My brother was right. I wanted to punch him and kiss him all at once. He turned and waved for Aria to follow. Once they left the room, I turned to face Cali.
“Merry Christmas, Your Highness.”
She snorted and waved her hand at me. “Please, call me Cali.”
“All right, Cali. Please, come sit.” I waved to the couches that were in the middle of the room. “Sorry about the mess, we were in the middle of opening presents since it’s Christmas and all.”
“Sorry to barge in on your festivities, but this was the only time I could get away.”
She sat opposite from me on the other couch.
“I’m guessing Nico sent you?”
“No. Actually, my father sent me.”
That was a surprise. I would have thought when Nico’s father found out about me, he would be glad I told his son to leave me.
“I guess you heard that I am pregnant. And before you ask, yes, it’s your brother’s.”
“That’s, um . . . that is a surprise.”
“To you and me both.”
Her brow wrinkled. Cali’s eyes studied me for a moment. I felt as if she was deciding if her trip here was worth it or not.
I could answer that for her. It wasn’t.
“Does Nico know you’re here?”
“No. And my father wishes it to remain that way.”
It dawned on me what she was doing here. Her father making her come. Not telling Nico.
“You’re here to pay me off. Well, you’re wasting your time.” I waved my hand around. “As you might have guessed, my brother is loaded. He insisted I share half as I am technically a Hawthorne. So, by default, that makes me loaded, too. I wouldn’t be surprised if I had more money than you.”
“I see why my brother fell in love with you.” She pursed her lips.
Love. What a lie.
“If you call what he did love.”
“I agree with you. I’m not here to bribe you or tell you to stay away or anything like that. What my brother did was bad. I know it. He knows it. He punishes himself every day for it. Have you checked the diner’s website stats? If you had, you’d notice a severe uptick in website views the past month. I guarantee they’re all from my brother. He won’t let you go.”
I had noticed that. When I updated the menu options to include the holiday items, I noticed dozens of extra views a day. I had hoped that meant more customers, but it didn’t convert into walk-ins.
“Then why are you here?”
“To bring you to Cambria. To talk some sense into my brother so he doesn’t go through with marrying a woman he barely knows and doesn’t even love, all for the crown.”
It felt as if my heart twisted and popped in my chest. I wondered what was worse—the day I told him to leave or finding out he’s engaged to another woman.
“That was fast. I guess he just needed a bride—”
“Stop.” Cali stood and came to sit beside me on the couch. “Yes, to gain the crown he must marry by age thirty, which would be tomorrow. But he never wanted the crown or to marry someone to get it. But when he found out our father had cancer and was dying . . . something broke in him. He became this person I barely recognize. All he wants to do is fulfill his duty. He keeps saying the love of his people and the love of his family are a rare thing. That he must honor it.”
Hearing my words thrown back at me, causing Nico to marry someone he doesn’t love, hurt. It broke me when he lied, but I never meant for him to do something he may regret later.
“I’m sorry about your father.” I reached for Cali’s hand and gave it a soft squeeze. She put on a brave face, but her eyes started to glisten.
“I’m pregnant.” I bit my lip. “He, uh . . . he might not want to be a father.”
The way Cali’s eyes slid to the floor, she knew I was right.
“I don’t know. Only my brother can tell you that. But even if you don’t want to come with me, Grace, at least tell him about his child before he marries another woman.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Going there, with Cali, I could discover Nico doesn’t want me anymore. Especially now that I was pregnant. His father sent Cali to get me, but was this some sort of trick? Powerful people had a habit of making unwanted things go away.
“Your family doesn’t plan to kill me, do they?” I slid my hands from Cali’s and eyed her with suspicion.
She threw her head back and laughed. “No. We aren’t the mafia.”
I wasn’t totally sure, but I hadn’t read anything bad online about the Chillingham royal family.
I made up my mind. I raised my voice because I knew my brother and Aria were listening in on everything.
“Looks like I’m spending the holidays in Cambria.”
Aria popped her head out from behind the wall. “You mean it looks like we three are spending the holidays in Cambria.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Nico
When Harry Met Sally
“She’s crying, sir. In the library,” Tiber said as he stood beside me at the far end of the castle ballroom. The room filled with women dressed in gowns and men in suits.
Christmas trees decorated in red and gold filled every corner. Red velvet ribbons loosely lined the ceiling with holly pinned every few meters. It’s as if Christmas exploded in this three-hundred-year-old room. Bringing some color to the dark wood lined walls and coffered ceiling.
All this merriment and all I felt was dread.
“Crying? Your sister is crying,” I said more to myself than my friend. “Is she hurt?”
“Not physically, no.”
“Then why would Cyrina be crying? This is her wedding day. She should be out here, mingling with the guests.”
Right at that moment Cali came up, slightly winded, with a lopsided smile on her face.
“What have you been up to?” I asked and wondered if I wanted to hear her answer.
For all the stress Cali had put me through in my life, she sincerely wished to help me since my return. I told her I had been reaching out to Grace, and Cali volunteered to contact her, too. But I turned her down.
