Keeping London (The Flawed Heart Series Book 2)
Read Keeping London (The Flawed Heart Series Book 2) Online
Authors: Ellie Wade
Tags: #contemporary romance
Copyright © 2016 by Ellie Wad
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All rights reserved.
Visit my website at
www.elliewade.com
Cover Designer: Regina Wamba, Mae-I-Design
Editor and Interior Designer: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing,
www.unforeseenediting.com
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN-13: 978-1-944495-03-9
Gayla, you are one of my favorite people in the entire world! Thank you for loving me unconditionally and for always supporting me. I am so blessed to have you in my life. I love you more than I could ever express. ♥
Loïc
Age Five
Seattle, Washington
“Magic already lives in my mind and heart. I just have to make it.”
—Loïc Berkeley
“Please be a king. Please be a king,” I chant as I get ready to lay down the card in my hand.
Nan looks at me funny, a smile on her face. “Why do you say that, dear?”
“Because all the other face cards have been laid down, so if I have the king, then I am going to win.” I grin big, grasping the card to my chest.
Nan shakes her head. “You are a bright one, Loïc, my dear. I don’t know how you keep track of what’s been played thus far.”
I shrug. “Just really smart, I guess.”
Nan laughs. “That, you are, love—the smartest.”
I’m playing war with the new cards Granddad and Nan got me for Christmas. They have a picture of a giant Ferris wheel on them. Nan said that the Ferris wheel is called the London Eye, and when you ride it, you can see the whole city from the top. She promised to take me there when I go visit them. I can’t wait. I got to ride a Ferris wheel last summer at the fair, but Daddy said it was very small compared to the one in London. Everything in London is cooler.
“On the count of three, Nan. Okay?”
“All right,” she agrees.
“One. Two. Three.”
Each of us lays down the card in our hand. I cheer when I see that I hold the king, which allows me to take Nan’s last card—a nine—from her. In the game of war, a king will beat any card but an ace.
I stand from the table to do my winner’s dance. I jerk my arms from side to side and wiggle my butt a lot. The butt part is important because it makes everyone laugh, and when they’re laughing, they won’t feel bad about losing. It always works. Nan is laughing from across the table, and I smile. I love winning, but it wouldn’t be fun if I hurt someone’s feelings.
I stop when I hear Granddad yelling from behind me. I turn to see him using a couch pillow to hit the wall.
“Damn wasps! Always such a nuisance this time of year!”
I walk into the living room and squint toward the wall, looking for wasps.
Nan passes me and lays her hand on Granddad’s arm. “Henry, dear, there are no wasps in here. It’s December.”
My daddy goes by me with a pillow in his hand. “It’s fine, Mum.” He pats her on the back before he swings the pillow at the wall. “There, Pop, I got the last of them,” he says cheerfully as he takes the pillow from Granddad’s hand.
Granddad nods. “Good, son. You really should spray, you know? You don’t want those buggers stinging little Loïc.”
“You’re right. I’ll do that,” Daddy answers while he places the pillows back on the couch.
Granddad sits down and continues watching TV. He loves American TV. He says it’s so much more exciting than the dull rubbish they have over there in England.
“We have time for a couple of cribbage games before bed. Do you want to give it another go?” Nan asks me.
They got me a wooden cribbage game for Christmas, too. Nan said it was one of her favorite games as a kid. She said it’s usually for kids a little older than I am, but she got it for me because I’m so smart with numbers. We’ve played a few times, and I pretty much understand it all now.
But the thought of going to bed makes me sad because I know, when I wake up in the morning, Nan and Granddad will be gone. Nan said they have a really early flight.
“I don’t want to go to bed, Nan.”
She gently pats my hand as we sit at the table again. “I know you don’t, love. I’m really going to miss you, too.”
“Do you have to go back? Can’t you stay here until we can move there with you?” I love when Nan and Granddad visit. I will be sad when they leave.
“We can’t, but we’ll see you again soon, dear.”
