Our Story: Volume One.
“I thought we could write it down,” he said, looking shy in a way that made my heart clench. “Our story, I mean. From the beginning. How we met, how we fell in love, everything that led us here. And then we can keep adding to it with all the things we do together, the life we build, the adventures we have.”
I opened the cover to find he’d already written the first entry, dated months ago:
Day One: I met the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen, and he was assigned to protect me. I had no idea he was going to save me instead.
“Jesus, Eddie,” I said, my voice rough with emotion. “This is perfect.”
“Your turn.” He handed me a pen.
So I wrote:
Day One from Bash’s perspective: I was assigned to protect Prince Gregory Edward William Mountbatten-Windsor. I had no idea I would fall head over heels in love with Eddie York because of that.
“I have something for you too,” I said, reaching under the tree for the small box I’d wrapped the night before.
Inside was a simple silver key on a plain chain. Eddie looked at it with confusion until I explained.
“It’s the key to my apartment in DC. I know we probably can’t go back there, and hell, I actually have a roommate so there’s that too, but I wanted you to have it anyway. Because wherever we end up, whatever we do, I want us to have a home together. A real home, where we can be ourselves.”
Eddie’s eyes filled with tears as he lifted the key from the box, holding it like it was made of precious metal instead of simple silver. “Thank you,” he whispered. “For everything. For loving me, for setting me free, for giving me a place to belong.”
“Always,” I promised, pulling him close. “For as long as you’ll have me.”
“That’s going to be a very long time,” Eddie said against my lips right before he kissed me.
29
EDDIE
I stared at the phone in my hand for a full five minutes before finally working up the courage to dial.
Two days had passed since Christmas, two days of the kind of domestic peace I’d never experienced in my life. Helping Bash’s mother with baking cookies, watching terrible holiday movies together, sleeping every night in Bash’s narrow bed with his arm around me had been perfect. But underneath that peace was the knowledge that I had promises to keep and bridges to either mend or burn completely.
“You don’t have to do this today,” Bash said from where he sat beside me on his childhood bed, close enough that I could feel the warmth of his body against my shoulder.
“I told him I’d call,” I replied, still staring at the phone. “I’m a man of my word, even if he isn’t sure he still considers me his son.”
“He’s your father, Eddie. Whatever else happens, that doesn’t change.”
I nodded, took a deep breath, and dialed the familiar number before I could lose my nerve. It rang three times before my father’s voice answered, formal and cautious.
“Hello.”
“Father, it’s me. It’s Gregory.”
The silence that followed stretched long enough that I wondered if the call had been dropped. When he finally spoke, his voice was carefully controlled. “Gregory. I… We weren’t sure you’d call.”
“I said I would. I may have disappointed you in many ways, but I’ve never broken my word to you.”
Another pause, then: “Where are you?”
“North Carolina. With Bash and his family. They’ve been very kind to me.”
“I see.” His tone was neutral, giving nothing away. “Gregory, I think perhaps you don’t understand the magnitude of what you’ve done. The embarrassment this will create for the family is a PR nightmare, especially on top of the damage your cousin already did to our reputation.”
I took a deep breath. “I do understand, Father, but you left me no other choice. I did not and do not want to walk away from you or the family, but if you won’t allow me to be with the man I love, what other options are there?”