I didn’t want my younger sister to clean up my mess. I had myself to blame for my heartache. What I wanted from Cali was support. She may not be in favor of the idea of me marrying Tiber’s young sister, but she understood how important it was that I marry by my thirtieth birthday.
What better way to announce to the country that I was marrying than to throw a surprise wedding the evening of my birthday ball. The people in the room had no idea that in several hours, I would marry Cyrina.
“Just helping. That’s all. Making sure everything is arranged and no one knows what’s about to happen.” Her eyes sparkled with mischief.
If there was one thing my sister loved, it was tricking people. She’d been fooling our parents and the country her whole life. Making them believe she’s all sweetness and innocence.
“Good. Where’s Father and Mother?” I looked around the room but couldn’t find them anywhere.
Warmth crawled up my neck as I began to worry something had happened.
“They are helping the bride. Making sure she’s at her best to become the future Princess of Cambria,” my sister said as the corner of her lip curled.
For someone who didn’t want me to marry Tiber’s sister, she certainly enjoyed planning the wedding.
“I thought you didn’t want me to marry Cyrina?”
“I did bring her up as a possible candidate for marriage. Why would you think I didn’t want this?”
I shook my head as my sister twisted it all around to make herself the innocent party. “You brought her up as a candidate because you thought I would be against it. You only wanted to see me squirm. But when I agreed after we found out about Father, you backtracked. Suddenly, Cyrina was too young for me. You came up with every excuse you could think of as to why I shouldn’t marry her.”
She shrugged and gazed out at the crowd. “I changed my mind. I think you sho
uld go through with this wedding. It will be good for you, the family, and the country. And,” she held up a finger as she turned to face me, “Mother and Father agree. It was actually Father’s idea to have me travel . . . uh, I mean, help the bride today.”
I smiled and placed my arm around my sister. “Whatever the reason, I’m glad you support me with this marriage. She will be your sister soon, too.”
“She will be my sister . . .” Cali trailed off and mumbled something about being an auntie.
Was she already hoping I’d impregnate Cyrina on our wedding night? That thought hadn’t entered my mind over the past few days. I had been too busy arranging everything for the birthday ball and surprise wedding. I had even been too busy to formally propose to Cyrina. I cringed at making Tiber reach out to his own sister and ask if she would marry me.
Tiber told me she said yes, but I suspected his sister was quite reluctant to agree.
And now the wedding night. I swallowed and wondered if it might be possible for me to remove my jacket, maybe even my tie, and possibly my shirt. It had grown hot in here and for such an immense room, it felt stifling.
“Now that I am thinking about it, perhaps we don’t need a surprise wedding . . .”
Both Tiber and Cali’s eyes widened. “But it has been arranged.”
“Maybe we could postpone it. Why can’t I be a bachelor prince? I could convince Father to ask the government to amend the law.”
“In less than a week? That’s not possible,” Tiber said.
I took a step and then another until I was striding with urgency toward the door.
“Where are you going, Nico?” my sister called from behind. I could hear her heels clicking as she raced after me.
“To speak with Father. I had been emotional when I came up with this idea,” I said between breaths as I maneuvered around people. They all bowed and curtsied as I neared, making it harder for me to get to the door quickly. “There must be another way.”
“He’s in his living quarters.”
She had said Father was with the bride, but Tiber said Cyrina was in the library. Perhaps Mother and Father brought her up there to comfort her.
I finally left the ballroom and made my way through the various halls and up a flight of stairs until I was in my parent’s wing.
I came to Father’s living room door and pushed open the door. Both my parents looked over at me in surprise. And I heard a gasp, but not from them. It was from the one person I never thought I’d lay eyes on again.
Grace.
“Nico.” She stood from the blue silk sofa.
I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. She wore a dress of light pink silk that must have been poured over her body. The gown wasn’t tight but it wasn’t loose, either. Everything about it fit her just right.
And when I gazed up into her face, she seemed to glow. Was she happy? Perhaps. It must have only been me who fell in love. I was the reason for her stress and pain.
While that thought caused my heart to break all over again, I was glad she was doing well.
“What are you doing here?”
“That would be my doing,” my father said as he stepped closer to me.
My hands fisted at my side. How could my father hurt me in that manner? Was this punishment for abandoning my royal duties for that month in Chicago?
“Why would you do that? I said I would take the crown. That I would marry. Why show me what I cannot have?”
My eyes began to burn. Grace was so close I could take a breath and I’d inhale only her. Yet, I couldn’t reach for her. I couldn’t hold her. I couldn’t marry her.
“Because, son,” my father walked to my side and placed a hand on my shoulder, “you can have love. You only have to ask.”
“But I did.”
He glanced back at Grace and shook his head. “No, you didn’t ask. You lied. We all do it when we are young, not understanding that the truth is the key to true love. It doesn’t come in a kiss or a ring or even a wedding. It only comes from when you let your heart speak its truth.”
