Royal Games (The Royals of Monterra) (28 page)

“I know,” he said as he took off his faded ball cap. He had that tan line around his head that most of the men in this town had because they wore hats all the time. “I came to see you. I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Sit,” I said. I asked if I could get him anything, but he told me was fine.

He played with the brim of his hat. He seemed nervous. I’d never known Max to be nervous about anything. “I came here to ask for your blessing to marry your aunt.”

I smiled for the first time in a long time. “That’s awesome! But you don’t need my blessing. You two can make your own choices.”

“I’m old-fashioned that way, and you’re the only family she has left.”

“Okay. You have my total blessing.” Despite my excitement, I had to ask, “But what about her—”

“Her MS?” He cut me off. “The vows I’m going to take say sickness and health. We’ll work through it. Nothing’s guaranteed. I could go out tomorrow and get hit by a bus and need to be taken care of for the rest of my life. None of us know what’s coming, and no, she’s not perfect. But neither am I. We’ll be imperfect together, and that’s good enough for me.”

We chatted for a while longer, and he left much happier and more relaxed than when he arrived. I went out to the barn to brush Marigold. Another constant reminder of Rafe. I thought about what Max had said and the conversation I’d had with the pastor so long ago. About how I had expected Rafe to be perfect and had set him up to fail.

Was that what was happening now? That because Rafe didn’t perfectly act the way I expected him to, I was angry with him? Had I made it so he couldn’t win, no matter what he did?

Did I want the perfect robot or the imperfect human?

A couple of days later, I was sitting next to Aunt Sylvia, Max, Amanda, and Austin in church. The pastor was giving a sermon about forgiveness and trust that seemed to be pointed directly at me. In my purse I had Lemon’s invitation to her engagement party. It was less than a week away.

Rafe would be there. Would he dance with someone else? Had he already moved on? My heart constricted at the thought.

When we got home, I expected Max and his family to join us for dinner, but Aunt Sylvia sent them home.

“Sit down.” She pointed at the kitchen table. “You and I are going to have a conversation.”

“A conversation about what?” I asked, suddenly uneasy. I sat, and still-recovering Laddie padded over, laying his head in my lap.

“
The
conversation.”

Chapter 28

“You didn’t ask for my opinion, but I’m old, which means I get to give it to you anyway,” Aunt Sylvia said as she sat across from me at the table, opening her Diet Coke. “First, I wanted to let you know that I got a phone call from the sheriff. They found Richard.”

She took a drink while she let the shock of that set in. “What? How?”

“He was in Dubai, and they brought him back to the US. He said he was at a party on a private plane and woke up bound and gagged on the front steps of a police station in New York.”

I couldn’t believe how calmly she was telling me this. “Did they find any money?”

She set her can down. “The money’s gone. But he’s caught. Now we have both of the men who screwed up our lives behind bars.”

Rafe had done this. He was the only one I’d ever told about Richard, and the only one with the resources to track him down and get him back into this country. I was overcome with an incredible sadness. Not that Richard had been caught—I was thrilled about that. But that Rafe was gone.

And I knew where she was headed with this. “Speaking of money, we’re going to need to list the guesthouse again. We need the money,” I said.

“No, we don’t.”

“What do you mean?”

She sighed, playing with the tab on the soda. “Rafe paid for two years of rent on the guesthouse. And he paid off the mortgage on the farmhouse and the back taxes. Everything is taken care of.”

Anger came rushing back. “What? You can’t accept it. We don’t need his charity.”

“We actually do need his charity. We’ve been barely keeping our heads above water for years, and I took the help from the wonderful young man who offered because of his feelings for you.”

“I’m not taking it!”

“Well, then it’s a good thing he offered it to me and not to you, because I’m not too proud to accept it. You got your horse and I got my house. And the last time I checked, charity was the pure love of Christ. What kind of Christian would I be if I denied someone else the chance to show us that kind of love?”

Love was the reason for it. Maybe not the religious kind, but definitely love. I wanted to say he had a guilty conscience or had done it just to be kind. But deep down, I knew that wasn’t the reason.

He’d run away, but there was no denying that he still loved me.

Hope took hold of my heart and refused to let go. I stroked Laddie’s head as a distraction.

“And I know that the way that you deal with things is to hide. I can’t blame you after all you’ve been through. But it’s time to stop hiding. It’s time to woman up and go after the man you love.”

My chin trembled. “He left me.”

“Yes, just like your mother. Like I told you in the hospital, he left because you told him you didn’t love him and wanted him to go. And he loved you enough to do it.”

Back in Max’s cabin, Rafe had said he would leave if I wanted him to. If I told him there was no chance. I still didn’t remember what had happened in the ambulance. There was this wisp of familiarity about it, but nothing I could catch and pin down. Did I really tell him I didn’t love him and that there was no chance for us? That I wanted him to go?

