Along Came A Prince

by Carlyn Cade

  Claire stopped walking and stood in front of Stacia. “Whether or not you choose to believe it,” she said, “what you’ve been given is a gift. I hope you’ll both use it to enrich your lives together. Draw from it as you need to help you through the bad times for it’ll be there waiting for you. I hope you’ll use what you have been given wisely.”

  “Do you mean for our own higher good and the good of the Universe as Josie believes?” Stacia asked, traces of bitterness still clinging to her words. “Explain to me how all this blackness is a gift?”

  Claire returned to her chair and sat down. “Even if there were no other positive aspects to this gift, you’ve gained enormous insight going within yourself, combined with the power of the psychic world. This blackness, as you describe it, means you’ve advanced since two lifetimes ago, which is the reason for multiple lifetimes,” she explained.

  “Because these lifetimes together were short, you’re hesitant to repeat what you think of as a fatal mistake. But based on these lifetimes together, and now finding each other in this one proves you’re soulmates and always have been. You’re not so different from other people, because everyone brings baggage from a past life into their current one.

  “The one element, strong and enduring, you seem to be overlooking is that in each of these previous lifetimes, there has been a forever love between you both. You have been shown this by the Universe. In other words, your love for each other will keep you together always. And that, Stacia, is your gift.”

  “I’m sorry,” Stacia said. “You’re right. Having our past lives revealed to us is a good thing. But how do I get over my fear of marriage?”

  “I mentioned future projection a short time ago. It might help you, if you’re willing to try.”

  “I’d be willing to try most anything if it meant Clay and I could be married, and I could get rid of this enigma of thinking it won’t last.”

  “Hypnotherapy helps persons who want to control their weight, or stop smoking, or get rid of some kind of fear. Your fear of marriage would fall into this last category. And based on your experience in meditating and past life regression, you’re way ahead of what most people need to conquer their fears. Do you want to go ahead and try this type of therapy?” Claire asked. “Now?”

  “Now would be fine. Do you want to do this alone, or do you want Clay and Josie to stay with you?”

  “I’ve kept no secrets from either of them. I want them to stay.”

  “All right, then. Let’s get ready. The three of you can sit on the floor in a circle and hold hands. I believe Josie and Clay will give you the positive energy and support you’ll need to reach your goal. I’ll lead you through the hypnosis.” Claire lit a candle and set it in the middle of their circle. “Remember, hypnosis displays your inner reality as opposed to your outer reality when you’re not in a hypnotic state.” She closed the window blinds, flipped on the switch that started the sound of ocean surf rolling, and turned off the lights. “Ready. Let’s relax. Focus on your breath. In and out. Go now to your favorite calm and peaceful place and surround yourself with white light. Encircle everyone under this tent of safety.”

  Stacia concentrated on the waterfall at SwissDen. The rushing waters filled her senses. She felt encompassed by white light and knew nothing could hurt her.

  “We’re going to go deeper and deeper into your subconscious now, Stacia. Let go of the here and now, so you can go for the heart of your truth. Your reality. Your love.

  “Breathe deeply. Inhale from the deepest part of your stomach. Exhale until your lungs are empty. Inhale deeply again. Exhale once more. You feel as if you’re floating, and you are. Up...up...up into the sky. You see the clouds above you. You can reach out and touch them. You are drifting into the wispy, white smoke that you see when you’re flying in an airplane through the clouds. You are surrounded by this blinding mist.”

  Stacia was immersed in the clouds. She could see nothing but their foggy whiteness.

  “Stare into the mist as it swirls around you. You notice the fog is spreading apart slightly. A shape is beginning to form. Look closely. What you’re seeing is you in the future. Tell me what you see.”

  “A woman...it’s me. My hair is short.” Stacia laughed suddenly. “And I’m fat. No, not really fat. Just overweight because I’m holding a tiny baby. I can feel someone’s arm around my shoulder. Now, he’s kissing me. It’s Clay. We’ve had a baby. No wait. There’s a little girl and boy standing on each side of us. We have three children.” Suddenly the image faded. Clay was gone, and so were her children, including the precious new life she had given birth to. She felt stranded, lost and alone without the warmth of her family’s love. She realized in that instant the only thing important to her was Clay’s love and their future together, no matter how long or how short it was.

  “Stacia, I want you to continue walking through the mist,” Claire said. “Walk slowly so you can observe your surroundings. Focus on going farther and farther into the future. The fog is clearing once more. You’ve entered the period where your life will end shortly. What do you see?”

  “Nothing,” Stacia replied. “I only see the fog.”

  “Keep looking. We’ll wait for you.”

  Seconds or minutes passed, Stacia wasn’t sure which, but no images passed through her mind.

  “We’re going to come back to the present now,” she heard Claire say. “Feel yourself drift down toward earth, lower and lower. What I want you to remember when you come back is we, as humans, are only capable of living in the present. If we dwell on the future, we cheat ourselves out of the experience of the joy of living and loving someone now. We can imagine what the future holds for us, but we cannot live it until we arrive there. So grab onto all the happiness and love for Clay you can hold in your heart and your mind.”

