“That’s brilliant!” Barnes said, leaning back in his seat.
I nodded and then looked up at them both. “All right, you two. Now it’s my turn for the questions.” Barnes and Antonio looked at one another and then nodded.
“Why did you decide to come back?”
Antonio took a deep breath before responding. “Well you see, when we left yesterday, Barnes and I knew that you were still there somewhere. We knew you couldn’t possibly be at the bottom of a lake. So we begged government officials to examine the premises to see if maybe LaGard had been lying. It took hours, but we finally got their approval. What can we say? We just knew you were a survivor, Anya.”
I smiled at his compliment. “Hey, Barnes, I’ve got a question for you…”
“How did it feel to punch LaGard in the face?” he asked with a smirk.
“That was you?” I almost shouted. Frankly, I was shocked that Barnes would do such a thing. For as long as I’d known him, he seemed the gentlest soul and wouldn’t hurt a fly. But then, he was a bodyguard.
“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to do that?” he asked with a huge grin.
“You and me both,” Antonio said. “But I don’t think that was the question she was going to ask.”
“Actually it was more of a personal question,” I said.
“You want to know how Kevin is,” Barnes finished for me. I looked up at him and nodded. “He’s… he’s not been okay. He’s been moping around solemnly for the past four weeks. I don’t think he’s eaten a whole meal in that time. But he’s also been the brains behind the operation. He’s been determined to find you ever since he got out of the hospital.”
“And now that he knows I’m alive…” But their faces seemed to suggest otherwise. “What?”
“Anya, we don’t think that they know you’re alive.” Antonio said. I looked at him in confusion. “See, I radioed in telling them that we found you, but there was interference and we lost our satellite before I could confirm that you were alive. They think we’re bringing your body home. Not you.”
Barnes nodded. “Antonio said, ‘We found Anya. She’s dead tired and weak, but we think she’ll be okay.’ But the static started immediately after he said, ‘she looks dead.’”
There was a long silence after that bombshell.
“So… so everyone thinks I’m… dead?” I whispered.
“What a hell of a shock they’ll have!” Barnes said, roaring with laughter. I smiled as I looked out the window. We weren’t far now, I could tell. I was able to recognize some landmarks below and realized that we would be at the palace in a matter of minutes. I drank more water and ate my last bits of fruit as we approached the palace. But it looked different.
The courtyard was filled with people--thousands of people standing in the yard, waiting to see me. Well, my coffin, anyway. As we got lower I could see they were all wearing black or black armbands. There were media vans, camera crews milling about, and reporters looking as bereaved as everybody else. I was able to see many of them openly bawling as we began to land. Others were holding rosaries and saying prayers. Many men took off their hats out of respect as the helicopter landed. I even saw Mari and Avery standing in the crowd, Avery calling to a lone, retreating figure while Mari stood wailing with tears.
Antonio leaned over to me, and whispered. “Come, now. It’s show time.”
“Why are they all here?” I asked in astonishment.
“Anya, you’ve touched them all. They want to salute you in the dearest way they know how. But we are about to give them the best news ever. Let me help…”
“No,” I said, putting my hand up in protest. “I want to be able to do this on my own.”
Antonio shrugged, but did help me to get up from my cramped seat. “All right, let’s go.” And he began to walk out toward the exit. I followed, my leg throbbing with every step that I took, but I sucked it up. I was now able to hear the moaning of many of the mourners as I got began to emerge. I took one last breath, as I ducked out and stood into the light.
At first the crowd gasped as they saw me standing in the archway of the helicopter. Everything fell silent for a moment and then there was an eruption of cheers as the people yelled and cried all at once. In the midst of that, I heard a single voice shout, “Kevin! Kevin, look!” I turned to look where the call came from so quickly that my head started spinning, but I was determined to find him. And then off to the side I saw the crowd parting as Kevin pushed his way through. He stopped when he came to the front of the crowd and stared at me, first in disbelief, but then with a softer, melting look, as though I was his dearest wish in the world.
