“Don’t friends help friends?”
“Why do I feel a boulder of advice coming my way?”
When she glanced back at him, he was smiling. The one that bedazzled the world. She breathed through the flutter floating through her.
“I’ll say only this, Daffy.” His smile disappeared as he sat up, propping his arms on his bent knees. “If you’re not sure—wait. Be honest. Talk it out with Thomas. Coral and I never talked about whatever bothered her. I was just in go mode. Foot on the gas and driving toward our big fat royal wedding. Robbi and I talked…more like danced, around our feelings. We were afraid of being honest. She didn’t want to hurt me. I didn’t want to look the fool with another breakup. But then she ran into her ex and had no choice but to tell me she still loved him.”
“I am honest with Thomas.” The wordsI thinkhovered. She wasn’t honest with him. Nor was he with her. She was sure. Blinky’s revelation was proof.
“We should go up to the Hand of God.” Gus stood, facing west, in the direction of the channel and the famous cutout in the rocks. “Then you’ll really be on top of the world.”
“You go. I’ll cheer you from the quay.”
“Are you really so afraid of heights?”
“Yes.” Or sometimes just afraid. Of getting it wrong. Of being selfish. Of being too self-focused. Of believing she had a privilege or right when, in fact, she didn’t.
“I’ll hold your hand,” he said.
“The queen won’t thank either of us when I fall and take you with me.”
Gus laughed. “I feel a challenge coming on. Get Daffy Caron to the Hand of God by next week or my name isn’t His Royal Highness Prince Augustus Carwyn George.”
When he was relaxed, truly himself, HRH Prince Gus was almost irresistible. Daffy was grateful for her coat and jumper which hid her tumultuous, traitorous heartbeat.
She blamed the hamlet. The romance of the mountain, the cliffs, the contrast of budding green meadows against blue skies. She blamed the wind, the snow, the shorthand speech of Ernst. It was as if all of Dalholm existed to charm and woo.
She’d not be duped into a fantasy. She had love. In Port Fressa. With Thomas. Who she first fell for in Dalholm. So there.
“I lied.” Gus’s words broke through her act of mental defiance, so low Daffy wasn’t sure he meant her to hear. “About hating her. Coral. Most days I wonder if I’m still trying to fall out of love. How to untangle myself from what I’d planned…envisioned…with every part of my being.”
Daffy rose from the rocks and stood next to Gus.
“I was completely and utterly in love.” He continued, never looking at her, only toward the Hand of God. “I had zero reservations or qualms about what we were doing. I wanted no other woman and committed my life to hers. I was ready to speak the vows and ‘therefore pledge thee my troth.’”
He recited the ancient words with sobriety.
“Then talk to her, Gus. You can’t let this simmer. You have to hear her truth. Her reasons.”
“Other than me being a reject?”
“Don’t make me wash your mouth with soap.”
His chuckle was low. “You and what army?”
“I don’t know but I’ll…” She grinned. “Hemstead.”
“Blimey, you got me there. He’d love to punish me for leaving him behind.” He’d sent a raging text while Daffy steered the cart over a concoction of soggy grass, melting snow, and muddy rocks. “Know what else?”
“Tell me.”
“Coral didn’t deserve the whacking she got in the press. She’s a truly genuine, lovely, intelligent, witty woman. Caring.”
“Which is why you fell in love. Why her leaving hurt.”
“So, wise one, how do I move on from what I thought my life was going to be? How do I fall out of love with the expectation? How do I trust myself to love again?”
“If I knew those answers, I’d have my own TV show.” She nudged his broad shoulder with hers. “But I’ll say this. Just because it didn’t work out doesn’t mean you can’t love her. As a friend. As someone who meant something to you once. Love is free, Gus. We can love whomever we want. We don’t need to wait for them to love us back. It’s powerful, really, when you think about it.”
