Page 2 of Colour My World
Darcy hesitated. “A storybook?”
He loved those. Brave knights. Monsters with teeth. Treasure maps. But this one looked different. Older. The book’s cover had no title, no golden tooling. It was just smooth, untouched leather.
“Yes, but it is more than that. It is a special book. One that holds magic.”
* * *
Lady Anne watched him closely. He sat straight, hands on his knees, eyes fixed on the book—not with excitement, but caution. He no longer reached for things without asking. He no longer spoke just because she had.
Her son had begun to think like his father.
She opened the book. The pages were blank.
“There are no words. Have they vanished?” he said.
She laughed softly. He was still hers. For now. “No, my dear.” Lady Anne leant closer. “The magic is such that only I may see it.”
He slowly drew his fingertip across the page. “What do you see?”
“It tells the story of someone you will meet. A young lady with beautiful eyes—”
“Like yours?”
Her husband loved her eyes. One blue, the other the same hue but ringed with gold.
“One for the sky,” he murmured, his fingertips warm against her cheek.
“And one kissed by fire.”
She closed her eyes and offered her lips—
“Mother?”
The room returned. “Different from mine,” she said quickly, tracing a line across the blank page. “Perhaps even different from one another.”
“Truly? Two different colours?”
She smiled and tapped the book’s empty page. “The Lord works in mysterious ways.” She brushed his hair back from his brow.You are still my little boy.
He pointed again. “Will she have your hair?”
She looked down. “No. Hers shall be rich with copper and mahogany.”
“Like a Derbyshire autumn,” he said, pleased with himself.
How easily he saw beauty—and named it without fear. She touched his cheek. “My lovely poet.”
“What else, Mama?”
“She will share her laughter freely.” Her finger travelled along the page once more.If only ink would bloom beneath it.“But itis her heart you will remember most,” she said, gathering him close and kissing his temple.
He sighed, small and content. She held the sound in her heart.
“For when she sketches your character, her love for you will be fierce.”
His brows drew together. “Is she a princess?”
“No,” she said. “Something rarer than that. She will be herself.”
