Once Upon a Prince

TWENTY-SEVEN



Sorry I’m late, Mama.” Susanna scooted into the Rib Shack, the heels of her pumps crunching sand from the parking lot against the kitchen floor. She stuffed her briefcase inside her locker and slipped off her suit jacket. “We had a client cancel, but we were able to squeeze in another one. I think this one’s going to hire us. Gage gets so mad when I offer my services pro bono, but I think that’s just the best way to build a client base.”

“Got a window full of tickets. Get the lead out.” Mama didn’t look up from her work at the lowboy prep station.

In the two-by-four kitchen bathroom, Susanna changed from one uniform to the next. Corporate world to service world. After a week of partnering with Gage, she was kind of falling into a groove. One she felt like she might be able to live with the rest of her life.

Okay, not for the rest of her life. For the next year. Just a year. Build her resume and then see. She’d begun to curb her appetite for long-term plans.

She’d promised herself, and Jesus, she’d commit to nothing and let him design the outcome of the garden of her life, determine the fruit of the largeness she still felt in her heart.

Reverend Smith called such a plan being “poor in spirit.” Being humble yet expectant of Jesus.

Susanna burst from the bathroom, leaving her work clothes swinging from a hanger, and took up Mama’s place at the window.

“It’s family barbecue night … let’s go, people.” Bossing the back of house took the edge off all the rebuttals she swallowed during the day. Oh, if Gage only knew how many times she wanted to object to his plans.

Dating would never work for them. Even if she were to ever have romantic feelings for him. Which she did not.

Susanna grabbed the tickets waiting in the window and went to work. “Catfish, I need two family pulled-pork-barbecue platters and one chicken. Let’s go, we’re backing up here. Daddy, are those fries hot? I don’t want cold fries going out my window.”

“Hotter than the sand in July, baby girl.” Daddy winked at her. “I’m sure going to miss you.”

She stared at him. “Miss me? Why? Where are you going? Catfish, we need a Caesar and a house. Daddy, are you finally taking Mama on that African safari she’s always talking about?” She took a plate from Catfish and added two biscuits. “Table nine, up. Let’s go, Bristol.”

“Good grief, girl, you think she’d go if I booked it? She still talks of Vermont as if it happened yesterday. That woman is a vacation camel.” Daddy swept his shoulder against his misty gray eyes.

“Daddy? What’s wrong?” She hurried around the lowboy for a good look-see. “Are you okay? It’s not your heart, is it?”

“I’m fine.” He tapped his chest. “My ticker’s right as rain. In fact, it’s downright happy.”

“Then what’s going on?” Susanna looked at Mama. Something was up because Mama wasn’t bossing Daddy and he wasn’t bossing back. “What are y’all not telling me?”

“Get to work, Susanna. I don’t know what that old man is going on about. Gib, how them biscuits coming? They won’t make themselves.”

“I’m on it, woman. Just leave me be. I can make these in my sleep.”

“Then get to napping.” Mama refused to look at Susanna.

“Mama?”

“Suz, if that window backs up, I’m going to let you deal with all the complaints.” She sorted paid tickets on a lowboy. “I’ll be in the office.”

Susanna had just caught up on the orders and restocked the salad bins when Bristol came around and announced she was taking over the window.

“You’re on break.”

“What break?” Susanna didn’t budge when Bristol tried to move her from her spot. “I got this, Bristol. Get back out front.”

“You’re on break.” Bristol hip butted Susanna and fired her clear to the edge of the lowboy. She packed a powerful punch for being nothing but skin and bones.

Susanna peered toward the office. “I’m on break?”

“I guess so.” Mama’s hand flew over the ten key, adding up tickets.

But what didn’t add up was being on break an hour after she’d punched in, having Mama say, “I guess so,” and the fact that the woman had yet to look her in the eye.

“Mama, what’s going on?”

“Suz, go on break. You bother me like a two-year-old asking why.”

“Suz?” Avery burst through the back door, breathless and windblown, her voice shrill.

