by Emma Lea
Dorian raised an eyebrow at me and I realized I’d been glaring at him. I smoothed my features and reached for my wineglass. I couldn’t wait for this damned dinner to be over so I could finally spend some time with Frankie. I needed to clear the air between us and the only way I knew how to do that was to tell her how I felt. Then she could decide if it meant the end of our friendship or not.
The one thing I knew, we couldn’t go on the way we were. I hated this stasis, and I needed it resolved. I couldn’t keep pretending…pretending to be in love with her when we were surrounded by everyone and then pretending to just be friends when we were alone. I felt like Julie Andrews in that old movie Victor Victoria. The fact was, I was in love with her and I couldn’t put that back in the box. Whatever happened, the relationship Frankie and I had before was gone. Now we had to decide what the future would look like. I really wanted it to be a future where she was in my life, as my wife, but if she really didn’t love me the way I loved her, then at least I would know and at least I could try to move on.
God, I hoped I didn’t have to move on.
Finally, dinner was over and people were getting up from the table and moving away and I reached out to snag Frankie’s wrist before she could disappear.
“Come for a walk with me,” I said, looking up at her with hope and desperation and pleading.
“Sure,” she said and then shot a look across the table to Dorian. “Feel like going for a walk, Dorian?”
I glared across the table to make sure Dorian stuck to the plan.
“Sorry Francesca, I have a date.”
Frankie looked at Sophia, but she was already retreating from the dining room, her head bent together with Meredith.
“Um,” Frankie said, looking at me like she really wanted to say no and escape.
“Come on,” I said, smiling casually, trying not to spook her. “We haven’t talked—just the two of us—for weeks. I miss you.”
She sighed and her eyes softened. “I’ve missed you too,” she said. She took one last look toward the others as they left the room and then turned back to me. “Okay. Let’s go for a walk. But not too long, I have a lot of work to do tonight.”
I got up from my seat and tucked her hand through my arm, my grin taking over half of my face. We walked out into the garden and I took a different route to the one we’d taken three weeks ago. We headed down the terrace stairs and I noticed how much the garden had grown since the last time we were out here together.
“You’ve been busy,” I said, my voice rougher than I would have liked.
“Yeah. It’s good, but yeah, busy,” she replied, keeping her gaze forward. “So have you.”
I grunted in agreement and we continued down another level before I spoke again.
“You must be nearly finished with your research,” I said.
“I really just need Jamie’s interview and then I’m done.”
I came to a stop beside a stone bench and sat, pulling her done to sit beside me.
“So you’ll be leaving soon.”
“Yep.”
This was it. This was the moment I needed to tell her I’d fallen in love with her and that I wanted her to come back and marry me for real.
“Listen, Frankie, I need to tell you something.” She opened her mouth to say something, but I plowed on, cutting her off before she could cut me down again. “I’ve really loved having you here with me. I can’t tell you just how much it has meant to me.”
“Oh Lucas,” she murmured, squeezing my hand. “It has been such a wonderful time. I have loved every moment.”
“So have I, which is why I want you to stay.”
“Stay? I can’t stay. I have to go home and present my dissertation and…”
“I know that. What I mean is, I want you to come back. Come back and stay. Work here on Kalopsia. Stay with me.”
Her eyes glistened in the moonlight as she looked at me. I held my breath, waiting for her answer.
“I can’t,” she whispered.
“Why? Frankie, I love you.”
“I know, Lucas, and I love you too, but this isn’t my path to walk. Kalopsia has been so good for you and you don’t need me anymore. I’m so glad I could walk this path with you for a little while, but it’s time for me to go home and it’s time for you to step into this amazing new life of yours without me.”
“No, Frankie, you don’t understand. I am in love with you. I want you to marry me.”
“I wish that were true, but we both know it isn’t. You’re just worried about what will happen when I go home.”
“No, that’s not it. Frankie I love you and I am in love with you. You can’t deny things between us have changed. You can’t deny that when I kissed you, you felt this thing between us.”
She looked so sad I wanted to take back every word I said.
“Things have changed between us, Lucas, but not that.” She kissed me on the cheek. “I love you and I always will, but it’s time for me to go home.”
I sat on that stupid stone bench as she walked away from me yet again and cursed myself.
If I’d known our friendship would be so damaged by asking Frankie to pretend to be my fiancée then I would never have gotten down on my knee and presented her with that ridiculous ring.
Chapter 20
Francesca
I’d done the right thing.
That’s what I had to keep telling myself…because I had…I had done the right thing.
I didn’t doubt Lucas loved me, but I did not believe he was in love with me. It was just his anxiety speaking. He’d found a new comfort zone. Kalopsia was bringing out his true self, but he still clung to the idea that he needed me. I was under no illusions about the truth…which was, Lucas did not need me. He was doing a fantastic job on his own.
It had been another long week since the night in the garden and I no longer had to work hard to avoid Lucas. He’d stopped pursuing me…which was what I wanted…wasn’t it?
If that was true, why did I feel so awful?
