Royally Yours

by Everly James

Eric grinned at her and then looked at Melody, whose jaw had dropped. “This is how we joke with one another. It’s no big deal.” He shrugged. “So, again: why did you sign up for it?”

  Melody thought back to that day at the market and how adorable Ellie looked wearing her nametag. But she couldn’t say she had signed up to get to know Ellie. She pushed some mashed potatoes around with her fork and cleared her throat. “Oh, you know. For the adventure.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “Ellie hasn’t even seen her surprise yet, Lily, and you’re getting her to clean up the house?”

  “We have people coming, Tom, and you don’t exactly have it in you to be vacuuming in the condition you’re in.”

  Everyone was seated around the breakfast table except Herschel, who was still napping. Outside, three-foot snow drifts came up to the windows. It had snowed all night long.

  “Rough night last night?” Ellie asked Randy and Ryan, who were barely awake over their bowls of cereal.

  “Mm,” Ryan mumbled.

  “Soooo…hungover,” Randy said.

  Melody laughed. “Wait a second—is that why Herschel is still in bed?”

  “We were doing tequila shots around the bonfire. Then Herschel came up with the idea to toss fireworks into it.”

  “You’re lucky the field was covered in snow,” Tom said sternly. “If it had caught on fire—”

  “Wait, wait,” Melody interrupted. “You’re telling me that Herschel, my Herschel, got drunk last night and became a pyromaniac?”

  “That’s about right,” Randy said. “He can really hold his liquor better than the rest of us. I was shocked.”

  Melody and Ellie laughed uproariously.

  “What’s so funny?”

  Everyone stopped and turned around. Herschel was standing at the entrance of the dining room in his pajamas.

  “Oh, you know. Things are changing around here, apparently. You nearly committed arson in my absence,” Melody said with a grin.

  Herschel stood a little straighter. “I have always had a soft spot for tequila, I must admit.” He sat down at the table and took a box of Lucky Charms and an empty bowl.

  “Ladies, leave Herschel alone,” Tom said with a smile. “Now, are you two finished with your breakfast?”

  “Yeah, we were planning on going into town, but we don’t have sled dogs to ride through all this snow,” Ellie said sarcastically.

  “It’s alright. I kind of got to a great place in Goblet that I’d really like to finish,” Melody replied.

  Ryan perked up at hearing these words. “Harry Potter?”

  “No spoilers!” Ellie yelled loudly. “None, nada, zip, zilch. Melody hasn’t had the books spoiled for her over the last decade and a half, and I’ll be damned if someone ruins it for her now.” Ellie crossed her arms and nodded as if that thoroughly wrapped up the topic at hand.

  Tom cleared his throat. “Back to the subject at hand. I was thinking you could muck out the chicken run in the barn.”

  Ellie groaned. “Dad, Melody is a guest.”

  “He said you, not both of you. You’ll do it with no complaints,” Lily said with finality.

  “I’ll come with you,” Melody said. “I grew up with chickens at my parents’ place. It’s fine, honestly. Let me just get my snow boots and we can head out there.”

  Five minutes later, completely bundled up and Ellie still groaning with complaints, they headed outside.

  It was like walking into a postcard. The red barn was iced thickly with snow, and a soft blanket of snow covered the ground, obscuring any mud and leaving the place looking like a postcard.

  “I’ve missed snow,” Melody said.

  “It snows where you’re from?”

  “Yes, tons. I love skiing with my dad in the wintertime. It’s our favorite activity to do together.”

  They reached the barn, and Ellie tried sliding open the door after kicking away snow from the track. It didn’t budge.

  “Let me help you,” Melody said. She stood behind Ellie and they pushed together.

  “Okay, let’s count to three and go on three,” Ellie suggested. “One, two, three, ACK!”

  The door gave way. Ellie slipped on a patch of ice that was hiding under the snow and did a pirouette. Melody tripped and landed on her back in a soft drift, and a second later, Ellie was on top of her, face to face with Melody.

