Chapter Eleven
Sadie
I surveyed the materials spread out on the cabin’s living room floor.
Singing bowls? Check. Tribal drum? Check.
Rain stick? Check. Yoga mat? Check. Business cards?
Check. Everything I needed for today’s launch event at Hartley’s Nest had been gathered.
Now I needed to summon up some courage because I was as jittery as leaves stirred up by an autumn breeze.
I’d planned the event to be a simple meditation, sound bath, and quick yoga routine combination. I’d run it by Beckett, Mrs. Hartley, and Vanessa who had happened to be walking with her little boy, Ben, on the Hartley’s Nest nature trail where I’d met Beckett and Mrs. Hartley.
“I’m so participating in this event,” Vanessa had said. “I’m leaving Little Ben with Hunter and taking this time for me.”
Beckett had explained that Hunter was Vanessa and Spencer’s adopted teenage son.
“You just gave me a great idea,” I’d said. “I can tailor offerings specifically for busy moms.”
“Yes! That’s exactly what busy moms need!
” Vanessa had clamped her hands onto my arm as if we were good friends.
I’d rather liked that. I needed some good friends here in Greenridge.
Orla and Fionn had been my friends back home, but only in secret.
In public, we’d had to maintain our royalty-servant relationship with bows and formality.
But here? In the quiet woods of Vermont? True friendship out in the open was possible.
And maybe I’d been thinking about more than friendship with Beckett. He’d been exceptionally helpful to me in my business venture in so many ways, but it went deeper than that. He appeared to genuinely care about my success.
About me.
So unlike Cian who had only cared about alliances and appearances and whether I’d give him babies to expand his lineage and thereby his power.
A shudder came over me at the notion of almost marrying Cian. What a disaster that would have been.
Enough time had gone by now that I didn’t worry so much about Cian or my parents finding me.
Knowing them, they’d been angry with me at first and had probably sent out the royal guards to search for me.
Then they’d likely come to the conclusion that life was easier without me challenging every old-fashioned law and way of doing things in Verdalach.
All of our lives had been improved by me leaving.
And today, I’d begin my quest to improve the lives of others with my services.
A soft knock sounded on the cabin door, and I opened it to find Jimmy Slater standing on my doorstep. Between him and Hank, the two older gentlemen had created a schedule of checking in that made me feel looked after.
“Good morning, Jimmy.” I stepped aside so he could enter the cabin.
“Morning, Sadie.” He pulled off his John Deere cap and gave me a polite nod. “I know you’re gearing up for your big event today so I won’t keep you. I just saw some of the jewelry you have for sale at Patty’s.”
Someone else who had taken on the job of looking after me. I’d gone into Patty’s frequently for groceries, but this week I’d asked to hang up my business flyer and one advertising the launch event.
“Of course.” Patty had gestured to the corkboard. “Put up whatever you’d like.”
Then her gaze had landed on the pendant I wore around my neck.
I’d fashioned it out of a pretty rock I’d found on a walk along the edge of Slater’s Pond.
I’d wrapped some silver wire I’d found in the cabin’s garage around it and hung it from a silver chain I’d picked up from a little craft store on Main Street.
“That’s nice,” Patty had said.
“Thanks. I made it.”
“Folks around here would love to buy jewelry like that,” she’d said. “Do you have more pieces?”
I’d fingered the pendant. “Not yet, but I suppose I could make more.”
“You do that and bring them in here. They’re guaranteed to sell like hotcakes.”
After a quick stop in the craft store, I’d gone back to the cabin, hunted for more pretty rocks, and mass produced a variety of pendant necklaces. Over the weekend, every single one had sold.
And that was how I’d developed what Patty had called a side hustle, which was funny because I hadn’t launched my main hustle yet.
But that would change today.
“I was wondering,” Jimmy began as he twisted his cap in his hands.
“I was wondering if you could make something special like those necklaces for Beth.” He jabbed his hand into the pocket of his flannel coat.
When he held that hand out to me, a shimmery, white rock in the rough shape of a heart sat in his palm.
“I found this rock and Beth loves hearts.”
Could he be more adorable? This man had never killed anyone. I was sure of it.
I picked up the rock, testing its weight. “I think so. It’s nice and light so it won’t feel heavy around her neck.”
“Good, good.” He angled his head at the rock I still held. “Maybe with a leather cord instead of a chain one? Beth likes a more natural look.”
“Exactly what I was thinking.” I walked Jimmy into the kitchen and grabbed a piece of scrap paper to make a note of what he wanted. “I can have this ready for you soon.”
“No rush. You focus on your event. Whenever you have time is fine.” He smiled. “I wanted to catch you with this order before you got too busy with everyone who’s going to be beating down your door for your services after today’s launch of Kalm Kingdom.”
I rubbed his arm. “Thanks, Jimmy. Your belief in me means so much.”
“Easy to believe in someone whose goal it is to help people live better lives.” He put his hat on and headed for the door. “Good luck.”
He left and I sketched a quick design for his request. It would be fun making something that he wanted to gift as a token of his feelings for Mrs. Hartley.
But that project would have to wait because if I didn’t get my materials loaded into the car right now, I’d be late getting to Hartley’s Nest for the event.
That would not be a good way to advertise my new business, and arriving stressed and rushed wouldn’t create the relaxed atmosphere I was hoping to generate for today’s attendees.
Thirty minutes later, I drove past the gates of Hartley’s Nest and to the nature trail area where we’d decided was the best place to host my event. The mouth of the trail was a wide open area with a soft carpet of leaves perfect for doing nature-inspired yoga.
As soon as I got out of my car, Beckett was right there, ready to help me unload my materials. The sight of him always made my insides heat up. I was growing more and more fond of that reaction.
