Becoming Prince Charming

by Loren Bailey

  Mason let out a long breath. “Okay.” He sat at the table and leaned back in his seat, staring into space as he tried to process even more new information. His dad sat down as well and patiently waited for Mason to speak again.

  “I think I still want to go. Before I even think about taking her title, I want to meet her. See the country. That kind of stuff.”

  His dad nodded again.

  “And I wanna go now. This summer.”

  His dad looked at him in surprise. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  3

  One week later, Mason and his dad were on a flight to France. Evonia didn’t have its own airport, so Louisa had arranged for a car to pick them up and drive them into the country. They were staying for an entire month, so Mason and Louisa would have plenty of time to get to know each other.

  Mason wasn’t sure exactly what he was expecting, but he was surprised to see a driver dressed in a black suit waiting for them at the airport with his name on a little sign. He’d never had a professional driver before—or ridden in a fancy town car. If nothing else, this would at least be the most interesting trip he’d ever taken.

  The driver didn’t say much to them as he drove over the border into Evonia, and Mason and his dad spent most of the car ride looking out the windows in the back seat. Overall, the rural landscape looked pretty similar to what Mason was used to seeing in the US. It wasn’t until they drove into Louisa’s hometown that Mason began to notice the subtle differences. People’s clothes were slightly different. Cars looked slightly different. All of the signs were in English, but many of them also showed French and German translations.

  “Is English their main language?” Mason asked, keeping his gaze out the window.

  “I think so, yeah,” his dad said. “But I think many people here are also fluent in French and German. Your . . . Louisa is, if I remember right.”

  “What else do you know about Evonia?”

  His dad blew a puff of air out of his mouth. “Not much. I’ve never been here before.”

  Mason looked at his dad in shock. “Really?”

  His dad shrugged. “We weren’t even together for that long. And by the time she got pregnant, I don’t think her parents were too crazy about me.”

  “Did you ever meet them?”

  “No, but I’d heard a little about them from Louisa.”

  His dad’s parents had both passed away when Mason was little. Aside from some cousins, aunts, and uncles on his dad’s side who he saw every few years, Mason didn’t have much in terms of extended family. It was weird to think there would be this new person to add. He knew both of his mom’s parents had passed away, but he wondered if she had any other living relatives.

  Before he could ask, the car pulled up to a tall set of wrought-iron gates. The driver spoke their names into an intercom, and moments later the gates swung open. The house was huge, covered in tan brick and dozens of windows. It was situated in the center of a large plot of land, filled with rolling grassy hills and the occasional tree. Mason had never seen a house like this before. He could hardly believe his mother lived here. Did that mean this house was technically his too? He felt dizzy just thinking about it.

  Mason rolled down the window a bit, trying to breathe in some fresh air. The car stopped in front of the house. He wiped his sweaty palms against his jeans.

  “All right,” his dad said, unbuckling his seatbelt. “Here we go.”

  ***

  A woman at the front door introduced herself as the housekeeper. She smiled warmly at them but didn’t give much information before she turned to lead them through the house. Mason left his bags near the front door, taking in the sights of the house.

  It was impossibly clean. It was hard to believe anyone actually lived here. The floors and stairs were marble, and practically everything else was covered in dark wood. Several family paintings and photos lined the walls—most of them showing an elderly couple and a woman Mason recognized as Louisa throughout the years. He wondered if he’d ever have a picture hanging on these walls.

  The housekeeper brought them to a set of French doors in the back of the house, revealing a lush garden just outside. Mason paused, noticing his dad had stopped. “Dad?”

  His dad gave him a reassuring smile and leaned against the doorframe. “Go on—I’ll be right over here.”

  Mason tried to return the smile but could feel the nerves growing. His heart began to pound, and he took one last deep breath. Mason nodded and continued on by himself. As he stepped outside, he spotted a small table and chairs, where a woman was waiting.

  “Hello, Mason,” she said, giving him a soft smile. “I’m Louisa.”

  4

  “Please,” Louisa said, gesturing to the chair beside her, “take a seat.”

  Mason swallowed heavily. The last time a parent had asked him to do that, he learned he was royalty. He wondered what bomb might get dropped during this conversation.

  He sat down anyway, noticing the way Louisa primly lowered herself into her chair after he did. She smiled nervously at him again. “It’s so nice to meet you . . . well, see you.”

  He was surprised to realize she spoke with a slight accent.

  “Yeah, I, uh, know what you mean,” Mason said. He tried to give a smile back, and Louisa let out a breathy laugh. Her hand fluttered at her collarbone and she reached for one of the glasses of water sitting on the table, taking a long drink.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t think I would be this nervous when the time came.”

  Mason nodded.

  “Perhaps we should start from the beginning,” Louisa started, sitting up straighter and clearing her throat like she was about to interview him. “How is school going?”

  Kind of a weird place to start, thought Mason. And school wasn’t something he particularly enjoyed speaking about. “It’s fine, I guess. I have good friends there.”

  She nodded. “And classes?”

