13. 13
13
Hettie
I t’s surprising how little there is to do in a castle.
At least for me. Kate gives Abigail and a very excited Tema a tour of the grounds while I text Timothy and tell him about what has happened.
It’s strange that I haven’t thought of him all day.
I met Timothy on a very bad day, during a very bad month. He worked in the office with me, as one of the agents, but we’d never spoken. He was handsome and successful; I sat behind the desk answering phones and wanting to disappear most days.
We met when Tema was in kindergarten, on a day I had been rushing to pick her up. It was a wet day, as it can be in Victoria, the rain coming down in sheets. A car rear-ended me a few blocks from the office.
There wasn’t much damage save a dent and a broken taillight, but when I got out of the car into the rain, my phone slipped out of my hand and the screen smashed as it hit the street.
I was frantic to find someone to pick up Tema from school and was about to leave the scene of an accident when Timothy stopped. He had been driving by and somehow recognized me from the office. He lent me his phone to call Abigail, suggested a garage that he knew for repairs, and gave me a ride home after I dropped off the car.
He didn’t say anything when I cried.
It had been a bad January; a bad case of Covid for all of us meant I was forced to take more than two weeks off work. Time off meant no money, and we were already struggling to make ends meet. My grandfather was in the hospital with chest pains and Mabel had visited us over Christmas which always made me miss home more. Now with car repairs and needing a new phone… it had been a very bad day.
The next day I showed up at the office ready to apologize to him but found a bouquet of flowers at my desk, as well as gift-bag. Timothy had bought me a new phone.
I told him I couldn’t accept it, thanked him but tried to give it back, but he was persistent. There were reasons he was a good real estate agent. I ended up keeping the phone and agreeing to go for dinner with him the next night.
And the one after that.
It had been over five years since I left Laandia, and I was still sad. Lonely. I still felt connected to Bo, but I had seen pictures of him with his family. With other women. There was guilt that came with spending time with Timothy, but considering the distance between me and Bo, and the years that had gone by without any contact, I was able to push it aside.
Slowly, Timothy bumped into my life like a floatation belt thrown in to a rough ocean. I didn’t need him; I made sure I never relied on him, but I had to admit, he was nice to have around.
He knew the truth about Tema. It took me over a year to tell him, but eventually I trusted him enough to tell him about Bo .
He told me all along that I should tell Bo about Tema.
He was the first man other than Bo that I’d been involved with, and yes, there’s shame of betraying my wedding vows but Bo already did that years ago.
Bo telling me that getting married had been a mistake had torn a hole through my heart, so it was easy to justify my relationship with Timothy. I might have still been in love with Bo when I left Battle Harbour, but I didn’t really consider myself married.
Or at least not to someone who loved me like I should be loved.
Timothy loves me. And he wants to be married to me.
With him, there’s no baggage of who my family is. He couldn’t care less about their reputation. Timothy belongs to a normal family, not royal, with both a mother and a father. I might have hesitated when he first talked about us getting married, but that was because of Bo. Because I knew I was going to have to finally end things.
When Bo proposed to me—the real proposal, not the many times he told me he wanted to marry me, or when we would make plans to live somewhere far away from Laandia, hiding from the world and Bo’s responsibilities—I felt like a princess in a fairy tale. I was the kitchen servant, covered in dirt and ash, pulled out of her life of drudgery to marry Prince Charming. My family was… not well off. Not respected. I’d been looked down on my entire life because of the opinions of my uncle. The choices my father had made. The behaviour of my brothers, and the way my mother abandoned us.
People looked at me and saw just another Crow kid, one who wouldn’t amount to anything .
They didn’t see that I loved to read and do crafts. That I babysat the neighbourhood kids—when I could convince their parents that I was trustworthy and would never abandon them by running off in search of a good time like my mother did. That I visited my grandmother every Sunday, at whatever street corner she had parked herself on.
No one saw that I wasn’t my brothers; that I was different from Mabel with her hard edges and sharp tongue that were her only defense against being taken advantage of.
But Bo saw me, and managed to push himself through my walls. The walls I had put up so I wouldn’t get hurt.