  “You okay?” Ellie asked.

  “The eighteen layers of clothing I’m wearing to keep warm broke my fall,” Melody said with a laugh. “Are you okay?”

  Ellie’s heart was racing. Her lips were two inches from Melody’s.

  Then, without thinking, she leaned forward and kissed her.

  It was like all the cold had washed away from the air around them. Heat, burning passion filled their lungs as they kissed. A second passed, and then a minute.

  Then something inside the barn made a loud noise.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  The two women pulled apart from each other.

  “What the hell kind of chicken makes that kind of sound?” Melody asked.

  Ellie stood up, her heart still beating fast from the kiss. “I-I don’t know.” She held out a gloved hand and helped Melody to her feet.

  “Thanks,” she said. Her eyes were shining. “For the kiss and for helping me stand upright.”

  Ellie grinned. “Any time. You ready to see what kind of animal makes a noise like that? I’m hoping it’s not a raccoon.”

  “You first,” Melody said.

  Ellie stepped into the barn. The chickens were clucking in their section, the hay used for bedding a foot deep. She walked by the empty stalls that had never been used for anything, and stopped at the far end of the barn.

  “Oh my God,” she said.

  “What?” Melody asked, running over. She’d been staring at the chickens in fascination.

  “It’s a goat!”

  Melody walked over to Ellie, who was using her teeth to get her gloves off her hand. She reached out to the goat, who baaed at her, then lowered its head. Ellie patted it and the goat leaned into her touch.

  “She’s pregnant,” Melody whispered. “Look at her.”

  Ellie squealed with excitement. “Oh my God. I’ve wanted a goat since I was a kid but my parents said no constantly.”

  “The neighbors had her,” said Tom from the front of the barn. “I see you got the door open. Well done. Must be all those muscles from farming in the city.”

  “Dad!” Ellie said, running over to him and sweeping him up into a hug. “This…this is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

  “She’s nearly done baking those babies,” Tom said. “I’d be surprised if she didn’t go into labor this week.”

  Ellie had a manic gleam in her eyes. “Baby monitor.”

  “What?” Tom asked.

  She looked at Melody. “We need to find the baby monitor from when Eric and I were babies. So we can put it in the pen and keep an ear out for her. I don’t want to miss her going into labor.”

  Tom laughed. “You sure are funny, Ellie.”

  Ellie grabbed Melody’s hand and pulled her towards the open door. Then she stopped. “Do I still have to muck out the chicken run?”

  Tom grinned. “Of course not. I only said that to get you out here.”

  Ellie kissed her dad on the cheek. “We’ll be in the attic if you need us.”

  They marched through the house, past Herschel, Ryan, and Randy watching some pre-game football show. Herschel was trying to explain something to the boys, but they were confused.

  “It’s American football, what you play here. Our football is called what you call soccer.”

  Randy looked like he was concentrating so hard his brain might fall out of his head. “So, you don’t have football where you’re from.”

  Herschel looked exasperated. “I’m telling you we don’t have your football but we have our own football. The United States is basically the only country that calls proper foo
tball soccer.”

  “Wait, explain that again?”

  Ellie and Melody giggled as they ran up the stairs and down the hallway. “Poor Herschel. He looks like he would have preferred being in the hotel.”

  Melody shook her head as Ellie pulled the fold-up ladder down from the ceiling. “Actually, I haven’t seen him this relaxed in ages.”

  They climbed up the ladder to the attic. It was packed, floor-to-sloped ceiling, with cardboard boxes.

  “Wow,” Melody said. “This is incredible. I’ve never seen so much stuff in one place.”

  “Do you not have an attic in your house?”

  “We do, but it’s mostly filled with carefully labeled plastic bins for the holiday decorations.”

  “Do you put up a tree?”

  “We have twelve trees,” Melody said.

  Ellie gaped at her. “Twelve? How on earth do you have room for twelve trees? Are some of them tiny?”

