“… can’t catch me!” The boy shouted at the girl. He looked to be about six or seven while the girl was probably younger.
“Yes, I can!” she shouted back as she chased after him.
“Grayson! Cassie!” Georgina Lennox called. “Stop running around please!”
The two children stopped in their tracks. “Aww, Mom!” the boy—Grayson—complained. “We were having fun.”
“No fair!” Cassie added, crossing her arms over her chest. “I was about to catch him.”
“Our yoga class is about to start, Grayson,” Georgina warned. “I told you, you could come and play with Cassie, but you have to stay out of the way when we begin, okay? Now come here.” The two kids trudged over to them. “Anna Victoria,” she began. “This is my son, Grayson.”
“And this,” Amelia ruffled the little girl’s head, “is my daughter, Cassie. Say hello, kids.”
“Hello, Miss Anna Victoria,” they said in unison.
Anna Victoria bent down to their eye level. “Nice to meet you.”
“Grayson,” Georgina began. “Why don’t you and Cassie go up to the nursery? Uncle Matthew and Devon should be there. He said he’d look after you guys while we’re at class.”
“Okay!” Grayson said with a nod, then took Cassie’s hand. “C’mon, Cass, maybe Uncle Matthew’ll fly us today.” With that the two children dashed out of the ballroom.
“They’re adorable,” she said to the two women.
“But they sure are a handful,” Georgina said.
“Do you like children?” Amelia asked Anna Victoria.
“I guess?” She hadn’t been around many kids, having been an only child. But she supposed they were asking about her and Damon, and that made her stomach flutter. Was it too early to think about that?
“Ahem.” Georgina cleared her throat as she and Amelia smiled at each other knowingly. “Looks like we should get started,” she nodded behind them, where J.D., Kate, and a couple of other women were filing in.
“Ah, right.” With a deep breath, she turned around. “Hello, ladies! Good morning.” I can do this, she told herself. This was something she wanted to go right. “My name is Anna Victoria, thanks for coming.”
Kate began to introduce the other three women. “This is Nepheli,” she nodded at the tall brunette. “She works with my husband and Christina at the Marketing Department at Lennox.”
“How do you do?” she asked, her voice heavily accented.
“And this,” she gestured to the petite redhead, “is Penny Walker, Amelia’s sister-in-law.”
“Hi.” Penny waved at her shyly. “I’ve never done yoga, but I’m excited to try it.”
“Finally,” she gestured to the other redhead in the trio, “this is Dutchy Forrester, Blackstone’s premiere fashion designer.”
Dutchy smiled and rolled her eyes. “Kate tends to exaggerate things, but you probably already know that.”
“I’m glad I finally got you out of the house, Dutch,” Kate said. “Even if I did have to drag you out.”
“It’s lovely to meet you ladies,” Anna Victoria said. “Why don’t we begin?”
They all headed toward the mats in the middle of the ballroom, with Anna Victoria taking the one at the front, and the others assembled behind her.
She led them through an easy flow, not really knowing what everyone’s levels were, but made sure to give tips and modifications for both beginners and advanced students.
“That’s it,” she encouraged as she showed Penny how to get into the downward dog position properly. “I know it’s not easy, but don’t worry about getting it perfect. Everyone has to start somewhere. Honor where you are in your process.”
Continuing through the series of movements, she shifted between showing them what to do and walking around to help them. “That’s it, ladies. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t do everything today. You might not be able to do it now, but a week or a few weeks from now, who knows what you’ll be able to do if you put your mind to it?”
Finally, they neared the end, and she had everyone lie down on their mats. “Relax your body. One part at a time. Focus on your breathing. Release the tension in your muscles.” After a few more minutes of silence, she took a deep breath, then sat up. “All right, ladies, and we are done. Thank you so much.” She put her hands together and nodded at them.
“I feel awesome,” Christina said. “God, I needed that so bad.”
“I thought I was going to fall over,” Georgina laughed. “But you were such a good teacher.”
Everyone came up to her to praise and thank her. The fact that she was able to finish the class and help people made her feel euphoric. It was an incredible feeling, and deep inside, she realized that this was what she was meant to do.
“Now, how about brunch?” Catherine offered. “I have food set up in the dining room.” All the women agreed heartily and followed her out of the ballroom.
As they sat and ate, Anna Victoria used the time to get to know them, as well as ask the women what she could do to improve the classes. They were all helpful, and all wanted to come back next week, plus suggested she offer more types of classes or later schedules, since they had friends who had wanted to come but simply couldn’t make it on a Saturday morning. She told them she would take that into consideration, if Catherine was amenable to hosting them at another time, which of course she said was definitely possible.
“So, it’s nice to see you again,” J.D. said as they all began to file out of the castle.
“Oh. Sorry,” she said, embarrassed. They hadn’t seen each other or even talked since Monday. “I’ve been, uh, busy.”
“Or getting busy?” she