  I’m going to marry Clay, Stacia decided as she floated back to earth.

  “You’re back in my office now. Clay and Josie are holding your hands. Whenever you feel like opening your eyes, do so.”

  Stacia opened her eyes. Why was sadness written all over Clay’s face? What was wrong? She felt ecstatic with happiness in knowing Clay and she were finally free to marry. Claire was right. She had to live in the present. The future would unfold for her with its joys and sorrows when the time was right. “What’s wrong, Clay?” she asked.

  “When Claire said to go into the period of time when your life would end shortly, I visualized that,” Clay said.

  “Do you want to share what you saw with us?” Claire inquired.

  “I was sitting on a chair next to Stacia’s bed. She was having a hard time breathing, and I knew she was going to die.”

  Oh please don’t let me be right about our short marriage, she prayed to the unknown.

  “I stared at her face. She was sleeping peacefully. Her face was full of wrinkles, but all I could see was the way she is now. I touched her hair. It was white as the snow falling outside our window. I glanced down at my hands. They were wrinkled with age also. I realized we both had to be at least ninety years old. My legs began to ache and as I stretched them, excruciating pain filled my body. But the only feeling I had was one of the exhilarating love and joy of sharing a long, happy life with Stacia. Across the bed from me were our three adult children, all with graying hair. Then I saw younger persons gathered there also. Some holding babies, and I knew we had made it. Our love for each other had created more love to carry on in our places.”

  By the time Clay finished with his vision, the three women were all crying. Stacia reached out to him, and he took her in his arms and kissed her. “I love you, Stacia,” he said. “No matter what we have to face, we’ll do it together. But I promise you, we’ll have more laughter than tears.”

  “I love you too,” she said and kissed him. She turned in his arms toward Claire and Josie. “Thank you both for everything you’ve done for us and for your part in helping us begin our new life together.” Stacia touched her engagement ring. “Well, Clay, t
he tentative stipulation on this ring has been removed. I guess it’s going to be a permanent fixture on this finger from now on.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  “There’s something that still bothers me,” Stacia said on the way home from Claire’s office.

  “What?” Clay asked. “You’re not changing your mind about getting married, are you?”

  “No, nothing like that,” she assured him. “It seems this is the right time for so many things, I think it might also be the right time to do one more.”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  “Focus, Clay, focus.”

  “I am focusing...on you.”

  Stacia laughed. “We’re not talking about the same thing here. I was thinking we should read Mark’s journal, because it might give us even more insight into our past lives as Mark and Audra.”

  “You’re right. We were thinking about different things,” Clay said. “My idea would have brought a lot more pleasure to both of us.” He stroked her face.

  “I have to agree with you on that.” She kissed his fingertips as they roamed by her lips.

  “You know how I’ve felt all along about reading his journal.”

  “You’re making it hard for me to concentrate on driving, or even thinking about reading anything,” she confessed.

  “That, my love, is the point. Remember what Claire said about living in the present.” He put his arm around her and kissed her bare shoulder peeking through her sleeveless blouse. “Delicious,” he whispered.

  “Clay, behave,” she scolded playfully. “You’re going to make me drive right off the road, or I won’t be able to put my brakes on, and we’ll hit a car or –”

  He straightened up and sat back in his seat. “Do you think that will ever happen, Stacia? Do you think you’ll ever lose control enough not to put the brakes on our love-making?” He straightened up and sat back in his seat.

  She looked over at him and grinned. “You know what they say...everything comes to he who waits.”

  “...And waits...and waits...and...” Clay laughed. “But it will be worth it, right?”

  “You betcha.” Stacia turned her head and winked at him. “However, since we’re on a California freeway right now, let’s discuss this later when we get home,” she suggested. “Can’t we talk about reading Mark’s journal?”

  “If it’s important to you, we’ll read it as soon as we get to your condo. But afterwards belongs to me. Deal?”

  ♥♥

  As soon as they arrived home, Stacia went to her bedroom, opened her safe and took out Mark’s journal. Then she sat next to Clay on the sofa, and he put his arm around her, pulling her closer to him.

  “I’m ready,” he announced.

  “No hesitations and no reservations?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “None.”

  She opened the journal, and they began reading together silently.

  Date: A.Y.D.

  My dearest Audra,

  As you can see, the date is missing on this entry. The month, the day, the year, no longer matter. In fact, nothing does now that you’re gone. Sunrise comes, then sunset and the days blur together, and the only date I need to know is A.Y.D. – after your death – for my happiness, of which I have none, and my sorrow are measured by that.

  I’m alone at our cabin now. Alone and very lonely without you. The only thing I concentrate on is when I’ll be able to join you. To hold you and our baby close to me...

  “Audra was pregnant!” Stacia exclaimed. The memory of how Audra and her baby died entered her mind. She started to cry. “I can’t read anymore,” she said. “Will you read it to me?”