I felt the wind and rain against my face as the clouds opened up. My feet and legs were unable to feel any pain as my brain was now only focused on one thing: Kevin. As he drew closer, he reached toward me with his arms. My legs began to ache slightly as I got closer but in one last, valiant effort I took a running jump and landed in his arms. He held me close as I found my lips to his, letting nothing else get in the way. We swayed back and forth, our kisses only stopping when breath was needed. At last we broke and Kevin began to cover my neck with kisses. I felt the wet warmth as his tears hit my neck.
“They said you were…” he started to say.
“I know,” I murmured.
“I never thought I’d see you again…”
I smiled and tried to wipe away my own tears as they fell. “Now just try to get rid of me!”
He looked up at me, smiling, and then held my face in his hands, wiping my tears with his thumbs. “You can never leave me again, Anya. Do you understand? Never! I need you in my life. I need you more than I need air to breathe.” Then he held me in a hug. “Never leave me again.”
“I won’t,” I sighed as he held me tight. But then I began to shiver as the cold rain began to pelt me. “Kev… I need to go inside.”
He nodded and then began to carry me bridal style toward the palace. Once safely in his arms, the pain in my legs woke up and I passed out. Kevin later told me that I kept murmuring one phrase: “Not the light… please, not the light…”
Chapter 37
What Was Intended
I woke up a day later in the comfort of my own room and my own bed. The first face to greet me was Terrence’s. “Well, look who decided to wake up!” he said with a chuckle.
I returned his beaming smile. “It’s nice to wake up and see a friendly face for a change.” I sat up too quickly, only to be brought down by every aching muscle in my body. Wincing, I eased back down onto my pillows.
“Careful now, Your Majesty,” another voice said, startling me. Standing at the other side of my bed was an elderly doctor, scribbling notes in a patient’s chart.
“Good morning,” I said to him.
“Hardly,” the as-yet nameless doctor replied. “It’s two in the afternoon. Let’s take a look at your leg, shall we?”
As he moved down to the foot of my bed, I was about to make some weak joke about proper usage of the royal “we,” but changed my mind. He looked too much like the down-to-business type for lame jokes.
“Dr. D’Annunzio is just checking you out, dear,” Terrence said to me. “He just wants to make sure no permanent damage has been done.”
I nodded, but at that moment I was speechless. My leg was propped up on several pillows and now, for the first time in a good light, I could now see the awful bruises and the large gash that Lynette had inflicted. I was shocked to see how horrible it looked.
The doctor was soaking a cotton swab with a bottle of disinfectant. Then he brought the soaked swab closer to my leg and stopped. “Can you guess what I’m about to say next?”
“Um … ‘This will sting a little’?” I asked.
“More than a little, I’m afraid,” he said, and then warned me to brace myself. Terrence gave me his hand and I grabbed it, but I just about screamed when the doctor applied the disinfectant to my leg.
“A little” was the understatement of the y
ear. A burning pain went rushing up through my whole body and I began to writhe with pain as the doctor continued to treat my leg. I was afraid I was going to cut off the circulation of Terrence’s hand as I squeezed it. After the doctor bandaged my leg with gauze, he treated the wound on the back of my neck, which wasn’t as fresh as my other injuries and was healing nicely, he said. Then he walked over to my other leg.
“Now, this will hurt, my dear, but I need you to tell me on a scale of one to ten how bad the pain is.” I nodded and he picked up my leg, the one I limped with, which didn’t hurt so much when I wasn’t walking. Then he began manipulating my ankle by turning it around slowly, testing its flexibility.
I bit down hard on my lip so as not to cry and then said, “It’s a five. Five.” The doctor nodded and pulled out a little brace, which he then applied to my ankle.
“We should have this x-rayed, but it seems to be healing,” the doctor said, adding with emphasis, “But stay off it.”
“Hear that, Anya?” Terrence said, no doubt anticipating my refusal to stay in bed. “Doctor, as for her diet…”
“Eat lightly, several times a day, and plenty of water, of course. And get plenty of rest.” The doctor said he’d check up on me in a few days and nodded his goodbye.
