Suddenly Royal (39 page)

Royal Shopping Spree?

—
Paris Post

The next day I convinced Chadwick and Margie to run to town with me. Becca came along just in case we needed her, but I felt like it was overkill. The good news was I didn’t have to dress up for something like this and no one was expecting me to show up.

We parked the car in one of the public lots and hit some of the local shops. I wanted to show my support of the family-run businesses, so I avoided the chain stores. When we entered a florist shop the woman inside seemed shocked. Chadwick was laughing to himself while the woman tried to hand me every bouquet I looked at. I ended up buying flowers for my room and a set for Chadwick, but only because I insisted on paying.

“
Sheesh. I can’t remember the last time someone didn’t want me to pay for something.” I tucked the flowers under my arm and fiddled with my purse. “When I was eating macaroni and cheese in college, everyone wanted me to pay for things. But now that I have money, I have to force them to take it. I thought I was going to have to pull rank!”

“
Don’t worry, there will be lots of people happy to take your cash.” Margie shook her head.

“
Too right.” Chadwick shot me a look, obviously thinking about Jeremy from the zoo.

It was actually sort of fun to walk around the town. Some of the people didn’t know what to say and just stared at me while others talked nonstop. I wasn’t sure if that was because they were nervous or because they thought it might be their only chance to talk to me. Margie and Chadwick often stepped in to help me escape when that happened, but for the most part people seemed to understand I had other things to do.

At one point a young mother with a baby in a stroller stopped to welcome me to the town. Just when I was getting ready to go pay for the homemade bubble bath I was holding, she asked me to take a picture with the infant.

“
Sure.” I smiled at the little girl and turned to face the mother’s phone for the picture when I felt something warm cover my arm. I didn’t say anything until she had gotten her pictures, but there was no hiding the wet spot on my jacket.

“
Oh my Lord! Duchess, I’m so sorry. So sorry. Here, let me buy you a new coat.” The young woman handed me a towel from her diaper bag.

“
It’s fine! Really, don’t worry about it.” I couldn’t help that a laugh bubbled up out of my throat. “My first picture with a baby and I get peed on. It’s pretty funny.”

“
I’ve never been this embarrassed before in my life.” The young woman looked close to tears.

“
Here, hand me the baby and take another one. When she grows up, you can use it as blackmail.”

She chuckled weakly. “Oh, no. I couldn’t do that to you.”

“
Just send me an e-mail with the picture. My father will think it’s hilarious.” I held my arms out for the baby and made a silly face while Chadwick laughed. He gave her his e-mail address and she promised to e-mail it that night.

“
What if that ends up in the papers?” Margie asked me.

“
I don’t care. What’re they going to title that article? ‘Duchess Gets Peed On?’” I laughed. “Maybe it’ll make everyone realize I’m just human.”

“
It was really sweet of you to make sure that mother didn’t feel so bad.”

“
Meh. It was funny. I mean, who else would get peed on? It would only happen to me.” I shrugged out of my jacket and shirt in the dressing room of a nearby shop. “Or I’d be the mother whose baby peed on someone famous.”

“
Still very nice of you.” She passed me a shirt over the door.

“
Not really. I could have been upset or laughed it off.” I opened the door and walked out. “There was nothing to do for it at that point.”

The rest of the day went smoothly. We ate in a local pub, which I loved. For the first time since arriving in the country I felt like I was experiencing the real culture. People spoke a mix of English and Lilarian, often in the same sentence. I liked how birds were a common thread. They were painted on signs and featured on wind chimes.

The pub owner came over to introduce himself but didn’t stay. Most people smiled in our direction and apparently the story of the peepee picture was already starting to circulate. One of the waitresses was related to the baby and brought us a basket of chips.

“
Sally was so embarrassed, but she couldn’t get over how sweet you were.”

“
I didn’t do anything special.” I shook my head.

Most of the people who came in would shoot me a look and then act like I wasn’t there. It was perfect. By the time we headed back to the house, I was tired but happy.

I worked with Stanley through the week to understand more about the running of a manor and found that it was as intimidating as I had thought it would be. Selene made a visit, but since my title hadn’t been officially reinstated, I couldn’t take on any of the local cases to present to parliament. I enjoyed her visit and found myself looking forward to working with her. She was a bright woman who loved her home.

Alex called every night and I found myself looking forward to his voice more each time. Despite the demands on his time, he never seemed frustrated or angry, even though I could hear how tired he was. He asked questions about the manor and how I was adjusting. When I told him about the baby incident he laughed so hard I thought he was going to snort.

“
It’s not that funny!”

“
Oh, that is priceless.” He chuckled. “And you thought the best thing to do would be to take another picture?”

“
Yeah. I mean what else was there? Wave her off and leave her feeling horrible?” I shrugged my shoulders even though he couldn’t see me. “It was the first thing that popped into my mind. I was hoping it would make her laugh.”

“
And has it shown up in the papers?”

“
The local post contacted Chadwick and requested a copy. Apparently Sally, the mother, told them they needed my permission.” I laughed. “They were good sports about it.”

“
That was right of her.” I could hear his voice growing thick.

