and laid it out on the stack in front of her. She reached into the dryer to grab a sheet when Alex walked into the room holding the cordless phone.

" Mom, Aunt Mina's on the phone for you." Alex handed her the phone and walked out of the room again.

" Hey Mina," Serena shouldered the phone and went on with her folding.

" Hey you busy now?" Mina asked cheerfully.

" I'm just folding some laundry before I have to take Alex to the mall." Serena replied.

" Oh, because I was wondering if you wanted to go see a movie? The walls of my apartment are shutting down on me and I feel stifled."

" Well can you wait a few hours until I take Alex to the mall so she can go see a movie then we can meet there and go see one ourselves."

" Great! That sounds good!" Mina replied happily. " I'll meet you in front of the theatre at 5pm."

" Okay, I'll see you then Mina, bye." Serena clicked off the phone and set it on top of the washer.

" Are you going to see a movie with Aunt Mina tonight?" Alex asked walking back into the laundry room.

" Where you listening in on our conversation?" Serena set a pile of clothes in a basket and picked up the phone.

" I was waiting to get the cordless back," Alex replied taking the cordless from her.

" Oh I see, well yes Mina and I are going to movies tonight when you are, but don't worry we won't be in the same theatre has you. Were going to see a movie with a plot." Serena picked up the basket full of clothes and walked past Alex out of the room.

" Oh good, because it would be really embarrassing to have someone's mom following us around," Alex replied breathing a sigh of relief.

Serena only shook her head and walked up the stairs to put away the clean clothes while Alex dialed up a phone to tell one of her friends about tonight's plans.

* * * * * * *

" Oh wasn't that movie romantic?" Mina sighed wiping away the last of her stray tears.

" I thought it was a little fake," Serena replied looking over at the movie poster.

" When I think of eternity with someone I see myself at home washing dishes and listening to Andrew cursing at the TV about rising gas prices."

Mina laughed and crumpled up her napkin. " Well some of us are still romantics at heart." She took aim and threw the napkin at a near by garbage can. It hit the lip then fell in.

" And some of us see the reality of what's really beyond the alter." Serena looked around the theatre for Alex and her friends. " I don't think they're out of the movie yet."

" Great, then lets go get some coffee, we can bring it back here." Mina replied heading off towards the coffee shop.

" Alright, they can wait for us." Serena turned away and followed Mina.

" So have you Andrew figured out where you are going for your vacation this year?" Mina asked taking a sip of her mocha latte.

" Yea, I think we have, the kids really want to go to the beach and Andrew found this great beach resort with golf and a nice hotel right near the ocean. So we will probably go there." Serena replied blowing on her tea to cool it off.

" Do you want to go?" Mina asked.

" I guess so, I was kind of hoping to go to the mountains since we went to the beach last year but the kids wanted to go again this year. So the beach it is."

They walked up the movie theatre where Alex stood among a group of her friends, both boys and girls talking until she saw the two womyn.

" Ugh, my mom is here," she groaned.

" Bummer, I'll see you Monday in school," a girl replied giving her a sympathetic smile.

" Okay!" Alex waved to her friends then turned and walked over to where Serena and Mina stood.

" How was the movie?" Mina asked cheerfully.

" It was good, except Patti Bronstine kept pretending to be scared so she could cuddle up to Justin Braxton, except he completely knew she was a fake." Alex replied as they walked towards the mall doors.

" Sounds like the girl wants a date for that dance you keep talking about," Serena replied opening a door in front of her so Mina and Alex could walk through.

" She's not going to get one being the slut she is," Alex replied slipping her hands inside her sleeves against the cold air.

Serena and Mina exchanged looks to ask where she had learned that word. Together the three walked over to Serena's car where they all piled in and drove Mina to hers half way across the parking lot.

" I'll see you later Serena!" Mina called climbing out of the car and slamming the door shut.

" Bye Aunt Mina!" Alex waved out through the foggy window.

" Bye Alex!" Mina waved back as she unlocked her car and climbed in.

Serena shifted the car into drive and drove off through the parking lot while Alex turned on the radio and turned the dial to her favorite radio station. The rest of the way home they listened to Britney Spears moaning and groaning about how she was a slave for you.

Serena was very glad to pull into the driveway and turn off the car. Inside the house, Andrew had made pizza for dinner. Tyler was sleeping over a friends house so only Brian and Andrew sat at the table eating.

" How was the movie?" Andrew asked setting down his slice of pizza.

" Overly romantic and sappy," Serena replied taking off her coat and setting out on the back of a chair.

" My movie was good, except Patti Bronstine kept pretending she was scared so she cuddle up to some guy when the movie was not even scary!" Alex walked over to the table with a plate of pizza and sat down. " I mean talk about fake!"

" Sounds interesting," Andrew replied picking up his pizza again.