  Melody shook her head. “It’s kind of a big house.”

  “I’ll say.”

  “Each tree is decorated differently. We have a designer do it all.”

  “But you decorate it, right? Have a hot cocoa party and listen to Harry Connick, Jr. and have a grand old time?”

  Melody stared at her. “We have people to do those things. We don’t decorate the trees ourselves.”

  Ellie looked as if she were in shock. Then she took a deep breath and pointed to the far corner of the attic. “There’s a box over there. It might be too heavy for you. Go get Randy and Ryan. Then you see those boxes next to it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Carry those downstairs. Tell mom to mix up some of her special cocoa mix, and for my grandmother to make some sugar cookies.”

  Melody grinned at her. “What on earth is going on?”

  “You’ll see. I’ll get the baby monitor. You handle the rest.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  “But tomorrow is Thanksgiving,” Lily said in protest as the fake Christmas tree was unwrapped from its box. “We usually don't even put up the tree until the first of December. And I was hoping to get a live tree this year.”

  “If you want to head out in five feet of snow to get a live tree, be my guest,” Tom said, wincing as one of the branches opened right in his eye.

  "Melody has literally never decorated a Christmas tree in her entire life," Ellie said, helping her dad open the branches. "We've got to let her enjoy this as long as possible.”

  "I've never seen a fake tree before, either," Melody said.

  "It's amazing. No need to water it, no messy pine needles covering the floor for months after Christmas is over," Tom said. "It might look like nothing now, but just you wait."

  "Hey, you're blocking the television!" Randy grunted from the sofa.

  Blanche yelled from the kitchen. "Get your ass in here and help me, Randy. Stop being such a dick."

  Everyone laughed, including Randy.

  Herschel stood up. He had been so entranced by the football game he'd forgotten his manners. "May I help with anything?"

  Blanche ignored him.

  Lily stepped up to the plate. "If you could hand wash all the coffee mugs from this morning, that would be great."

  "It would be my pleasure, ma'am."

  It took the better part of an hour to get the tree fluffed before Melody and Ellie started struggling with the lights.

  "You put too many on here," Melody complained. They'd gotten to the bottom branches, on which Ellie was insisting there be a whole strand of lights per branch.

  "I did not," Ellie said.

  The front door opened and Eric stepped into the house, greeting everyone. "What's up?" He stopped at the sight of the Christmas tree. "Wait. It's not even Thanksgiving yet."

  Ellie sighed and stepped back from the tree, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. "Melody has never decorated a tree before, so we're doing it to bring some Christmas cheer around this place."

  Eric looked at Melody's frustrated facial expression and laughed. "Looks like you two are having your first couple fight."

  Ellie looked murderously at Eric. "Can we not?"

  Melody laughed.

  "Alright, cookies are out of the oven," Constance announced. "You can decorate them as you see fit. But the rule remains: the first person to bite into their cookie becomes my number one assistant for cooking tomorrow."

  Everyone looked around the room at Randy, who had shoved two whole cookies into his mouth.

  "Come on!" he mumbled through a mouthful of crumbs, spraying them everywhere.

  Herschel was clearly appalled at the lack of manners but didn't say anything. He just got right back to washing the mugs.

  Late that night, with a platter of sugar cookies in front of them, one half of the baby monitor beside them, and the Christmas tree glowing next to the roaring fireplace, Melody and Ellie talked.

  "So, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Melody said. "Mother makes it sound like it's so much work to decorate just one Christmas tree. I mean, I'm not undermining what the house staff goes through, I'm just saying. I built it up in my head."

  The tree was fat and round, and glowed brightly with thousands of multi-color lights. Handmade ornaments sparkled from their hanging spots: little popsicle stick and pom pom Santas, Polaroids of Eric and Ellie at various ages, and cork gingerbread men covered in electric neon puff paint.

  "Speak for yourself. I found it exhausting," Ellie said, wrapping a crocheted wool blanket around her shoulders. She yawned. "But I'm glad you enjoyed it."