Walking away from Lucas had taken every single ounce of willpower I had. The temptation to fall into his arms and tell him I loved him too and yes, I wanted to stay in Kalopsia forever, was almost overwhelming. Because that was what my heart wanted, even if my head couldn’t fully believe that Lucas had really fallen in love with me. I mean, why would he fall in love with me? I was his buddy. His friend. I wasn’t sophisticated or graceful or refined. I was just me. I was Frankie, the woman who preferred ripped jeans and scuffed boots and enjoyed working in a bar. Lucas had a title and an exciting future ahead of him and the last thing he needed was to be unevenly yoked with someone like me.
“Frankie?”
“Hmm?” I hummed as I looked up and realized I’d been staring into space instead of listening to the conversation. I was with Meredith and the other court ladies and they were discussing the upcoming state visit—still five months away—and of course I’d zoned out because I wouldn’t be here. I would be long gone by the time the Merveille queen and her entourage visited.
“I was asking if you knew anyone in the village who might be able to handle the floral centerpieces?”
I rolled my lips together and mentally flipped through all the people I’d met. “Possibly,” I replied. “There’s a woman and her grandmother I met just recently. She’s kind of a Jill of all trades. She does lots of different things to help people in the village—cleaning and cooking and mending. I know she put some small bouquets together for a young couple who got married just recently. If she can’t do it, then she probably knows someone who can.”
“Is there no florist in the village?” Elena asked with a sniff.
“No,” I replied with a shake of my head. “Flowers are not exactly a priority among people trying to make ends meet.”
“There was a wedding in the village?” Meredith asked, her eyes going soft and a little glassy.
“There have been two since I’ve been here,” I replied.
�
�And you went to both of them?”
I nodded. “They insisted. I’d met either the bride or the groom and their families through my work, and they asked me to go. It was good for my research, seeing how life goes on, how people still fall in love and get married even when times are tough.”
Meredith sniffed. “That’s beautiful,” she murmured and then growled. “Stupid hormones. I cry at everything these days.”
I smiled. Meredith was fierce, but pregnancy had softened her and that wasn’t a bad thing. She was definitely rocking the balance between independent, powerful woman and impending motherhood.
“I can speak to Callie today, if you like,” I said.
“Callie? Is that her name?”
“Calypso Dimakos is her name, but she goes by Callie.”
Elena gasped. “Calypso Dimakos?”
I nodded. “It’s a mouthful, that’s for sure, which is probably why she uses Callie.”
Meredith looked at Elena. “Do you know her?”
Elena bit her lip in the first sign of weakness I’d ever seen in the woman. “My parents were friends with Lord Dimakos,” she said and then shook her head. “But it couldn’t be the same family. He was old and Dimakos isn’t exactly an unusual name on the island.”
“Hmm,” Meredith hummed, her eyes going distant.
Nothing got past Meredith. I suspected it was from her previous position as a bodyguard that made her notice everything. Both she and Jamie appeared to be all-seeing. Which made it so much more uncomfortable to remember I was basically living a lie while I was here…and they hadn’t noticed.
Either Lucas and I were damned good actors or they could see my stupid infatuation with him all over my face. Which meant it was time for me to go home before we got in any deeper. I hated lying to my new friends, but I couldn’t exactly come clean, and with the way things were between Lucas and me at the moment, it wouldn’t be long before people started asking questions. We hadn’t even sat next to each other all week at dinner. No one had commented on it, but I knew everyone had noticed. Dorian certainly had, especially because he’d become my surrogate seat mate. He’d only raised his eyebrows at me. Thankfully, he’d refrained from commenting, otherwise I might have blurted the whole sordid story out to him—accompanied by copious amounts of tears and snot—and that would have made both of us uncomfortable. Dorian didn’t do emotions, which was why he was the perfect friend at the moment. We could blissfully ignore my current unhinged state. If I spent too much time with Sophia or Meredith, they would know before too long that something wasn’t right and instead of ignoring it like Dorian chose to, they would ask questions and eventually pry it out of me and then I would be in worse trouble.
There was always Elena, but I couldn’t say we were all that friendly and me suddenly spending time with her would raise all sorts of flags. Besides, she was rarely alone with her sister Athena dogging her every step.
I stood up and smoothed my pants. Okay, maybe I’d grown accustomed to wearing more than ripped jeans and scuffed boots. I might even actually like the clothes I’d been wearing. I certainly felt more grown up in them and that wasn’t a bad thing.
“I need to go,” I said. “I’ll speak to Callie today and let you know what she says.”
“Thank you,” Meredith called to me as I escaped the room and headed for the village where I felt infinitely more comfortable.
“I don’t know,” Callie said when I asked her about helping at the state dinner.
I frowned at her. I didn’t understand why she was turning the opportunity down. “They’ll pay you,” I said, in case she thought the palace would expect her to do it for nothing.
“It’s not about the money,” she replied. “Although the money would be good.”
“So what is it, then?” I asked.
