The Royal Romance - The Valtoria Diaries

Place to call a home

"You've got me real curious," he said to her as they wandered around the edge of the mansion house in the direction that Christopher had indicated. "What's this going to be? A gym, or a pool hall - y'know, Drake would love a pool hall.."

She just raised her eyebrows at him, and looked ahead.

"Hey, what about a music studio? Cause that would really come in handy.."

"Nothing like that," she insisted. "And we can have all of those things, Maxwell. But we need to get the really important things sorted first."

They reached the door, which was unlocked as they had been advised. Jen opened the door, and they walked into a neutrally-decorated open area, with large windows overlooking the lake. Jen smiled.

"Woah. Who knew Gladys's digs were so..."

"Spacious?" Jen said, turning to him.

"..I was gonna say poky.."

She laughed. "Not all of us have lived in a manor or a mansion all our lives. I think this is perfect. I'm just gonna check out the kitchen..." She wandered through, and he stood looking at the view out of the window. It wasn't the worst, although nothing could beat the view from their balcony. Especially when Jen was standing on it.

"Ooh, yes, this is great.." he heard her call through. "There's room for a table in here too, and.."

"Are you gonna tell me what this is all about?" He had an idea, but didn't want to say the wrong thing.

She looked at him a little awkwardly. "Well. You know.. back before we were a thing.. well actually when we'd just started being a thing but before you asked me to marry you?"

He laughed. "Oh yes, I remember that six days very well."

She giggled. "Well. I kinda said to Hana that... she could come and live here."

He nodded. "Yeah, I know. Hana told me."

"Oh.." She looked thrown.

"And I think it's a great idea. We've got all this space, after all.. and I'm guessing you had this place in mind for her? It's perfect, Jen."

She suddenly threw her arms around him, taking him by surprise. "Oh, I'm so happy! I was worried about telling you.."

"Why?" He looked at her with some confusion as she drew away.

"Hana said she didn't want to get in our way. She thought you might not be too keen on the idea. And it made me think, did she have a point? I wanted her to come and live here more than anything, that's why I said it in the first place. But.. I should've discussed it with you."

He shook his head. "There was nothing to discuss back then, Jen. You weren't to know I was about to propose to you. Even I had no idea about that. You mustn't go back on your word. But, if you had discussed it with me sooner, I would have told you that it was an a-MAZ-ing idea and that you were such a fantastic, kind and generous person.." He wrapped his arms around her. "It's kind of why you're my favourite one."

"So you really don't mind?"

"Do I look as if I mind? Hey, I love Hana as much as you do. You should call her! She could be moved in here by tomorrow!"

"Well, she's gonna need some furniture first, although I'm sure we can find some from the main house.. but do you think she'll like it? If she comes here she'll have her own space, her own place to call a home, and she won't feel like she's getting under our feet."

He wandered into the kitchen. "A place to make her famous hot chocolate.."

"Exactly! We can pop in for one whenever we're bored.."

"And a big enough living room to practice for all those forthcoming dance-off defeats.." He started to bust some moves to some music he'd conjured up in his head.

Jen giggled. "Hey, we've still got the wondrous Beaumont-Jones disco to set up in the main house, so I don't think she needs to worry about that.."

He continued his dance, throwing her a playful smirk. She put her hands on his shoulders, and joined in, winding her sexy body in what he knew was an attempt to throw him off his groove. It wasn't gonna work though. Not today. No chance. Oh. Wait.

She creased with laughter, noticing his reaction. "Something wrong, Maxwell?"

Nothing was wrong. Nothing would ever be wrong again.