Glass Castle Prince

by Nicole Williams

  I was almost to the front entrance when the bells in the clock tower chimed. Twelve times.

  The end of an era. The beginning of another.

  The coronation was beginning.

  Through the gates, I saw the swarm of people amassed outside, from spectators waving handheld flags of Norland, to reporters talking into their mics in front of cameras. The crowd looked a mile deep.

  Security had blocked off the road so cars could get in and out of the castle, so I knew if I could get myself inside a car to get through those gates, I’d be in the clear.

  As if materializing from my silent wish, a sleek pewter car pulled up beside me. The passenger window whirred down. “Need a ride?”

  The suitcase slipped from my hand. “The coronation’s starting. What are you doing out here?”

  When Edward leaned across the passenger side, I got my first look at him since last night. He was only half dressed, as if he’d been interrupted in the middle of it. He was in his slacks and undershirt, his ceremonial jacket unbuttoned. His eyes were shadowed and bloodshot, as though he’d had about as much sleep as I had.

  “The coronation can’t very well start without me, can it?” He pushed open the door for me.

  I backed away from the open door, still not one hundred percent certain this was real. “I repeat—what are you doing?”

  “I don’t know, what are you doing?” His chin lifted at my suitcase on the ground.

  “Leaving.”

  “All right. Me too.” He looked through the windshield, turning on the wipers when the rain picked up. “Where are we going?”

  “Where are we going?” I repeated.

  He indicated the dash. “I’ve got a full tank of gas and no where else to be other than at your side.”

  “This isn’t the time to do this. You are supposed to be getting crowned King Edward right now. We can talk later.”

  “There is nothing more important right now than making things right with you.” Edward shoved his door open, edging out of the car. “I’m sorry for the way I reacted last night. I’m sorry for saying the wrong thing instead of the right and failing you when you needed me. I messed up. Grievously.” The feeling that had been absent from his face last night was burning from him today. “Let me have a second chance to say and do the right thing. Please?”

  “You didn’t do anything wrong.” I swallowed the thickness forming in my throat. “I had no expectations other than your honesty, and you gave that to me.”

  “No. I gave you my shock. My doubt. My fear. I gave you the worst of me, but that’s not the man I am.” Rain splattered his face and hair as he came around the back of his car toward me. “That’s not the way I intend to lead my life.”

  “I’m scared too. Terrified. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “I’m scared of being a father. Shitless. But I’m not scared of figuring that out with you as my partner.” He stopped in front of me, his expression fervent. “I don’t have one doubt where you are concerned, Miss Charlotte Everly.”

  I studied him in front of me, the castle behind him. The world knew his name, and he’d already left his mark on it. I was a tumbleweed, vulnerable to every change in the wind.

  “It doesn’t make sense for you to be with me,” I said.

  His face creased. “It makes perfect sense.”

  “Then why?” I whispered.

  His bloodshot eyes softened, one hand reaching to entwine with mine. “Because when I’m with you, everything feels okay.” As our palms pressed together, his shoulders relaxed. “When I’m with you, I don’t want to be anywhere else. When I’m not, all I’m thinking of is ways to get back to you.” He stared at our joined hands, stepping closer. “You see the man, not the crown, and when I look at you, I see the woman I was meant to spend my life with. The woman I want to spend it with.”

  Every word served as a balm to my fear, soothing doubts and insecurities.

  I’d never planned on falling for the prince, soon to be king, of my country. I hadn’t intended on becoming a mother at twenty-one. But here I was, with the option to seize the happiness of the situation or lament the difficulty of it.

  In the span of space it took me to take my next breath, I felt the missing and scattered pieces of my life snap into place, one rough section at a time.

  Edward’s head tipped back at the castle, his eyes traveling to the gate where the frenzied shouts and buzz of acknowledgment was rising from the crowd.

