Chapter 11

Text from Luke to Izzy:Can you and Brodie come up tonight for dinner? I need to talk.

Luke:Or wake up from a nightmare.

Luke:Or be hit by a 2x4.

Luke:Probably the latter.

Izzy:You need to talk?!!!!!

Luke:Might as well spill the beans. It's going to be all over the news soon.

Izzy:The news? Are you in trouble? What did you do?

Luke:Why is it something I might have done?

Izzy:Do you remember Uncle Lee's motorcycle when you were fifteen?

Luke:Fair, but that was over a decade ago and it was a really fast motorcycle.

Izzy:Brodie says we can be there in an hour and a half.

Luke:Great. Thanks.

Luke:And maybe you shouldn't watch the news. Just... in case.

***

Text from Penelope to Luke:You're working with a princess??? And you had your photo taken with the KING???!!!

Penelope:I know you saw my last text. It shows "read" at the bottom.

Penelope:You realize I watch Skymarian news religiously. Even more than Matt and that's his home.

Luke:Gossip columns aren't the same thing as news.

Penelope:Well, that actually depends on which news shows you're watching. (See, I can be funny.) Anyway, it doesn't matter when your brother's photo pops up in the same shot as the KING. LUKE!!! Your life has just become more exciting than mine and I never thought I'd type that!

Luke:Is that supposed to make me feel better?

Penelope:Wait! Oh my goodness, Princess Elliana? Is she... GRACE KELLY?????? She looks like Grace Kelly and I didn't see any other Grace Kelly look-alikes in the photo. LUKE!!!

Luke:How did you...? Oh, I forget, you're some sort of movie guru/sleuth wannabe.

Penelope:I'm sure I don't need to tell you how much this is like a movie. I'm sure you already feel it in your bones.

Luke:More than you know.

Penelope:Oh, that wasn't a good response! Have you started caring about her? Have the two of you had one of those heart-to-heart moments that switches the enemies into... more? Did you know she was a princess?

Penelope:I saw that you read my last comment and didn't respond... so you DIDN'T know? Oh my goodness, LUKE!

Luke:Why is it that I can almost hear you screaming and we're thousands of miles apart?

Penelope:But I want to hug you. I'm so sorry. A royal! I mean, every time you even say the word "royal" you grimace, so this can't be a happy discovery.

Luke:Would you please keep it private, Penelope? I'd rather not make a big deal out of this, okay?

Penelope:Of course! I've only talked to Matt and Grandpa Gray. I may be exuberant, but I'm not a betrayer. My heart just hurts for you right now. Because despite all your grumpiness, when you care about someone, it's the most magnificent thing in the world. Addicting because it's like finding the chocolate in the center of a Tootsie Pop.

Luke:You've compared me to a Tootsie Pop? I have no response.

Penelope:And if she's anyone worthy at all, she would have figured that out pretty fast. Matt says she's had a tough history. Grandpa Gray said she's really been trying to make amends for a lot of the past, so it makes perfect sense that when she meets someone as great and authentic as you, then she would want what you have to give. And she would even be able to overlook the beard, constant flannel, and possible fish smell.

Penelope:And you give great hugs.

Luke:Princesses don't give up their worlds for guys like me, even with my amazing beard and great hugs. And I wouldn't ask her to. She's got responsibilities I don't understand. And once I get some time to sort it all out, I'll be okay with it. I just need to go cut down a few trees or walk a few hard miles uphill in the cold to get to that point.

Penelope:I'm not going to give you a list of all the times princesses and regular guys have gotten together.

Luke:Fiction, Penny-girl.

Penelope:And nonfiction. There are some, so it's possible.

Luke:This time, Penn, I need you to leave the fairy dust out of the conversation. Okay?

Penelope:Okay. I'll just be sad for you, then pray for you, and then daydream about your next romance until I feel better.

Luke:Fine. As long as those daydreams stay in your mind and out of my texts.

Penelope:I love you. And I'm sorry you're hurting. And just so you know, you're better than any prince wannabe could ever be.

Luke:Thanks, Penn.

***

Text from Ellie to Maeve:I messed things up again, Maeve. Because I was too afraid and too ashamed to do the right thing, I did the wrong thing, and I hurt Luke.

