The Crown Jewels

by Honey Palomino

  A horse-drawn chariot passed by the side of the limo, the sounds of the horse’s massive hooves clopping loudly on the little cobblestone road. Visions of pumpkins and glass slippers filled my mind as I looked up at the steps leading to the palace doors.

  The two massive front doors, flanked by giant concrete statues of two roaring lions, groaned open in front of us, and a large man in a formal black tuxedo greeted us.

  “Welcome to Drottningholm Palace, residence of Her Highness Queen Victoria and the Royal Family. I am Bertolf. Please, won’t you follow me?”

  I resisted the urge to giggle as he turned firmly on his heel and then, walking heel-toe, marched back into the palace. I bit my lip and looked up at my father. He shrugged and winked at me as we followed the man inside.

  “Drottningholm Palace was built by John the Third in 1580 for his Queen, Catherine Jagellon. It has been a private residence for the Swedish Royal Family since 1661 when the Queen Dowager Regent Hedwig Eleonora bought the estate,” he continued his history lesson as we walked through the doors. Pausing in the foyer by the biggest winding stairway and Christmas tree I’d ever seen, he turned back to us.

  “Unfortunately, the original palace burned to the ground on December 30th of that same year. It took twenty years to rebuild it to its original magnificence. It was abandoned many years later, only to be to restored once again throughout the eighteenth century. The current Swedish Royal Family have used Drottningholm as their primary residence since 1981.”

  “It’s breathtaking,” I whispered, drinking in the beauty of my surroundings. Luxurious doesn’t even begin to describe it, royal and regal only scratch the surface. It was opulent. Extravagant.

  “Indeed it is, Madam Rose. Drottningholm boasts the palace church, the palace theater, a Chinese pavilion, a baroque garden, an English garden, and intricately carved marble statues are sprinkled throughout each of the separate gardens.”

  “Her Majesty has had one of our loveliest guest rooms prepared for your stay. The Blue Room overlooks the English gardens, with a private balcony situated just over the Queen’s cherished rose garden. On a warm night, the aroma of the Queen’s Pink Champagne roses drifts into the boudoir. Unfortunately, they aren’t in bloom right now.”

  “That sounds lovely,” I said. I felt even more uncomfortable with all this formality, and I suddenly longed for the dingy comfort of a Holiday Inn. Luxurious surroundings always made me nervous for some reason, and this was beyond luxurious. I felt as out of place as a whore in church, as they say.

  “Dad…” I began, hoping to find some way out of this. But at just that moment Vicky walked through a huge archway, and his face lit up brighter than the huge Christmas tree in the foyer. I closed my mouth, reminding myself of my vow to suck it up.

  “Darling,” she said, making me wonder if she ever greeted him by his name. I watched as they embraced, and then cringed as they kissed. She turned to me, pulling me into her arms as she had at the restaurant, and stared into my eyes.

  “I’m so glad you’re here, Julia,” she said warmly. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to get to know you better.”

  “Me, too, ma’am, I mean, um, Your Highness,” I replied, still not sure if I was supposed to be curtsying.

  “Vicky, darling, call me Vicky. This may be a palace, but I like to keep things as casual as possible.”

  Right. Casual, I thought, like the casual sex I had with your son.

  Once again, Will appeared as if I had conjured him up, only giving more evidence to my theory that I had manifested him in my life once again. By the way his eyes locked with mine as soon as he appeared in the doorway, I was sure he could read my thoughts.

  My very dirty, very inappropriate, completely ridiculous thoughts. He was dressed casually in a jeans and a black sweater, his tousled brown hair falling over his forehead, his incredibly handsome face relaxed and well - fucking handsome. Dammit. This whole thing would have been a lot easier if he wasn’t so damned good-looking. If he didn’t have those piercing blue eyes that seemed to shoot right through me.

  Before I could react, he was walking towards me, and then he was right there, pulling me into his arms and embracing me as if we were the best of friends. As if he hadn’t stomped on my heart ten years ago and deserted me when I needed him the most. As if he wasn’t nothing but a huge, royal prick.