“
I think so.” I sighed. “Go to bed. You sound exhausted.”

“
Sorry, today was incredibly long.”

“
I’ll talk to you soon.”

“
Good night.”

Later, after my shower, I plugged my phone in to charge and realized there was a text message from Alex.

Alex:
Miss you.

I bit my lip for a second before responding.

ME:
Miss you too.

By the time the weekend rolled around, I was itching to see him again. I had almost forgotten that Cathy was coming until she texted me Friday morning. Stanley and I were in the front yard discussing some of the fencing damaged by the last snowfall when she arrived. She was wearing jeans and boots, which was the first time I had seen her looking so relaxed.

She hopped out of the car with a package in her hands. Running straight to me, she threw her arms around my neck.

“
Hey!” I hugged her back.

“
You look good.” She pulled back to look at me. “I knew you’d feel better once you got out here.”

“
I’m really starting to love it.” I took her inside and she handed me the package.

“
Happy housewarming.”

“
You didn’t need to get me anything.” I held it in my hands and examined the wrapping paper.

“
Hush. You don’t go to a person’s new home without a gift!” She smiled at me. “Open it.”

I pulled the bow off and tore into the wrapping. Inside was a beautiful bird statue. I pulled it out and examined the detail. It was a merlin, small but fierce.

“
It’s gorgeous.”

“
It’s considered good luck. Most homes have a bird tucked somewhere. When I saw this was a merlin I had to get it.”

“
Thank you. I love it.” I reached out and hugged her with my free arm. “Where should I put it?”

“
A lot of people keep them in their kitchens or offices.” She shrugged. “But it doesn’t really matter.”

“
I know just the place.” I led her upstairs and put it on the desk in the library. “Perfect.”

I showed her the house and told her about the few things I had decided to change. While I loved all the history, I wanted to make it feel a little more personal. Most of the things would be very small but would help me settle in.

I had invited Cathy for a pizza party, but I hadn’t known there wasn’t a pizza parlor anywhere nearby. Instead of ordering in I had bought all the ingredients and we were trying to figure out how to make pizza dough.

“
You’ve never done this before?” She looked at me over a glass of wine.

“
How hard can it be? A little flour, a little water, knead. We can do this.” I shrugged nonchalantly. “Grab the measuring cup.”

I had told Margie to take the night off, so it was just me and Cathy. She looked behind her at the cups on the counter and frowned. “How big?”

“
What?”

“
Which one do you want? There are four measuring cups here.”

“
I don’t know.” I picked up the instructions and read over them. “Three-quarters of a cup.”

“
These are in metric.” She laughed but handed me the right one. “Here.”

“
I forgot about that.” I frowned. “I hope I don’t mess this up.”

Forty minutes later we were both covered in flour and giggling. The dough had been runny, so I had added more flour, but that hadn’t helped. Cathy was trying to scrape the sticky mess off the counter when the doorbell rang.

“
I’ll get it.” I grabbed a towel on my way and tried to scrub the mess from my hands. I pulled open the door and my heart thumped in my chest. Alex was standing on there with a small duffle bag and a huge smile.

“
Hi.”

“
I thought you weren’t coming back until tomorrow night!” I smiled and stepped back so he could come in.

“
I managed to get stuff done early, so hurried home.” He dropped his bag and walked toward me.

“
Is that why you were so tired last night?” He had snored at one point, but when I told him about it, he denied it.

“
Maybe.” He pulled the cloth out of my hands and threw it onto the entry way table. “It was worth it.”

His hands wrapped around my waist and I melted into him. When his lips slid over mine hungrily, I returned his kiss with fervor, devouring his taste. He growled against me and lifted me in his arms so that my feet didn’t touch the ground. There was no hesitation when he turned and started walking for the stairs.

“
Now I know why you look so happy.” Cathy’s voice had me pulling my head away from Alex’s. “No, no. Don’t stop for me. I’ll just eat this nasty pizza all by myself.” The fake hurt in her voice made me roll my eyes. I looked over at her and laughed. There was flour all over her face and sticky dough clumped in her hair.

“
Funny, huh? You don’t look much better,” Cathy pointed out.

I looked at Alex, who was still holding me off the ground, and realized I had rubbed flour on his face. “Oh no. I must look a mess!”

I wiggled and he set my feet back on the ground before kissing my nose. “I don’t care.”

“
When did this happen?” Cathy leaned against the kitchen doorframe. “And I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

“
Last weekend.” Alex watched as I retrieved my towel and wiped at my face.

“
So your big plan worked.”

“
Big plan?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“
Yes, it did.” He smiled, completely unbothered.

“
Oh, it was a doozy.” She snorted. “Incredibly intricate and well thought out.”

“
Is that so?” I looked from her to him.

“
Stick around as much as possible until you gave in.” He shrugged.

“
And it worked!” Cathy laughed.

I shook my head with a smile. It certainly had.

“
Are you going to tell me why you’re covered in goop?” Alex reached out and scooped a chunk from my hair.

“
Pizza party.” I led him to the kitchen.

“
The pizza party from hell.” He whistled. “Margie is going to have a heart attack.”

I looked around and cringed. He was right—we had made a mess. “Yesh.”