by Kylie Key
Lily prodded and my friend gave a direct order. “Go to him, Blaire.”
I stumbled into my boots and out the door. The snow had dusted his hair like powdered sugar. He reached up, like he was trying to catch the snow. I touched his coat, but skidded on the lawn. He skidded too, his arm flailing upwards. I grabbed it, but my feet went out from under me.
And I went down—taking Alex Lord with me.
For a moment, the breath had been knocked out of me. We’d both fallen onto our backs, hitting the ground hard. A crowd of children had gathered around, but it was Alex who offered his hand to pull me back up. He brushed at my jacket as I straightened my glasses.
“Sorry, I slipped,” I said sheepishly. It wasn’t quite the way I’d wanted to get his attention.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m okay. Are you okay?” He nodded, but I felt the need to touch the side of his cheek to check that he was. “Alex?” It was crazy how you could attach yourself to one person in such a short space of time, wasn’t it? One month, give or take a few days. That’s how long I’d known Alex Lord, and...that was how long I’d known who I was.
Blaire Ashley wasn’t the fake...
Blair Pennington had been.
My whole life had been lived a certain way because of my family name, their position in the community, where we lived.
“Is Lily okay?” Alex asked.
“Lily?” I was somewhat taken aback, yeah. Here I was, holding his face and he was asking about my best friend.
“Yeah.” His tone was savage. “Didn’t you tell her you’re leaving River Valley High?”
My vision was obscured with the snow splattering on my lenses, but the wretchedness in his voice told me everything I needed to know—Alex cared about Lily as much as I did. And though we were standing in subzero temperatures, my heart was filled with warmth.
I brought my other hand up to cup his face, and he flinched from my cold fingers. I could barely see through my glasses, but I could see enough.
“Alex, I’m not going back to Covington Prep. I’m finishing my senior year at River Valley High,” I said.
“You are?” There was a lilt to his voice.
I nodded. “My mother’s not exactly pleased, but Dad’s all good with it.”
He reached out and perched my glasses on top of my head. That worked—now I could see his smile and his eyes lovingly staring straight into mine.
“For real?”
“Yep. For real.”
Alex leaned down and with icy cold lips, he kissed me—the real Blair Pennington—under the fake snow.
BEING AT THE CUTTERS brought me a joy I hadn’t known I’d missed. I’d forgotten about my passion for horses, and being able to walk a gray Arabian around the indoor arena made me think about Moonbeam, and how much I’d loved riding. Yet my life had diverged so much over the past few years—high school had remodeled Blair Pennington, conformity had made me into a person everyone else wanted me to be.
Yes, parties, boys, shopping, social media had taken over my life, and yet I’d discovered I’d been quite happy without any of that. In my heart of hearts, I knew I was a small town girl who liked the quiet life.
“You’re good with horses,” I said to Alex as we left the stables and walked back to the house.
“You’re good with horses,” he said back.
“How come?” He’d only been here a month, which seemed a short time for someone to be so natural.
“My Mom has horses,” he said. “She and Shelby used to ride together.”
“Here?”
“No, back in England. Mom...” and he seemed to choke a little, “Mom, she runs a riding school.”
“Really? Wow. You didn’t say.” Funny, I knew he wasn’t from London, but I had assumed he came from a biggish city. “So you weren’t randomly sent to River Valley? You chose to come here?”
“My parents chose,” he said, and he stopped walking and leaned against a fence. His throat bobbed, like he was swallowing something nasty, and his voice changed entirely, becoming deep and serious. “Blaire, I have to tell you something.”
Sheer panic hit me and a shiver washed over me, goosebumps running the length of my spine. Man, how can you be in pure bliss one moment and on the brink of doom the next? He’d been acting awkwardly all afternoon and now he was going to tell me that it wasn’t worth getting involved, not when he’d be going home in less than two months.
It was better to beat him to it, avoid the heartache.
“If you wanna break up, sure, that’s fine. It’s probably for the best. You haven’t got much longer anyway. I don’t care.” I hoped I’d pulled off the flippant response with realism, but as I walked away a sob was rising in my chest.
Alex’s footsteps were right behind me, then in front of me, blocking my way. His gaze was wild-eyed. “What are you talking about? You crazy American!” He took hold of my shoulders and said, “I have two things to tell you and now you’ve got me worried. You wanna break up?”
I shook my head, my lower lip wobbly, my sob coming out as a sigh of relief. “No, I thought you were going to break up with me,” I said. “What two things?”
“Uh, Blaire,” he said, and the pause sent my heart racing. “My name’s not actually Alex. It’s Alexander.”