  Clay nodded and began to read.

  “I’ll never forget our wedding in Nevada. How can I tell you how much I wanted to marry you? How much I loved you? I wanted our first wedding to be a private affair. Just us. I knew our planned wedding would be a vast public event with the press and our fans surrounding us. To stand in front of a Justice-of-the-Peace and say our vows, ‘till death do us part’ meant everything to me.

  “But the words were wrong. They should have said, till death do us part – temporarily. For I will join you soon, and we’ll be together again. How I look forward to our joyful reunion.”

  Clay stopped reading and turned the page. Stacia stood up and left him to get a box of tissues. She was back almost instantly. “Will you continue, please?” she asked, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

  “Date: A.Y.D.

  “Good morning, my sweet Audra and hello, my precious never-born baby,

  “I know it’s morning because the sun is in the east, and it’s only now rising. I didn’t sleep much last night. My stomach’s filled with hunger pains, but they are slight compared to the pain in my heart of losing you both. I brought no food or water with me. I do not wish to eat or drink anything as I continue my wait for you.

  “My dearest, remember the night on the banks of the Thames, and the love we felt for each other. Hidden in a dark corner under the magic of the moon and the stars touching the London skies, a new life joined ours from the heavens above just like Victoria and Dean in ‘London Affair.’

  “I am holding the pink baby outfit you gave me. Sometimes I rock it in my arms, but it lacks the fullness a soft newborn gives to it. It’s merely fabric shaped to fit an infant, my child, who I never got to see and hold. And it, like me, has no life without you and our precious baby to fill it. With life inside it, a garment can move. With your love inside me, I can live and breathe the sweetness of life. Without you, I am nothing.

  “All my love, Mark.”

  Clay closed the book. He set it on the coffee table in front of them. “I feel as if I’m reliving his life. I can feel his pain, just as I did in my dream. It’s difficult to read this.”

  “But we’ve crossed the final bridge by deciding to read it and actually doing it. Our journey has almost ended. Do you want me to read for a while?”

  “Yes,” he said simply.

  Stacia opened the book and read aloud where Clay left off.

  “My beautiful Audra,

  “It’s A.Y.D. time yet. I long for you to come and get me. I imagine how it will feel when our hands touch each other’s again, and your lips once more set mine on fire.

  “Today the hunger pains have stilled inside me. I am no longer thirsty, and my headaches have left.

  “I am thinking about how afraid you were that we were not meant to live ‘happily ever after.’ I remember your recurring dream about when you were a nightclub singer in love with a married prince. I remember the words to the song you sang just for me…

  “One man, one man forever,

  One love locked deep in my heart.

  One dream shared so completely

  Promised that we would never part.

  “Two hearts soaring together,

  Crashed in the dark of the day.

  Now he’s lost to the heavens,

  And I’m alone, left here to stay.

  “I have had dreams and nightmares of that lifetime since your death. I realize now we were soulmates then. I loved you so much back in 1915. I’ve even relived my death in that lifetime. I’m sorry I couldn’t return to the wishing well where we always met. But I did one last time, and carried you from the path of the German Zeppelins bombing London.

  “We didn’t marry then. Time ran out on us. In this lifetime, we married but couldn’t live happily ever after either. Your dreams of our last lifetime filled you with fear for this lifetime. But, don’t worry, Darling, can you imagine what fate has in store for us in our next time together? I can, and I believe we will marry and live a long life sharing happiness forever.

  “That’s why I’m so anxious to die. I’ll be with you in the heavens soon, and a short while later, destiny will send us back to Earth to live again. And I promise I’ll find you and make you happy in our next lifetime.

  “Until I hold you again, I will hold you locked in my heart. All my love, Mark.”


  Stacia began to cry again. There it was...the whole story. Added to the therapy Claire had given her, and Clay’s vision, Mark’s journal entry was the final proof she needed to heal herself forever of her fear of marriage. Mark promised he’d find her this lifetime and make her happy. And Clay was doing that...making her unbelievably happy.

  Clay held her close to him. “Don’t cry. Everything will always be happy between us. I promise you that.” He kissed her tear-soaked face, one kiss following another. “I love you, Stacia. If I lost you, I’d be like Mark and not want to live either.”

  Stacia cried all the harder, aware that each falling tear was washing away the last of her fears. She knew she could marry now and live happily ever after. Mark had promised her and so had Clay. “I didn’t expect Mark’s journal to be so revealing. Now I know the song and my regression at the pub were part of still another lifetime. How can I not believe we have past lives when two of mine were shown to me?”

  “And my dream in the cabin,” Clay said, “where I saw the bombs falling and death all around me, and the wishing well, had to mean I was her lover reliving that lifetime.”

  “I kept on thinking my life back then was tied somehow to London Affair, and it was.” She glanced down at the journal. “Should we keep on reading it?”

  “My answer is the same as before. It’s your journal and your decision.”

  “I’d like Audra and Mark and our past lives to rest in peace. As Claire advised, I want to live in the present now.”