Once he was gone, Terrence helped me readjust my pillows and then placed a tray loaded with enough fruit and water for a week. I looked at him warily, hoping he didn’t expect me to eat all this. But when I swallowed a bite of banana, my stomach began to tell me in no uncertain terms just how starved I really was. I wanted to gobble it all up, but Terrence cautioned me that eating to much after a starvation diet was not a good idea.
“Speaking of starvation diets,” I said to Terrence, “Would you mind telling Ms. Rontes to never--repeat, never--give me cabbage soup.”
“Will do,” he said with a grin, and then said he had to attend to some other business. “But don’t worry, you won’t be lonely. Everyone here wants to pay you a visit!”
I smiled as I waved goodbye, but I wished he hadn’t announced an open house. I wasn’t nearly ready for the swarm of people that I knew would bombard me. And for once I was right.
Mari and Avery were the first to come in, tears cascading down their cheeks. As they hugged me I yelped in pain, but they didn’t seem to notice. They held on until Barnes and Antonio pulled them off, which was when they seemed to get the message. I talked with them for an hour or so, then other members of the staff filed in. Even Michael called from Surry. It took hours before everyone left, but all this time one thought kept nagging at me.
When Terrene returned I finally asked, “Where’s Kevin?”
“Oh dear, he’s answering the reporters’ questions. We know you’re not capable at the moment so he volunteered.”
“Will he be in later?’ I asked, hoping the answer would be yes.
Terrence shrugged. “Oh, I’m sure, but it’s hard to say just when. The reporters have been ruthless--just won’t let him go.” Then he got up to leave. “But don’t you worry. He’ll be in here the first chance he gets. Now get some sleep, all right? Lord knows you need it.”
* * *
“My God, what they do to her?”
“It looks worse than it is, Kevin. No permanent injuries, thank heaven. The sprained ankle will take time to heal, of course--”
“Terrence, I’m going to kill LaGard the next time--”
“And that’s precisely why we’re not letting you anywhere near his cell. Now why don’t you go talk to her?”
I awoke to this whispered discussion, then heard Kevin sigh as the door closed--Terrence leaving my room, I presumed. The sound of footsteps got closer and I opened my eyes to see Kevin sitting on the other side of my bed. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t,” I lied as I sat up. “I was just resting. Just saying hello to everyone in the palace was exhausting. Thank you so much for dealing with the reporters.”
“Talk about exhausting,” he said as he lay down next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. “I think I deserve at least a knighthood, don’t you?”
I laughed. “Well, let’s not push it. It’s no less than what any boyfriend should do.”
Kevin looked down at me and smiled. “Is that right? So is that what I am now, your boyfriend?”
“One of them, anyway,” I said, trying to get a rise out of him.
“Well, I see your sarcasm hasn’t deserted you. Just for that, you have to finish drinking this glass of water. Here you go…”
I pushed it away. “Unh-uh, I’ve already had ten glasses today.”
Kevin sighed, as if dealing with a difficult child. “Okay, what do I have to do to get you to drink it?”
“Batting your eyelashes at me won’t work, but let me think.” He waited patiently as I gave the matter some serious thought. “You can read me a story.”
Kevin laughed. “You want me to read you a story and then you’ll drink your water?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I want.” I loved knowing that he was going to do it.
He sighed in defeat as he got off the bed and walked over to my bookcase. “All right, which book?”
It didn’t take me long to decide. “The fairy tale book. That pink one on the bottom shelf.”
Kevin shook his head while he picked it up and brought it toward me. He plopped down on the bed and said with a sigh, “Now which one would you like me to read?”
“How about Rapunzel?”
“Okay, but you have to join in,” he said. “Oh, and we have to do the appropriate voices, too.”
“Fine, just as long as I get to be Rapunzel and the witch.”
“That means I get to be Prince Charming,” Kevin said with a smug look.
