Page 40 of The Princess and Her Mercenary

Chapter Twenty-One

The next few days were an awesome whirlwind of spending time with Mary, sightseeing and hanging out with Keane’s rediscovered buddies. His team of mercenary soldiers seemed to get along well with the Dublin boys. Ndari was the happiest she ever remembered being. There were certainly aspects of palace life that she missed, like being catered to hand and foot. But there was also a certain charm in learning how to do things for herself. Like how to plant flowers.

She was kneeling in the dirt next to Mary out front of the older woman's house. Mary was showing her how to make a trough in the dirt so that she could plant the delicate petunias that they had purchased together at something called a nursery. But a nursery for flowers, not children, which Ndari had never heard of before. Ndari had chosen deep purple petunias, her favourite colour. Purple reminded her of royalty.

"Not like that, dear." Mary brushed Ndari's hands aside and used what she called a spade to dig the hole a little deeper. "It's best if you make the hole like this and then pile the dirt up the stem. You just want to make sure that the petals are well above the dirt."

Ndari took over digging the trenches for her row of petunias. "Like this?" she asked.

Mary beamed at her and squeezed her arm. "Exactly like that."

After they finished planting the petunias, Mary showed her how to water them gently with the watering can, then how to wipe the dirt off the petals so that they could get the maximum amount of sunlight. Ndari was enthralled by the whole process. She had received many flowers in her lifetime, some of them very rare, some of them very expensive, sometimes enough to fill an entire room if she was being courted by a particularly ardent admirer. But none of those flowers felt quite like the joy she experienced when she planted the cheap petunias in Mary's front flowerbed.

Ndari sat back on her heels and admired her handiwork, dusting the dirt off her hands and onto her silk Prada skirt. Maybe she would become a botanist or whatever the people who dealt with plants were called. Maybe this is what she needed, a calling in life.

Mary and Ndari were settled at the table, in the kitchen, each with a cup of tea, when Keane pulled up to the house in their rental vehicle. A couple of his men parked on the street but remained in their vehicles. The security situation made Mary a little uneasy, but Ndari was used to being surrounded by security types so she barely noticed. She tried to reassure Mary by telling her the men were just a precaution. They were used to working with Keane as a team and wanted to be nearby him in case a contract came up. Ndari's explanation seemed to appease the other woman.

Keane strode into the small kitchen and bent over to give his mother a kiss on the cheek followed by a much more vigorous kiss for Ndari on the lips. She smiled and kissed him back. She loved spending time with his mother, especially since her mother had passed away so many years ago. Being with an older woman who knew things that she didn't, who could answer some of her questions, felt like having a mother again.

Keane stood behind Ndari with his hand cupped over her shoulder. She glanced up at him. She could sense something different. An intensity. Some of the lightheartedness that he'd exhibited over the past few days had disappeared. Ndari suspected that what she was seeing was Keane's professional side. If she had to guess, playtime was over and it was time to go back to work.

Keane confirmed her thoughts with his next sentence. "We'll be leaving Dublin in two days. I've been called into work."

Ndari badly wanted to ask him what the work was. Had a new contract come up? Was it from someone he'd worked with before? Where was it? And last but not least, was he planning on taking her with him? Because Ndari had a few things to say about that. Including that she wanted to stay in Dublin, but she also wanted to be wherever he was. Dammit. She was now in emotional turmoil.

As if reading her mind Keane squeezed her shoulder and said, "Ndari will be coming with me." Okay, so now she needed to know exactly where they were going, what her choice in luxury housing was and what the shopping situation would be.

"You'll be coming back?" Mary asked anxiously, her eyes darkening with worry. Ndari wanted to reach out and touch the woman, maybe hug her, but this was between Keane and his mother.

Keane knelt on the floor next to Mary and took her hand. "I will always come back, mom. I should never have left for as long as I did. But I was ashamed. I was ashamed of the things I'd done and the places I let my life lead me. You taught me to be better than that and I believed that you would be ashamed of me if I ever came back here."

Tears filled Mary's eyes and she clutched Keane's hand to her chest. "I could never be ashamed of you, son. Over the years I was worried, but the checks you sent helped. Not just the money, but knowing you were still alive to send money. I knew you were out there somewhere, and I never lost hope that you would eventually make your way home." She turned her watery smile on Ndari and reached out to touch the back of her soon-to-be daughter-in-law’s hand. "And it was such a lovely surprise for you to bring your Princess home to me. I'm so grateful to not only have my son back, but to also have a daughter now."

Ndari felt like her heart was bursting. It was such a strange feeling. Within the palace walls, back at home, such displays of emotion were almost forbidden. One did not express themselves wildly. Of course, Ndari hated traditions like that, and often challenged the systems within the palace. She would do her utmost to pull certain emotions out of her family members. But to feel these emotions herself? It was borderline uncomfortable. Though she wouldn't trade the moment for anything.

"I think you can count on us being back often, at least a few times a year if not more," Ndari managed to say through a tight throat.

Mary smiled, though there was still a sadness about her. Ndari thought she understood. She felt a wrenching deep in her soul at the thought of leaving Dublin permanently only to come back for a brief visit. Something told her that she would want more. Something told her that Ireland and Mary and the boys of Dublin could be home for her.

Later that night, after a hearty meal of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, caramelized carrots, and everything smothered in gravy, Keane and Ndari headed back to their hotel room. Ndari's belly was full and she was as content as she could ever remember being. She knew it was a combination of things that were making her feel this way. Keane's family, and even some of his security team, filled the void inside. A void that had been empty for a long time from lack of family. She loved her brother, but he had his royal duties to attend, and she usually only got in his way. The rest of her family were cutthroat power seekers. Not people she wanted to associate with.

"Thank you," she said quietly to Keane, reaching out to touch his arm as he drove. He took her hand in his and placed it on his thigh where he could rub his fingers over hers while he drove.

"Thank you for what?" he asked, his eyes still on the road.

Ndari thought it over. She had a lot to be thankful for, but Keane was a man of few words. She needed to be succinct if she wanted to get her sincerity across. "Thank you for giving me the things in my life that I didn't know I was missing until you gave them to me."

He seemed to think this over and then he squeezed her hand hard enough that it was a little uncomfortable. But she didn't mind, she knew it came from a place of love.

"From the day I met you, you’ve been giving me the things that I didn't realize I was missing," he said, echoing her own words. "You filled something inside me. Made me want to be a better man. Made me want to reconnect with my past. You've given me something to look forward to in life, rather than just a reckless pursuit of danger."

This reminded Ndari, she had no idea what his new contract was about. She shifted in her seat and gazed at him. "Can you tell me about this new contract?" she asked hesitantly.

She didn't know how much of his work would be private and how much he could share with her. Or how much he wanted to share with her. For her part, Ndari wanted everything. Even the bad things, even the things that were hard to hear. Even if it scared or worried her, she wanted to know exactly how much danger the man she loved would be in.

He seemed to weigh his words as though understanding that she needed to know certain things. Finally, he said, "The contract is in Brazil. A wealthy client that I worked for before. He likes to take on charity cases."

Ndari realized right away that this was the sanitized version. From here she had a choice. She could be happy in the knowledge that Keane was taking a contract, that he was doing something he loved, some sort of humanitarian mission. Or, she could find out the truth.

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