The Royal Contract

His head turned to his left, and his eyes stared at his sleeping wife. He debated with himself if it was wise to include her in this wild goose chase that he planned to do.

“Are you ready to learn all the skeletons that I might learn about your family?” He whispered in silence as he gazed at the serenity sketched on his wife’s face.

She barely recovered from their traumatic experience. Could she undergo another one? If he learned that there was more to the story than Ethan had told them?

He finally gave up on closing his eyes because it was no use. He would not be sleeping anyway. Instead, he would keep staring into the void of nothingness until a few things popped up again in his mind.

He walked to the balcony of their room, silently moving around the room to avoid waking her up. Once outside, he could feel the cold air slowly sipping through his body.

He was surprised to see the full moon above, rarely having the opportunity to do so. But it was a pleasant change compared to the thoughts stuck inside his head.

.....

“What’s wrong?” Her melodic voice penetrated his silence. He was once again in deep thought, not noticing he already had present company.

He turned around, surprised to see his wife up and about. She was directly looking at him with her sleepy eyes. She stretched a little and yawned as she moved toward him.

“Nothing. I could not sleep.” Alex waited for her as she came closer. Then, he wrapped her arms around her shoulder, thinking that she might get cold from the briskly cold air.

“You should return to bed, Dani. I will join you in a little while.” He whispered as they stared at the view before them.

At this angle, this city seemed so peaceful. But they knew they were not looking at the finer details. There was more to it than meets the eye.

“I will once you come with me.” She was not leaving his husband, who was bothered by something based on her observation. “What is it? It does not look like nothing to me.”

She savored the warmth his body was emitting to her. The cold breeze was penetrating her thin nightgown. She realized that she should have worn her robe before coming out in the open air.

“Fine.” He conceded in both things that were in his mind.

First, he planned to go back to bed with her before she caught a cold. Then, he finally decided to include her in his plans. He would tell her what was on his mind.

“Ok. So?” She did not look at her husband. But she focused her eyes on the same moon her husband had stared at earlier for a long time.

She wondered why so many people in the city could not see the beauty around them. All one had to do was looked up in the sky to see the sun’s glory in the morning. Then, the moon’s radiance at night.

“Let us first go inside.” He grabbed her hands and felt the coldness in her skin. “Your hands are freezing.” He commented before pulling her back inside the safety and warmth of their room.

Once back on their bed, he rubbed her palms and fingers to warm them up. His was also cold but not as bad as hers. Then, he looked into her face, realizing she was patiently waiting for him.

“Are you ready to tell me what is making you awake at this late of the night?” Dani asked, enjoying the feel of his hands against her skin.

She knew whatever he was keeping. It was not his intention to hide it from her. It was probably one of those secrets that were very hard to reveal since it might hurt her.

But after what she had gone through, what more could hurt her. Still, she slightly feared that maybe she still had a few things to learn about life. It seemed it always had a few tricks hiding in its sleeves.

“You see when I left you. I did not go back to the office. Instead, I visited Tim today.” He took a deep breath, picking his following words carefully.

He knew that was not unusual, so she would not be surprised by his explanation. She knew he sometimes checked on Tim from time to time. But he did not tell her about what he learned today.

“Did you learn something new?” She asked. Finally, this new information enlightened her confusion. But still, it did not answer her questions.

She did not want to push him to tell her what he knew, but she was also anxious to learn if there was a development in their case. She hoped to close this chapter of their story so they could move on.

“I might be onto something, but it is just a hunch. Nothing conclusive. I still have to delve into it much deeper.” He told her, finally letting go of her hand and standing up to get his phone.

He was still unsure if telling her something that did not guarantee to lead to anything was the right thing to do. But keeping things from her, he believed, was far worse.

He searched the file he had taken a picture of earlier and showed it to her. He watched her as she questioned him with her look.

“Ok.” She took the phone and scanned the file, looking for whatever he showed her. It was a new file that she had not seen before. “Where did this come from?”

Although it said in the file that the evidence was inconclusive because of lack of substance, she still found it informative. Yes, rumors were the basis of the information, but many of these things turned out to be true.

She wondered which one could be the information that could lead them to the truth. But she could see one particular line that stood out from the file.

“It was part of Cassie’s files. The one she took from Nick. But Tim and I thought it had no sound basis. So, we disregarded them.” He admitted making a mistake when he never double-checked the integrity of the information before condemning it useless.

“Well, you might be right about it, but then again. Maybe we can find something useful from this.” She said, hopeful that one of this information might lead them to something.

“Do you have more of this?” She could feel the excitement of discovering more things that might finish this case once and for all.

“Just a few, and Tim is already checking every fine detail in it. But if you want to see it, we can always stop by his office.” He offered, seeing that she was anxious to get her hands on them.

“What are you thinking earlier?” She still did not get why he saw this as a problem rather than a solution.

“Because I am thinking of talking to Ethan about this.” He did not point out what particular subject matter. But he was hoping she would think of it as a general. “Would you like to join me to visit your father in the morning?”

If Ethan had something to say, he believed it would be better if Dani would be part of the conversation. All of this involved her, and she had the right to know why.

He understood family issues and the many stories of their ancestors hidden in the past. He also had his shares of family skeletons hidden in their massive walls.