And it was getting harder and harder to pretend that reaction wasn’t happening.
When I’d come by to discuss my ideas for the event, I’d gotten the impression Beckett had wanted to ask me to do something not business related. I’d wanted him to ask. I’d been prepared to accept his invitation whatever it had been.
Alas, he hadn’t issued the invitation, and I’d left wondering if I’d said or done something to make him change his mind.
I supposed I could have asked him to do something.
I’d become aware that American women did that sort of thing, but it seemed so bold.
In the end, I’d let my decades of old-fashioned upbringing in Verdalach get the best of me, and I’d kept my mouth shut.
I honestly didn’t know how long I could keep it just business between us though.
“Hey, Sadie.” Beckett greeted me with a warm, friendly smile and that Verdalachian upbringing crumbled a bit more, like an aging palace wall. “We’ve lucked out with beautiful weather today for the event.”
I took a moment to look around us. I’d been so focused on packing up my materials and reviewing the schedule of offerings I wanted to showcase at today’s event that I hadn’t tuned into the weather.
Bright sunshine filtered through the colorful trees.
What I could see of the sky through the branches was a spotless blue.
A light breeze rustled the leaves, creating a natural music conducive to the tranquility I wanted to deliver to the people who came to the event.
“Indeed,” I said after a deep inhale of autumn air. “It’s a perfect day.”
“And that’s exactly what people will say after they experience what you have to offer.” Beckett lifted my yoga mat, tribal drum, and rain stick out of the car, but he let me carry my singing bowls because he was deathly afraid of breaking them.
“Like, I don’t even want to look at them for fear I’ll crack them with the force of my gaze or something,” he’d said.
“They do break easily,” I’d said. “And they are expensive.”
Not being able to afford things was taking some getting used to.
Being a princess in Verdalach had come with many financial advantages, but the little money I’d made by selling the pendant necklaces had felt different than my inherited wealth had.
I was truly earning the money now with my actual skills and not just because of who I was.
Hopefully, I’d be earning even more after today’s event.
Beckett tapped on his phone several times as I set up my yoga mat, the singing bowls, drum, and rain stick in an area backed by a small grove of pine trees, still sporting their green needles.
“According to the online registrations, forty-eight people pre-registered for today’s event. Glad we capped it at fifty. This is a good size to help spread the word about Kalm Kingdom, but it’s also manageable in terms of making people feel they’ve been a part of something personal.”
“I do hope that’s what they feel.” A wave of nervousness crested over me. As a princess, I’d been in the public eye before and had addressed large groups of people so there shouldn’t be any reason for me to be anxious.
But this was all different. These people weren’t my subjects. They weren’t required to revere me. I wasn’t royal to them. I was just someone who claimed to know how to help them relax.
But did I actually know how to do that? I had no expert training. I had no degrees of learning in these practices. All I had was some self-teaching, a great deal of reading, and some dabbling.
Was that enough?
“Hey, what’s happening?”
I looked up from where I sat cross-legged in front of my singing bowls to find Beckett had crouched on the other side of the bowls to be eye-level with me.
“You look as if you’re having a freakout.” His mesmerizing eyes were full of concern and somehow comforting me.
“A freakout?”
“Yeah. You’re letting little voices in your head tell you that you can’t do this,” he said.
“But I know for a fact you absolutely can.” He angled a hand at himself.
“You worked your breathwork and sound bath magic on me, remember? I’m proof that what you do is effective.
” He rubbed his bearded jaw. “Effective and necessary. I’ve felt better overall since that session. ”
“You have?”
He nodded. “Even Vanessa said I was less glum.” He peeked at the bowls between us for a moment. “I actually think that’s due to more than just the session.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, talking to him already alleviating my . . . my freakout.
Still not meeting my gaze and with a slight pink tingeing his cheeks, Beckett said, “Well, I like spending time with you. Not just because you’re a sorceress with these offerings.” He peeked up at me with a little grin on his lips. “But because you’re . . . you.”
That warmth that had been simmering inside me whenever I interacted with Beckett erupted into something fiery. The bashful way he spoke, the kind words he said turned whatever I was feeling for the man into pure desire.
I stepped around my bowls to be on the same side as Beckett as he rose to standing.
“I like spending time with you too, Beckett,” I admitted. “A great deal.” I studied our shoes for a moment before shifting my gaze up to meet his. “Maybe we could spend some time together that isn’t focused on building my business?”
“I would love that,” he said, his voice a whisper. “I’ve actually been thinking about asking you to do that, but I didn’t want to distract you from launching your business.”
“Distract me? You’re the reason I’m able to launch my business,” I said.
“Nah. You would have figured out what to do on your own.”
“Maybe,” I said. “Eventually, but you made it so easy and all this behind the scenes pre-work has actually been fun because I got to work on it with someone. With you.”
“A date then? Tonight?” The hopeful arch of Beckett’s brows drew me in.
“Yes. I’d like that.”
“Fantastic.” He opened his mouth, but his gaze shifted to over my shoulder.
“Oh, I think attendees are starting to arrive. I enlisted the help of Flora, my brother Darius’s fiancée, to check people in.
She’s got a tablet over there with the registration list and a basket to collect cell phones so people will be ready for full relaxation mode. ”
I turned to see a young woman with curly brown hair greeting people. She wore leggings with an autumn leaves pattern on them and a rusty-orange cardigan sweater with tall brown boots.
“Wow, she looks like autumn personified,” I said.
“Yeah, Flora only dresses in flora. C’mon, I’ll introduce you to her.” Beckett nudged me toward the woman, but then he scooped up my hand and tugged me along instead.
Holding hands with Beckett Hartley was such a simple thing.
And, yet, it didn’t feel simple at all.