“Alex-arnder?” I repeated it the way he’d pronounced it, slightly confused. Alex was a shortened form of Alexander, that was pretty common knowledge. It was hardly a groundbreaking revelation.
“Alexander Radclyffe.”
My eyebrows lifted. “Ohhhh—kay...So, Lord isn’t your last name?” For some reason I was thinking that he must have changed it for cultural reasons. A Chinese boarder at Covington Prep was known as Britney, but her real name was Ming-li.
“No.” He hesitated again. “Lord is my title. Lord Alexander. I’m a viscount.”
I pushed up my glasses. Now I was truly confused. “A viscount? What’s a viscount? Is that like a vampire?” Come to think of it, he was a little on the pale side.
Alex laughed, no he howled, kind of like a werewolf. He lifted me up and squeezed me tightly before sitting me on the top rail of the fence and proceeded to tell me that his father was the Earl of Langley, an inherited title that dated back to the 1300s. In other words, Alex was of royal connections.
To say I was stunned was an understatement. “This is kind of bizarre,” I said. “You’re a royal. Should I be curtseying to you?” I jumped down and tried one, but with jeans and a jacket it wasn’t very effective. “My Lord?” My silly Southern accent had returned.
Alex rolled his eyes and smiled. “No. Definitely not.” But then he got serious again. “Blaire, there’s a reason I came here. To River Valley.” He jumped down, took my hand, and he walked me in the opposite direction of the house.
My heart broke as Alex told me about the night that he and his best friends were sitting around the family pool on the weekend before they were due back at boarding school. The water was way too cold to be swimming, but some of them did anyway. William was one who did. The cold water had likely triggered an asthma attack and he’d drowned, right before their very eyes. Despite their efforts, they couldn’t save him. His friend Thomas had started CPR, Niall had phoned emergency services, Alex and Simon had run to get Chester (who worked for his family, presumably as a butler). Alex recalled how they’d desperately tried to keep William warm, but he couldn’t take William’s boots off, because the laces were wet and tied too tight. It was why he never tied his own boots properly now. He was haunted by the illogical thought that William’s wet feet was the reason he died.
And then, not only did Alex have to cope with the loss of his friend, but the press had been quick to sensationalize. The drowning at Langley Estate made headlines and The Earl and Countess had been hounded by the media. His parents had wanted to protect Alex from all that, and that’s how Shelby Cutter came to the rescue, and he’d ended up in River Valley.
As he wiped at his tears, I ached
for him, the loss of his friend a tragedy that I couldn’t imagine, and I mused on how shallow the conditions of my own fake identity had been.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, Alex,” I said. A comforting arm, a shoulder to lean on seemed so insignificant. “I wish I could say or do something to help.”
“Thanks,” he said, “and you have helped.” My heart clenched and I reached up to catch a tear on his cheek. He smiled, drawing me close, wrapping his arms around me. “More than you know. Blaire? That second thing...I wanted to tell you...it’s how much I care about you. And maybe I love you. Except I’ve never been in love. But I hope it’s this.”
“Oh.” It’s all I could say as my heart was close to cardiac arrest, it’s beat out of this world, the intensity that of a ticking time-bomb about to explode. Alex had said the L word. It was possible I would die right here in his arms!
“Actually, what am I saying?” He huffed a laugh. “There’s no maybe. I love you Blaire,” he said. “With or without an E."
I smiled at him, dazed and love-struck, my brain trying to comprehend his words. Now I was the one with tears welling up.
“I love you too...Alexander Radclyffe,” I said, and in the throes of losing control of my tear ducts, our lips joined in a perfect kiss.
Epilogue
Alexander
It’s been three months and three days since I arrived back home, two days since I finished my last A level exam, and it’s been thirty five minutes since Blaire’s flight landed.
That’s right, I’m at Heathrow airport, anxiously awaiting her arrival. My heart is pounding in my ears and I have an irrational fear that she’s going to be turned away by immigration for an invalid visa, or something equally outrageous. Even though I know that we checked everything a hundred times.
Blaire graduated from River Valley High and I despaired that I couldn’t be there with the team. You know, they were all part of the school’s spring play, Romeo and Juliet. I was so jealous, I would’ve died to be Romeo (a pun, yeah), but I watched the performance online and Ethan and Lily did a great job. Blaire did too. She’d been part of the wardrobe department, and her costumes were amazing.
But coming home was the right thing for me. I needed to be with my family and the lads. It hasn’t been easy for any of us to adjust to life without William, but it’s one day at a time. I mean, we finished our exams and we’re going in different directions, Thomas and Niall to Cambridge, Simon to London and Jayden’s doing a gap year volunteering in Africa. We’ll always be best friends. That will never change.
