The Royal Contract

She just finished doing the laundry and putting the clean clothes away. But when she passed the living room, she saw the mess that her son had created on the floor.

"Please put your toys in the box, Edison." She shouted over her shoulder as she moved from the living room to the kitchen.

She still had to prepare dinner. She thought of making their favorite dishes. She wanted to surprise Zach with a romantic candlelight dinner.

He promised to come home tonight since he had been busy with his new business venture. He wanted to make it up for his absences.

Honestly, one night without him by her side felt like a lifetime. It had become harder and harder to breathe every time he was away from her. She missed him terribly. And she was not afraid to tell him anymore.

"Where is Zach?" His son asked her as he followed her into the kitchen, sitting on one of the chairs, carrying one of his action figures.s

She guessed she was not the only one who could not stand not seeing him around. Even her son seemed to miss his company.

She could not blame the two. They connected in a way that only a father and a son could bond. She tried, but it was just not the same.

"He is probably on his way, so I need you to clean the living room of your toys before he arrives." She ordered, but she knew she was talking to a brick wall when he looked at her like that.

"But Zach and I will play." Edison reasoned, making an excuse not to clear the toys. "He promised." He continued, holding on to the toy in his hand.

Sometimes, she believed that Edison listened more to Zach nowadays than her. She knew it was not Zach's fault, but she had to put her foot forward and deal with this situation before it had gone out of hand.

She still believed that proper discipline was significant in raising a child. And she and Zach should be on the same page about this.

"Ok. Let us make a deal. I will let you keep two toys, but put the rest on the box." She instructed. "If you do that, I will let you have two pieces of your favorite dessert."

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For now, she had to settle with a compromise. But as soon as she could talk to Zach, she had to let Edison know they still had rules to follow in their house.

"But..." Edison was about to complain, but she did not let him.

"It is either that or no dessert after dinner." She had to let him know that there was a consequence for not following her rules.

"Ok." Edison stood from the chair and dragged his feet back to the living room, knowing he still had to follow her.

"Just two toys." She reminded him, knowing he would try to bend the rule.

Then, his son was out of sight, leaving her to continue her task. She still had many things to do, cut the veggies, roast the beef, bake the dessert, and more.

He would have had enough time if she did not have to work an extra hour in the office to finish some paperwork. But unfortunately, as someone new to the job, she had no right to complain about the long hours.

But she wondered why Zach had not arrived yet. Or at least called that he would be late. But maybe he was on his way and was just caught in the traffic.

"Don't worry. Zach is coming." She silently muttered to herself, believing that he was only running late. Maybe he also had some overtime work and just forgot the time. But he would be here. She just had to be patient and concentrate on finishing cooking their meal.

Then, she heard her phone ring, but she must have left it in the living room. Hastily, she rushed to find it and answered it instantly without checking the screen.

"Zach, where..." She called to him, but the voice that answered was not him.

"I am sorry, but this is Brenda." Her friend quickly interrupted her, not allowing her to finish her question. "I hope I did not call at a bad time."

She admitted to feeling disappointed upon hearing her voice. She expected it was Zach calling to tell her he was on his way.

"Of course not. But why did you call?" She curiously asked. She wondered if this was a social call or if her boss needed anything from her.

She looked at her watch and noticed Zach was just a few minutes late from his usual time. Therefore, there was no reason for her concern.

"I just called about the papers that Josey asked you to do earlier." Then, Brenda explained to her what could be the problem.

She recalled working on them and listening attentively to her other boss, figuring out what could be the issue with them.

Then, she told her what she had done with it, even giving her the suggestions she had placed at the end of the report.

"That is great." Her friend said. "I guess I was worrying for nothing." Her friend sounded relieved that they had finally resolved the minor issue.

But she knew she had to get back to cooking if she would finish it on time. She ended the call with her friend and hoped the next call would be from Zach.

Better yet, she would prefer that he just walked through her front door any moment now. She could not wait to tell him what she felt.

"Mom. I am hungry." Zach walked to her as she finished the final garnish. But there was still no sign of Zach.

Should she start to worry about him? Should she call him and ask what took him so long to come home? But she did not wish to ask the third question. He would not do that to her.

"Come on," Ria guided his son to his chair and gave him his meal. There was no reason for him to wait for Zach. "Eat your vegetables." She reminded him.

If Zach was late, they could always play tomorrow. She watched his son eat, but she could also see the disappointment in his eyes. He was also waiting for Zach to arrive.

He had already finished his meal but still no Zach. Now, she was anxious. She wanted to believe nothing was wrong, but her mind would not stop putting different ideas in her head.

"Mom, where is Zach?" Edison repeated the question as she placed him on his bed. It was getting late, and she did not want her son to wait up for Zach.

"He said he has to work late. But he will play with you tomorrow." She hated lying, but she could not tell him anything else.

After a few minutes of reading to him, Edison finally fell asleep. She exited his room and looked for her phone again. She knew she had to check if he called or texted while she was in her son's room.

But upon checking, he had not.

"Where are you, Zach?" She asked as she stared at the empty screen.

Finally, she could not control herself from pressing his number, calling him to ensure he was ok. She needed to hear that he had a valid explanation for being late or standing her up.

She listened to the receiver, waiting for it to ring, but it never did. It went straight to voice mail. She repeated the process but had the same result.

He did not have a signal, or his phone was dead. Or something happened to him. That was the only explanation. But there could be more.

"What is going on?" She asked, slightly breathless with worry as she sat on her sofa, staring at the space before her.

After a few more minutes of doing nothing, she heard the door rattle as if someone was opening the knob. Her eyes automatically moved to the door as it slowly opened, revealing the other person behind it.

"Zach?!" She could not understand what she felt at that moment. It was shock, surprise, relief, anger, and some other emotions she could not describe.

Of course, she was glad to see that he was ok. She did not want anything to happen to him. At the same time, she could not help but be angry that he was inconsiderate of her feelings.

But as she stared at him, she knew what emotion weighed more. She rushed to him and hugged him tight, releasing all the pent-up fear that had built up inside her.

"Hey, what is wrong?" Zach suddenly asked as his hands automatically wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

Somehow, his question triggered the other emotions she had kept inside her. She suddenly pulled away from his embrace and stared into his handsome face.

"You tell me." She said to him. "And I hope you have a good explanation." She was not angry, but she had to make a point.

Without giving her action another thought, she turned away from him and moved to the kitchen. She was not letting him get off the hook that easily.

It might be nothing to him, but it was important to her for him to know that he could not ignore her feelings. If they were entering this relationship, he had to learn to consider how his actions affected her and her son.

And to her, sorry was not always the answer to any problem.