by Tara Brown
It made me look at Hattie differently too.
We sat in the car, waiting for Aiden, who had told her he would meet her out there. I glanced over at the locket on her neck. “My mom had one similar to that.”
She nodded. “I know. It was her mother’s. Our husbands got them at the same time, one Christmas a million years ago when the earth’s crust was just cooling. When Harris put the necklace on me, he swore he would do it every day for the rest of our lives. The last time he put it on was ten years ago, the morning he died. I haven’t taken it off since because he isn’t here to put it back on.”
Tears filled my eyes. That was the lonely feeling in her house. They’d never been able to have children. The void was him. He was gone yet still there in so many ways.
She looked at me, tears spilling from her eyes too. “Stop crying, ya silly girl. You didn’t even know him.”
I shook my head. “But I know you.”
She started to cry harder. I slipped an arm around her fragile back. “Thanks for saving me, Hattie.”
She sniffled. “Someone had to make you a human being.” She gave me a wicked grin. “I think you might be getting close.” Her face lifted to Aiden walking toward us. “And I think it was him that saved ya anyway, not me.”
I smiled at him. “Team effort.”
She drove us home in silence. The mood was sad. I didn’t know why.
We walked into the house, arm in arm, with him taking deep breaths of my hair. “I love you, Fin.”
I looked up into his eyes and got lost. Sheila came bounding down the hall, giving us a weird look. She smiled wide and bowed funny. “Fin, Aiden, you’re back. How was your visit?”
I scowled. “Fine?”
She kept her smile going and walked into the kitchen. Dad came down the hall with a small box and passed it to me. “This was some of your mom’s stuff. I had left it here and completely forgotten about it.” Aiden kissed the side of my head. “You two go and open it together.”
I carried the small box into the living room and sat down. Inside was a knitted hat, a small album, her wedding and engagement rings, a stack of old photos, and a small box. I opened it to find the locket that matched Hattie’s. Inside was a picture of my mom and my Aunt Cheryl. I passed it to him. “You have to give that to Cheryl.”
He nodded. It made me smile that she would have it. I pulled the tiny rings from the box and tried to slide them on, but they didn’t fit. “Dude, Mom’s hands were so small.”
He laughed. “So small. We had to have the rings resized twice. It was crazy.” He shook his head. “Marrying her was crazy. I never deserved her.” He gave me a look. His eyes were full of the thousands of things he wanted to say. I could see them all floating around in there. He smiled and let them fall out of his mouth for the first time ever. “She was a beautiful person, but she wasn’t my person and I wasn’t hers. She would have been so proud of the girl you were and the woman you’ve become. She was so angry that she got sick. The only thing that ever made her smile was you.” His voice cracked. “I know I haven’t been good at this. I know that. I’m sorry, Finley. I wish I did better and I wish we’d been closer. You were just so much like her that I assumed we would never match either.”
I wrapped an arm around him. “Dad, I’m not that much like her. I’m a lot like you too. I’m not good at this stuff either. Ask poor Aiden.”
He hugged me. “I’m sorry I let you down.”
I shook my head. “It’s not too late. We can start talking and just trying.”
He nodded. “It feels like you’re going to the other side of the world, though.”
I pulled back and laughed. “You could write me letters.”
“Like, by hand?”
“Yeah. It’s more fun than you think.”
He laughed too. “I’ll take your word for it. How about I send you emails and we FaceTime?”
“Deal.”
He hugged me hard one last time. “I’m so proud of you. You know that, right?”
I nodded. It wasn’t entirely true, but I would take it. I never wanted things to end up the way they had been. I wanted us to be a family, even if he was married to Sheila.
I cocked an eyebrow. “What’s the deal with Sheila? She’s being so nice.”
He smiled. “I reminded her about our prenup. If she did a single thing to interfere with your relationship with Aiden or anything else to you, we were getting a divorce. She would have to leave the marriage with the things she came in with.”
“What was that?”
He shrugged. “Her kids and clothes. She was broke when I met her.”
“What brought this on?”
“I discovered her purpose for trying to make me disown you. She wanted to be named the heir to my money and added to my will. Right now, you are my only beneficiary. She was trying to force that I no longer saw you fit for it.”
I winced. “Ouch.”
He nodded. “Yeah. So things around our house are changing or she is welcome to leave at any moment.”
I laughed. “Well done, you!”
He beamed. “I love her, God help me, but I do. I just hate the scheming. She needs to stop seeing you as competition for my money. I think you marrying a prince might help her relax a little bit.”
I rolled my eyes. “Who said anything about marriage? I’m eighteen.”
He laughed. “I’ve only seen it a few times in my life, but with you and him, I see it. That thing. It’s unexplainable, but when you meet people like that, you just know. They’re going to grow old together, like Hattie and Harris. They had it, the spark.” He leaned against me. “You and Aiden have it. I’ve already told him he has my blessing whenever he’s ready for it.”
I folded my arms. “Wow, did you negotiate some cattle into the deal?”