Maeve:You told him about being a princess?

Ellie:Yes, but not at the most opportune time.

Maeve:I'm guessing he's the hottie in the blue flannel in the photo online?

Ellie:The photos are already out?

Maeve:Within the last hour. Quite the stir too, since most folks are wondering about you. BTW, so you don't have to read the comments, everyone is in agreement that they prefer your natural hair color.

Ellie:Maeve! This is serious. I'm not sure what to do.

Maeve:Did you apologize?

Ellie:Of course, profusely, but there's nothing else I can do.

Maeve:Exactly. Then you'll know.

Ellie:Know what?

Maeve:If he's all you think he is.

Ellie:And if he is?

Maeve:I think only you can answer that, El. And I don't envy you. But I rarely envy you, no offense, because that princess gig is not all the movies make it out to be. As your friend of... lots of years, I've seen all sides.

Ellie:And I've made my choice about things, Maeve. I won't go back on it now because I know it's the right thing.

Ellie:But what happens when you have two possible right answers which oppose one another?

Maeve:We pray for a door #3?

***

"Wow!" came Izzy's response as she sat across from Luke in the small Crieff pub called The Wee Dram, Brodie by her side.

He looked less shocked and more... sad?

Well, Luke could relate to all the emotions—the bad ones anyway. The shock was definitely wearing off to leave a big hole of hurt and disappointment behind. Some anger too.

"No one revealed her true identity to you?" Brodie shook his head, his grin almost emerging. "I'd heard the royals had a special place they found refuge, but to such an extent? It's remarkable."

"I thought Pete should have picked up on something." Luke raked a hand down his face, his entire body weighted from some internal struggle he didn't even know how to define. "But he just said the last time he'd seen photos of her, she'd had dark hair. I asked how her last name—St.Clare—didn't give it away, and he gave me the strangest look and said, "How many people who aren't royal stalkers know the royals by anything other than Prince Stellan or Princess Rosalyn?"

"Our neighbors, Prince William and Princess Catherine, are cases in point," Brodie gently offered. "And St.Clare, or some variation thereof, is not an uncommon surname in Skymar."

The realization took the edge off Luke's discomfort a little... but a very little.

"And you haven't talked to her since?"

Luke looked over at Izzy and shrugged. "I'm still trying to wake up from some weird dream caused by listening to too many of Penelope's conversations. The last thing I need is to talk to anybody besides you guys."

"The whole village and the orphanage just speak to her as if she's a regular person?" This from Brodie.

"It seems there's some kind of agreement between the folks in Crieff and the royal family so they can have a sense of... normalcy?" Luke shrugged, a wave of hurt tightening his jaw. "Like I was, I guess. A little experiment to feel normal."

"I'm so sorry, Luke," Izzy whispered, covering his hand on the table. "I guess she's just an entitled sort of person."

Luke met Brodie's gaze and something in him flinched at Izzy's words. No, Ellie... or Elliana... seemed more of a guarded, lost person than an entitled one.

"She apologized." His shoulders drooped as he remembered the way her eyes pleaded with him. "Several times."

"Before her father came to the orphanage?" Brodie asked.

Luke nodded. "She was trying to tell me about it, I think, before her father showed up, but his arrival certainly moved the confession along."

"You know her behavior isn't a measure of who you are." Izzy sighed. "I mean, I can't even believe we're having this conversation, but she's a princess! She should have known better than to go around dating a commoner, right? Of course, you could view it as a compliment that she was so drawn to you, she forsook common sense."

Forsook? He tempered his eye roll at Izzy's love of old-fashioned words. "I doubt my special brand of charm held that kind of mind-numbing power." He raked a hand through his hair. "And we never dated, per se."

He must have hesitated because Izzy's gaze zeroed in on him. "What? What did you do?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you didn't date but you did do something to show that you two were romantically interested..."

His face heated. "We may have kissed a couple of times." A country couple, and then some. His beard started tingling from the warmth in his face from those memories.

"You kissed her?"

His palms came up. "In my defense, she kissed me back."

"She kissed you back?" Izzy's mouth dropped open. "The princess kissed you back?"

He looked over at Brodie. "I hate it when they rephrase what I just said into a question. It's usually not a good sign."