  “I’m so glad you’re here!” he said with a smile. “I can’t wait to show you around.”

  I was frozen in my spot, my limbs glued to my side awkwardly as he finally released me. Not before I felt the stirring in his pants, though. I looked up at him with shock, and he winked at me quickly, as if his aroused state was some shared secret between us.

  When he stood back, I gasped when I saw the black dog behind him, his tail wagging excitedly.

  “Lil’ Willy!” I exclaimed. “You still have him!” I sank to my knees, overjoyed. He licked my face, his tail wagging excitedly. I couldn’t believe he was still alive. I’d never been so happy to see a dog before.

  “Of course I do. He’s an old man now, but he has better health care than most people, so he’s still doing great. He moves a little slower those days, but he’s still a good boy,” Will replied, sinking to his knees. “Aren’t you a good boy, Willy?” he said, scratching the dogs ears. Willy leaned against him lovingly.

  “Isn’t that lovely?” Vicky said, looking on. “I’m so glad you all know each other already. That makes this a lot easier, doesn’t it, Julia?”

  No! No, it doesn’t at all! My mind was screaming in protest, but I stood up and shrugged and smiled politely.

  “Sure, I guess,” I said, standing up, the past flooding my mind again.

  “What is that?” I asked him, peering into the darkness ahead. Will and I had decided to walk to a movie theater a few blocks from his loft and we were walking back, strolling hand-in-hand on the sidewalk.

  “I don’t know,” he replied. We approached the figure lying on the side of the road and we realized at exactly the same moment what we were looking at.

  “Oh, no!” I exclaimed. It was a dog. A tiny, black, lab puppy. A very bloody, very hurt, but still very much alive puppy. We knelt at his side, and Will jumped into action. He checked his pulse, and then he pulled off his coat and covered the shivering puppy with it. The puppy looked up at us, his eyes filled with pain and helplessness. “He must’ve been hit by a car.”

  “What do we do?” I asked, looking up at him in a panic.

  “Stay here with him. I’m going to run back to my place and get my car. We’ll find a vet.”

  “But it’s past midnight,” I said.

  “There’s got to be an emergency vet somewhere. Just talk to him and keep him warm,” he replied. He was already running down the block. Within moments, Will’s Jaguar rounded the corner and he jumped out.

  The poor baby was whimpering in pain, but Will lifted him gingerly, placing him on his backseat. He’d already made a phone call and found a vet that was open twenty-four hours across town, and he raced through the streets. I sat in the back with the frightened, shaking pup, whispering to him and stroking his head.

  We paced in the waiting room for hours waiting for news from the doctor. The dog didn’t have a collar or a microchip, so there was no owner to call. All he had was us. Will insisted they do whatever was necessary to save him, no matter the cost.

  When the doctor came out to tell us he was going to be okay, we both burst out into tears, falling into each other’s arms. They let us see him before we left, and promised to keep us posted on his condition.

  We went back to Will’s place that night, exhausted and feeling closer than ever. We fell into bed together, holding on to one another in the sweet silence as we slept.

  A week later, we brought him home and Will promptly claimed him for himself.

  “I’ll name him Lil’ Willy,” he announced proudly.

  “After your penis?!” I asked, laughing.

  “No, as if he were my so
n! Who knows if I’ll ever have one of my own? I’ll call him Willy.”

  After that, the dog followed him everywhere, completely devoted to Will. Will made sure he had the best food, the best vet care, the best quality of life. He treated him like a member of the family, and it was one of the first times I saw just how big Will’s heart could be.

  “Darling, I have some things I’d like to discuss with you about the wedding arrangements,” Vicky said, turning to my father. I watched as they laced their fingers together like a couple of teenagers.

  “We’ll show Jewels to her room,” Will said, a little too eagerly. My eyes shot over to him and he winked again. Willy wagged his tail eagerly, matching his owner’s enthusiasm perfectly.