Maybe it was better this way, for us to be apart. “He put a tracking device on me.” It was a weak argument, and we both knew it.

“And thank heavens he did. Who knows what that man would have done to you if Rafe hadn’t found you when he did? What if I was the one in danger? Or Whitney? Or Rafe? Wouldn’t you have done anything to keep us safe?”

That was true. And he was overly protective after what had happened with Veronique. The woman he loved had died on his watch. It wasn’t his fault, but he was the kind of man who would always blame himself and spend the rest of his life trying to make up for it by keeping his loved ones safe.

Including me. Especially me.

“Loving him hurts,” I admitted. Laddie must have heard my sadness, because he licked my hand in sympathy.

“Loving someone doesn’t hurt. MS hurts. Lies hurt. Regrets hurt. But love doesn’t. Love is the one thing that makes all those other things better.”

She was right. My heart ached because he was gone, not because I loved him. “I didn’t want him to leave.”

“You had a funny way of showing it.”

I tried another tactic. “And I don’t want to leave you.”

“Genesis, you’re not leaving me. You’re living your life. Do you think that I want you to give up on love and happiness to be my nursemaid? I don’t. I have Max, and Rafe hired Amanda to take care of me. My only job as your parent was to turn you into an independent adult. So start being one.”

I leaned back in my chair, and Laddie went over to get some food from his bowl. His movements were slower than they used to be. I could tell he still hurt, too. “I’m happy here. The people I love are here.”

“You haven’t been happy since before the kidnapping. Not all the people you love are here. And Frog Hollow’s not going anywhere. I’ll visit you, you’ll visit me.” She took another drink. She made it all seem so rational and logical.

I threw out my last excuse. “I can’t be a princess. I’m just some farm girl from Iowa.”

“James T. Kirk was from Iowa, and he became an admiral in Starfleet. There’s no reason you can’t be a princess.”

“I can’t believe you remember that,” I said, laughing.

“Not everything you say goes in one ear and out the other,” she said with a smile.

I’d been so worried about Rafe hurting me that I hadn’t stopped to consider what would happen if I hurt him. I’d only been focused on how everything affected me. “I’ve been kind of a selfish jerk.”

She leaned over and laid her hand on my arm. “You were beaten up and kidnapped. You get a selfish jerk pass.”

The nightmares had begun to taper off. Pastor Dave had mentioned something about facing my absolute worst fear and surviving it. He was right. That fear was gone. And when I did have those dreams, they always ended the same way. Just before I would wake up, Rafe was there, rescuing me. I went from feeling terrified to feeling safe and secure. That was how he made me feel, just by being himself. And as someone who had waited her whole life to feel truly safe, that realization was pretty wonderful.

And when I woke up one morning a few days later, the anger was completely gone. It was like someone had flipped a switch. I felt like my old self again. I wanted to be happy. I didn’t want to be mad. I understood that I had clung to the anger for so long because what was left behind was an unbearable heartache. I missed him more than anything. I wanted to say something that would make him smile. To feel his arms around me, comforting me. To have the passion of his lips against mine.

I wanted to love him.

Even if he had moved on, even if he didn’t want to see me, I at least had to tell him the truth of how I felt. I owed him that. I didn’t care about the money or about missing school or work or anything else—I just had to get to him. Had this been how he’d felt when he first came to Iowa?

Excited and highly motivated, I ran downstairs and found Aunt Sylvia sitting in the kitchen, reading the newspaper. “I have to go to Monterra! I’m going to tell Rafe I love him.”

Her eyes got big. “I’ll make some calls.”

“Not to Rafe! I want to surprise him. How am I going to afford a plane ticket?”

I’d worry about that later. First I had to pack.

Lemon’s engagement party invitation was stuck into my mirror frame. It was tomorrow night. Monterra was seven hours ahead of us, but if I got a flight today, even with layovers, I could definitely get in by tomorrow. I grabbed my suitcase out of the closet. It was still packed with everything from my last trip to Monterra. Somebody must have brought it in from Rafe’s car and left it in my room. But it was perfect. Those dresses and shoes from the wedding were still in it. I would have something to wear. I took out the dirty clothes and packed clean ones.

Whitney called me. After I said hi, she responded, “How much do you need? We can give you two hundred dollars.”

“What? Hold on. I have another call.” I transferred between the calls. It was Nicole.

“I was just talking to Shane and we think we can give you five hundred dollars. Will that be enough to help with your ticket?”

Aunt Sylvia had made her calls. That was fast. I told them it would definitely help. Now that everything was paid off, I knew I could get at least a thousand dollars out of the bank. That would almost cover it, along with what Whitney and Nicole were offering.

“Amanda’s going to pitch in a hundred!” Aunt Sylvia called up the stairs.

“Okay!” I told Whitney and Nicole to meet me at the diner, and they said they would.