When he told me he’d marry me that minute if I’d only say yes, I finally did. I had been protesting for months, trying to come up with another, final excuse for why we couldn’t be together, and I was so tired of it. I wanted to be with Bo—wanted it more than anything. I was angry with my family for putting me in the position of not being able to have the one thing I wanted most.
So I said yes without thinking of the consequences.
And Bo married me days later.
And now, look at the consequences. I’m here, in the castle, and Bo is nowhere to be found. I have a child—we have a child that I refused to tell him about for some petty fear that Bo would take her from me.
He would never do that. I know that. I ’ve always known that.
I didn’t tell him because I was afraid he wouldn’t want me .
A knock at the door brings my thoughts come to a screeching halt. Bo . Jumping to my feet, all I can think is that he came back to me as I get to the door in record time.
It is Bo, with an armload of pizza boxes, but also —
“Spencer,” I say simply, and walk into his arms.
“Hettie Crow.” Spencer sighs. “My favourite girl.”
I can’t stop the tears and his arms tighten as I sniffle into Spencer’s coat.
His very nice coat. I always knew Spencer would be important, would make a difference, but seeing him like this—a smart, camel covered overcoat over a tailored suit—
I can’t see if it’s tailored, but I bet it is.
“It’s so good to see you,” I say into his lapel. My pain at leaving Bo had consumed me for so long and I had forgotten what else I missed from home.
Like Spencer.
“You too.”
We stay like that for long moment until I finally pull back. “I’ve got a new favourite girl for you,” I tell him, wiping under my eyes.
“I heard.” Spencer hands me a handkerchief and I stifle my giggle into the soft cotton because who his age carries handkerchiefs? “I can’t wait to meet her.”
“Abigail’s here, too,” I say like I’m giving him a gift.
And he smiles like I’ve given him one. “I heard that too.” He picks up the bag he had set down when I launched myself at him. “I brought wine. I thought we’d have a reunion.”
“With pizza.” Both Spencer and I turn to Bo with the mountain of pizza boxes in his arms.
“I didn’t know what kind she likes,” he says sheepishly. He also has a bag of juice boxes and three bags of cookies.
“Well, we’re not going to go hungry.”
Bo meets my gaze, returning my smile and… something happens to my heart. It clenches, like someone has given it a squeeze wi th their fist—a very warm fist because a warmth spreads through my chest.
It’s strange and yet comforting. Because if I can feel it, then I know Bo can too. And that just relieves one of my fears.
The one that’s afraid he no longer wants me.
It might be easier if he didn’t, then I wouldn’t have to choose. But the way my heart feels after a simple smile suggests the choice might not be as difficult as I thought.
Which is just wrong; I have a good man waiting in British Columbia who wants to marry me and take care of my little girl. Timothy supported my decision to come back here without a worry what seeing Bo again would do to me.
He didn’t seem to worry at all.
Which seems wrong, because Bo is Bo . My first love. Plus, he’s a prince; not only a prince but one of the sexiest in the world.
I still have a copy of the People’s magazine to prove it.
I may have Timothy waiting for me, but here, in Laandia, I have a really good man who I’m still married to. It’s all very complicated, made more so because Bo knows about Tema now, and I know he’ll want to do the right thing.
Is that why I told him? To make something happen? To force his hand? To shock Bo into acting?
I’m not entirely sure.
“I brought food, but I wanted to…”
My heart squeezes at the expression on his face. Bo likes easy and safe and no drama or conflict. We always got along so well because that’s what I wanted too.
It’s still what I want, but I know I can handle difficult and drama and when things don’t go my way .
Can Bo?
“I saw your sister.” He puts the boxes on the table, filling the room with the aroma of melted cheese and pizza sauce.
“You went to The King’s Hat.” It’s not a question. Neither is: “To see your brothers.”
Bo shrugs. “Odin is in town.”
“Did you tell them…?” I trail off. About Tema. About me.
Bo nods and I bite my lip. “What did they say?”
But before he can answer, the door bursts open. “I smell pizza,” Tema cries.