I really didn’t understand her reticence. Nearly every person I came into contact with supported the monarchy and what they were trying to do. The people loved Jamie. So many of them thought he’d died with the rest of his family, and having him come back and take his place on the throne was a dream come true. In all my contact with Callie, she’d never once hinted that she didn’t support Jamie and his monarchy.
Callie sighed. “It’s a long story and not really mine to tell.”
“That can’t be true. If it’s stopping you from taking this job, then it definitely is your story to tell. If you’re worried I’ll blab to the palace about it, I promise I won’t. I can keep a secret.”
“You’re really nosey, you know that?” Callie said with a small smile.
“Oh, I absolutely know,” I replied with a grin. “It’s why I’m so good at what I do.”
“And what exactly is it you do?” Callie asked, quirking an eyebrow at me.
“I get people to tell me their secrets,” I replied with a wink.
She smiled and then sighed; the grin falling from her face. “My grandfather was part of the old king’s court,” she said. “It didn’t end well for him, or my parents, and I’m not sure I want to get tangled up with the royal family. I don’t think it would be much good for me either.”
“So your grandfather was Lord Dimakos?” I asked.
She frowned quizzically at me. “How did you know that?”
“It wasn’t hard to extrapolate,” I said and when she didn’t accept my brush off I sighed. “Okay, Elena may have mentioned her parents were friends with a Lord Dimakos.”
“Elena Manolis? Oh yeah, her parents were friends with my grandfather, although frenemies was probably more accurate.”
I fidgeted with my fingers. “You don’t think Elena’s parents had anything to do with…you know?”
Callie shook her head. “No. I know they didn’t. There might have been a friendly rivalry between the members of the court, but they wouldn’t have betrayed one another. The court was tight and loyal.”
“So why won’t you take the job? It would mean enough money for you and your grandmother so you wouldn’t need to keep working constantly doing all the hundred things you do.”
Callie shrugged. “I enjoy doing little things for people. It helps me remember that even though my grandmother and I are doing it tough, there are people who are a lot worse off than us. I like to help where I can and make their lives a little easier.”
“Maybe you could enlist the help of some of the people you know to help you with the job at the palace and then split the money with them?”
She turned her large brown eyes on me and I saw the moment the idea took root. “I never thought of that,” she said.
“So you’ll do it?” I asked.
“I’ll think about it,” she replied.
“Come back to the palace with me this afternoon and meet Meredith—”
“Meet the queen?” Callie asked askance. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of meeting the queen,” I said with a smirk.
“It’s easy for you. You’re engaged to a markissios. Mixing with royalty is an everyday occurrence for you.”
“It’s really not,” I replied, feeling a heavy weight press down on me.
“You have been living in the palace for the last few weeks,” Callie said. “Living in the palace and eating meals with the king and queen. That’s not normal.”
“No, it’s not, and it’s not my normal life either.”
“You and the markissios have been friends for a long time, this can’t be all that unusual for you.”
“The markissios and I, that sounds like the title of a romcom.” I shook my head and smiled sadly. “Back home in Boston, he wasn’t a markissios, he was just Lucas, and while the brownstone I live in with my parents is kind of amazing, a palace it is not. This was just as intimidating for me as it is for you and believe me when I say, you have nothing to worry about. Meredith is lovely and down to earth and I think the two of you would get on like a house on fire.”
“That doesn’t sound like a good thing,” Callie said.
I laugh
ed. “It’s just an expression, and it means you would be friends, probably best friends.”
“You’re not going to give up until I agree, are you?” Callie asked with a gusty sigh.
“Nope,” I replied. “I think this would be good for you, but not just you. Think of all the people in the village you could help.”
“That was a low blow,” Callie said. “But okay, you’ve convinced me. I’ll come to the palace and meet with the queen—” she shivered as she said the words and then took a deep breath. “And then I will decide whether or not I will do it.”
“Perfect,” I said.
Callie had gone home to change and now sat stiffly beside me in the car as it wound its way up to the palace.
“Relax,” I said, nudging her shoulder. “You look like you’re going to the guillotine.”
“They don’t still execute people do they?” Callie asked, and I didn’t know if she was joking or not. Then she smiled, and I nudged her with my elbow and rolled my eyes.
Deacon opened the door for us when we arrived at the palace steps, and I winked at him as I got out. He’d been my faithful driver, and I had a soft spot for him. He reminded me of my dad and I loved hearing about his son, Griffin, who was now traveling all over the world interning as a photographic assistant as part of his degree.
Callie climbed out of the car and stared up at the structure before her. It wasn’t as if she had never seen the palace before; it was visible from almost every part of the village below, but I didn’t think she’d ever been this close to it before. It was a little intimidating.
“Come on,” I said, tugging her arm and pulling her up the stairs. “Meredith should have a few free moments to see you.”
The front doors opened before we got to them—which wasn’t unusual—but seeing Dorian step out of them was.
“Well hello,” he said, his eyes scanning over Callie as we came to a stop in front of him. “Who is your friend, Francesca?”
