It was rare to see his mother so vulnerable. Scared.
“Maybe she can take my place,” John said. “Become the crown princess. She is myoldersister. I’m sure we can find some eligible, aristocratic chap to marry her. Lute is still single.”
“Lute?” Mum grimaced as she dabbed her cheeks with a tissue. “He’s charming, I’ll give you, but please tell me we could do better than Amadeus Lute.”
How well Mum knew his friends. “He’d give you no argument.”
“As for Scottie, she’s not my heir. I’m not even sure we’d make her a peer much less give her a title. But bringing her into the Family would be…” Mum’s voice trailed. “Wonderful.”
“I’ve never,everseen you shrink from difficulty, Mum,” John said. “You sank your teeth in when the finance minister wanted to raise interest rates. Again, when parliament wanted to enact a tax. And why not make her a peer with a title? You just said the Family was shrinking.”
“Don’t use my words against me. And yes, I sank my teeth in on those issues. It’s my job to plead for the people. Those moments define me as a queen. If I’m praised or criticized, it’s the job, not me. But in this, with Scottie, it’s personal. It’s about Catherine Blue. I’m a fifty-seven-year-old woman who’s not seen her daughter since she was seven days old.” Mum’s tears overflowed again. “This entire ordeal returns me to that very scared twenty-one-year-old who fell in love and created a child she could not keep. The idea of meeting with Scottie and Trent feels like going to my father all over again with the news that I was pregnant. Then the agony of waiting to meet with the stern-faced members of his privy council. A third of them women, mind you.”
Mum’s request lingered in the air as the back-and-forth faded. A trip over the Atlantic might be an interesting distraction. He could stay for a month and return home in time for Holland’s memorial with a new perspective. Though he doubted it.
Deep down, John was curious about Scottie. A year ago when Mum’s tightly held secret burst onto the international scene, he exchanged a few private messages with his new-found sister, but it fizzled after a few weeks.
“What if she doesn’t want to meet me?”
“Use your powers of persuasion to convince her.”
“Am I to just show up as a surprise? Are you going to call her father, get him in on your plan?”
Mum’s pinched expression was her answer.
“You can’t expect me to just pop over to America and say, ‘Here I am. Care to meet for tea?’”
“Why not? Besides, Trent’s gone cold on me. I suppose he’s getting me back for all the years I declined his requests to meet Scottie.”
“Let me get this straight. My cover is a long holiday with my good friends Buck and JoJo, which, oh, look, how convenient my secret sister happens to live in the same town?”
“Rather fortuitous, don’t you think?” Mum’s wishful, hopeful expression made him laugh.
“You look like a kid begging for pudding when she’s not finished her dinner.” With each tick of the old grandfather clock, he warmed to the idea of a month in the American south. All that sun and heat… Might melt the ice that filled every part of him. “All right, I’ll go. On one condition.”
“Name it.” Mum’s smile reflected her relief. “Anything. Up to half my kingdom,” she said.
Ah, that old joke. She never meant it. “Change the marriage writ.” He sounded more confident than he felt. “I don’t have to be married to take my oath. I’ll hang out in Tennessee for a month, return for the memorial, and we can hold the investiture ceremony this fall. I’ll be Lauchtenland’s sworn and legal heir not just your anointed heir.”
Mum’s smile faded. “John, I can’t—”
“Then lovely chatting with you.” He started for the door.
“All right. I’ll talk to Elias.”
“Mum, this isyourdecision as leader of this family, as the sovereign. I don’t care what parliament has codified. Besides, you and Elias can manage that lot. Whatever is your hesitation?”
“It’s a solid, old writ that’s served us well. Don’t forget the investiture swears in the consort as well as the crown heir.”
“When you tell me you’ve scheduled a meeting with Elias, I’ll book my trip to America.”
“All right, you win.” Mum came toward him, hand extended. “You woo Scottie into the Family, I’ll woo Elias and parliament about the writ.”
Chapter Two
Hearts Bend, TN
Gemma