He chuckled. “Now you sound like me. Just take it slow, but don’t run away because you’re scared. You guys are young. It’s hard to meet that someone when you’re young. But it changes nothing. He’s your person, Fin. Don’t be scared of that, just be aware of your own comfort zone.”
I nodded, holding my mom’s rings in my palm. “Okay.”
“And be safe in Scotland. It’s so far away and I don’t think I’m ready for you to go that far.”
“But you’re ready for me to marry?”
He shook his head. “No. That’s not what I said. I said when the time’s right, don’t be scared. Don’t be like me.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
The next day, we left Halifax for Scotland. The six of us flew together on the private royal jet after we reached Heathrow. The jet took us to Dundee Airport, where an SUV picked us up and drove us through the dark to a large estate. We all stumbled up into our rooms and passed out.
I woke to Aiden staring at me from a chair. “How was your sleep?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I was so tired I was nauseous. That was brutal. I hate traveling. I thought I’d want to do it for a year after school, but I’m glad I didn’t. Just doing the whole Halifax trip and then here has got me wanting to force you to let me do school in Andorra.”
He smiled, oddly quiet.
It made me uncomfortable he didn’t laugh or say I could come with him. Was he about to break up with me? “Why, how was your sleep?”
He shook his head. “I never slept.”
“Why?”
“A phone call came in the night. Dad’s been admitted, has a blockage or something nefarious. I knew I would have to leave in the morning so I spent every moment holding you or staring at you so my memory bank was extra full.”
I swallowed hard, knowing it would change so many things. Why was it happening so fast? I pushed away my selfishness and took his hand in mine. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. “Oh yeah. The doctors don’t figure he will be in long. Should be home by the week’s end. But things for him are changing. He will no longer be able to keep up the pretense of running the country. He is having part of his bowel removed a
nd a new system is being put in. It all sounds really disturbing so I can’t imagine a proud and charming man like him will have an easy time of it. Mother and I are both going back and staying with him.”
“And that means you will have to change too?”
His blue eyes seemed gray, even in the light of the bright morning. “I will.” He leaned forward, looking like he might pass out.
“I’m sorry.”
He smiled at me. “For you or me?”
“I want to say for your dad, but I am going to say all of us.”
He laughed. It made me smile even though my insides were burning like I’d eaten spicy wings. He dropped his knees and took my hands in his. “I love that even in a moment like this, you are still the girl I met. None of this has changed you.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I’ve changed. I think I’m way better than I was before.”
He shook his head. “You were always the good person you try to be now. You just never let it out. No. You would still run screaming across a parking lot for a shoe sale, and I saw the judgmental stare you had for the girl with the eyebrows in the airport.”
I gulped. Her enormous unibrow had been especially hard for me not to notice. Why not at least pluck? “She would have been so pretty without it.”
He brushed my hair from my face. “Never change. I like you exactly the way you are. You make me smile and forget everything else. I feel like a regular dude.”
I winced. “Oh my God, that was like Arnold Schwarzenegger saying dude. Maybe you should stick to lass and lad and mate.” I said it with a perfect accent.
He jumped on me, pinning me on my back. “Are you mocking me?”
“No, my lord.” I was rocking the English accent. In truth, Linna and I had been practicing all summer long.
He bent his face into my neck and blew a raspberry. I giggled and squirmed, but it was pointless. He tickled and kissed until I was wheezing and begging for him to stop.
He rolled off to the side as I caught my breath. “I can’t believe you’re leaving.”
He sighed. “I can’t either. I had hoped to help you move in and get settled and show you my favorite pub and my favorite castle and my favorite view.” He bent and kissed my nose. “I will miss your face every day.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic. We can FaceTime, and it’s a short trip to visit.”
“I know that, but I like having you close. I like being able to kiss you and see your reaction to things. The campus here is one of four ancient campuses in the world. Do you know the level of awesomesauce that is?”
I laughed. “Stop. When you say it, it sounds stupid.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Oh, trust me, love, awesomesauce doesn’t sound any better coming from your beautiful lips.”
I blushed. “You don’t think they’re skinny?”
He leaned in, pressing his lips to mine. “Delicious is the word I would use.”
I rolled on my side, pressing myself into him. “What time do you have to go?”
He looked at me through those lashes, making my heart race. “I have some time before I have to fly out.” His arms wrapped around me.
His kisses were soft and lazy but still made my head spin. I dragged off his shirt, loving the feeling of his warm skin against mine.
He crawled into the covers and we forgot everything except how amazing it was to be together.
When it was time for him to leave, he put a hand on my shoulder and smiled. “Stay just as you are. This is exactly what I want for my last memory before you start school and I have a crown on my head. Let me remember you this way.”
I looked down at the crisp white sheet outlining my naked body. “I wanted to come to the airport.”
He shook his head. “No. Then I’ll be plagued with the image of your sad face. No. This I perfect. I can still see where my stubble has brushed your skin on your nape and your cheeks are still blushing from your orgas—”
“STOP!” I covered my face. “Remember when I said we would do things and never talk about them?”
