Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27560 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27560 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
I mean it, too. I didn’t expect to fall in love with this man. And now that I have, I can’t help but worry about what happens when he finds out he’s a real prince. He’s so against the idea, and I’m afraid he’ll never leave this mountain and join me in the kingdom. But there’s no way for me to leave my country behind. Not when so many people are depending on me.
“I’m happy,” I manage to tell him.
He eases out of my body and collapses next to me on the tent floor. He pulls me until I’m lying over his chest and rubs my back. “Did I hurt you?”
I shake my head against his chest even as more tears come. He’s so sweet and gentle and tender. I want us to be together forever. But I’m not sure that’s going to happen.
I don’t want to put that kind of pressure on him or freak him out. Instead, I tell him the truth. “I didn’t expect all of this, how intense it was.”
He continues to rub my back. “Cry it out if you need to. I’ve got you.”
His words warm the part of me that’s felt alone since I lost my mom. “You’re the first person that’s held me since my mom passed away, and I miss her every day.”
Lying here with him and thinking about a future together is making me think of all the moments that she won’t be there. Like when I get married or when I have my first baby or when I’m crowned queen. She won’t be there to see any of that stuff. She’ll never get to meet Rafael or know how incredibly happy he makes me.
“When did you lose her?”
“When I was thirteen. Sometimes, I can’t believe that it’s been so long. It doesn’t feel that way. It feels like I was talking to her yesterday and today, I woke up and she’s not there anymore.”
He makes a consoling noise. It’s a soft rumble that I feel through his chest into mine.
I look up at him, seeing all the pity and sorrow in his gaze. “I wish she could meet you.”
“She already has. She’s looking down from Heaven and watching over you, which means she watched you stumble into my cabin and march around like you own the place.”
I chuckle. How could that have been yesterday? How could this man now feel like an essential part of my heart, like the part of me that I’ll never be able to let go?
“Do you remember your mom?” I ask, my voice hesitant. I’m afraid to broach the subject for fear of pushing at old wounds. There’s still so much I want to know about this mountain man, and I only have a week to convince him to come back with me.
He’s quiet for so long that I don’t think he’s going to answer the question. Then he says, “I don’t really remember anything before five. Sometimes, I don’t know if that’s bad or good.”
“So, you have no memories of your mom.” Even if she did pass away, he should remember something before he was five. It’s strange that he can’t.
He hesitates before admitting, “Sometimes in my mind’s eye, I see a woman with dark hair and gray eyes. She’s hugging me and telling me she loves me and reading bedtime stories.”
“Do you think that’s her?” I wonder if I could find her for him. The palace has plenty of resources, and Violet has connections everywhere. She could help me.
“I think that was a scared little boy’s way of coping with the fact that he was an orphan,” he answers, his voice dejected.
“What if it wasn’t? What if that’s really a memory of her?”
His expression falls and I know it was the wrong thing to say. “If that’s true, then why did she leave me all alone, letting me be passed from strange house to strange house while I wondered where she was?”
I don’t have a good answer for that. I don’t know what to say to comfort him. I lost my mother at thirteen, but it’s not the same, and we both know it. I have memories of a woman who loved me and cared for me. Rafael has nothing but vague recollections.
“Doesn’t matter,” he says softly. “All that matters now is that we found our way to each other.”
His words give me a little bit of hope that maybe we’ll find a way to make this work. Even if it’s a long-distance relationship, and we don’t get to see each other much, that would be OK.
As long as he marries me, all will be well. We can do that, can’t we? We can love each other across the oceans. Even as I think the thought, my heart fills with sorrow. I want to be with Rafael every day for the rest of my life.