Page 1 of Royal

Chapter 1

Naomi

I love the sound of my son waking up in the morning to start a new day. He is my miracle.

I got pregnant with my high school sweetheart straight out of school; it was an accident. I wanted to be a pharmacist and eventually have kids once my life was set up.

Things didn’t end up happening the way I planned.

James passed away in a car accident. Racing with his friends out in the middle of nowhere, he lost control of his vehicle.

Nothing could be done for him.

I was going to tell him that night that I was pregnant, but I never got the chance, and he never got to meet his baby.

It’s been close to three years since that happened.

I had a rough pregnancy. I did it all alone and without any family in the delivery room with me.

My mom was off with her new boyfriend in another state, pretending she had no kids. Meanwhile, my brother was in the military, living his life. He left this town as soon as possible, and I don’t blame him.

In a couple of months, he is getting out of it. Shane knows that I had a baby, but he doesn’t know the other struggles I have had. I didn’t want him to know about it, because he would have done whatever he could to help care for me.

I was determined to do it all on my own. James’s family doesn’t claim our son because they think it was too convenient that he died, only for me to “turn up” pregnant. Clearly they ignored the fact that we had been together since the age of fourteen.

Instead they chose to focus on the fact that we lived different lives.

I grew up in a trailer park outside of town. The bills were paid just enough for us to get by and not be taken away from child protective services.

My mother only worked long enough to find a new man to pay the bills. Her boyfriends were the worst.

My brother is a couple of years older. I encouraged him to leave to do something with his life.

My main job is as a pharmacy technician. I live in a small two-bedroom trailer on the edge of town. It is not the prettiest, and it may be old, but it’s mine. I have enough money to pay the bills and everything we need.

We are content.

I walk through the tiny house to Donovan’s bedroom door, pulling it open. His room is small, and his little toddler bed resembles a car. He is obsessed with Hot Wheels.

Donovan is rolling on the bed, his hair sticking up on one side, and he wears a sleepy grin, showing off his dimple. “Good morning, my boy.” I lift my hands out for him to take. When he lifts his arms, I pick him up from the bed and snuggle him into my chest. I breathe in his addictive scent. “Did you sleep well?” I ask him, but he only cuddles me more.

I carry him into the kitchen and set him down in his high chair, putting the tray in front of him. I open a banana, cutting it into pieces for him to pick up while I grab his scrambled eggs to add to his tray.

He will be a mess in a few seconds but loves feeding himself. It was so hard to leave him in day care for the first time. I cried in the parking lot for months, but I had to work to make sure he had everything he needed.

I put on my scrubs as those are the most comfortable to wear to work, then I brush my long blonde hair into a braid, looking at myself in the mirror. My eyes are a bright blue, and a small smattering of freckles across my nose makes me look less pale. I’m short, and I still have a pudge on my stomach from carrying Donavon for nine months along with the binge-eating due to the depression.

The worst part was having him totally and utterly alone. I loved my ex, but it was a relationship that was comfortable. It was easy, and we got used to each other.

And it was hard.

I told his family I had Donavon, but they told me he wasn’t part of them and never to call back.

So, I didn’t.

But I have my sweet boy, and that’s all I need. I am dedicating my life to ensuring he has everything I didn’t.

My mom sent me a gift card to help with the supplies I would need to get for him. It turned out to be a used gift card with a balance of two dollars, a slap in the face worse than her not getting me anything.

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