“It’s not fair. I want to go with you now. Why can’t we just move now?”
“Well, love, your mum and dad have stuff they have to work out here. Your dad has a good job. Your mum has her doctors here. But I know, someday, you will all come. We just have to be patient.”
Daddy works a lot because Mommy’s baby doctors cost tons of money. I think, after the baby comes, we will move. I just can’t wait.
“Tell me about the flat and the cottage, Nan.”
Nan chuckles. “Oh, my boy, what can I tell you that you don’t already know? Between your dad and Granddad’s stories, you probably know more about our properties than I do.”
“You can tell me again. You tell the stories differently.”
“You mean, I don’t tell you a load of codswallop?” She laughs.
“What?” I ask, confused.
“My stories are different from the ones you hear from your daddy and Granddad because, I’m afraid, theirs might be a tad exaggerated.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just that they love to tell stories to make everything sound more interesting than it is.”
“Daddy doesn’t lie.”
“No, I’m not saying that he does. He just has a way of making things seem magical than they really are.”
“But London is magical.” I’m so confused.
“Perhaps, but magic isn’t found only in England, my dear. It can be found anywhere.”
“Not here.”
“Oh, but it can. For instance, take that over there. What do you see?”
She points to a large box that’s about half the size of our refrigerator. Mommy got it in the mail a couple of days before Christmas.
“It’s a box.”
“Is it though?”
I stare at the box before looking at the Nan again. “Yes,” I answer slowly.
“You see, I don’t see a box. I see a submarine, and this submarine’s on a mission. If I lived here, I would decorate that submarine. You could get your daddy’s help to cut out a spy hole.”
“A spy hole?”
“Yes. You’ll need one if you’re going to track the group of humpback whales during their migration. You see, the group has some young humpbacks among them, and they could be in danger.”
“Why?” I ask, my eyes wide.
“Well, you know, orcas, or you might know them as killer whales—the white-and-black whales sometimes held in amusement parks?”
I nod.
“On occasion, orcas have been known to attack baby humpbacks in the wild. So, if you see one coming when you’re in your submarine, you can scare them off. Also, every now and then, the humpbacks will get stuck in fishing nets or in garbage in the ocean, and you will need to free them. Of course, you will see other amazing creatures on your journey—stingrays, eels, or maybe a giant octopus. I don’t know about you, but I think being the protector to a group of whales is pretty magical, and you would be wonderful at it because you’re so brave.”
“I would be,” I agree, nodding again.
“You see, my dear, magic can be found anywhere because it’s found in here”—she points to her head—“and in here.” She points to her heart. “I know that you want to come to England and, believe me, Granddad and I want you there, too. But you shouldn’t wait until you’re there to have amazing adventures. No matter where you end up in this life, it is your responsibility to create magic wherever you go. Do you understand?”
“I do. Magic already lives in my mind and heart. I just have to make it.”
“Exactly!”
Nan grins widely, and it makes me happy.
“Nan, can we work on my submarine?”
“Of course! I’ve made some amazing submarines in my day.”
“Maybe Mommy will take me to the library tomorrow, so I can get lots of whale books. I’ll need to know all about them when I go on my journey.”
“Oh, I bet she would. That sounds like a great plan. Then, the next time we speak on the phone, I want to hear all about your adventures.”
“I’ll tell you about them,” I say excitedly.
We stand from the table.
Nan opens her arms wide. “Come give your ole Nan a big hug.”
I wrap my arms around her waist and squeeze tight.
After we finish hugging, Nan bends down on her knees, so her face is right across from mine. “I’m going to tell you something that I told your father when he was your age, and I want you to always remember it, Loïc, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Life is one big adventure. You only get one life, so you have to make it count. You can’t sit around on your bum, waiting for joy to find you. We’re all born with the capacity to live incredible lives…but the trick is that you have to work for it. A magical life is within everyone’s grasp, but you have to make it happen for yourself. Everything that is worth having requires effort. Happiness will always be there for you, but it’s not free. Do you understand?”