CHAPTER 12
“Princess, we’re here,” Benson said softly.
She woke up from a deep sleep, disoriented. A wave of sadness washed over her when she remembered they were flying. This was not the dream trip to America she had hoped for. She looked out the window, confused. She rubbed her tired eyes.
“Where are we?” she asked, looking around. She inhaled sharply when she saw a stunning castle. Her eyes flew to Benson. “Benson, what have you done. Are we? Is this? I see movie trailers. Benson…”
Benson took her hand in his. “You’ve always trusted me, correct?”
“Yes, but…”
“Then trust me when I tell you, you can’t leave without getting closure on this. You have always faced adversity head-on. Do you really want the end of this story to be that you ran away because you were afraid?”
The princess sighed. “No, but…”
“You will thank me for this,” Benson said. “Now go, talk to Ned, and let him tell you his side of the story. The whole story.”
The princess’s eyes widened. “Since when are you a champion of Ned’s?”
“I am a champion of you, Princess,” Benson said. “And I know you need to do this.”
When Benson got out and opened the door for her she hesitated. “Are you sure about this?”
“Do you still have questions about what happened?”
The princess nodded. “Yes.”
“Then go ask them,” Benson said as he opened the door wider.
This time the princess did get out. “Okay,” she said, gathering her courage. “You’re right. I can do this.”
Benson smiled back at her. “Absolutely.”
But as the princess started walking and got closer to the castle, self-doubt started to creep in. “What am I doing?” She stopped and looked back at their car.
“Can I help you?”
Startled, the princess turned back around and saw the same security guard walking toward her that she’d been stopped by the first time in Central Park.
“Hello, Hank,” the princess smiled a nervous smile.
“You’re back?” Hank asked, confused. “Your name wasn’t on the list to be on set today.”
“Surprise,” the princess said, trying to act excited and not as scared as she felt to see Ned again. “I’m here to see Ned.”
Hank nodded. “It’s no problem. I’ll call Ned right now and get you cleared.”
But that’s when the princess saw Ned walking toward them. His expression gave nothing away. He was all business, wearing another black baseball hat.
“It’s okay, Hank, I got this,” Ned told the security guard. After Hank walked away they just stood there for a moment staring at each other. Ned’s face was guarded. She couldn’t tell if he was pleased or upset to see her.
“What are you doing here?” he finally asked.
She cleared her throat to find her voice. “I talked to Gary.”
“I fired him.”
“I know,” the princess said. She struggled to find the right words to say. Finally, she just started talking fast. “We were driving to the airport, and I fell asleep. When I woke up, instead of being at JFK, Benson had brought me here.”
Ned nodded. “So, this wasn’t your idea to come?”
“No,” the princess said with conviction, but when she thought she saw a flicker of disappointment in Ned’s eyes, she quickly continued. “But I did want to talk to you.”
“Okay,” Ned said.
Silence.
The princess felt like a fool. “This was obviously a mistake.” She turned to leave, but Ned reached out and took her hand.
“Wait, please,” Ned said. He took a deep breath. “Don’t go. I’d like to talk to you, too. You just really caught me off guard. I didn’t plan to ever see you again…”
“And would that have mattered to you?” the princess found herself asking before she could stop herself. She slowly pulled her hand away from his and held her breath, waiting for his answer.
“Yes, it would have mattered,” Ned said, looking deeply into her eyes. “It would have mattered very much. I am truly sorry for everything that happened with the press. I don’t expect you to forgive me. It doesn’t matter how this happened or whose fault this is. Ultimately I’m in charge of this movie. I made you a promise, and that promise wasn’t kept. That’s on me, and I take full responsibility for that.”
The princess wasn’t sure what she expected, but Ned surprised her by owning up to what had happened.
Ned hurried to continue. “Our publicist is working on a press release to tell the press this was all a mistake and none of it was true. We’re going to say you were just randomly walking by, and we took that quick picture and then used it for a fake story we fed the press to get publicity.”
“What?” the princess asked, trying to process it all.
“I know it won’t fix everything for you, but I hope it will protect you some,” Ned said. “You and Benson can even review and approve the press release if you like. I’ll do whatever you want to make this right.”
“Putting it out there that you faked a story for publicity is going to make you look horrible,” the princess said, frowning. “It could hurt your movie. You told me this project means everything to you.”
“This movie did mean everything to me…until I met you,” Ned said.
The princess’s heart beat faster as a wave of hope washed over her.
