Hello, all! I decided I needed a break this week, so forgive me for the lack of posting. So, I don't know about you, but I think it's time Jack began to learn about his past. What do you say?

:) Linny

Two Worlds

Chapter Twenty Four

"I've played the Wild Rover for many a year and I spent all me money on whiskey and beer..." Jack cringed at the noise of slurred, warbling voices and laughed in amusement. A small group crowded around a piano as the innkeeper of the Southern Inn tickled the ivories to one of his favorite tunes.

Tara sat close to Bobby, watching as her husband strived to be the loudest and the most off-key. He'd barely finished his first drink, but once he'd started the others who were well into their tankards started singing louder until their completely drowned out the Aussie and his usually wonderful singing voice.

"Feel lucky you can't hear them," Jack told Sue, trying to mimic a few signs she'd already taught him and still failing miserably. His fingers just did not want to coordinate themselves with his brain. Of course, the reason for that could have been the woman sitting across the small table from him. The hazel depths of her eyes sparkled as the group swayed, their drinks sloshing about as they continued to sing.

"And it's No! Nay! Never! No, nay, never, no more! Will I play the Wild Rover? No never, no more..."

"At least they're having fun," she pointed out as she watched the slurred words of the song form on the lips of one drunk, then another. "On a night like tonight, they should be." A flash of lightning tore through the sky, the bolt so bright that at moment of flash, the night's sky looked like day. Rain still fell in heavy droves and the wind violently shaking the glass of the windows and doors. This was a miracle of nature as the clouds replenished the dry soil with nutrients for life. It was beautiful, despite being dangerous.

A crooked smile curled at his lips as he witnessed the kind heart and soul of the woman he'd once loved from afar, but could now adore and desire up close. "You look on the brighter side of things, don't you?" The answer was obvious, but her heart was unbelievably gentle and kind. It was unique and so beautiful.

"Growing up with the privileges I've had, along with the problems, it's just natural, I suppose." She bit into a small piece of bread she'd broken off the loaf sitting between them if only to keep her hands busy and her mouth otherwise occupied before she did or said something she would probably regret. Her childhood was littered with lost opportunities and though she wasn't usually bitter about it, it still hurt at times.

This side of Jack Hudson, she thought she would never see, but now that she had she didn't want him to revert back into the shell he'd hidden in all the years he'd worked for her family because of her painful and lonely past.

"You don't act as though your deafness is a problem," he pointed out. 'And it shouldn't be,' his brain added for him. His opinion was that the people couldn't ask for a better future queen.

"It usually isn't." She was willing to leave that statement as is, but the expression in his eyes told her that he wanted to know everything. Curse this man for being so wonderful to her, her thoughts echoed. He would have to be so perfect that he wanted to know her past and actually cared about her feelings. Tears brimmed her eyes suddenly, but she pushed them away as she took in a deep breath. "I just feel that it is when I end up chasing away suitors and possible husbands."

His brows drew together in confusion. "I'm not sure I understand." If she was referring to how he'd run from her father's study, he was ready with an explanation.

"There have only been two men with whom I've considered spending the rest of my life with." A small smile quirked at the corner of her mouth as she unconsciously rolled a piece of bread between her fingers. "One ran away because he couldn't handle the fact that I was deaf. He said it was ridiculous to have a deaf..." Her right hand formed the letter 'P' as it crossed over her chest and down in the sign for 'princess', a sign she'd already taught him. She did this because of the public setting and though no one's eyes seemed to be on them, she still wanted to be certain that no one could understand the conversation.

Reaching out to her, he took her smooth-as-silk fingers in his hand, letting his thumb lightly brush over her knuckles. As Bobby would say, that bloke was a complete drongo. He squeezed her hand gently, conveying to her that he didn't think that at all. Her deafness was what made her different, but her ability to read lips was what made her special. "What about the other?"

A beautiful blush dusted her cheeks when he asked. Lowering her gaze from his suddenly, she spoke softly but clearly, "And the other... doesn't even realize who he really is."

If he'd taken a drink, Jack was sure he would have choked on it. He was shocked but also pleased. In not so many words, she'd just proclaimed her love for him. His heart was soaring, despite the fact that she was right. He didn't know who he really was... but she did.

"Sue," he lifted her hand to his lips, gracing her knuckles with light brushes of his lips, leaving an unspoken promise for more later. "I would love for you to tell me," he replied. Nodding, a confident smile graced her face as she delved into the mystery that was the life of Jackson Samuel Hudson.

Her story began when Edward young; no longer a boy, but not yet a man. From the day he was born, he'd been destined to be a soldier like his father and his father before him. A man could not be king unless he fought side-by-side with his own men, his father would always say.

While at the academy, he forged a civil rivalry with a boy named James. Back and forth the boys would go, each trying to be the best and better than the other. A friendship forged by the end of their first season together.

When they entered their second season, a third boy came into the picture. Arthur was a future Lord and land owner and from his first day of training he'd been looking for competition. He found that in James and Edward.

The battle between the boys was fierce and had almost become violent if the soldiers in charge would have let it continue. "By the time they graduated, the rivalry had worsened to the point of hatred." Her shoulders rose in an innocent shrug as if she was saying that it was just a petty rivalry between boys, but there was something about it that didn't sit well with Jack.

He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something familiar about the name Arthur and this story. But, for as hard as he tried to reach out to that memory, it still remained hidden behind the fog.

"Did anything ever arise between them? Did it ever turn into more than just a contest?"

Again her shoulders raised in a shrug as she bit into another piece of bread. "I'm not sure. If it did, Daddy probably dissented to tell me." Her gaze turned toward Bobby and Tara as they sat beside the now quiet piano holding their own private conversation. The chorus of voices had trickled away one by one until the Aussie was the only one left and he played his wife a beautiful song as she sat beside him on the settee, his voice surprisingly well-pitched and soothing as she rested her head upon his shoulder.

Jack smiled into his mug as he let the cool liquid slide down his throat. Sue's reference to her father was touching. He was ruler over the entire kingdom, feared by hundreds, and yet to her, he was still 'daddy'. This was just another thing to add to his list about the things he loved most about Sue. It was only getting longer as time passed by and would probably be the length of the entire world by the time the two of them were old and gray.

His smile spread wider across his lips as he set down his mug. Just the thought of spending the rest of his life with Sue was enough to make his heart pound straight from his chest and fly up into the night's sky in a beautiful firework's display.

"What?" Sue asked once her focus returned to him. Her breath was almost thrust from her chest at the emotions revealed to her behind the veil of his long dark lashes. Her pulse increased into a heavy pounding and her knees felt weak. If she'd been standing, her equilibrium would most like have become victim of the deadly, deep stare he'd settled on her. She hoped he would look at her like that forever.

Realizing that he'd been staring, he shook his head and lowered his gaze for a moment as he cleared his throat. Even now when he could see his desire for her returned, he refrained from acting on it. Of course, he had to try to consider how soon would be too soon to officially make her his.

"So, about my mother..."