“What do you mean you get to be Prince Charming?” I asked. ”Newsflash, honey. You already are Prince Charming.”
“Aw, well, aren’t we the little sweetheart,” he laughed as he kissed me on the forehead.
“I know, you don’t have to remind me. Now start reading, Charming.”
“All right, all right,” he said as he flipped the pages to the story. “Here we go. ‘Once upon a time, in a faraway castle, there lived a fair princess…’”
I frowned. “Just ‘fair’? Not ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’? Fair is like a C, C-plus at most. She’ll never get into her first-pick college with a C average.”
“Very funny,” he said. Let me rephrase it then. ‘Once upon a time, in a faraway castle, there lived an awesome, excellent princess, who was very beautiful…’”
“Good rewrite,” I said as I snuggled in his arms. As he read the story, I reflected that Rapunzel had it pretty good in her tower prison, compared to the hell I’d just gone through. No bruises on her, if the book’s illustrations were to be believed. But these fairy tales could never compare to the life I’d led and the life that awaited me. Just knowing that I was going to live with Kevin for the rest of my life… Well, let’s just say that Rapunzel would be jealous.
Epilogue
Five Years Later
The interview was in less than half an hour. I was almost done with my hair, which was good because I didn’t want anything getting on this white sundress. I looked in the mirror as people were rushing around behind me, shouting orders. Suddenly I saw Rachel, the temporary lady-in-waiting, run up toward me. Mari and Avery were both out at the moment--Avery for bed rest, and Mari because she and Barnes had decided that this would be the perfect time (three years and one baby later) to take their long-postponed honeymoon. Rachel was not remotely as calm as they were, and today was definitely not the best day for her to start.
“Umm…ma’am…Your Majesty…” she stuttered behind me.
I turned around from my dressing table and tried to settle her down by placing my hand on her arm. “Rachel, please. It’s Anya. Now take a deep breath and tell me what it is.”
“Yes, ma’am,” she said, and I waited patiently as she composed herself. “Ma’am, the photographer w
ants to know where the duchess and dukes are, and if they’re ready.”
A sudden panic swept through me. “Oh no, the photographer--I completely forgot!” I got up and ran out of my room to the hallway. Praise the gods, Antonio was just then passing by. “Oh, thank heavens! Can you get Maria for me, please?”
Antonio gave me a reassuring smile as soon as he saw my panicked state. “No problem, where is she?”
“Taking her nap, and you know it takes her forever to get her going. If you could bring her here, we’ll get her dressed and ready to go….”
“Consider it done,” he said, but before he could get away I grabbed his arm. “Did I say happy anniversary today?”
“That you did,” he said with a nod. “I really can’t believe it’s been two years. Avery is just as shocked.”
“Well, don’t worry, it only gets even more shocking as time goes on,” I said, speaking with the authority of a four-year veteran of the married state. “Speaking of which, where’s my better half?”
“Right behind you,” Antonio said with a grin, and then went off to fetch Maria.
“Oh, Kevin, there you are! Can you go wake up the twins? I… my, what kind of get-up did they put you in?”
“Oh, don’t you start,” Kevin muttered, looking down unhappily at his ensemble. “You really think I want to wear an all-white outfit?”
“Relax, we’re all wearing white, so it’ll be perfect for the photo,” I said as I fussed with the collar on his shirt. “And you need to go wake the boys. The photographer’s ready for us.”
“Okay,” he said and pulled me into his arms. “By the way, I don’t think I told you this today, but…” He kissed my forehead. “…I love you.”
“I love you too,” I said as I kissed him on the lips. “But I won’t love you anymore if the boys aren’t ready to go in two minutes. Now go!” I said, pushing him away.
“Farewell, my love!” he yelled dramatically as he walked away. I rolled my eyes and turned around to see Antonio walking with Maria hand-in-hand down the hallway.
“There’s my girl!” I cried, holding out my arms. “Hello, my little darling!”
God Save the Queen Page 25
