The Royalty

Chapter 39

Songs: Remind Me by Brad Paisley feat. Carrie Underwood, Never Stop by SafetlySuit, Hand On Heart by Olly Murs, Fall For You by Secondhand Serenade

America's POV

I wish I could have said I was excited to leave for Niue in two weeks because I wanted to help the people. And, yes, that was a part of it. But that wasn't all there was to it. The truth was that I needed to escape for a while.

I suppose I should explain.

Things between Maxon and I had been getting increasingly worse the closer it got to the day I was supposed to leave. It wasn't like we were fighting a lot or anything. It was more like the opposite. We hardly talked at all. With each passing day I would feel him drift away from me a little bit more. I had tried to ask him about it, so we could fix things, but he would dismiss me with the wave of his hand and some excuse about being too busy to talk.

The worst part was that I didn't know why Maxon was acting this way. I didn't know if I had done something or if there was something else on his mind or if he just didn't feel the same way about me that he did before. It killed a small piece of my heart every night that I laid next to him in bed. He would lay there, his back turned to me, and I would be there wondering what he was thinking. I would be remembering the times when Maxon would pull me close and I would rest my head against his shoulder until we both fell asleep.

Eventually, I couldn't stand the tornado of painful thoughts anymore. I distracted myself by spending more time with Alex. I used any spare moment to play with him. He had never had such a steady playmate before and it obviously pleased him. It definitely helped in keeping thoughts of Maxon away. The only times he would cross my mind were when Alex would ask where his dad was and why he wasn't spending time with us. It would send a wave of sadness through me as I had to explain that he was busy with work and say that I was sure he would find time to play with us soon.

It was now another one of the times that Alex and I were hanging out. It was a wonderful day outside, so we had decided to take advantage of it. We were walking towards the main door so we could head to the garden. At the moment, we were trying to decide on what to do.

"What do you want to do, Mommy?" he asked me.

"I don't know, Alex. What do you want to do?"

He pondered that for a minute. His brow furrowed the same way Maxon's did when he was thinking. It was just as endearing as it was when his father did it.

"Can we get the chalk and draw?"

"That sounds like a splendid idea," I replied with a smile. He'd been wanting to use his new chalk set since May had got it for him a few weeks ago as a present. I changed the direction we were walking in so we would pass the playroom he had the set stored in.

When we were nearly to the playroom, we turned a corner and I stopped dead in my tracks. Maxon was walking right towards us, flipping through a stack of papers. He glanced up and noticed us. His reaction was similar to mine. We locked gazes for a single moment until Alex caught his attention.

His eyes filled with a look of tenderness that had been absent while he was looking at me. Our son ran to him and Maxon got on to one knee so that they were the same height. Alex gave him a big hug and Maxon laughed, hugging him back.

When Alex pulled away from the embrace, he smiled. "Hi, Daddy."

"Hi, little man. What's up?"

"Mommy and I are going outside to draw with the chalk Aunt May gave me."

"That sounds like a lot of fun," Maxon said.

"Do you want to come with us?" Alex asked hopefully.