Return to the Castle

If you missed Part 1 of Olivia’s story here is the link. Castle of Dreams

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Olivia was sitting in her room trying to read. The book was intriguing, but not intriguing enough to stop her mind from returning to the castle. It had been a week since she had ran away from the castle. She tried to distract herself with other things and forget about the abandoned castle that she had come across on her walk. The one she had visited, dreaming about her Prince. What had caused the crash of the wine bottles that day she was there? What caused the shadow that she had seen, as she ran out of the castle in fear? She was one to not let go of questions easily, so she knew what she had to do. Putting down her book, she went to take a walk.

Inside she was shaking as she knocked on the door of the castle. She waited and started to turn the knob as the door suddenly opened, causing her to jump! In front of her stood a young man who she guessed to be in his 20’s, like her. He had sandy brown curly hair, and a smile that made her speechless.

“HI! May I help you?” the man asked, as Olivia  stood there with her mouth open.

Quickly she shut her mouth, but still no words came out.

“Are you Okay Miss?” The man was still smiling, but beginning to look a little concerned.

“I….I….just didn’t expect anyone to be here?” Olivia said.

The man looked at her, a little perplexed, “Then why did you knock?”

“I mean, I didn’t expect you to be here!”

Oh what was she saying, Olivia’s cheeks were starting to blush, she was always having problems with her words getting her into awkward situations!

“I am sor…sorry…I really should go.” She turned to leave, but the man reached out and touched her on her shoulder.

“No need to run off, I was just getting ready to eat, you are welcome to join me. My name is Brantley, what is yours?”

Olivia thought for a moment, dare she really go in? It wasn’t like her to just say Yes to lunch with strangers but Oh that smile! She did know karate, and wasn’t afraid to use it, so she gathered her courage and replied. ” My name is Olivia, and thank you, I would like that.” and she walked in the door.

She followed him down the long hallway to the table that she had seen before. There was one bottle of Chardonnay sitting in the middle of the table.

“I didn’t fix anything fancy, didn’t expect company. Especially not someone so pretty.”

Olivia felt her cheeks grow warm and she smiled.

“Not too many people show up here, its usually animals that I see. They are fun to watch, but don’t exactly make great conversationalists!”

They sat down at the table to eat some Strawberry-Avocado salad with ham and cheese sandwiches.

Olivia was talking when something brushed up against her bare legs, making her gasp!

Brantley laughed. “I see that Midnight came to say Hi! I hope you aren’t allergic to cats.”

Olivia looked down and saw the a coal black cat with emerald green eyes looking up at her.

“He can be quite the troublemaker sometimes! The other week he broke my wine bottles sitting on the table.  He is lucky that he can also be so sweet when he purrs and just wants to lie on my lap. He keeps me company. This big castle does get lonely at times. Being out in the middle of nowhere enables me to be able to leave the door unlocked when I go out a lot, but loneliness can be a drawback.”

They talked well into the afternoon as they moved outside to a beautiful garden. Sat on the patio and shared some Chardonnay.

Olivia smiled to herself as they talked, and a warm feeling began growing in her heart.  She laughed to herself remembering how he had tripped as they walked out to the patio. He said he felt like he had 2 left feet a lot. When he poured their drinks he accidentally spilled some on Olivia’s hand, while she was holding the glass. The poor guy apologized shaking his head.

“Being graceful is not a strong point of mine!” he claimed.

Who said that a Prince couldn’t be a little clumsy, thought Olivia. She was enjoying his company, feeling very relaxed and thinking that sometimes fairy tales do come true!