Royal Engagement

by Chance Carter

  “Why?” She sounded nearly defeated, which crushed me. “Mr. Harrison, please. I have done nothing against you, or Walter, or Derek.”

  I decided it was time to intervene. I opened the door, glaring coldly at Marshall.

  “Marshall,” I said. “I thought you were leaving.”

  “Just having a few words with Miss Parker,” he said, a fake smile on his thin, dry lips. “She had a few questions regarding legal matters.”

  “Right,” I said, my voice flat. “Goodnight, sir.”

  He took the cue, and left quickly.

  I looked at Amy. She was as pale as a ghost, sweaty and trembling. I had half a mind to follow Marshall and hit the smirk off his lips for harassing Amy like this.

  “How much of that did you hear?” Amy asked, looking like she was about to cry.

  “Enough to gather the tone of the conversation. I’m so sorry, Amy. He’s a snake. He’s always been despicable. He’s envious, I think, of anyone who gets close to my father.”

  “Derek,” she said, “I know we’ve talked a lot about what we’re doing. And I finally decided that it’s the right thing. But is it the legal thing?”

  “You won’t end up in jail,” I said, hoping that was comforting. “You won’t end up in court, either. Marshall is just trying to scare you into confessing something. He won’t be happy until he hears what he wants to hear.”

  “If you’re sure,” Amy said.

  I pulled her into a tight hug, showing more confidence than I felt.

  “I am.”

  Chapter 22

  Derek

  Saturday. Our final day in my father’s home.

  “What do you want to do today?” I asked Amy, after spending a leisurely morning in bed. We sat out on the back porch, on a swing that faced the large courtyard and garden. “Anything you want. It’s our last day here.”

  “Hmm.” Amy kicked her feet out, thinking. “I don’t know. You know, I’m not sure I’ll know how to return to real life after all this.”

  I laughed. “No? Why not?”

  “Uh, because, look at this.” She gestured her hand around. “This never existed in my life before. I don’t know how I’m going to go back to my boring old life, having experienced so much of this one.” She shrugged. “I’m not complaining. Just saying. This was amazing. I can’t thank you enough for letting me into your life this week.”

  I wanted nothing more than to fall to my knees and tell her, beg her, to stay. Explain that she didn’t have to go back. That I never wanted to let her go.

  “Of course,” I said. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me and my father.”

  We fell back into silence. There was some tension between us. It was caused by the uncertainty of our future. Questions loomed. What are we? What will we be?.

  “Want to take a walk in the garden?”

  “That sounds lovely.”

  I stood up, and took her hand in mine. Holding her hand had become so natural. It wasn’t an act. It was genuine.

  We headed into the garden, which was set up like a maze. Easy to get lost in.

  “What’s your favorite flower?” I asked her, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

  “Hmm.” She thought for several moments. “Daffodils.”

  “Which one are those again?”

  “They’re small and yellow. What about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “You’re favorite flower, duh.”

  I laughed. “I don’t have one.”

  She clicked her tongue. “Well, why not?”

  I shrugged. “Guess I never really thought about it.”

  We were quiet for a few moments, before Amy sighed.

  “I really love it here,” she said. “It’s grand.”

  “You’ve helped me to see it through new eyes,” I told her. “I appreciate it a lot more than I used to.”

  “That’s good.” She smiled. “And we had a hell of a week, didn’t we? I feel like I lived a lifetime in a few days. I’m going to need a recovery period.”

  I chuckled. “It was an extraordinary week for me, too. And not a single fight with my father. That’s a first.”

  “You two really seem to be getting along now.”

  “Much better. I have you to thank for that.”

  “I don’t know what I did. You two just needed a little push. Besides, I think he’s wonderful. A little grumpy, but once you get past that, he’s basically the most lovable old man ever.”

  “I don’t know what you did either,” I admitted. “But a complete change has come over him, I can assure you. He used to be pretty nasty, to almost everyone that came here. But you show up, and poof! I can’t explain it.”

