29. 29
29
Hettie
“ T ema wants to meet you. Again.” I sit at the bar at The King’s Hat. It’s slowly filling up with the lunch crowd and it’s surprising how many of the townsfolk wave when they see me.
Mabel is behind the bar. One by one, she picks up the glasses, holding them to the light to check for water marks before rubbing the glass. “The place looks great,” I tell her.
She frowns. “It’s getting there. Edie has been great,” she relents. “She’s busy with royal stuff and Kalle is hardly ever around, so it’s been… kind of fun,” she finishes with a ghost of a smile.
My sister has never been what you’d call upbeat. Or positive. Or happy. She took on a lot when she stuck around to help raise my brothers and me, and I think she decided that everything in the world is as difficult as that.
Or maybe she’s just unhappy. I really hope not.
“I’m glad. Last night at dinner, Edie said—”
“What are you doing staying at the castle with them?” she demands. “I should have started with that.”
I lean back, surprised at the abrupt change of tone and topic. “Where else should I be staying?”
“At home? Or with me? ”
“Hard no. And you have a one-bedroom apartment. Tema would drive you crazy within a minute.”
“She wouldn’t.”
“Trust me. Besides, I owe it to Bo—”
“You don’t owe him anything,” she bursts. She gives a quick glance around to make sure no one is within earshot and she lowers her voice. “He made you leave, Hettie. You didn’t really have a marriage, so don’t you think that it makes you owe him anything.”
“But I do. We have a child together,” I remind her in a whisper. Maybe this isn’t the best place to talk. “Plus, Tema likes it there.”
“What does she think about being the third in line for the throne of Laandia?” Mabel snorts. “Or did you forget to tell her about that, too?”
“I didn’t forget to tell her about Bo. It was a conscious decision. And I apologized for that.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Did he forgive you?”
I bite my lip. “I think so. At least I hope so.”
Mabel cocks her head. “You left your husband, didn’t tell him you had his baby, and he forgave you?” She shakes her head. “The boy has got it bad.”
“I don’t know for a fact that he’s forgiven me,” I admit. “But he’s been pretty good about everything.”
“And have you got it bad?”
I’m not answering that. Mabel is black and white. She doesn’t give much credence to emotions or feelings, and as far as I know, she’s never been in love .
Probably because she’s never let herself be that vulnerable. She’s never let herself fall that far, or that deep.
I’m in deep with Bo. I fell really far with him and now…
“Timothy wants to marry me,” I tell her.
“So you say, but has he proposed?”
“We talked about it. It would be good for Tema.”
“And for you?” Mabel has always been blunt and to the point. “In my experience, a man wants to marry you, he just asks. There’s no talking. And if a woman wants to marry him, she doesn’t dither about, oh he asked me, what should I do. She says yes .” Mabel looks pointedly at me. “Have you said yes?”
“I’m still married.” I keep my voice down just in case someone can overhear, although those who have come in for lunch seem to steer clear of my sister.
“For like a day. It doesn’t count. If you wanted this Tim-guy, you’d march right up to the castle and make Bo give you a divorce. Don’t let the past keep you hostage.”
“We have a history,” I protest. “A child,” I mouth.
“Was it even a good one? The history. I never saw you together. It was Bo, Bo, Bo with hearts in your eyes, or Bo! with tears.”
I stare at my empty cup from Coffee for the Sole, squeezing it until it’s flat. Mabel eventually takes it from me.
“You’ve always made things too hard for yourself,” she complains. “You married a prince, for God’s sake. How can that be easy?”
“You think I should get the divorce and go back to Victoria with Tema?” I ask .
“Of course not!” She laughs. “You’re an idiot to think about leaving.” Mabel snorts. “Look around and see what you could have here.”
“What was all that marrying a prince is hard stuff about then?”
“Well, it is,” she says. “And you need to realize that. People love Edie because she’s one of us, but Camille had a tough time at first. When people find out—” She shakes her head. “It’s not going to be pretty.”
“I can handle it.”
“Can Bo? He didn’t do too well before. And Tema?”
I bow my head. I hate the thought of the press going after my little girl, but then I remember the story Bo told me about Lady Camille and the snowballs. “She’s seven,” I point out. “I’ll shield her for as long as I can, but I think she can handle herself when she’s older.”
“Of course she can; she’s my niece.”
“And I had no part in this?”
“Maybe Abigal did,” she says grudgingly and I laugh. Sometimes Mabel’s no-nonsense way is hard to take, but it’s still one of the many things I love about her.
When my laughter fades, I look my sister straight in the eye. “Why would he want me?”
And she gets it. Mabel knows exactly what I’m asking.
“He doesn’t want our family, Hettie,” she says in a surprisingly gentle voice. “He wants you . That much is obvious, if he’s got his head on straight.”
“Do you think I should stay?” That’s the reason I wanted to talk to her. Not to fill her in on Tema or find out the latest on our family; I want to know what my big sister thinks I should do .
I always have.
“Of course I want you to stay. I want my sister back. But I’m not about to tell you what to do.”
“Why not?” I demand. “You always did when we were younger.”
“That’s because you were my baby sister. You still are, but you’ve grown up, Hettie. You’ve grown up into a woman who makes her own choices and knows her own mind. You know what you should do, you’re just too scared to do it.”
I shrug. “Tema does like it here. She’s excited to have all this family now.”
Mabel sighs. “I should probably tell you before you bump into him on the street,” she says with reluctance.
“Oh no,” I breathe.
“If Tema’s so excited to have family, she’s got another one if she wants it,” Mabel says. “Reggie is back in town.”