" Mommy I drew a picture of a truck today!" Brian cried jumping out of his chair to show her the picture taped to the fridge.

" That's wonderful! Now you finish your dinner so mommy can give you your bath!" Serena replied taking a plate out of the cabinet.

" I can give him his bath Serena," Andrew said through a mouthful of pizza.

" No that's okay, I'll do it if you do the dishes." Serena replied reaching into the fridge for a bottle of wine so she could pour herself a glass.

Andrew nodded and went back to eating while Alex chattered on about the dance coming up and how Patti Bronstine would never find a date in time.

* * * * * * *

Andrew retired to bed early that night while Serena stayed up working on some late night writing she said she wanted to finish. As soon has she heard the door to their bedroom close she turned on the computer and waited for it to boot up.

Andrew would not be down for the rest of the night. He would read a magazine in bed for fifteen minutes then fall asleep until morning. Serena turned down the volume all the way and signed onto the computer. She clicked on the Internet icon and logged in underneath her name.

" You have mail."

Serena let go of her breath in one whoosh at the sound of these words. She clicked on the mailbox icon with her heart in her throat and there it was. Two messages from Prince Endymion.

With trembling fingers, she clicked open the file. The picture slowly appeared on the screen while Serena stared at it with closed eyes. Finally, she forced her eyes open so she could see the picture on the screen.

He stood dressed in a white un-tucked buttoned up shirt and a pair of blue jeans smiling at the camera. One hand held onto a half open gate while the other lay limp at his side. She could see the silver wedding band on his third finger. He was tall and slightly tan. Thin with black hair slightly rumpled and falling over his eyes.

His eyes.they were blue. A dark blue that seemed to pull her in as he smiled at her with a slightly quirky smile. Serena sat back in her chair and stared at the picture. This was him. This was Darien, Prince Endymion smiling back at her.

Damn.he was cute.

PrinceEndymion: I thought you might be online right now.

Serena jumped in her seat has the message box appeared on the screen. Quickly she gathered her thoughts and typed out a response and clicked the send button.

MonPrincess: I just got it. The picture is very nice.

PrinceEndymion: I just got your picture also. You are very beautiful.

She blushed at his words thinking of the pictures she had sent. One was of her sitting in a beach chair dressed in a bathing suit and smiling at Andrew behind the camera. The other had been a spontaneous shot taken by Mina. She had liked that picture a lot so she sent a copy to him.

PrinceEndymion: Is the picture with the flowers a picture of your garden?

MonPrincess: Yes, I like flowers so I thought you might like to see mine.

PrinceEndymion: They are lovely.

MonPrincess: Thank you.

PrinceEndymion: How long is your hair?

Serena stood up and looked at her braid of hair falling down to her knee's before sitting down again.

MonPrincess: To my knees.

PrinceEndymion: It's very pretty, I've never seen someone with so much hair before.

MonPrincess: My friend Mina thinks it's old fashioned looking.

PrinceEndymion: I like it, I think it fits the fact that you look so much like a princess.

Serena smiled and brushed some stray bits of hair away from her eyes. She took pressed the print button for the picture of him before clicking back to their message box.

PrinceEndymion: Serena, would you mind if I called you Serena?

MonPrincess: No, not at all.

PrinceEndymion: Serena, I would like to meet you.

" Meet?" Serena whispered as she typed in her reply.

MonPrincess: You would like to meet me?

PrinceEndymion: Yes I would, I have never seen or met anyone like you, and I would like to meet you in public. Come face to face with you and hear your voice.

MonPrincess: It's high pitched and child like.

PrinceEndymion: I don't care, I would still like to hear it.

MonPrincess: This is very sudden, gosh I sound like a heroine in a romance novel when I say that, but I don't know. I only have just seen what you look like.

Serena looked down at the picture next to her that she had printed out. His blue eyes stared up at her while a small smile lit his face. She felt her heart skip a beat while her breath caught in her throat.

MonPrincess: Where and when?

PrinceEndymion: What?

MonPrincess: Where would you like to meet and when?

PrinceEndymion: How about a neutral location? So that way if I turn out to be some psycho you can run.

MonPrincess: LOL or it maybe the other way around I may turn out to be your worst nightmare.

PrinceEndymion: I doubt that is possible just by looking at your picture.

Serena blushed and smiled at his remark.

MonPrincess: Where would you like to meet?

PrinceEndymion: I'm off Saturday afternoon. How about at 2pm at a small place in the Juban district? It's called the Palomino café.

MonPrincess: Alright, I'll be there.

PrinceEndymion: Wonderful.

" Yea, wonderful," Serena muttered.

Please remember to read and review or send all comments, questions, suggestion, and flames to Saphrians_Water_Reflection@hotmail.com. Thank you!