  He shrugged. Louisa cleared her throat again and gave him what he guessed she hoped was a reassuring smile. “I only ask because, as you know, part of the reason we wanted to bring you here was so you could consider taking on my title eventually. And schooling would be very important for that aspect, so—”

  “Wait a minute.” Mason sat up. “What do you mean ‘as I know’?”

  Her eyes darted over to where his dad was still standing by the house, and Mason was able to put it all together. “Dad told you what we talked about on my birthday?”

  Before Louisa could answer, Mason’s dad walked over. “Hello, Louisa. How are—”

  Mason cut him off. “You two were emailing even after we had that talk?”

  “Mason,” his dad said, looking surprised, “you knew I was in touch with Louisa to get this set up.”

  “Yeah, but I thought it was just, like, making travel plans. I didn’t realize you were still talking about me.” He flushed at the idea of the two of them discussing him. What had his dad told her? And, more importantly—

  “Why didn’t I get to talk with her over these past few weeks?” he asked. “We could have at least emailed or something.”

  “Mason,” Louisa started, “we just thought—”

  “So once again you made a decision about me without me,” he interrupted. “Even though it affects me more than either of you.”

  “That’s not what we were trying to do,” his dad insisted.

  Mason turned to Louisa. “And what is this to you? A job interview? You’re meeting me for the first time since I was a baby and the first thing you ask me is if I have good enough grades to take over your job some day?”

  Louisa’s eyes went wide. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “How about I get to try an interview question now? Here’s one: why did you leave me?”

  “Mason—”

  “I could have spent my summers here or something. Couldn’t you have at least visited me?”

  Louisa stared at him for a moment. “It’s not that
simple. I had obligations, responsibilities that I couldn’t just leave behind. And,” she tucked her hair behind her ears nervously, “there were some who believed it would be better not to call attention to you or David—er, your dad.”

  “What?” Mason said. “So you cut us out of your life entirely because you were afraid of what people might think about you?”

  “No, that’s not what I meant,” she said hastily. She took a deep breath. “Listen, Mason, what you have to understand is that my family—my parents especially—were very strict. They were . . . rather old-fashioned in their ways.”

  Mason frowned. “So, what, your family didn’t want you to have me?”

  “I—well, I think they just would have preferred if I’d been married here and settled down first . . .”

  “So my own grandparents didn’t want me, and because they told you to abandon me, you did.”

  “No, of course not. There’s more to it than that—”

  He stood quickly, his chair scraping against the ground. “I think I’m done talking now.”

  “Mason, wait—”

  He walked past his dad back into the house, not knowing where he was going but not really caring either. He clomped up the stairs and found a bedroom that had his suitcase waiting inside.

  Mason slammed the door closed behind him, not caring that he was in somebody else’s house. Especially since that somebody was supposed to be his mother and instead was a total stranger.

  Screw the plan, he thought to himself angrily. He’d had enough already. He was ready to go home.

  ***

  Mason was left alone for about an hour before he heard a soft knock on his door. Figuring it was his dad, Mason was surprised to see Louisa standing on the other side of the door. He didn’t know what to do other than stare at her.

  “Could I come in?” she asked quietly.

  He stepped away from the door, pushing it open in invitation as he sat back down on the bed. Louisa glanced around and eyed the desk chair at the other side of the room before sitting at the foot of the bed instead.

  “Mason.” She looked him squarely in the eye, and Mason forced himself not to look away. But he also felt sort of amused at her obvious determination and wanted to see where she would go with this. “I want to apologize for what happened in the garden.”

  Then she did something else Mason wasn’t expecting—she began to laugh. She lowered her face into her hands, letting her hair fall in a curtain around her. “I can’t believe you’ve only been here for an hour and I already have to apologize for my behavior. This didn’t go at all the way I had planned.”

  “I guess this is kind of weird and new for both of us.”

  Louisa looked up at him and gave what looked like the first genuine smile he’d seen from her since he arrived. “Look, I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes—it’s going to take me a long time to get this right. But I want to try. I want to make things right.”

  He nodded.

  “How about we start over?” She brushed her hair away from her face and straightened up. “It’s just about time for dinner. We can sit down together with your dad. I’d love to hear all about your life—your friends, your hobbies, anything you want to tell me about.”

  “Um, okay,” Mason said. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

  5

  Over the next few days, Mason felt like he was living in a movie. He got to wake up whenever he wanted, then he’d go downstairs where he could order anything he wanted for breakfast from the kitchen staff. Once Louisa found out he was into video games, she had a large TV and game console set up for him in his bedroom. The better Mason got to know the household staff, the easier it became to ask them for other things—a mini fridge, a cell phone on an Evonian plan, a huge speaker system, any video game he could think of. He ate meals with his parents, which involved a lot of awkwardly polite conversations, but the rest of the time he could do whatever he wanted.

  But on Friday, the dream ended.

  “A party?” Mason mumbled through a mouthful of French toast.

  Louisa nodded, taking a sip of tea as she scrolled through the news on her tablet. “Mhmm, it’s being thrown by Lord Pembrooke—he works with me on the foundation.”