My father patted me on the back and nodded at my mother. As my mother neared me, I reached for her. “But you said I couldn’t marry her. That she’s just a commoner.”
My mother shook her head. “I guess I lied, too. You can marry whomever you choose. I was mistaken and thought she was taking advantage of you. But when she let you go and showed that she understood the importance of love and family more than my own flesh and blood had,” my mother raised her eyebrow at me, “then I knew why you had fallen for her. This is your decision, Nicolas. You will wear the crown and you will stand beside her for the rest of your life. Your father and I cannot tell you what to do.”
She patted my hand and turned, leaving the room with my father. I was alone with Grace and it felt like a dream come true.
What could I say that would be the honest truth from my heart that Grace would believe?
“I missed you,” I said because my soul ached every moment she wasn’t here. “I love you.” I stepped forward until I could reach for her hands. “And I’m finding it difficult to let you go.”
I rubbed my thumb over the back of her hands, savoring her smooth skin. Everything about her felt right—even if she wanted nothing to do with me.
“Is that why you’re marrying that girl?”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “No. I don’t want to marry her. And I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want to marry me, either. I want to call you my wife, Grace. I never lied about that. Whether we lived here or Chicago. I always wanted you by my side.”
“Then why don’t you?”
I opened my eyes and stared at Grace in surprise. She was serious.
“Really? But what changed your mind?”
I knew I was pushing my luck. I should take her at her word and slip the ring on as fast as I could. But it would eat away at me. Wondering if my father or sister or someone convinced her to marry me, like Tiber had convinced his sister.
“I love you. I knew that day your mother showed up at the diner that I loved you.”
“But you told me to leave?”
She nodded. “Because as much as I was in love with you, I knew you weren’t ready to be loved. You proved that by running. And as much as I love you, Nico, I love myself, too. I spent most of my teenage years and my early twenties learning you had to love yourself if you expected anyone to love you back. I wasn’t about to put my heart in jeopardy . . . not even for a prince.”
“And you think I’m ready now?”
She nodded and squeezed my hands. “You were ready to marry a woman you didn’t love for your family, for your country. Everyone thought you were insane, including your father, for doing that.”
“I do think I temporarily lost it for a few days after finding out about my father’s illness.” I gave a hard laugh and wondered if I would ever be the same.
“But you were willing to do something to help your family. I wouldn’t suggest marrying someone you don’t love for your family because you still need to love yourself, too. But I know stress and heartache make people do crazy things,” she said with a sigh.
“Can I try again?”
“You mean propose?”
I nodded.
“I need to tell you something first. And if, after you hear it, you still wish to propose to me, you can.”
It didn’t matter what she said, I would make Grace my wife. I had never been more certain of anything in my life.
She moved back to the sofa and sat, patting the spot next to her. I came over and lowered down beside her.
“I guess I should just rip the bandage off, so to speak,” she said with a nervous laugh.
I took her hand and held it to my chest, hoping she could hear how my heart beat for only her. “Whatever it is, I will love you. No matter the problem, I will stand with you and help you. I want to be your partner in all things.”
“Then I should let you know that come the new year, you’re not only gaining a crown but also
an heir.”
I blinked once. I wondered if I heard her correctly. Heir?
“You mean we will work on an heir?” I lifted the corner of my mouth.
“That too, but there’s already one on the way. Nico, I’m pregnant.”
My eyes bounced around the room as her words sunk in. I was going to be a father. I stared at the coffee table and noticed the ruby engagement ring in the velvet box set on the table.
A smile broke out on my face, and whatever fear and sadness I had felt the past month had disappeared. I thought I’d be nervous when I was presented with fatherhood, but the idea made me ecstatic. The thought that our love created a life was more wonderful than I could ever hope to express.
But I tried.
I fell to my knee and Grace remained on the sofa. Plucking the ring from the box, I held it up.
“I promise with this ring that I will never lie or deceive you ever again. I promise only to love you and,” I reached forward and placed my hand on Grace’s stomach, “to love and protect our future child. Please make me the happiest man in the world and allow me to be your husband.”
She nodded as tears streamed from her eyes. Her hand shook as I slipped the ring onto her finger. I heard noises outside the door, and someone whispered, “Did she say yes?”
It sounded like my mother.
“You can come in now. Grace has agreed to marry me.”
The door swung open and my father, mother, and my sister along with Alex and his wife, Aria, came in the room. Aria threw her hands up and started to chant, “She’s going to be a princess. I’m related to a princess.”
I helped Grace up from the sofa and she quickly swatted away my hand. “I’m not ninety years old, Nico. I can get up from a couch on my own. This pregnancy hasn’t incapacitated me, you know.”
The smile on my face grew wider knowing that I would grow old with this feisty woman by my side.
TWENTY-FIVE
Grace
The Princess Bride
Nico had proposed to me only three hours ago and now I was standing next to him in the royal chapel with a minister in the midst of marrying us.
Royal Disgrace (Cake Love Book 5) Page 14
