He sighs heavily. “And my dad died of ‘natural causes.’”
“You don’t believe the story about your mom?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know. I think it’s awfully convenient that her heart attack happened days after I ran away.”
“Sometimes terrible things just happen, and there’s no reason for it.”
“I’d like to believe that, but my disappearance put so much stress on her.”
My heart tugs me toward him. I press my hands on his shoulders until he’s sitting on a mossy log. We’re shrouded in a swirl of dense mist that blocks out the sounds of the forest. “There were a lot of stressful things happening. I don’t know if you remember, but there was this whole thing with a comet.” I wave my hands like it’s no big deal. My joke earns me half of a reluctant smile. I’ll take it. “I know you have a healthy ego, but in the case ofMissing Prince v. World-Ending Asteroid,I think you’re coming in second place, Theo.”
“Ouch.” He covers his heart like I’ve shot him.
“I’m serious. She didn’t have a heart attack because you ran away. She had a heart attack because she had an untreated medical issue, andmaybebecause the world was about to end.” After she died, I spent many a sleepless night reading about her sudden death and hoping that Theo was okay.
He mulls this over. “What you’re saying is… I always came in second place.”
“No!” I have a mini internal panic attack.
He laughs. “Yes, you are. And you’reright.Mum’s allegiance to the country always came before me.”
“That’s not what I meant!” I try to backtrack, but Theo’s not having any of it.
He stands and paces the forest floor, the thick moss deadening the sounds of his footsteps, his face locked in concentration like he’s fitting the puzzle pieces of his life together. Finally, his expression clears. “Shite, Wheeler. I never thought I’d be so relieved by the knowledge that my mother loved the country more than she loved me, but I am. Thank you.”
I narrow my eyes, suspicious of how well he’s taking this. “I don’t know if I feel terrible for you or happy for you.”
“Please don’t feel sorry for the sad rich king.” He sticks out a hand and pulls me to my feet. “I think I just needed to hear someone say it wasn’t my fault.”
“Look at me,” I say, even though our eyes are already locked together. He tugs me into him, and I bump against his chest.
The air is wet with fog, and it’s suddenly hard to breathe as Theo’s eyes burn into mine. “I’m looking,” he says, his gaze dipping to my lips, and then lower.
“It’s not your fault, and I’m sorry no one else told you that.”
His fingers brush against my sternum and pause there, feeling the outline of his ring under my shirt. I hold my breath, on the precipice between wanting him to ask and hoping he doesn’t. “And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you we were married.”
My response sticks in my throat. “You should be apologizing for secretly marrying me in the first place.”
“I only give apologies I mean,” he says with a wink that leaves me utterly speechless. I blink at him in shock—and that’s when it hits.
A picture I posted after the Fourth of July. Me on the beachin Chicago, a hamburger in one hand, a sparkler in the other. Posted to my stories, only available for twenty-four short hours.
My jaw drops as I stare at Theo. I’m trying to process this revelation, but I don’t know how to reconcile it with what I overheard him telling his press secretary.
All I know for sure is that I wasn’t the only one who spent my summer looking at pictures on the internet.
“I can’t hear them anymore,” he says suddenly. His eyes sweep the forest as we strain to hear footsteps or Comet’s barking or Brooke and Henry’s chatter.
Nothing.
“We should go.” He turns away, but I grab his hand and hold him in place.
“Not yet.”
A wicked grin spreads across his face as his eyes dance in the mist. “Something else on your mind, Wheeler?” His eyes fall once again to my lips, and I’m close enough that my mouth tingles in response.
“I heard you tell the press secretary that he doesn’t need to worry about me because I’m not important,” I say in a breathless rush.
