Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Lost Wife ❯ Chapter 5

"We're sorry for the misunderstanding, Your Highness."

 

Nicolas was barely listening as one of his servants babbled excuses to him. He was irritable enough; after the restaurant's manager had confirmed that Banks hadn't intended on showing up there at all, Jamul had immediately dialed and Nicolas had soon after been brought back to the car to be brought to the actual meeting destination.

 

He thought back to that waitress who'd stared at him as though she'd seen a ghost. Something had been off about her... Surely she couldn't have known she was a prince, yet she stared at him mouth-agape. Then Nicolas remembered dimly that he had that effect on plenty of women. Something had just been different about that particular one.

 

"Jamul,"

 

"Yes, sir?" his faithful assistant turned to him at the sound of his name.

 

"That waitress back there. Did anything about her strike you?"

 

Jamul's look changed from sheer surprise to a chuckle as he shrugged. "I couldn't see much of her face, but she'd had nice skin." He chuckled good-naturedly. "Kind of like..." His mirth stopped short as he cut his speech mid-sentence. He instantly bowed his head in apology and turned his gaze elsewhere.

 

It wasn't until the apologetic gesture that Nicolas had understood his reaction. A total light-bulb moment occurred as he realized that Jamul meant the waitress had reminded him of Rea... Indeed, that probably was what had seemed so off to him. He'd never seen such smooth and clear brown skin on any other woman. "You're quite right, Jamul."

 

His assistant turned back to him, his mouth open as he was ready to offer apologies. "I didn't mean to"---

 

"No, no, don't fret. I see what you mean. Only Rea had that kind of skin. And the color of that skin was quite exact as well." Nicolas thought as it all seemed to click into place. "Her voice was a little off, though..."

 

"Do you desire an investigation, sir?"

 

Nicolas stared at Jamul for a while before shaking his head. He'd already been through this before; he'd meet a Rea look-alike, launch an investigation on her, and then end up crushed that it in fact wasn't the one he was looking for. He couldn't believe how stupid he'd been. His wife was dead...Sure, they hadn't found her bones in that fire, but they could've easily been incinerated by the flames… But that woman's features had been so similar to Rea's... And like Jamul had said, he hadn't seen her face. Only her eyes could tell him for sure that it was her. They were a deep chocolaty brown that enveloped him in warmth every single time he looked into them...

 

Nicolas shook the ridiculous thoughts away. If his wife had been alive, why wouldn't she have returned to him? He'd thought she'd been just as happy as he had been with their marriage. Or she'd at least she'd seemed so. The situation was enough to send his mind reeling...

 

"Jamul, find out when that restaurant we just left closes. Keep the hour before closing time open; I'll be returning later on today."

 

"Would you like to set a reservation, sir?"

 

"...No. Send for the Mercedes around that time as well. I'm going alone."