  “I mean, I know that a big part of is it that he thinks we’ve made him a grandfather.” Amy’s voice suddenly changed, like it always did whenever we talked about this subject. “His final wish came true. His fear of his family not carrying on after him has been fixed. He believes we’re going to live happily ever after.”

  “Amy,” I said, sensing her mood dropping. “You don’t know how miserable he was before. You really did save him a great deal of pain.”

  “If you say so,” she said, but she didn’t sound sure.

  “I’ll transfer the money tonight,” I said. It was the only thing I could think to say. The words escaped awkwardly, forced.

  Amy looked at me strangely. “What?”

  “The fifty grand I promised you. A deal is a deal. You did what I asked.”

  “No, Derek. I don’t want your money.”

  “I’m a man of my word.” I shrugged, turning away. “I know you didn’t do this for money, Amy. But I still want you to have it. I want to help you.”

  “What the hell?” She grabbed my arm. “What’s wrong with you? You’re acting really weird all of a sudden.”

  “I’m not.” My shoulders rose defensively. “I just don’t want you to think that I’m stiffing you. I told you I’d pay you, and I’m going to.”

  “And I’m telling you not to. I don’t want it. And I’m not trying to be ungrateful.” She shook her head. “What the fuck would I even do with that much money?”

  “Christ, Amy. I don’t care. Pay for college, or rent, or go on a shopping spree. Money is money. It’s meant to make you more comfortable. So do whatever makes you happy.” I was suddenly angry—but not at her.

  “Listen. I’m a businessman. I offered this money for your help. I’m going to pay you. I don’t want it to come back and bite me in the ass.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” her eyes narrowed. “Are you saying that you think I’m going to come sue you or something?”

  “What?” My voice rose, incredulous.

  “How else would it ‘bite you in the ass?’ Do you really think I’d be like, oh, he said he was gonna pay me, but he didn’t, blah blah blah… is that what you think of me?”

  “No,” I said. “All I mean is…” I wasn’t sure what I meant. “Not that. I know you wouldn’t do that.”

  “Then why is this such a big deal?”

  I took a deep breath. “It’s not. So you should just take the fucking money.”

  “I don’t know how many times I have to repeat myself.” She looked away. “And you don’t have to be so rude.”

  “Rude? I’m not trying to be rude.”

  “Yeah, well, you are. So lay off.”

  “Amy…” Guilt pierced me when I recognized the hurt in her eyes.

  She was angry now. “No. You know how much I struggled with this. How much I went back and forth trying to decide if we were doing the right thing. I finally thought, yeah. I’m helping you. I’m helping your father. Because I wanted to. If I take your money, all this becomes about that. It becomes wrong.”

  “I don’t understand why.”

  “Because,” she said. “Doing something for money and doing something because it’s the right thing are two very different things.”

  “But no one is saying you’re doin
g it for the money,” I explained. “No one. You helped me out, so I’m trying to help you. That’s all.”

  “Yeah, well, thank you, Derek. But you’ve already helped me in ways more valuable than money.” She looked at me, sighed, and managed a small smile. “I don’t want to argue with you anymore, okay? It’s pointless. I just want to enjoy the day with you.”

  I studied her, then nodded. “Okay.”

  My phone rang. I glanced at it. It was work.

  “I have to take this,” I said.

  Amy pretended to pout. “Alright. But be quick.”

  ‘It wasn’t quick. Almost half an hour later, I hung up, and returned to her.

  “What’s wrong?” she frowned, seeing the unhappy expression on my face.

  “The firm. They say they need me. Apparently it’s an emergency.”

  Amy’s face fell, crushing me. “Oh.”

  “Yeah. There was a business trip to Maine, which I didn’t go on because I thought they’d be able to cope without me. Someone said something to the press and ticked a bunch of people off. Now I have to go set it straight. I have to fly out and I won’t be back until tomorrow morning. I tried to tell them I couldn’t make it, but they wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

  “Okay,” Amy said, her voice quiet. I could tell that things were still a little tense between us.