Blaire’s taking a gap year before she makes up her mind about what she wants to do. Her parents are pushing for college back home of course, but she’s keeping her options open. She’s been looking at fashion and design schools in London, which I’m encouraging, because that’s where I’ll be studying acting.
We’re going to spend some time traveling around. I want to show her England and Wales and take her up to Scotland, and Mum and Dad have invited her to stay at Langley Estate. She’s keen to help Mum with the horses (she’s been helping at the Cutters every weekend since that day I took her there and told her I loved her).
I can’t wait for Mum to meet Blaire. I just know they’re going to click.
My eyes are glued to the exit, my heart surging when I see her laden down with a bulky backpack over her shoulder and a passport bag across her body, pulling a suitcase on wheels. I’m reminded of that day when she nearly sat on me in the school office.
She’s scanning, and the moment she sees me her face lights up, and her pace quickens.
“I was worried I wouldn’t find you,” she says as I catch her in my arms. Her hair is longer now, falling past her shoulders.
“How was your flight?” I ask, her bags restricting my ability to hold her close.
“Long!” I take her backpack and her suitcase from her, maneuver us out of the main thoroughfare. “But it was good. I can’t believe I’m here!”
“Well, you are, and you’re gonna love it, I promise.” I lean in and mock the passport bag, “You look like a proper tourist, don’t you!”
“Safety first.” She pokes at my chest. “And I nearly forgot to take my passport back from the immigration officer. I was in a mad rush to find you!”
“We’re going to take the tube to Paddington Station and my parents are going to meet us there and drive us to Langley Estate.”
“The underground train?”
“Yep. Ready?”
She nods and taps her passport bag. “I think so.” She reaches down for her suitcase, but I pull her into me.
“But first, welcome to England, Blaire...” I run my hands over her hair and down her back, “I’ve missed you.” Her bright eyes, cute freckles, soft lips.
“I missed you too,” she says, and adds with a grin and a terrible British accent, “Lord Alexander Radclyffe, my most royal boyfriend...”
I roll my eyes. And there’s only one way to stop her talking.
And that’s to kiss her.
Blaire
MOM WANTED ME TO TAKE the private Whittakers jet to England! Can you believe that? I think she thought that it would be able to land directly on Alex’s family estate! She said it would be safer, she worried about me going to the other side of the world on my own. I was young and naive, she said, I hadn’t traveled on my own before.
And yeah, I admit I’m scared. I’m leaving behind everything, my beloved hometown, my family, my friends. I’m going to a new country, and though we speak the same language—mostly—it’s a whole different culture.
But I have to do this—for me.
Mom’s apology has been ongoing since the video footage was verified. She can’t believe she didn’t believe me. She despises herself for failing me, hates that she succumbed to conformity. Yes, I learnt that my mother has lived under a cloud of pressure her whole life. Being the daughter of a Whittaker, and proving that she was fit to run the company was constant and immense. People loved to denounce you for having everything handed to you on a silver platter. And no, my Mom doesn’t order the coffee at Whittakers, she’s the marketing manager, and she feels massive pressure to be the best, to look and dress perfectly all the time. Mom wishes more than anything that she could go to the grocery store in her sweatpants and slippers...but she would never dream of it. She would never dream of leaving the house without makeup or her hair done either.
I had no idea, and it’s overwhelming. And sad. You see, I thought it was vanity. I thought that the beauty treatments and plastic surgery were all about narcissism, but my mother has been trying to live up to expectations her whole life, great expectations.
And she doesn’t want that for me.
She doesn’t want me to go abroad, but she knows it’s what I need.
And she knows how much Alexander and I love each other.
So yeah,
it’s scary being in England,
but then I see Alexander...and I’m no longer afraid.
Author’s Note
THANKS FOR READING Blaire and Alex’s story! I drew on a lot of my own experiences for this story. My husband spent his childhood growing up in England, though he’s not of royal blood! A few years ago, we went back there to do an adult gap year—he worked, but I couldn’t get a visa! I have some wonderful memories, and we did a lot of traveling, all the way up to Scotland.
I want to say a special thank you to one of my loyal readers, Lissa who inspired the character of Lily in this story. Many thanks to Ellie for sharing her experiences with me : )
Writing about Blaire and Lily’s friendship was a special part of the story for me.
Let me share a quote from one of my favorite artists, NF and his song Nate -
“Everything that breaks you down can also build your character
Cause people love to see you fail, just be aware of it.
Don’t let anybody tell you who to be or write your narrative.”
Writing has become a total joy for me and I fe
el blessed to be able to share my stories. If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review or telling your friends or sharing on social media! And if you want to read more from me, check out my books here:
`Boyfriend series
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087KW9P14
The Young Love Series
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08454JT1D
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