  “That would be perfect,” Vicky replied. “We’ll all have dinner tonight at six, okay? That should give you plenty of time to get settled and have a look around. Will, give her a tour, if she wants.”

  “I’ll be happy to show her anything she wants,” he replied, stone-faced, as he placed his hand on the small of my back.

  “Shall we?” he asked, looking down at me, with those damn blue shots of intoxication pointed right at me again. Damn him, I thought. He knows exactly what he’s doing to me.

  “Sure, I guess,” I replied, looking once more to my father for help, but he had already turned away and was being led out of the room away from me.

  “Your room is near mine, in the West Wing,” Will said, as he pushed gently on my back, leaving his hand there as he guided me down an enormous marbled hallway, opposite the one my father and Vicky disappeared down.

  Bertolf followed behind us with my luggage. After walking for what seemed like a torturous amount of time, we finally rounded a corner and Will opened a huge, ornate wooden door.

  “After you,” he said, gesturing flamboyantly into the room as I stepped in, hoping he would just disappear now. No such luck. He followed me in, as did Bertolf, who disappeared around a corner with my luggage. Willy plopped down in front of the fireplace that already had a roaring fire blazing in it.

  The room was enormous, at least three times the size of my apartment back home. The huge stone fireplace lined one wall, while the opposite wall consisted of floor to ceiling windows with French doors in the middle that opened up onto a huge circular stone balcony. I gasped when I realized it was a fucking turret. Of course it was, I thought. You can’t have a castle without a damsel in distress standing in a turret, right?

  Sitting smack dab in the middle like a massive elephant in the room was an intricately carved wooden four-poster bed straight out of a fairy tale. A blue silk canopy topped it, its flowing silk cascading down each corner to the marble floor.

  I half expected to see Sleeping Beauty snuggled up in it.

  “Is there anything else, madam?” Bertolf reappeared at my side.

  “I don’t think so,” I replied. Unless you’ve got a time machine, I thought to myself. He nodded solemnly, and backed out of the room, closing the door behind him, leaving me all alone with the Prince and Lil’ Willy and The Bed.

  Once I heard Bertolf’s footsteps fall away, I spun around to Will.

  “I can’t believe you!” I hissed. Will’s eyes widened in surprise, and he put a hand over his heart.

  “What did I do?” he protested.

  “Where do I start!” I exclaimed. Now that I had him alone I wanted to punch him, as all the emotions that I had tried to suppress for the last decade welled up inside of me.

  “Jewels, I —,” he began.

  “Julia! My name is Julia!” I protested. Only my father called me Jewels, and I wasn’t about to let this asshole have that privilege.

  “Whatever,” he said, rolling his eyes, “look, I’m sorry about everything. Truly, I am. I didn’t want to hurt you,” he said, his eyes peering into mine. I almost believed him, but it was too late for all of that.

  “Well, you failed miserably at that,” I replied. His eyes flashed - with what I don’t know - regret? pain? Whatever it was it didn’t matter. I wasn’t about to feel sorry for this prick.

  “Look, I’m sorry, I really am. Can we start over?”

  “Start over? Do we have a choice? Isn’t there anything you could have done to prevent our parents from marrying each other?”

  He cocked his head to the side, his eyes narrowing as he stared at me curiously.

  “What would you have me do? Get in the way of true love?”

  “True love? What do you know about true love?” I scoffed, turning away from him and staring out at the gardens.

  “What does that mean?” he asked.

  “Never mind,” I replied, not sure what I meant myself.

  “Do you mean because the world thinks I’m a playboy, a shallow prick that’s always gallivanting around with some new bimbo, that I wouldn’t know anything about true love?” he asked, his voice teasing.

  “You said it, not me,” I replied sarcastically.

  “Is that what you think?” he asked quietly.

  “Who cares what I think?”

  “Why are you so upset about our parent’s engagement?” he asked.

  “Why aren’t you?” I retorted.

  “Because my mothers been very unhappy for a long time,” he replied, his voice growing even quieter. “And it’s nice to see a smile on her face.”