  “The only way I can possibly manage this job is if I have you at my side.” His jaw setting in resolve, he blew out a breath at the same time he lowered to his knee. “Agree to become my wife first.”

  Above us, the storm clouds opened, seeming to wring the moisture out of their billows all at once. My heartbeat echoed in my ears as I blinked raindrops from my eyes.

  “You’re proposing to me on the same day you’re about to become king?” I spurted as he removed a solid gold band from the pocket of his jacket. The noise from the gates grew to a deafening level. “That’s putting a lot of pressure on me, isn’t it?”

  “God, I hope so, because king or not, I want you in my life, at my side, always.” He held up the ring as he took my hand. “Say yes. Please say yes.”

  My head was swimming as I stared at him kneeling before me. My chest ached from holding myself back, but I had to make sure he wasn’t doing this because of the baby. “This isn’t the moment to do the noble thing. This is the rest of our lives.”

  “Marry me because you love me. Marry me because you’d be miserable not waking up to my face every morning and falling asleep to it every night. Marry me because you want to, not for any other reason than that.” The corners of his mouth pulled up as he swiped water from his eyes. “I’m being anything but noble right now, let me assure you. This is pure, unadulterated selfishness speaking. I want you. Forever. That’s as noble as it gets.”

  The crowd behind me, the castle in front of me, I finally realized that nothing mattered besides him and me and the way we felt about each other. Edward wanted me. And I wanted him.

  “Okay, okay,” I said, a smile creeping into place. “You’d better slip that ring on my finger before I change my mind.”

  His chest moved when he gave a relieved sigh, then he kissed the knuckle of my ring finger before slipping the band into place. “I won’t give you any reason to change your mind.”

  The rain disguised the tears leaking from the corners of my eyes as I admired the simple band encircling my finger. A promise. A commitment.

  My future.

  My back rocked with the sobs bubbling up from inside.

  Edward rose, a concerned look on his face. “Your future husband isn’t supposed to make you cry.”

  “No,” I said as he pulled me into his arms, “but he should make me happy and that’s exactly what you’ve done.” Molding my hand to his cheek, I wiped the rain from his face. “Now kiss me like you mean it. Like no one’s watching . . . even though the entire world is.”

  I cast a look over my shoulder at the flashing cameras. If that was the cost for being with him—my privacy—it was a price I was happy to pay.

  His hand bent around my neck as his mouth lowered to meet mine. “Could take a while.”

  My hand flattened into his chest right before our lips touched. “Don’t

  forget you’ve got a coronation to get to.”

  “Eventually.” His warm breath fanned across my mouth.

  “What else could possibly be more important?”

  A spark lit in his eyes. “Introducing my parents to my future wife.”

  My stomach tingled with nerves for half a second, and then he kissed me . . . as requested. As promised.

  Epilogue

  “How are you feeling? Nervous?” Mom asked as she nestled the comb attached to my veil into my hair.

  I smiled at her in the mirror. “Extremely excited. And happy.” My eyes traveled down my reflection, stopping in the middle. “And extremely pregna
nt.”

  She fanned the veil out over my shoulders and scoffed. “Five months pregnant isn’t extremely pregnant. Trust me. And it’s your first one, so your stomach muscles are still tight and actually existent. You’ll hardly show until you’re ready to pop.”

  My eyes narrowed as I studied my stomach. I saw a definite bump pressing through the material of my wedding dress. Not even a bias-cut empire waist design could conceal it.

  “Well, Mom, your daughter is a twenty-year-old pregnant bride. How proud are you?” I teased.

  She cupped her hands over my shoulder and tucked her chin over my shoulder. “So desperately proud I risk bursting.”

  She kissed my cheek before going off to retrieve my shoes. Turning around, I showed off the nearly finished product to the other two women in the dressing room, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

  Anne gave a little shriek, bouncing. “You look like a future queen.”

  Seated in a chair beside her, Queen Helen cleared her throat. “She looks like the future queen.”

