Marrying her Best-Friend (The Seymour Siblings Book 3)
Page 13
“They are royal horses,” Lizzie said from behind them and both Carson and Will whirled around.
“Lizzie, you are aware of this?” Will asked in disbelief.
Before Lizzie was able to respond, the coach came to a stop and the metal steps were released, creating a stepping surface for the passengers.
“Remind me to have one of those made for our coach,” Will muttered.
Lizzie silenced Will by playfully smacking him against the arm, but Carson paid them no notice. He slowly and carefully approached the fine vehicle, and as soon as the door opened, he came to an abrupt stop.
His heart pounded in his chest as a woman climbed out of the coach. As soon as she removed her hood, her face came into view. Her dark brown hair glimmered in the sunlight, a pair of light green eyes, the same as his, stared back at him.
Carson had never expected to gaze upon her face ever again, and a giant wave of emotion crashed over him. “Mother?”
His mother, the Princess of Wales, stood in front of him, ten years older, but still the same beautiful woman he remembered.
The sadness of the day she left appeared in his heart, but now that he was aware of the circumstances that had forced her to leave, he was not filled with anger as well.
She had not simply abandoned her family to live with another man. A man she had supposedly had an affair with. She had left to honour her father, and fulfill her duties to her family, which Carson understood entirely. He now had his own family, and there was nothing he would not do for them.
“Carson, my handsome son,” Her Royal Highness, the Princess of Wales said.
“What are you doing here, Mother?” Carson asked with a furrowed brow, still in a state of shock. “Or how do I correctly address you?”
“Mother will do fine, my dear Carson,” she answered. “I sent a letter to your lovely wife, informing her that I would be visiting.”
Carson glanced over his shoulder at Lizzie, who smiled at him apologetically, then back at his mother. “It seems as though she failed to mention it.”
“Do not be upset with her, Carson. I asked her not to. She is a truly delightful woman, and I am thrilled that you married her. I have loved her since the start,” Her Royal Highness stated.
“As did I,” Carson smiled.
“Would it be all right if I embraced you?” she asked.
“I thought you would never ask, Mother,” Carson answered, his voice breaking slightly as he opened his arms and enveloped his mother. Tears formed in his eyes as the familiar scent of his mother filled his nostrils and he closed his eyes, his emotions threatening to spill out onto his cheeks.
“I have missed you very much, my son.”
“And I have missed you, Mother,” Carson muttered and loosened his embrace after an elongated moment.
“I wish to apologize for leaving without telling you the true reason why, but I was protecting you. You meant the world to me and it broke me every single day to be so far away from you.”
Carson sighed. “In all honesty, I despised you for a long while, Mother. I blamed myself, that I was not the son you wanted, that was why you left.”
“No, my dear. That was not the case.”
“I am aware of everything now. Lizzie informed me of the letters you wrote Father. He had kept them until the day he died, which meant he never truly stopped loving you,” Carson said.
“And I never stopped loving him, Carson. So much so that I never remarried. I could not betray your father like that.”
“He would have appreciated that,” Carson said softly.
Carson lowered his gaze, and suddenly felt Lizzie’s hand on his shoulder. He glanced at her and smiled. “I believe you have already met my mother.”
“Indeed, I have,” Lizzie smiled happily. “Many years ago, but we have been corresponding with letters for a few months.”
“And do not dare be dissatisfied with Lizzie. I asked her not to tell you. I wished for it to be a surprise,” Her Royal Highness announced.
“I am not upset, though I am certainly surprised,” Carson said in disbelief. “Would you care to join us? I am certain everyone would delight in your presence after all these years.”
“Only if it will not inconvenience any of you.”
“Of course not,” Carson answered. “Plus, I would love to introduce you to your granddaughter, Rebecca.”
“I would love that also.”
Carson took Lizzie’s hand and together they walked, with his mother towards the celebration of Emmett’s birthday. A feeling of lightness filled his heart and even though he had always considered himself an ordinary man, from an ordinary family, at that moment, he felt like a king.
The End