After the initial shock wore off, the tears stopped, and I could breathe a bit easier, Lucus asked me if I'd like to call home. I nodded and thanked him. He directed me to a desk in the corner with a phone on it. I picked up the phone and dialed, taking all of the appropriate measures for a cross-Atlantic phone call. The phone rang.
"Hello?" A voice asked from the other side.
"Hi." I said.
"Dru!" My mother shrieked. Get a grip, I've been here for three days. It's not that long. "How are you sweetheart?" She asked.
I didn't answer. I just got straight to the point. "Am I adopted?"
The phone was quiet. "Why would you ask that?" she asked finally.
"I found some pictures in an album and..."
"Honey it's... We... I..." She let out a long sigh. "Yes."
"What happened?" I whispered.
She sighed again. "I only know what we were told. I don't have specifics. I only know they died in a car crash when you were four months old. Catherine and Sebastian though it would be best if you were raised away from them and the Palace life. The marriage was already arranged at that time, I believe, and they didn't think it would be for the best for you to be raised side by side with Lucus either. Catherine and Sebastian contacted an adoption agency in the States, who in turn contacted us.
"Catherine and Sebastian sent us letters as frequently as they could to monitor your progress, to make sure you were happy, things like that."
"Why didn't ever tell me?" I asked.
"We didn't know how."
"I love you." I finally said.
"I love you too."
I placed the phone back on the cradle and went to sit back on the couch. I buried my face in my hands. This was a bit too much.
"Are you alright?" Lucus asked. I looked up and nodded. I felt like crying out of frustration but I don't think I had enough tears left. "I wish there was something I could do. Anything I could do." he said.
"You're doing enough by being here." I said.
"Come on, " he started. "Let's go do something."
"Like what?"
"We could go watch a movie." he suggested. I nodded. Anything to distract me.
He led me through the castle to a big room with huge soft looking chairs and sofas. There was a big screen T.V. against the wall. I gaped. Lucus just kind of chuckled. "What do you want to watch?" he asked, motioning to a shelf full of DVDs.
I shrugged. "I don't care, just pick something."
"How about 'Underworld'?"
"That's fine." I said.
"Lucus put the disc into the DVD player and clicked it on with a remote and then going to sit down on one of the big couches. I went and sat down next to him, needing to feel close to another human.
The movie started. The war had all but ground to a halt in the blink of an eye...
I watched the screen intently for a while, barely aware that my eyelids were growing heavier and heavier as time went by.
"Drucilla... Drucilla. Druculla!" I was being shaken. My eyes fluttered open. I was slumped over, leaning on Lucus' shoulder. "Movie's over." he said.
I sat up and stretched. "Sorry..." I muttered.
"Quite alright." he said."Come on, lets go get something for lunch."
I shook my head. "No thanks, I'm not hungry."
"You should eat something." he said.
"Fine, I'll have an apple or something."
Lucus nodded. "Better than nothing." he murmured.
He led me to the kitchens and went through the double doors. "What happened to going to the dining room?" I asked.
"This seemed like it would be more fun."
Everyone stopped what they were doing and bowed or curtsied again. I averted my eyes.
Rosalyn approached us again, curtsying. I grimaced. "What can I get for you, Your Highness?" she asked, addressing Lucus.
"A sandwich. Like I usually have it." he replied.
"And you Miss?" She asked me. I grimaced again.
"Please, it's Dru." I said. "I'll take a green apple."
Rosalyn scuttled away and came back a few minutes later with a sandwich on a plate in one hand and a big green apple on a plate in the other.
She handed them to us, curtsied, and walked away.
Lucus and I left the kitchens, taking our lunch with us into the study. I took a loud, somewhat noisy bite out of my apple and chewed. Lucus started to eat his sandwich. We sat in silence eating, not saying a word. When we finished, we took the plates back into the kitchens and went back to the study.
"Can we go outside?" I asked.
"It's raining." Lucus said in an obvious tone.
"That's why I want to go." I said.
"You're insane!"
"I don't recall anyone ever saying I wasn't." I retorted
"We are not going to go outside in the pouring rain!"
"Okay, we don't have to." I said. "But I'm going to."
"Oh no you're not!" Lucus growled. "You'll catch your death out there!"
"No I won't. I always go out in the rain, and it's blaringly obvious that I'm still alive."
"Why do you always have to argue with me?" He said tiredly.
"Because it's my nature." I spat. "Now seriously Lucus, I am not having a good day. Don't try my patience." I stood up and made for the door. Lucus was quicker than me though and grabbed my shoulder, pushing me back twords the couch and sitting me down.
"What the heck, Lucus. You can't stop me from going outside!"
"Apparently I can." he said.
"Why are you making such a big deal out of this? Would it really be that difficult for you to just let me go and do what I want?"
"Why are you making such a big deal out of this? Why can't you just listen to me for once!" he roared.
"Because you're being totally stupid and unreasonable! I just want to go outside. It's not that big of a deal, but you had to go and turn it into this whole big thing!"
"You're the one who started arguing!"
"No, Lucus, I'm not."
"The heck you're not I..." He began but I cut him off.
"Just shut up! I don't want to hear it! Today's been bad enough without this."