  I smiled, guessing this was her personal style of humor, though I was still learning my way around my future mother-in-law’s mannerisms. From barely being able to look at me without steam hissing out of her ears when I first arrived, she’d warmed up considerably once she accepted that I was marrying her son. I thought, despite the shock and less-than-ideal nature of it, the fact that I was carrying her first grandchild had turned her into a bit of a softie where I was concerned too.

  If that designation could be applied to the notoriously stoic Queen Helen.

  “Thank you again for putting this all together so quickly,” I said to Queen Helen and my mom, who had been just as involved in the planning and prep as the royal family. “I know planning any wedding, let alone a royal wedding, in two months takes nothing short of a miracle, and I’m so grateful.”

  “I think I speak for both Nora and myself when I say that we were happy to help.” Queen Helen recrossed her ankles, pointing at the hem of my gown. Mom fixed the fold after helping me slide into my ballet flats.

  It was funny how she and Queen Helen had become this mom team. Two unlikely people brought together by life taking an unexpected turn, and there they were, friends who would be bound forever by the union between their children.

  “But let me add that I think we’re both looking forward to the extended vacation we’re taking right after the wedding.” Mom blew out a breath now that I was finally dressed and ready. “Right, Helen?”

  “Quite right,” Queen Helen replied with her own exhale, shifting her attention my way. “I do wish you’d take some time to relax after your honeymoon before throwing yourself into school so soon. You are carrying the future ruler of Norland, after all.”

  My hand curled beneath the swell of my stomach. “The future ruler, boy or girl?”

  Queen Helen exchanged a look with me. “Oh, Edward has made that quite clear, don’t you think?”

  “He’s made it clear,” I said, my shoulders rising. “I just wasn’t sure if you and Henry felt the same.”

  She checked the door before leaning forward in her chair. “You don’t think I’ve learned from my time as queen how a woman is just as capable as a man, leader of a sovereign country included?” She waited for that to sink in. “If your firstborn is a girl, I will support her all the way to the throne, you have my word.”

  I had an urge to hug her right then and there, but I held back. Queen Helen wasn’t big on grand displays of affection, but that didn’t mean she was cold and heartless. It only meant she showed her love differently.

  Checking the time, Mom rushed around the dressing room, gathering up her goods. “We’d better go take our seats and get this show started. Unless we want the royal wedding to go beyond fashionably late territory.”

  Queen Helen rose from her chair, not a single wrinkle or crease in her petal-blue skirt suit. “My son managed to show up forty minutes late to his coronation. Why should his wedding be any different?”

  Mom kissed my cheek. “Don’t worry about Charlotte wearing herself out at school, Helen. She comes from hardy stock.” Her hands framed my face, her smile so wide it looked close to snapping. “My beautiful, strong daughter. About to become a wife, a mother . . . a doctor.”

  “Not to be forgotten, a queen,” Anne added and clucked her tongue.

  I leaned my cheek into Mom’s hand, sniffling. “You’re proud of me?”

  “You are living your life with courage and hope.” She winked then turned toward the door. “How could I not be proud?”

  “We’ll catch you out there, Mrs. Everly,” Anne called to Mom, who powered down the hall after checking the time once more.

  We were really running late now.

  Queen Helen didn’t appear the least bit hurried. “I know we had a rocky beginning”—she retrieved something from inside her pearl-encrusted clutch—“but I hope you now feel that I’m an ally who stands on your side and always will.”

  I nodded in acknowledgement as she opened a small box.

  “This was my great-grandmother’s, given to her by her husband on their fiftieth wedding anniversary.”

  My eyes rounded when I saw the large teardrop-shaped sapphire hanging from a silver chain. It wasn’t quite, but almost, ostentatious in size.

  “She came from a similar background as you, my dear. A working class family that was not rich in wealth or title.” Removing the necklace from its box, she came around behind me and settled it around my neck. “When she and my great-grandfather fell in love, of course it was a scandal, his family forbidding them to be together, so they wound up eloping.”