  "It's just so different from the trees at my parents' house," Melody said. "Each one is carefully themed. Maybe when I go home this year I'll ask my mom if we can decorate a tree like this. I mean, she has eleven other trees she can design, after all."

  "I can't believe your house is big enough to house twelve trees. We’re always on top of each other around here." As if to emphasize the point, she moved her knee and it jingled the ornaments on the bottom of the tree.

  Melody smiled at the firelight that danced in Ellie's blue eyes. "I still love this house. Probably because you're here with me."

  Ellie blushed again. She looked into Melody's gorgeous brown eyes. "About earlier. I'm sorry if I misinterpreted anything. I just…the kiss…it was…"

  "Amazing," Melody whispered to finish it for her. "Incredible."

  "Well," Ellie said humbly. "Yeah. It was. I'm glad it was for you, too."

  "But we can't. I mean, we can't have a relationship. It's against the rules at the Block."

  "We break rules all the time," Ellie pointed out. She sighed. "But I hate breaking rules." She picked at a pilled spot on the blanket. "And in four weeks you'll be back home. And I'll be here. Without you."

  Melody looked devastated. "What if we keep it a secret?"

  "You think that'll work?"

  Melody wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors."

  Ellie bit her lip. "We can get away with it, you think?"

  Melody leaned forward and kissed Ellie lightly on the lips. Their skin burned where they had touched. "I think we can do anything as long as we do it together."

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Thanksgiving Day was a blur of cooking, pies, and eating indecent amounts of food. The rest of Ellie’s family showed up, and Melody spent the day playing with the little cousins in particular. She played, ironically, the princess as they turned into knights fighting against warring kingdoms and slaying dragons.

  "A tiara looks good on you," Ellie said.

  "Mm," Melody replied. She glanced at Herschel, who winked at her in return. "Thanks. Is there any more cherry pie, you think?"

  "Check the utility room. I hid it on the top shelf behind the paper towels just for you."

  Melody leaned forward. "I could kiss you right here."

  They'd decided to keep their relationship a secret. It was a little bit of overkill, since her family already assumed they were together. But the
y both wanted to practice before heading back to the Block. They didn't want to get in a pattern and routine of being touchy-feely with one another. It would be weird to go back to New York and suddenly have to stop being affectionate.

  "But you won't," Ellie whispered. "Save it for later."

  "The pie?"

  "No, the kiss."

  Melody laughed and walked into the utility room. She was reaching up to the high shelf when she heard someone behind her.

  "Ma'am," Herschel said. "Your mother has requested that you call her at once."

  Melody looked at him in surprise. "She hasn't spoken to me since I called her right when we got to New York. She's been blocking me out. I've only spoken to Dad in all this time."

  "Well, she called me personally this morning. Didn't use her secretary or anything."

  Melody let out a low whistle. "She must be serious, then. I didn't even know that she knew how to dial a phone."

  Herschel bit his tongue. "I presume you still have her number and didn't delete it?"

  Melody handed him the pie. "Guard this with your life, you cheeky bastard."

  She went to the front entryway, slipping past two of the more boisterous uncles and out into the snowy day. It was so bright her vision blurred. She trudged through the snow to the side of the house where there were no windows. She realized that she was standing in the remnants of the vegetable garden, the snow melted in patches to reveal dead and withered tomato stalks. Melody gazed around the space and realized with a jolt that Eric was completely correct. The Mayhews were more self-sustaining than the Block by a long mile. If she calculated the amount of garden space per square foot per person, she knew the Block came up short.

  She pulled out her phone, tucking those thoughts away, and dialed her mother's number. Melody leaned against the house and watched the snow dripping and freezing into long, treacherous-looking icicles.

  The phone rang nine times before it was answered.

  "How nice of you to call," her mother said icily.

  "Right, okay," Melody said. "Way to get off on the right foot."

  "Try not to argue with me, Melody, for once in your life," her mother said. "That's all I ask of you."