by Peak, Renna
“Well, see our mother, first of all. It’s the only reason she asked me to come.”
“Did she ask you to come?” I cock my head. “Or did you volunteer?”
Her shoulders drop, and she blinks at me a few times. “You’ve no need to take this out on me, you know. No need at all. I was merely suggesting—”
“I know what you’re suggesting—”
“You didn’t go when you were home the last time.” She frowns. “It might give you some…closure.”
“I don’t need closure, Sophia.” My voice begins to quake. “I’ve had quite enough closure for one lifetime, thank you.”
“I just…I just want what’s best for my brother. For all my brothers. But especially for you.” Her lips twist around, and she blinks again, almost as though she might cry. “We were always closest—”
“Because we’re closest in age, Sophia. Not because we ever had anything in common.” I regret the pointedness of my words immediately, shaking my head. “I’m sorry. I—”
“You don’t have to apologize, Nick.” She lets out a long breath. “But maybe it would do you some good to come home for that specific reason. Not because Father is ill or because Mother misses you. Come home for yourself. Come home so that you can be sure—absolutely certain—that it isn’t where you want to live out your days.”
“I’m certain—”
She cuts me off with a shake of her head. “You can’t be certain. And you know you aren’t.”
I shake my head, my gaze going over her shoulder again to the hills behind my home. “This is where I belong. Not inside the stuffy palace walls, Sophia. I don’t expect you to understand.”
“Good, because I don’t.” She turns to look outside before turning back to me. “You know Montovia isn’t only the palace, right? That there are plenty of places that look exactly like this in our home country. I imagine if you contacted our cousins—”
“Our cousins? You have to be joking.” I shake my head. “I’d rather—”
“Their manor is technically ours, you know.” She grins, blinking a few times. “In that it belongs to the royal family, and they’re merely being allowed to live there.”
“As if I would use that excuse—”
“You wouldn’t need to use an excuse.” She shrugs, glancing behind her before turning back to me with a smile. “I’m sure they’d love to have us.”
“You’re insane—”
My attempt to decline my sister is interrupted by a slam of the screen door.
Clara turns to me with a grin. “Well, I need to hear this.” She looks over at Sophia. “If Nick thinks what you’re asking him to do is crazy, he definitely needs to do it.”
Clara
I look expectantly at the pair of them. Nick’s mouth is clamped so tight that I suspect it would take a crowbar to pry it open again. Sophia shakes her head with sisterly exasperation and crosses her arms.
“I think you should tell her, Nick,” she says. “What’s the big deal? She knows you’re a prince now.”
“She doesn’t care about our dull family business.”
“It can’t be that dull,” I say. “You’re royals. That makes you a hundred times more interesting than the average family.”
Nick sighs. “We have all the same problems an average family does. Plus some others that come along with trying to run a country.”
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Sophia says. To me, she adds, “I was just trying to convince him, once again, to come home for a quick visit.”
“And I was explaining to my dear sister that I’m happy here. And that I have no intention of going anywhere.” He gives me a pointed look when he says that last bit, and my neck gets warm.
“It’s just that our mother is sad that he’s decided to live on the other side of the world,” Sophia goes on. “Especially when we have mountains and farms and all that back home. Our family already owns a huge estate out in the countryside.”
“Where, as I was just reminding my sister, our cousins currently reside. I can hardly show up there unannounced and demand that they relinquish it to me, even if I wanted to go back to Montovia.”
Sophia rolls her eyes. “And I was simply pointing out that our family owns the estate in the first place and therefore he has the right to go there whenever he wants.”
“It may be ours in name, but our cousins have lived there for years,” Nick continues. “I have no intention of causing any strife by laying claim to it now. Besides, Father has always intended to pass the estate on to them. He was going to gift it to whomever was first among them to marry.”
“I’m not telling you to kick them out of their home,” Sophia insists. “Just go visit them for a while. It’s been way too long since any of us have done that anyway.”
“This is my home now,” Nick says. “And I’m staying.”
Sophia doesn’t look convinced—and I doubt this conversation is over for good—but she shrugs. “Suit yourself, Nick.” Then she goes off, leaving Nick and me alone in the kitchen.
“Are you really planning on staying away from Montovia forever?” I ask him softly. I don’t want him to leave, but I also don’t want him to abandon his home and family.
“Are you planning on staying away from New York forever?”
That’s an unfair question, but I guess mine was, too.
As much as I want to, I don’t press him further. Honestly, I’m not sure I want to know the answer, no matter what he ultimately decides.
And, for the next week, I do a pretty good job of pretending the question isn’t hanging over all of our heads. Life feels almost normal again, even with Sophia and Pax around. The two of them settle into ranch life fairly quickly, and I have to admit that I like the pair of them more and more as I get to know them. I thought Pax was a little abrasive at first, but the more I talk to him, the more I realize he’s a good guy. And despite the way he rags on Nick, he seems to have a genuine love and respect for Sophia and her family. I learn that the scar on his chest is from when he took a bullet for Sophia. And not only that, but he donated one of his kidneys to Nick and Sophia’s father.