  I heard the ping of the clasp lock, the weight of the sapphire heavy against my chest.

  “Over time, people came to accept their relationship, and when my great-grandfather died after fifty-seven years of marriage, his wife followed less than a week later.” Queen Helen came around me, a smile pulling at her lips when she looked at the stone hanging from my neck. “Let their love be a reminder to you that anything is possible.”

  I dabbed gently at my eyes so as not to smear the mascara Anne had applied. I’d always prided myself on being a non-crier, one of those people who only shed a tear if an eyelash fell in my eye. But the last eight months had turned me into one of those emotional eye-leakers.

  “Thank you so much,” I said, giving a discreet sniffle. “I’ll take good care of it.”

  “I know you will. Just as I know you’ll take good care of my son.” Wrapping her hand around mine, she gave it a soft squeeze before starting to leave. She stopped a few steps later. “I only wanted the best for my son. That’s why I was so unfair to you at first. I’ve come to realize that with you, he has it.”

  “I know.” I gave up on dabbing at my eyes because tears were already winding down my cheeks. “Thank you for saying that.”

  As Queen Helen slipped through the door, Anne’s hand went to her hip, her other hand thrusting my direction. “You made a Munch of my Monet.” She rushed toward the tissue box when someone else stepped inside the room.

  My mouth opened in protest. “You aren’t supposed to see me before the wedding!”

  Edward stopped in his tracks when he saw me, a slow smile creeping into place. “We’ve trumped most conventional traditions. No need to change things up now.”

  Anne aborted her tissue mission, retrieving her bridesmaid bouquet and slinking toward the door. “I’m going to give you two a minute alone before you swear an eternal vow of loyalty to each other.”

  Edward closed the door behind Anne, clearly hiding something behind his back. “She realizes the promise of getting to crawl into the same bed with you for the rest of my life is fulfilling every good, bad, and filthy fantasy I could ever conjure, right?”

  “What have you got behind your back?” I slid to the side, trying to catch a glimpse.

  “A wedding present.”

  “Are you going to show me this wedding present?”

  He laughed at
my curiosity before revealing what he’d been hiding.

  My face went blank. “A fry pan?”

  His mother had just given me a priceless family heirloom, and my future husband was offering me kitchenware.

  His hand rubbed his mouth to hide the enjoyment he was getting from my reaction. “Figured it might come in handy one day if I do something that makes you mad.”

  My hands went to my hips as I ambled toward him. “You make me mad a lot.”

  “Then it’s a practical wedding gift.” He spun the pan around a few times by the handle, wielding it like it was his sword, before holding it out for me to take. “But fear not, it’s not your only wedding gift.”

  Shaking my head at the pan, I laughed, remembering our first meeting. I wondered what I would have said if I’d known the man I’d knocked out cold would one day be my husband, the father of my child.

  “The only gift I want is you,” I said, winding my free arm behind his back.

  “Then I also got you the perfect gift.” He winked at me, skimming the hem of my veil with his fingertips. “Sure you don’t want to get out while you still can? There’s still time.”

  “I’m quite sure,” I played along, motioning at my expanding midsection. “Besides, running anywhere in my state is not an option.”

  Edward’s head lowered, his expression taking on that contemplative, concerned tenor it always did when the conversation turned toward the baby. One of his hands lowered to my stomach, sliding around it thoroughly. “It’s a boy.”

  My free hand joined his wandering my protruding stomach. “Yesterday you were positive it was going to be a girl.”

  The line between his brows went deeper as his hand circled my stomach one last time. “I’m getting mixed signals. Just like I got from his or her mother at the beginning.” The seriousness ironed from his face, a grin forming as his attention went from my stomach to my eyes. “You remember?”

  I lifted the fry pan. “Of course I do. Your thoughtful wedding gift is such a subtle reminder of how things started between us.”