Brodie's grin crooked a little and he smoothed his palm down Izzy's back. "I'd put a little thought into what Isabelle said, though, Luke. You probably don't know that Princess Elliana has a rather difficult past relationship with the paparazzi and certain men, if the news is any indicator. But it's common knowledge she drew back from the spotlight and her royal duties to seek treatment for her difficulties with alcohol, as well as counseling for whatever happened in the shadows of that past." His hand came up. "I'm not justifying her behavior by any means, but I am curious if the interest was genuine, all the more so because you weren't judging her based on her position or past."

Izzy looked over at her fiancé. "It still didn't give her the right to play a game with his emotions, Brodie."

"No, not at all, but it does make one wonder if you were as much a surprise to her as she was to you." He gestured toward Izzy. "I know it's not of the same caliber, but that's how I felt when Izzy came into my life. Unexpected and rather perfect for the awkwardly bookish man I am."

Izzy wove her arm through Brodie's and leaned over to kiss his cheek.

"It's no excuse for her not telling you the truth, Luke," Brodie continued. "But perhaps it would help to understand her perspective a little. I'm not certain what she's had to overcome to venture back into active royal life, but I would hazard a guess there is more to it than the media reports. There usually is."

"I imagine there is." Luke rested his head back on the booth. "But that still doesn't change the fact that she's Princess Elliana of Skymar and I'm carpenter Luke Edgewood from America. And whatever was happening between us before today was as real as Penelope's fairy tales when seen in the light of real life." He braced his shoulders. "I'm just glad it didn't continue on any longer, or I might... well, I could have—" He didn't finish. Didn't want to. The idea of hurting from feeling anything more than he already did nearly caused him to be sick.

"Will you still have to work with her?" Izzy asked.

Luke took his time with a sip of Coke before answering. "I'd expect so."

The table grew quiet and an unwanted scene filtered into Luke's head. One of Ellie playing hide-and-seek with the kids, laughing. Then another, of her conversation about the journal... and then their walk back from Crieff to the castle. She may have been a princess all that time, but she was also just Ellie all that time.

What was he supposed to do about that?

The conversation shifted from Luke's dilemma to cover all kinds of other things like Brodie and Izzy's wedding plans and the work Luke was doing on the cabin, but as they walked out of the pub together, Brodie stopped and turned.

"I don't know why I feel the need to tell you this, Luke, but I was reminded of something my father once told me about a situation in which he found himself wronged."

Luke pushed his hands in his pockets and waited, hoping for guidance, comfort.

"The best stories are like a diamond. They have many sides, and the true reader is the one who attempts to understand more than one." He offered a small smile. "I know you're not used to living with royals as a regular part of your world, but I can tell you from a lifetime of watching and listening to the stories, there is always more than one side. I don't know if you want to see any of the other sides of this one, since you're only here for a short while, but it might provide more clarity on how to manage the next steps."

***

The comments were brutal. Tearing Ellie apart. A few loyal royalists defended her, but most people ripped into her like rabid dogs.

Luke barely recognized her in the online photos when he first started the search because her beautiful hair was short and dyed a very dark brown. She looked pale and sickly. Too thin. And the clothes she wore in the photos were nothing like the style he'd grown accustomed to seeing on her. Gone were the pantsuits and simple button-downs. Gone were the jeans—his throat tightened at the mental appreciation of those on her—and the tasteful T-shirts. And in their place, she wore ill-fitting, gaudy, and rather revealing dresses. Some super short. Others leaving little for the imagination.

One photo showed her stumbling out of a pub with a man attempting, and failing, to catch her. Another showed her attempting to cover her bare upper body with a towel while sitting on a yacht, the man to her right grinning a little too broadly for Luke's liking.

Another showed her being escorted from a car into a rehab facility. The photographer must have caught her at just the moment she looked back over her shoulder. Her face was gaunt and those large eyes of hers stared back as if at Luke, haunted and sad.

Everything about that picture screamed "broken" and "afraid."

He'd caught small glimpses of that woman in the one he'd met. Looks. Snippets of conversations. The ghost of the shamed Princess Elliana hovered beneath the surface of Ellie St. Clare.