  “I messaged Adam. He’s going to pick me up. I should get ready.”

  Amy nodded, but didn’t say anything more. She followed me back into the house, and up the stairs to my bedroom, where she sat on the bed and watched me pack my work clothes.

  My frustration had built. What I wouldn’t do to forget about work, to stay here, to comfort Amy, to make everything good between us. Now that our week together was coming to an end, something had changed between us, and I wasn’t sure how to remedy it. Voicing my feelings would only make it worse. The right course of action was to just let her go.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I told Amy, once I had everything ready and Adam had messaged me that he was at the door. “Tomorrow morning. We’ll do something together, just you and me, before we leave, okay?”

  Amy nodded, a polite smile on her face. “Yeah. That sounds good.” But her words fell flat.

  I walked over, and kissed her on the lips, hard. She responded, wrapping her fingers in my shirt and pulling me into her. We kissed for several seconds, before I pulled away, using all of my willpower. For the first time in my life, I truly hated my job. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed with this woman, to live whatever time I had left with her to the fullest.

  “Tomorrow,” I said. The word sounded like a promise.

  “Tomorrow,” she said, as I opened the door and left her.

  That evening, in the backseat of Adam’s vehicle on the way to the airport, I transferred the money to Amy. I thought it might make me feel better, but for some reason, it left me unsettled.

  Chapter 23

  Amy

  The rest of the day drew out. I found a book in Derek’s room that he recently had finished. It was a crime mystery novel that I never would have picked up myself, but once I got into it, I found myself enjoying the story. It distracted me, at least, from the unhappiness that had settled into my chest.

  I’d had the most amazing week. I wasn’t ready to leave.

  I heard the back door open, and glanced up from my book.

  It was Walter, but something was wrong. He looked infuriated. He was followed by a smirking Marshall Harrison, and two large men that I hadn’t seen before, wearing vests that had “SECURITY” printed in bold letters on the front.

  Setting the book down on the small, glass table by the chair, I stood up, frowning. “Is something wrong?”

  “We have a couple of questions to ask you, Amy,” Walter said, his voice pained. “It’s in your best interest to answer them honestly.”

  My stomach dropped and my blood turned cold. “Okay,” I said, my voice shaking.

  “I was alerted this morning by the bank.”

  Walter’s whole demeanor had changed. He was cold, serious, stand-offish.

  “Derek has transferred a sum of fifty-thousand dollars out of his account. They thought it was strange, and I was contacted.”

  I began to panic. I felt like a deer caught in the headlights. Suddenly, I understood that this was the version of Walter that Derek spoke of. Cold. Unattached.

  “Initially, I wasn’t concerned. But I was with Mr. Harrison when I heard, and he prompted me to investigate further. We looked into the Rittsman Enterprise database, and discovered that you were only just hired as an intern last week. A secretary there confirmed that you had come in for the interview, and that she got the impression that you and Derek had never met before.”

  I couldn’t meet his eyes. I glanced over at Marshall, who smiled wickedly at me.

  “I hope you have an explanation,” he said. “Because this doesn’t make an ounce of sense.”

  I couldn’t lie to Walter. I didn’t want to. He deserved the truth.

  “I don’t know what to tell you,” I said, my voice cracking.

  “Start with explaining what’s going on,” he said, his impatience evident.

  I hesitated, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to come back from this. And Derek, he would hate me. This would ruin our new found relationship.

  But I had to own up to it. It was what was right.

  “I didn’t know Derek until last week,” I admitted. Walter’s face crumbled. “I met him when I was applying for an internship at the firm. Later that night, we ran into each other, and hung out. He told me about you. And came up with a plan. He said that if I posed as his girlfriend and… and pretended to be pregnant, it would make you happy. It would help you die in peace.”

