“No. I mean …” His brows pull together. “I’ve dated men before who have found out who my family is and …”
Oh. I see what he means. “I don’t need all this. I would be happy at the hostel down the road with you.” Charlie gives me a look. “You’re right, I don’t do shared facilities or bed bugs.” I chuckle. “Is being here nice? Yes. Do I feel bad that I am not paying my way? Also yes. It’s the same way I feel when the girls and the Dirty Texas guys pull me onto their luxurious trips. I appreciate the hell out of them for including me, but I would never for once ever expect it from them. I will never pass up an opportunity to fly private. Dirty Texas has ruined air travel for me now.” I smile. “I’m not with you for what your parents have the same way you aren’t with me to get to Dirty Texas, cause that has happened to me too. Or now that I’ve found out I’m related to royalty. You are just Charlie, the fucking hot cowboy that stole my heart.”
“D,” he says, cupping my face.
“It’s the truth, babe. I love you, for you, not for all this privilege. I will say seeing all this makes me want to work harder to provide for you.”
“You don’t have to provide for me,” Charlie says.
“I know and vice versa, but for our family, one day, I would love to bring our kids here. I mean, their grandparents are bougie, they are going to corrupt them.”
This makes Charlie laugh loudly. “You’re right. My parents are going to spoil our kids rotten, but they are also going to love the hell out of them.”
“They are. Just as they are going to be spoiled by my friends, too.”
“And your new family. You can’t tell me Davina is not going to go crazy when we have kids.”
“Oh my god, you’re right. Matching PJs in a castle, our kids are going to have no hope.” I laugh as I wrap my arms around his neck and sigh happily. “We are going to have the best life together, aren’t we?” I ask him.
“Damn right we are,” he says, brushing our noses together. “Come on, we’d better go. Ready to go pretend we’re sophisticated?”
“Speak for yourself,” I smirk, raising a brow, “I’m practically royal.”
We step out of the bedroom laughing and walk into the main living room, where everyone is waiting for us. Faith is dressed in a sleek black dress, hair pinned up, minimal makeup, and she looks stunning. Everly is in something glittery and short, showing off her toned legs. Robert is in a perfectly cut dark suit.
And Caroline, she turns, sees us, and her hands fly straight to her heart. “Oh,” she gasps. “Look at you two.” For a second, no one says anything. It’s just her, staring at us like we’ve stepped out of some movie. “You boys look so handsome,” she says softly, eyes going a little glassy. “This gives me flashes of how the two of you will look on your wedding day.”
Charlie makes a strangled noise. “Mom.”
Everly bursts out laughing, while Faith smirks into her champagne.
“He’s going to look even more handsome than this at our wedding.” I wink at her.
“Don’t encourage her,” Charlie teases.
Caroline claps her hands excitedly. “Encourage me all you want. You know I am dying to be a grandmother.”
“You started the baby talk.” Faith groans.
“She started it,” Charlie argues.
“And I’m going to finish it. Please, can we make our way downstairs to our reservation? I do not want to be late, and y’all always make us late,” Robert grumbles.
Caroline steps forward and fusses lightly with Charlie’s lapels. “Right,” she says, slipping seamlessly back into queen-of-the-evening mode. “My handsome boys, my beautiful girls, mygrumpy husband, let’s go eat something tiny and artistic for far too much money.”
Robert sighs. “We’ll probably need to order room service when we get home.”
The Michelin restaurant is all dark wood, candles, starched white linens, jazz, and waiters in perfectly pressed uniforms rushing around. We’re led to a round table by the windows, the frozen lake just visible beyond the glass, lit softly in the night.
“Champagne?” the sommelier asks.
“Yes,” Caroline answers for the table. “We’re celebrating.”
The sommelier smiles. “A special occasion?”
Caroline glances at us, eyes glinting. “My family being all together.”
“What a wonderful occasion,” the sommelier says.