And ghosts could be powerful if they were left to haunt without being reminded that they were nothing more than memory.

His gaze skimmed back over the comments.

"Look what happens when people have everything but want more."

"Or have too much and can't control themselves."

"She doesn't deserve the crown."

"How can she help us at all when she can't even keep herself in check?"

"Move to America if you're going to behave like this."

"I can't imagine how ashamed her parents must be."

"I hope she got what she deserved."

The photo of her being led into a facility was posted two and a half years ago.

Two and a half years.

And he'd not been able to find anything else about her in any more recent online searches, except for a sentence here or there. She'd kept away from it all.

Trying to heal? Trying to become strong?

Trying to figure out how to return to life in her fishbowl world?

Luke breathed out a sigh and relaxed back in his chair at the little table in the cabin. He glanced out of the window toward the mountains in the distance, grateful that Pete had gone out on a date so Luke wouldn't have to talk... or listen.

No, Ellie hadn't handled the situation well, but if he thought about it, he wasn't even sure how else things could have happened for them to begin a friendship without the shadow of some crown falling over it all.

He'd have steered clear of her as much as possible because he knew he'd never fit. And wouldn't even have been sure how to talk to her, which would have made him even quieter than usual.

But he had gotten to know her a little more. Enough to start to really care.

Enough to kiss her.

He pinched his eyes closed and ran a hand over his beard.

Enough for him to rethink all the assumptions he'd had about royals. Though, to be honest, except for Penelope thrusting any news or movies about them toward him, he didn't think about them at all.

Until now.

Luke's phone flashed a message and he picked it up.

Text from Izzy to Luke:Are you looking at some of these same past stories about her?

Luke:Probably.

Izzy:Some of these commenters are harsh, especially about her going into rehab.

Luke:I know.

Izzy:I can't even imagine what life must have been like for her. When you mentioned her childhood cancer and feeling trapped, and then to have every wrong thing you do blown up over the internet?

Luke:I can only imagine.

Izzy:Don't any of these folks understand the need we all have for a second chance? I remember all the horrible rumors when Chip left me at the altar. Don't you? Crazy things that made no sense. And none of them were true, but they hurt so much. My smallest insecurities became the topic of the whole town's conversations. Or that's the way it felt. I can't even imagine how much worse it would feel on such a bigger scale.

Luke:With the added responsibility of a high-profile family.

Izzy:I know all I wanted to do was disappear.

Luke:Yeah, get away from it all.

Izzy:So I wouldn't have to keep rehashing the same stories over and over again.

Luke:And to find a safe place to heal.

Izzy:Yeah. And I just pressed into the love of my family and the people closest to me because they knew me and the truth. And I could just live my life without having to relive my mistakes.

Luke:Right.

Izzy:I don't know how much of these things are true, Luke, and I don't know if you care to find out, but like Brodie said, I bet there's a whole lot more happening than what Mr.Google shares. And it sounds to me like Ellie's scared. I can't even imagine what the pressure would be like as a royal, but how much more as a broken royal trying to prove herself again? If she saw anything in you like I see, then no wonder she wanted to keep the situation secret as long as possible.

Luke:But lying is never okay.

Izzy:No, but it makes her actions more understandable. She was looking for that safe place just to be herself, and here you came.

Luke:What do you mean?

Izzy:Don't you know? Why is it that Penelope and I always come to you with the hardest things? Call you when we really need someone to talk to, even if we know we'll probably get some teasing thrown in for good measure? When you care about somebody, you're the type of person who evokes this massive awareness that you'll do whatever is necessary to protect them and love them. You somehow create a sense of safety and acceptance. Both of those things are kryptonite to a frightened heart. We know we can trust you with our most broken, hurting selves and you'll be there for us.

Izzy:Isn't that what everyone is really looking for? Even princesses?

Luke:Izzy, I'm not the type of person, even if it were possible, to want a royal life. Ever.

Izzy:I'm not saying I expect you to marry her, Luke. But maybe she could use your friendship. That's a pretty amazing thing all on its own.

His gaze flashed back to the photo on his computer screen.

She needed people to believe in the person she was now. He saw that. Felt it.

But he wasn't sure he was strong enough to offer friendship without losing his heart.