Ned took off his baseball hat and raked his fingers through his hair. He looked into her eyes. “The truth is, I’ve been so caught up in my career, I forgot what it feels like to really care about another person. You could even say I forgot how to feel, period. I’ve been on automatic pilot, pushing myself to the limit every day, trying to make my career a success. I shut off all my other feelings, conserving energy for what I thought I needed most. I’m not trying to make excuses for what happened. I just want you to know how truly sorry I am. I understand if you can’t forgive me…”
The princess looked into his eyes. “Thank you for telling me all this. I forgive you. I do. This is just as much my fault as yours. I was so excited to learn about making movies, I didn’t think about anything else. I was na?ve to think I could go on a film set and the press wouldn’t find out. In America, no one really knows me. I thought I was safe. That was my mistake. I should have known better. But I don’t want you to lie to the press.”
“What do you mean?” Ned asked, confused.
“I was a real consultant on your movie, and I’m proud of that,” the princess said. “I didn’t want my parents to find out. We have rules about what we can and can’t do. I broke almost every one of them working on this movie without their permission.” The princess stopped to take a deep breath. “But now I have to tell them everything, including why it was so important to me to do this movie. I need to be honest with myself and my parents about how much writing means to me. I want it to be more than just a hobby. I don’t know what that looks like yet, but writing is my passion. I’m ready to fight for it. That’s a start, right?”
“Absolutely,” Ned said. “You have to own your passion, and there’s no time like the present. I know you really wanted to see this castle, so let’s go,” He said as he held out his hand.
The princess sighed. “I wish I could, but we’re leaving today. I need to go home and explain all of this to my parents. I owe them that.”
“If you think I’m leaving America without seeing what passes as a castle here, you’re sorely mistaken,” Benson said as he walked up and joined them. “Ned, please lead the way.”
The princess’s eyes widened, “Seriously?”
Benson gave her a look. “When have you known me not to be serious?”
This had both the princess and Ned laughing. Even Benson cracked a smile.
“Great,” Ned said, giving Benson an appreciative look. Benson nodded back at him.
The princess saw the exchange. “Since when did you two get on the same page?”
“Since we both realized we both want what’s best for you,” Benson answered as he got out his phone. “I’m going to reschedule our flight. You two go ahead. I will join you after.”
The princess, incredulous, walked away with Ned. “You won Benson over. That never happens.”
Ned laughed. “Now, I just need to win you over.”
The princess laughed. “You’ve already won me over. You’re smart, funny, ambitious, kind, and caring, and you keep your word. You’re also not too bad to look at when you’re not wearing that baseball hat,” she teased.
“Hey, I love my hat,” Ned said as he took off his baseball cap and put it on her. “But I want you to have it.”
“No, I couldn’t. This is your lucky director’s hat.”
“And you can give it back to me when we have dinner together,” Ned said.
The princess, confused, gave him a sad look. “I told you we’re going home today. We can’t stay for dinner.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean tonight,” Ned said. “We’re shooting all night. I meant when I come to Europe.”
The princess’s jaw dropped open. “What?”
“I’m scouting my next movie location. I’m thinking of making it a Christmas movie. Benson told me you have some pretty amazing castles where you live and some cool holiday traditions. I was hoping you could show me around. What do you say?” Ned asked, flashing his sexy smile.
The princess’s mind was whirling. “To me helping you with another movie?”
Ned took both her hands. “To giving us a shot. There’s something here. We both know it.”
The princess nodded.
“And I know there are a million reasons why we could never work, but I work in Hollywood. I make up imaginary stories for a living. So, how hard could this be, having our own happily ever after?”
The princess couldn’t help but laugh. “Wow! Was that a story pitch for a new movie?”
“I don’t know?” Ned laughed, too. “Depends on if it worked?”
Every practical bone in her body screamed for her to say no. They could never work. She knew to pursue anything with Ned long-term would be completely impractical. Impossible. Crazy. She needed to end this now.
She looked deep into his eye. She knew there was only one thing she could do. She took off the baseball hat he’d given her and put it back on him. “You’re going to need your lucky hat…”
His smile faded.
“Because if we’re going to do this, we’re going to need all the luck we can get,” she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a passionate kiss.
After the kiss, Ned, smiling, looked into her eyes. “So, we’re really doing this?”
She quickly kissed him again. “Yes. Although you may change your mind after meeting my parents…”
Ned stopped her with another kiss. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m great with parents…”
Thank you for readingRoyal Extra After.