  Mason could feel the deep frown growing on his face. “So this is gonna be some boring, fancy thing?”

  “Not at all, it will be fun!” Louisa assured, grinning at him. She glanced at his dad, seated across from her at the breakfast table, as if he needed to be convinced too. “It will mostly be people I work with and from my social circles, yes, but I can assure you, we know how to have a good time.”

  Mason eyed her, feeling almost positive this would be an event with snooty people talking about politics and other things he didn’t care about. He’d probably have to wear a suit.

  Just as he was about to open his mouth and tell her “Thanks but no thanks,” his dad glanced over at him and said, “I’m sure Mason would be happy to go along. Especially considering all the nice gifts you’ve given him lately, which he’s incredibly thankful for.”

  Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me, Mason thought. He could hear his dad’s message loud and clear: go to the boring stuff Louisa wants to drag you to or you lose your new toys. He huffed and shoveled another piece of French toast into his mouth.

  “Okay, I’ll go.”

  Louisa beamed at that. “This will be so much fun, Mason, trust me. We’ll have a great time!”

  “What are you planning to tell people about Mason?” his dad asked, sipping his coffee. “Will that cause some . . . issues?”

  “Well, we won’t do any sort of formal announcement, no, but if anyone asks we’ll tell them he’s my son,” Louisa explained. “I doubt many people will ask, though. Most of them probably already know the situation—you’d be surprised at how much these people love their gossip.”

  Mason sighed. He was definitely going to have to wear a suit.

  ***

  That night, a car pulled up to the front of the house to pick them up. Mason followed Louisa outside, yanking at the tie around his neck.

  “Stop fidgeting,” his dad said, swatting Mason’s hands away and re-straightening the tie.

  Mason stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Are you sure you can’t come too?” he asked.

  “This trip is about you and Louisa getting to know each other.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  His dad gave him a reassuring smile, clasping his shoulders. “You’ll be fine.”

  Mason sighed. At least if his dad came along he’d have someone to make fun of all the snobby people with.

  The car ride was pretty quiet. Every few minutes Louisa would mention someone who would be there tonight. But there were too many names and references for him to keep track of, so he turned his attention to staring outside the window, already counting down the hours till this night would be over.

  They arrived at the house—another fancy mansion on a large plot of land. A few people were gathered in small groups outside, but the majority of the guests were inside in the mansion’s banquet hall.

  It was exactly as Mason had expected.

  Everyone was dressed in ball gowns and tuxedos. A string quartet played classical music in the corner. Wait staff carried around trays of champagne and tiny appetizers. Mason figured there had to be a fountain somewhere.

  A group immediately waved Louisa over, and Mason trailed slowly behind her. He was prepared to stand off to the side, when Louisa turned suddenly and placed a hand on his back.

  “Everyone, I’d like you to meet my son, Mason,” she said proudly. This wasn’t what Mason had expected based on his parents’ earlier conversation. Before Mason could reflect too much on that, the crowd of people began speaking all at once—asking him how he was enjoying his visit to Evonia and how long he was planning to stay. As Louisa had guessed this morning, they clearly already knew the story around his birth and why he was here now.

  Louisa introduced everyone by name, but she also in
cluded their titles. It was impossible to keep straight—there was Lord Whatshisface and Sir So-and-So and the Duchess of Something-or-Other. Apparently everyone at this party was a noble.

  Mason listened to Louisa and Lord Whatshisface talk about a conference they were going to for about a half hour before he decided he couldn’t stand another moment of small talk. Finally, there was a pause in the conversation and he decided to make a break for it.

  “Um—” He didn’t know what to call her. Lady Louisa? Ma’am? “Mom” didn’t seem right yet. “Louisa?” he said quietly, not sure what the high society rule was for what you were supposed to publicly call the woman who birthed you but you didn’t really know.

  She stepped away and looked at him expectantly.

  “Is it cool if I get something to eat?”

  “Oh, of course!” Louisa said, looking upset with herself for not realizing he might be hungry. “Go ahead. I’ll find you later.”

  As soon as he stepped away, he tugged his tie loose and undid the top button of his dress shirt. At least that was a little better. And hey, he’d managed to keep the tie in place for an hour. That had to count for something.

  The food the wait staff had on their trays wasn’t very appealing. He was craving a burger and some chili cheese fries, but so far all he’d come across were tiny pieces of cheese, a platter of weird Evonian fruit, and what Mason was fairly certain were fish eggs. The cheese was fine and the fruits were mostly like weird raisins and pears, but none of it was actually very filling.

  “Doesn’t anyone actually eat at these things?” Mason muttered to himself, wondering if it would look bad if he took off his suit jacket.

  “Not much,” a voice laughed.

  He was surprised—the voice sounded like it came from someone his own age. Mason turned around to see a guy and girl standing off to the side together.

  “You guys someone’s kids?” he asked.

  “I’m Nathan Beaumont,” the boy said, then gestured to the girl. “And this is Cora Kensington.” She gave a friendly wave.