The Royal Stones of Eden (Royal Secrecies Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

coffee after the concert, and David promised to pay because he felt somewhat chivalrous that evening.
    Later that night, in a small coffee shop near Market Street, not too far from the wharf, Mary and David sat and jabbered for a couple of hours. They discoursed, and they prattled as they continually shunned a direct look. Of course, they did finally stare, and they did fall in love, almost immediately. They connected quickly because they both had experienced tragedy early in their lives.
    Mary told David that she had lost children while they were still very young, but she was vague about the details. David told Mary that his parents had died when he was still very young, but he omitted his father’s apparent suicide and the appearance of the mysterious man and the stone. Mary’s past contained a husband that had abandoned her, and David had an abusive father. Each of them had their stories to tell. They traded their sorrows up to the midnight hour and then gave a New Year’s toast.
    “Hey! It’s New Year’s Day! Here’s to new beginnings, right?”—David held his coffee up and toasted her.
    “Here’s to new friends,” Mary said soberly and beamed. Their coffee mugs clicked lightly together.
    “Hey, Mary—or, if I was drunk with champagne, I might say, Maddie—your last name is Madison right?”—David, although sincere, was drunk. Earlier he had poured some pocketed bourbon into his cup. It was when they had first arrived at the coffee shop. He had improvised a celebration.
    “Help—I am with a crazy guy,” Mary said facetiously, with a soft sneer.
    “I will compromise me lady from the old country. I shall call thee Mattie,” David grimaced.
    Mattie and David enjoyed a time of laughter that night while they also talked seriously about music, science, history, and their careers. Mattie talked a lot about California and North Carolina, the two states where Mattie grew up. David learned that Mattie was originally from Asheville, North Carolina. Mattie was vague about her past, but so was David. They both were careful, discreet, and not offensive in their tones, words, and body language. They both needed new beginnings. They both needed to break ties to their past.
    “Mattie, are you staying at an apartment here, while in school?”—a hopeful David questioned her innocuous look.
    “Yes. Why?” Mattie said, with an all-knowing air.
    “Well, I just wondered if you would like to see part of an old side of town,” he said.
    “Sure, why not? But wait! Are you asking me over to your house? At this hour?” she asked, with her matched grin to his fraudulent look of surprise.
    “Only if you want to. And I won’t touch you—much,” he said. “Besides, it is late, or should I say early now. And I have a huge house and plenty of places for someone to hide from the big bad wolf!” David looked at his watch and saw that the hours had flown by with relative ease.
    Mattie asked David to allow her to grab some clothes from her apartment because she was rather tired of her sticky evening dress.
    “Of course—absolutely!” he said with assurance. David was tired and realized that he should have called it a night and driven her home. She had arrived at the concert earlier by bus, and it would have been the kind thing to do—but he just did not want the evening or the morning to end.
     
    ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 
     
    The drive to Alameda was a congested one, even for 3 am. Throughout the drive, through many historical districts, Mattie commented on the magnificence of the architecture, almost in an old familiar way. She rolled down the window and allowed the intrusive wind to blow carelessly through her waves of red hair.
    When they finally arrived and parked in front of David’s house, Mattie blurted out, “Wow! Now, this is San Francisco!” Mattie saw the majestic old house as an amorous mansion in the romantic pale moonlight. Its various layers of designs and windows spoke of a time long vanished. The varied