Sophia, frankly, I just adore. She’s bubbly and sweet, but she doesn’t put up with any of Nick’s bullshit—something I find both amusing and admirable. And despite her ongoing efforts to convince Nick to go home for a visit, she also seems to be having tons of fun here on the ranch. She wants to go riding every day, and she’s just as excited as I am about the idea of fixing up the cabins into something usable again.
And when the time rolls around, she’s also the one who’s most excited about attending Bernice’s in-laws’ party.
“We have to go,” she tells Nick. “If you’re going to stay here, you need friends. And the best place to make friends is at a party.”
“It’s too risky,” he insists. “Someone will recognize one of us and then all of this will be over.”
“Stop being so dramatic,” his sister replies. “Even if they do recognize one of us, they’re not going to run you out of town. At worst a couple of paparazzi will show up, but once they see how boring you are they’ll just go back to chasing the actual scandals. And we’ll all survive.” She suddenly gives a sweet smile. “Please? Can we go?”
Her turning on the ‘sweet sister’ act must be working, because there’s desperation in his eyes as he turns to me. But he’s not going to get any help here.
“I think we should go, too,” I tell him. “It’ll be fun. And everyone I’ve met here in Firebird Falls has been so nice. I want to be friends with them.”
“Fine,” he says, sounding defeated. “We’ll go.”
Beaming, I throw my arms around his neck and give him a big kiss on the cheek. “You won’t regret it, Nick.”
“That’s what you always tell me,” he grumbles.
“And it’s always true.” Realizing I’m still clinging to him, I quickly let go and step back. We haven’t even kissed—let alone done anything more—since the night Sophia an
d Pax arrived, the night he rejected me in the barn. I don’t blame him for turning me down, given the state I was in, but I’m not ready to put myself out there again. He’s slept on the couch every night since, and even though it would be nice to have his arms around me at night, I can’t bring myself to ask about that, either. Somehow, sleeping with him feels even more intimate than having sex with him. And I’m too fragile right now to risk rejection when it comes to either one.
But tonight, at least, I’m not going to think about any of it. Tonight I’m just going to have fun and make some new friends. I could use some more friends.
Half an hour later, we’re all piling into the car. Sophia and I are each wearing sundresses, while Nick and Pax are dressed in jeans and nice flannels—and, in Pax’s case, a cowboy hat. He seems to have grown fond of them during his week here.
The Waters’ stables are on the far edge of town. When we pull up, there are already a couple dozen other cars—mostly pickup trucks—parked along the winding driveway. And when we climb out of the car, we can hear music playing from the far side of the long, white-painted stables.
Sophia and I look at each other and grin. This is exactly what we came here for. The men look less convinced, but they’re willing to be dragged along across the grass. I hook my elbow through Nick’s without even thinking, but he doesn’t pull away. In fact, he closes his hand over mine on his arm. When I glance up at his face, though, he just looks worried and determined. He’s more anxious about this party than I thought.
“It’ll be all right,” I tell him. “Let’s just have some fun.”
When we round the long stables, my excitement turns into sheer joy.
This is more than a party—it looks more like a small festival. On the stretch of grass behind the stables, there are three long tables of food, and beyond that there are four men managing two big, smoking barbecue grills. Next to the grills is an open space where a number of people are dancing to the music coming from a young man and woman on the fiddle and guitar. And on the grassy lawn behind the dancers are what appear to be a number of games—I see half a dozen people doing a three-legged race, some others tossing beanbags at a target, and still others shooting bows at bullseyes tied to hay bales.
Beside me, Sophia practically squeals. “This is amazing!”
I think so, too. I tug at Nick’s arm. “Come on, let’s go find our hosts and say hello.”
Nick only hesitates a moment. He still looks worried, but I plan to fix that. One way or another, I’m going to make sure Nick has fun tonight.
Nicholas
It would seem the entire town of Firebird Falls has turned out for this event. And as much as I’d like to complain about it, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen Clara happier.
She pulls me first to the tables of food, making me try everything from something she calls “coleslaw” to “barbecue beans,” which turn out to be little more than beans soaked in a sugary sauce. It isn’t until we reach the meats that I find exactly how delicious this American food can be—there are so many different kinds of meats that I almost make myself sick trying them all.
And Clara hasn’t stopped grinning the entire time. “See? I knew you’d have fun.”
I mumble a slight agreement through my full mouth of food. I wouldn’t call what we’re doing fun, exactly, but it is probably the best diversion I’ve had since arriving in Montana.
Well, the best diversion since being with Clara. But whatever it was that transpired between us seems to be over now. Before the kiss she gave me on my cheek this morning, she hasn’t so much as given me a glance since that night I held her in my arms.
Perhaps she’s ashamed, I think. Perhaps she believes I think less of her. But that doesn’t seem to be it at all. If she was feeling awkward about that night, she certainly isn’t showing it now.
I watch her chat with the other residents of the town, commenting on the food, the scenery, the weather. She seems to be quite gifted in the art of small talk, making everyone around her feel comfortable.