  The seed of guilt in my heart sprouted at his words. I knew I should feel the same way, I had even made a vow to myself to do just that, but I was having a very hard time embracing that happiness with Will standing in front of me, reminding me of all the reasons why this was so very wrong.

  “Aren’t you happy for your father?” he asked.

  “Of course I am!” I shot back, irritation growing right along with the guilt. “That’s not the problem!”

  “Then what’s the problem, Jewels?”

  I ignored the fact that he was calling me Jewels again.

  “You, Will! You’re the fucking problem!”

  “Oh, hjärtat!” he said, a grin beginning to spread across his face. I gasped.

  “Don’t!” I warned, pointing my index finger at him. Hearing him call me hjärtat, which was Swedish for sweetheart, was like a bullet to the heart. That’s practically the only thing he’d called me when we were dating.

  Of course, he ignored my protest completely and continued.

  “Hjärtat, the past is the past. Can’t we move on? Everything is different now, after all,” he said, moving closer to me. His eyes pierced mine, holding my gaze, and as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t find the strength to look away. “We’re not in college anymore. We’re in a different country. We’ve grown up. I’m different,” he said, as he reached up and pushed a strand of hair out of my eye, “you’re different. You’re a completely different woman, Jewels.”

  “That’s right, I am,” I replied, tearing my gaze from his and walking away from him.

  He laughed slightly, and the sound of him being amused at my discomfort only served to irritate me further.

  “Don’t be so upset, Jewels. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together, we might as well learn to get along,” he said, closing the distance between us again.

  I didn’t reply. Once again, I could feel the heat rolling from his towering frame and my body was responding to it, despite the chaos in my head. My heart was in my throat, and I had no idea what to say, what to do. I wanted to run. I wanted to find my bags, call a cab, go to the airport and fly far, far away from this real life nightmare. But I couldn’t break my father’s heart like that.

  I was stuck here. In a palace with the fucking Prince of Sweden. I thought of my best friend Sally back home. She’d never believe what was happening. She knew all about Will, and had even predicted I would run into him while I was here. But she never could have predicted this.

  “Jewels, look at me,” he said. He was standing right next to me, but I was trying to avoid those damned hypnotic eyes, and he wasn’t about to let me get away with it. I looked over at him again, only
because I didn’t want him to know how much he affected me. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair.

  “What?” I demanded, trying to draw on the only emotion I felt comfortable with. Anger.

  “I’m sorry I left that morning,” he said.

  “You didn’t just leave, Will, you left the fucking country! After everything we had been through. And you just left me. All alone. At the worst possible time! How could you do that to me?”

  “I made sure you were taken care of,” he replied.

  “I’m not talking about the money,” I replied, my anger rising. “Just forget it.”

  “Jewels, I did what was best for you. I was a mess back then. If I had stuck around, I would have only broken your heart.”

  “Right,” I agreed sarcastically. “As if you didn’t do that anyway.”

  “Okay, fair enough. I did it the best way I knew how. By taking myself out of your life.”

  “Fuck you, Will,” I said, turning away from him once again. There, I’d said it. Exactly what I’d been wanting to say since I woke up the day that he had disappeared from my life. I wanted to punch him, too, but I was pretty sure I’d end up locked away in chains in a dark dungeon for the rest of my life if I punched a member of the Royal Family.

  Waves of electricity shot through my body as he came up behind me and put his arms around me.

  “Jewels, I’m sorry, I didn’t know what else to do,” he whispered, his breath tickling my ear. I twisted out of his embrace, trying to catch my breath. Every time he touched me it was like a blow to the gut. “But it was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it? Tell me you didn’t think about me over the years? Replay those nights we spent together in your head?”

  “Shut up! Just leave me alone, okay?” I lowered my eyes, refusing to look at him again. I couldn’t let him see how much he hurt me, or how much he still turned me on. I’d been foolish to even say anything now, but I couldn’t help myself. He was right. What was in the past was in the past. It was time to move on. Time to focus on my father’s happiness.