  Walter’s face was stone. Marshall looked like a snake that had won the lottery.

  “I was hesitant,” I said. “But agreed. I wanted to help him. I liked him a lot. I convinced myself that it was the right thing to do.”

  “The money,” Marshall reminded me.

  “He wanted to pay me to do it,” I said. “But I didn’t want it! I didn’t do anything for money. I told him not to give me anything.”

  “Sure.” Marshall’s eyes became slits, and he smirked. “That’s what you claim, Miss Parker. But the evidence points otherwise. You saw someone vulnerable—a man grieving his ill father—and decided to take advantage of him. You sold yourself for a vacation and some pocket change.”

  “That’s not true!” I said desperately.

  “Isn’t it?” Marshall crossed his arms. “Listen to what you did, Miss Parker. Not only did you claim to have a long-term relationship with a stranger, you went so far as to fake a pregnancy with him. That sounds like mentally disturbed behavior, if you ask me. But you’re trying to tell me that you wanted to what, make Mr. Rittsman feel better?” He laughed. “That’s ridiculous, and it’s insulting that you believe us so stupid to believe that.”

  “But—”

  “You already confessed to it,” Marshall said. “There’s not much you can say for yourself. You’re only making it worse by trying to defend your inexcusable actions.”

  I turned to Walter, praying that he would understand, that he wouldn’t turn away from me. “Please.”

  “You lied to me,” Walter said, his old voice trembling, with sorrow or with anger, I wasn’t sure. “And now I feel as if I have lost both a daughter and a grandchild at once. That is an immense pain, Amy. And knowing that my son would do this… I am astonished. I am wrecked. I trusted you.”

  “Derek only did this to please you,” I said, my words carrying more blame than I intended. I was panicking, though, lashing out. “He said that this was the only thing he could do to win your satisfaction, before it was too late. He was desperate. I couldn’t say no.”

  “Of course you could have,” Marshall said. “You barely knew the man. You still barely know him.”

  “But I do,” I said, gesturing wildly with my hands. �
�I do know him, now. And you, Walter. This past week, I’ve gotten to know both of you. And you feel like my family. This feels like home. I’m not here because I want money, I’m here because I genuinely care about Derek and you. I really did think that lying to you was the best thing.”

  “But you didn’t take into account that I would find out,” Walter said. “Your scheme was hitched on me being a blind fool. How can you say you care for me, when you sat across the table from me and batted your eyes and promised me a grandchild that is never going to exist? I know women like you, Amy. I’ve married women like you. You’re just after the money.”

  His words felt like a slap across my face. “I don’t know how I can prove to you that I’m not.”

  “Tell us why you were so inclined to help Derek with his crazy plan,” Marshall said, shrugging. “A reasonable explanation. That’s all it takes, Amy. But there isn’t one. Because you know, as well as Mr. Rittsman and I, why you’re here, and what you wanted from this experience.”

  I looked between them, the words escaping my mouth before I could even process what I was saying. “Because I love him.”

  Both of them froze. Marshall stared at me, then started laughing, a harsh, barking sound.

  “Love, Miss Parker? You claim to love this man, who you met less than a month ago. Oh, and he just happens to be an older, wealthier man who needed a young, pretty lady with whom he could fool his father.”

  “I do.” I had never been so certain of anything, or so desperate to prove it. I understood, on a rational level, that it was insane. I knew how it looked. But I had to show them the truth. “I love him. From the second I saw him, I was drawn to him—and he was to me. I know it. There is something between us that is magnetic and irresistible. Yes, we made a lot of stupid mistakes. But this past week has only brought us closer. I can’t imagine my life without him. I didn’t do it for the money, Walter, I did it for your son. I would do anything for him. Anything in the world.”

  Walter stared at me. I could see in his face that he wanted to believe me, but his reason wouldn’t allow him to. He had been lied to too many times in his life already. He had been taken advantage of so much that he couldn’t recognize the truth in my words.