We sat in silence for about ten minutes.
"I wish it didn't have to be this way..." I said finally, wistfully.
"What are you talking about?" he snapped.
" This whole arranged marriage situation. It's just so... I don't know. There's too much drama. It doesn't seem like it's going to work out. I've been here three days and we've fought, what, six times? I'd always thought I'd marry for love, and then gets dropped on me. And you got stuck with me..." A tear slipped down my cheek. "And then I find out this whole thing about my parents." I started crying again. "And it's like your parents are only going through with this because they feel obligated, and now you're going to have to put up with me for the rest of your life and there's not a thing we can do about it."
Lucus let out a low sigh. "Dru, don't say those things. Calm down. It's going to be okay, I promise."
"You can't promise that." I choked.
He cupped my face with his hand and brushed his thumb over my lips. He brought his face closer to mine. I could feel his breath against my face. He stared into my eyes.
"But I do" he whispered.
He pressed his lips into mine. When he drew back, my lips were tingling.
The tears were still running down my cheeks. He kissed them away. "Please don't cry." He said gently.
I sat in stock stillness. "Why did you do that?"
Lucus looked confused. "Do what?"
"Kiss me. Why did you kiss me?"
"Because I wanted to." he said.
The tears had stopped now, instead my heart was beating a mile a minute. "No one's ever done that before."
"What kissed you? You don't mean to tell me that was your first kiss?" he said incredulously.
I nodded. "That's exactly what I mean."
Lucus scrutinized me, as if he was trying to figure out if I was lying. "You've never been in a relationship?"
I shook my head. "No, never. It's not like there was a line of guys outside of my door with their phone numbers in hand. I was just never interested. Why should I have been?"
Lucus just kind of stared at me for a second. He was still cupping my face, his palm warm against my cheek. He leaned forward again, brushing his lips across mine again.
"What was that for?" I asked, dazed.
"Because I wanted to." Lucus whispered. "I'm sorry. I hate arguing with you. You're too damn good at it and it's just not any fun." He said, letting his hand fall. I laughed.
The rest of the day went by fast. We watched a few more movies, without my falling asleep, I might add. By the time that was all said and done, we decided we should turn in. Catherine and Sebastian were going to be coming home tomorrow, and they wanted to have breakfast with us. Having learned that breakfast here is served at eight o'clock sharp, I decided I needed to get to bed early to avoid being too tired.
The next morning, I woke up, showered, and got dressed. I was running a brush through my hair when Lucus knocked on the door. "Come in!" I said. He pushed the door open and came strolling inside. "Morning." I said.
"Good morning. Are you almost ready?" Lucus asked. I nodded, setting the brush down on my dresser.
He led me down to the dining room. In it, Catherine and Sebastian were waiting for us, plates of different sorts of food piled all around the table.
"Ah, good morning Lucus, Drucilla." Sebastian said, smiling at us as we came in.
"Good morning." I said.
"Did you two have a good time yesterday? Catherine asked as we sat down.
"More or less." Lucus said.
Catherine smiled. "Good!" she said. Everyone started to pile things on their plates. I decided on pancakes. I started drowning them in strawberry syrup. I grabbed my silverware and dug in. After a few bites though, I stopped, setting my fork down on the napkin next to my plate.
"Catherine?" I asked.
"Yes dear?"
"Can you tell me about my parents?"
Lucus cast his eyes downward, staring at his plate.
"What do you mean tell you about your parents? Surely you know them as well as we do." Catherine said.
"I mean tell me how you met them, and why you were such good friends."
If Catherine noticed the past tense, she didn't say anything. "Well," she began, "Some time in the late nineteen seventies. Sebastian and I were newly weds then. We were on our way back from a banquet when our driver had a massive heart attack and swerved off of the road. We tumbled down a hill, still in the car, and by the time we came to a stop Sebastian and I were too injured to do anything. Our driver had passed away from the heart attack.
"Your parents were driving not too far behind us and saw the whole thing. Your father came down the hill and tried to help us out of the car while your mother drove about two miles up the road to a pay phone and called the paramedics.
"After all of that was said and done we invited them to the palace and introduced them to Sebastian's parents, who were the King and Queen then, and had dinner with them. We hit it off instantly and everything else is ancient history."
There was a tiny bit of a quiver in Catherine's voice the whole time. You wouldn't have been able to hear it if you hadn't been listening for it.
"And how did they die?" I asked.
Catherine looked a bit surprised. "I thought that you didn't know. Meridith and Paul said that they hadn't told you."
"They hadn't. I was looking through some photo albums in the study and sort of came across it myself."
Catherine's eyes got big. "Dear, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for you to..." she choked.
"It's alright. I would have found out eventually anyway." I said.
"Well, it was about four months after you were born. We were watching you here at the castle while your parents went out to dinner. On the way back it started to rain very hard. The roads were wet and it was impossible to see. Your father was driving, and on a rather sharp turn the car went spinning and crashed into a tree. The impact broke your mother's neck, and your father crashed into the windshield. They both died before the paramedics even got there..." she finished. Tears were streaming down her cheeks now, and mine too. I didn't feel like eating anymore.
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