“Nope, three.” Wyatt crossed his arms. “If you didn’t give her the ice-cream, we wouldn’t be fighting.”
“You’re supposed to deny fighting!” I kicked him.
“Ouch…Urgh! Kick me one more time, Dona!” Wyatt yelled at me.
“I say we drop them somewhere at the border and see if they can make it back,” Daddy said to Mommy.
She smiled, tapping her chin. “That sounds fun.”
“No, it doesn’t!” I looked at Ethan to see he was grinning.
“I can find my way back from the city—”
“The city border? Think about it, son.” Daddy was now smiling like Mom.
“The state?” Wyatt asked, slowly.
They still didn’t answer.
I took a small step, turning around and I opening the door before grabbing both their hands. “RUN!”
And we did. Laughing, we ran as quickly as possible.
DONATELLA - NOW
“
Mom, Dad, your plan worked,” I said. The black headstone had an image of them embracing engraved into it. “Like all your plans, it worked. We’re all on the same page again… Even though I’m leaving Chicago. It’s too soon for me to thank you. This could all go terribly wrong and I could hate him very much—”
“Not going is also an option,” Wyatt muttered behind me.
“Wyatt misses me so much already, he’s sobbing behind me right now,” I said, making him snort. “And Ethan…” I glanced over my other shoulder to look up at him, and he emotionlessly stared right back. “He’s basically helping the maids move me out… He’s really happy he has no more competition. Dad, he’s kinda been a bully to me.”
He huffed, crouching down beside me and shoving me lightly with his shoulder. “Just so you know, Father, your daughter planned a coup against me.”
I frowned, shoving him back. “It was a fake coup!”
“Now, just a few days later, she about to run off and marry a prince,” Wyatt said, kneeling down on the other side of me. “I know she was your little princess, but did you really have to make her a real fucking princess? Her head is already big enough.”
“Let’s be grateful she’s only a princess,” Ethan added, placing a tulip on the grave before standing up again. “If she became a Queen, she’d float into the atmosphere and explode.”
Wyatt laughed. “I didn’t think about that, but you’re right. She’d walk outside her castle and her head would rocket her to the moon.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” I said, ignoring them as I put my tulips on the grave. “Your sons are back together because I’ve stopped them from killing each other over the years.” I paused, putting my hand on their picture. “As you can imagine, it’s been a very exhausting job; Ethan pretending he doesn’t care, Wyatt pretending he doesn’t care. It was like watching two idiots run into each other. Which is why I’m retiring and leaving it up to you two to watch out for them while I’m trying on crowns. I won’t be able to visit as much… At least not in person. But I’ll talk like you’re listening wherever I am, I promise… Oh and I better have a one hell of a letter from you, Mother, waiting on my wedding day. And…”
“Enough, you’ll talk their ears off,” Wyatt grumbled as he stood up. “If you have anything to tell them, call me. I’ll come up here and hold the phone up.”
“I’m so going to hold you to that.” I couldn’t help but laugh as I stood up and turned around to see them both staring at me, the corner of Ethan’s lips turned up and Wyatt trying to force himself to not look upset. I outstretched my hands and they both looked at me, confused. “My goodbye gifts?”
They both rolled their eyes before turning around and leaving me. Watching them leave, I glanced back down at my parents’ tombstone, placing my hands on it before following them. This wasn’t the end; it was just the beginning of a whole new story.
The proof of that was the man standing dressed in a dark gray suit in front of the awaiting car, beside him Sebastian and…doe-eyed Amelia du Bellay.
“I thought you died?” I asked her when I reached the car.
“No, ma’am, I wasn’t in the cars.” She bowed slightly at me.
“Suspicious,” I said, looking between her and Sebastian as he opened the door for us. He was alright for the most part. A few cuts and bruises and a cast on two of his fingers.