He chuckled. “Look at how red those cheeks are. Now that is an image. You have my heart!” He turned and left the room. I could feel panic as I heard the front door to the manor. I got up, dragging the sheets with me, and watched as he walked out to the car waiting for him. Johan and Mary ran out after him. He nodded and they all got in the car. When he got in, tears softly dragged down my cheeks—my flushed cheeks, still enflamed with the blush he had put there.
I knew with my entire heart he was the one.
I hated that I was eighteen and in college and in love so deep that I could never get out. It was too early, but it was just as I’d been told. You never knew when it would happen. You just had to be open to the chance they would enter your life and change everything.
And he had.
He had changed everything.
Jess came in my room, looking flushed and messy. I smiled, seeing the instant difference in her. “You did it?”
She looked confused for a second. “Yeah. I did.”
I grinned. “Want some Advil?”
She nodded. “I do.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m just in shock I guess. He’s gone home, but he said he’d be back on the weekend. He tried to tell me he loved me. I stopped him like an idiot. I just couldn’t bear to hear it, not after we’d… You know!”
I laughed. “I do. I definitely know. We may not be blood related, but we are alike in a lot of ways.”
She gave me a smile, but the stunned look remained. “I guess we should pack and get over to the residence.”
I walked into Linna’s room. She was sprawled across the bed. I poked her. “Get up. We gotta go.”
She opened an eye. “No. Feck off. I’m sleeping.”
I shoved her. “We leave here in an hour. If you want a shower and a croissant, then you better get your ass up.”
She lifted her middle finger high in the air and rolled over. I laughed and went for the shower.
It was lonely in the large shower by myself. It was lonesome getting dressed without him there to distract me. It was even worse leaving the estate and getting into the SUV. I looked back at the house, stunned by the beauty of it in the light of day.
The drive over conjured butterflies in my stomach. Linna looked tired until we got into Saint Andrews. Then she lowered her sunglasses and gave me a look. “Oh my God. It’s so amazing.” It was a town on water with roots and heritage dating back to 4500 BC. It was stunning. I forgot about everything as I gawked at the stone buildings and ancient graveyards. The view of the ocean was magnificent. “It’s so beautiful.”
Jess squeezed my hand. “This is awesome.”
I nodded, not saying a word. The SUV pulled up in front of University Hall, our new home. A woman with bright-red hair and pale skin walked up to us. She looked about Sheila’s age, but she looked nice instead of evil.
She had on a tight pencil skirt and a black short-sleeve blouse. Her red hair was pinned tightly to her head.
“Holy schoolmarm, Batman.”
I laughed and looked at Jess. “She’s a freak in the sheets. Those chicks always are.”
Linna pointed. “True story.”
The driver opened the door and we were greeted. “Hello and welcome. You must be Miss Finley Roze!”
I gulped. “Yes, thank you.” I didn’t know what I was thanking her for. She was freaking me out with the “miss” and knowing my name.
She beamed. “Welcome, to you and your friends. Saint Andrews is excited beyond belief that you’ve chosen here to go. Just so you are aware, we have a zero paparazzi tolerance and you will be treated like a normal girl.”
I blushed. “Oh. Uhm, thanks.” What the hell was she talking about?
She pointed to the huge brick building behind us. “Let us get the tour going. You will have a private area for the three of you, a wing we like to refer to as the royalty wing. The prince has stayed there this past two y
ears. It is his old room. He requested you be given the same ordinary college experience other kids have.”
I laughed and Jess sighed. “The fact you just said that sentence makes it already not normal.”
The woman blushed. “Oh, well, we will try. You have to know, though, many royals and famous people have passed through the halls and experienced normalcy.”
I smiled. “Thank you.”
She beamed and held out a pale hand. “If you want to follow me, we will get you settled, then.”
Her accent was so cute. I took a deep breath and knew I would love it there. We walked toward the dorms, getting checked out by the cute guys walking past. Linna grabbed my arm. “Did you see how hot he was?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m impervious to hot dudes now.”
She shoved me lightly. “You’re an idiot. You totes saw him.”
I grinned. “I totes saw him.”
We walked up the stairs, through the crowds of people getting their rooms ready.
“You have a meal plan—nineteen meals a week—and a shared washroom facility. To prevent any incidents, we have a separate washroom facility for the three rooms you shall be occupying.” She led us down a hallway and around a corner. There was a door at the end. She opened it, revealing another hallway. She opened three of the doors down the hallway and behind each was a bedroom. They weren’t huge or glamorous like the estates we always stayed in with Aiden and his family. But they were nice and clean, very clean. A bed, a desk, a bureau, and a window with a view of the town and grounds. My stomach wouldn’t settle.
“The extra door makes it so the royal security detail may guard without being obvious. Very practical yet makes it so you may live fairly normal lives. They will be here any moment to introduce themselves. Prince Aiden asked them to arrive around now.” She smiled. “If there is anything I can do for you, this is my private cellular number and this is the number of the head of campus security. I suggest putting it into your phones. We want this to be as safe a haven as any.” She smiled wide again. “I will leave you to get settled in. Finley, your room is the last one on the left.” She turned walked away.