It would be a good gift to have as a member of my family. I suck in a breath, catching myself before I let that fantasy play out any further. Clara has made it quite clear she wants nothing to do with the sort of life my family leads in Montovia. I certainly wouldn’t subject her to it now. Or probably ever.
She returns to me a few minutes later, grasping my hand before she starts to pull me toward the other side of the lawn.
“Where are you taking me?” I dig my heels into the dirt, preventing her from moving me away from where I’m standing. This place seems as good as any—I’m almost in the center of the activities, just off to the side a bit so that people would have to go out of the way to actually interact with me.
“We’re dancing.” She tilts her head in the direction of the music. “Come on.”
“I…no.” I try to pull my hand from her grasp. “You’re welcome to join in, but I’m not one to dance.”
She grins up at me. “You’ll do fine. I’ll show you—”
“I’m not dancing, Clara.”
She shakes her head, but her smile never falls. “I can teach you. Let me lead—”
“I don’t need you to lead. I know how to dance—”
“But you just said you didn’t know how…”
I frown at her. “I didn’t say I didn’t know how. I said I’m not.”
Her smile widens. “Oh, Nick. Are you embarrassed to dance?” She motions with her head toward the open field where half the town is dancing to the bluegrass music. “Look at them. None of them know how to dance, either.”
“Again, I didn’t say that I didn’t know how.”
She presses her lips together in a way that makes me think she’s trying to suppress a laugh. “One dance then.”
“Clara…”
“Please?” She gives me what can only be described as a puppy dog look. “Just one?”
I let out a low growl. It hardly seems fair that her wide eyes can convince me to do almost anything. But I can’t help but think how nice it will be to hold her in my arms again, even if it does come at the expense of my pride.
“Yay!” She lets go of my hand to clap, jumping up and down a few times. “And if we have fun, we don’t have to stop.” She grabs my hand, dragging me over to the dancing area before I can protest again.
She puts my hand at her waist, grasping my other before she spins us both onto the field among the other dancers.
I look down into her eyes as we spin around, moving to the music. And something moves inside me when she smiles up at me.
I’d like to always see her this happy. Give her a reason to smile at me like this.
“It’s fun, right?” It would seem as though her smile couldn’t get much wider.
And I may be smiling myself, though it has little to do with the music. I can’t help but think how right she feels in my arms. How we move together in time to the rhythm. How our bodies seem in tune with each other—
“Clara?” A man’s voice interrupts my thoughts. I look to my side to see Bill from the feed store
We stop dancing, and Clara extends her hand. “How are you, Bill?”
He makes a strange motion, lifting his hand over his head before pointing down at her head. A second later, he smiles down at her. “I figured you’d be here. But you never know.”
I feel my brow furrow, and Clara looks equally confused.
The music stops, and a murmur ripples through the crowd.
It takes a few seconds, but everyone on the field parts, making a perfect path from the makeshift stage to where Clara and I stand.
A man walks in front of the duo who had been playing the music, and it only takes me a moment to recognize him.
He smiles in our direction, though I’m quite certain he isn’t smiling at me.
Clara has gone a sickly shade of white, and her shoulders sag. She seems frozen in place, staring over at her former fiancé. A few other people file into the area that I don’t recognize,
but all of them are beaming at Clara.
“I’m so thrilled you all could be here. So many of you helped with this surprise over the past few weeks, and by the looks of my fiancée, she had no idea. It was well worth me staying in Firebird Falls all that extra time to pull this off.” His smile widens, and he motions for Clara to join him.
Like a zombie, she begins to walk toward him, and Adam nods at her, encouraging her onward.
He meets her halfway, pulling her with him to the front of the crowd. “I know this is a much bigger event than you’re used to. And I’d like to thank the Waters for letting me liven it up a little.” He looks down at Clara. “But this is what the love of my life wants, so we’re going to make it work, however we have to.”
I’m not sure I can describe the expression on Clara’s face, but it certainly appears that she’s going to be sick.
Adam lifts their clasped hands up, almost as though he’s won some sort of championship. “I’m thrilled that you could all be here for our wedding. Shall we begin?”
Clara
The minute he says that word, I snap out of my daze.
“Wedding?!” I look up at him in horror.
He only laughs. “Yes, my love. I’m giving you exactly what you want. I told you I’d do anything for you, and I meant it.” His grip tightens on my hand.
“I…” I’m still too shocked to put more than a couple of words together. Adam can’t be serious about this. It has to be a joke—an elaborate prank meant to embarrass me in front of my new friends.
“Oh, honey, we’re so happy for you,” comes a voice that makes the bottom fall out of my stomach. I turn to see my mom standing there, her arms outstretched toward me. My dad stands just behind her in his sharpest suit, eyeing the locals suspiciously. I love my dad, but he’s the kind of guy who believes everyone who lives outside of New York City is uncivilized. And with him are my sisters, who look both horrified and fascinated by the scene around them.
Before I can even say a word, my mom is hugging me, squeezing me so tight it feels like she’s trying to crush my ribs.