Aunt Sylvia and I stopped off at an ATM, but I was only able to take out a few hundred dollars. I tried not to freak out about how to come up with the rest while we drove to the diner. My mouth dropped at what I saw—it was like my birthday party all over again. The parking lot was packed. People were handing me wads of cash, pressing it into my hand, shoving it in my pocket, each giving whatever they could afford. It made my eyes tear up and my throat feel tight, seeing how much they loved and supported me. “You go get your handsome prince!” Mrs. Mathison yelled, which made me laugh. I thanked everyone, hugged them all, and said I would let them know how it went.

“What do you mean?” Whitney asked. “We’re going with you to the airport!”

So I drove to the Quad City International Airport with most of Frog Hollow in a caravan behind me, honking along the way. They didn’t come inside with me, though. Max said he’d drive my truck home with Aunt Sylvia. She kissed me on the cheek, hugging me close and said, “I’m so proud of you.”

With the money the town had given me, I was able to book a direct flight to Milan. Of course, the flight didn’t leave for four hours, which left me stranded in an airport with boundless energy, giddy hope, and nowhere to go. I did a lot of pacing.

When it was finally time, the flight took forever to board and then to take off. But once we were in the air I realized I didn’t have a way to get from the Milan airport to the palace.

But I knew someone who did.

I called Lemon, and she answered immediately. “If this is another reporter, I’m going to wring your neck like Sunday’s chicken dinner. No more questions about the engagement party!”

“This is Genesis! Wait, I’ll show you.” I tapped on the button to turn it into a FaceTime call. She did the same.

“I didn’t recognize your number!” I had replaced the phone John-Paul destroyed, and I hadn’t given her my new contact info.

“I’m sorry, I should have given it to you. I’ve been a little self-centered lately.”

“No surprise there, given what happened to you.” She turned over her shoulder and called, “Kat! Genesis is calling.” She turned back. “Where are you? Are you on a plane?”

Kat appeared over her shoulder. “Hey, Genesis. What are you doing? Where are you?”

“I’m coming to tell Rafe that I love him.”

They both squealed with delight, making Lemon’s phone bounce. Kat said, “I’m so glad you’re coming. Rafe is like, destroyed.”

“Miserable,” Lemon added.

“Such a mess.”

“Dante had to force him to shower today.”

“Don’t tell him!” I warned them, and they both nodded. “I want it to be a surprise. But I’m calling because I need a ride from the airport.”

“We will totally take care of that,” Kat said.

“You should have called us before you bought a ticket. We could have sent the plane,” Lemon added.

They could have. In my hurry to get to him, it hadn’t even occurred to me. “Too late now. So Princess Kat, how does it feel to be a married lady?”

“It’s frakking amazing,” she said with a vivid and knowing smile. “I highly recommend it.”

Depending on how all this went, maybe someday I would find out.

We chatted for a bit longer, and they caught me up on what had been going on in Monterra. We finalized plans for my ride after I told them my flight number and what time I should be arriving. I had to hang up when I started getting pointed looks from other passengers. We were a little loud.

Hours and hours and hours later, I finally arrived in Milan. I went through customs and got to the front entrance, where I found Giacomo waiting for me. “Signorina Genesis, this way please.” He led me out to a black town car, where two women waited inside. He made introductions, and I immediately forgot their European-sounding names. He told me that one was a makeup artist and the other a hairstylist, and they were going to work their magic before we arrived at the palace.

“And we will stop here in the city to find you a new dress.”

“I brought two dresses with me,” I told him as the women conversed in Italian about the state of my airplane-dried-out hair.

“From the wedding?” When I said yes, he shook his head. “That won’t do. He can’t see you in the same dress twice, can he?”

I didn’t know anywhere else in the world where that would be true, but I trusted Giacomo. Besides, it would be the dress I wore when I told Rafe I loved him.

We stopped at a store that had a locked door and a security guard out front. Giacomo found the perfect dress—it was a one-shouldered teal gown that cinched in at the waist, went all the way to the floor, and made me feel like a Grecian goddess.

It didn’t even have a price tag—that’s how expensive it was. I didn’t care. All I cared about was getting to Rafe.

When we finally arrived at the palace, with me feeling about the best I had ever had in my whole life, I found Lemon and Kat waiting for me. They were dressed up too, and they squealed and hugged me when they saw me. We were all careful not to mess up each other’s hair or makeup.

But now that I was actually here, standing in the front hall, anxiety, jet lag, and exhaustion took over. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do or say,” I confessed. I was tempted to sit down and put my head between my knees until the dizzy feeling went away. I didn’t know why I’d thought this would be a good idea.

“You will figure it out. Just say what’s in your heart. He’s in the main ballroom. Dante and I haven’t made our entrance yet, so I can’t go with you.”

“And Nico’s still upstairs getting ready.” Kat rolled her eyes. “I swear, he always takes longer than I do to get pretty. But you go in there and get your man!”