“Aves.” Susanna mimicked her high tone. “Are you working the deck? I thought Tina was out there.”

“Come on, we got to go.” Avery covered the space between them in one-two-three steps and linked her arm through Susanna’s.

“Go? Where?” Dang girl had not been the same since returning home from Brighton. Prince Colin had sent her the most beautiful bouquet of flowers—to school no less—on her birthday. The gesture made her a princess in the eyes of everyone and sealed her heart from any overtures a mere mortal boy might offer.

“You have to see something.”

“Another bouquet from Prince Colin?”

“Hush.” Out the back door, down the deck steps toward the beach. Susanna jogged alongside her sister, her heart kicking up soul dust, her thoughts aiming down a dark corridor.

Nathaniel? Was he here? No, of course not. Why would he …

A jolt of anticipation fired Susanna through the sea oats and palmettos onto the beach. “Nathan …” She stopped. “Colin. Hello.” The energy in her veins collapsed, leaving her weak. She braced her legs to keep from crumbling to the sand.

“Susanna, hello.” Colin offered a steadying hand. His voice was so much like Nathaniel’s.

“Surprise,” Avery said, arms high and wide. “Aren’t you surprised, Suz? We wanted to surprise you.”

“Very much, yes … surprised.” Trembling, she tried to stand on her own but the shifting sand beneath her feet made it difficult. “W–what brings you here, Colin?”

“Holiday from university. I thought I’d inspect the island, see what splendor captured Uncle Leo and Nathaniel.” He motioned to Avery. “And to see this miss, discover what she was up to these days.”

“Are you staying at the cottage?”

“Yes, it’s quite nice. Your garden …” He whistled. Clearly overpaying his compliment. “Beautiful. Aunt Campbell would adore it.”

“She should come with you next time.” Susanna drew a long breath of the spring air, but nothing seemed to cool her disappointment that Nathaniel was not at the end of the path.

But she’d made herself clear that night at St. Stephen’s. She’d not marry him. She left without saying good-bye and she’d never declared her love.

“Colin, let’s go meet Daddy and Mama. Then, please, can I show you off to my friends?” Avery checked with Susanna as she tugged her prince up the path to the Rib Shack deck.

“Only if you ply me with some of your father’s famous barbecue sauce,” he said, also visually checking with Susanna. “Every meal we shared in Brighton she went on and on about your father’s famous sauce.”

“Have the pulled pork tonight,” Susanna said, watching them go. “It’s really tender and juicy.”

“But first, how about we tour the island?” Colin spread his arms as if he’d stumbled onto a wild, fun idea. “I’m not terribly starved.” He patted his stomach. “We can dine later.” He scanned the deck. “It seems rather crowded, Aves-love.”

Aves-love? A pet name. Susanna’s heart yearned. Down, jealousy, that’s your baby sister hand-in-hand with a prince who loves her.

“Yeah, what a good idea.” Avery stopped tugging Colin up the path. “Suz, can you take me and Colin around the island? Put the top down on your car and—”

“My keys are in my locker.” Susanna started for the deck. She had work to do.

Doubt knocked softly on her heart. Was she right to tell Nathaniel “no way, no how”? Should she have left without a good-bye?

Entrenched behind the service window, she could tear up some if she wanted and do a lot of emotional mulling while barking, “Pick up.”

“Please, Susanna, come with us,” Colin said.

No, no, no. Susanna exhaled, closed her eyes. She’d been doing so well with her “nothing” plan until Colin arrived.

“Three’s a crowd, Colin,” she said. “You two go on. Have fun.” Mrs. Caller waved to Susanna from the far corner of the deck. Just today, she’d approved the seventeenth draft of her garden plans.

“Yeah, Suz, come with. You know the island history way better than I do.” Avery ran up the deck steps and cut off Susanna’s path to the kitchen.

“Avery, I’m working. I can’t go. We’re slammed tonight.”

“I’ll get your car keys. Colin, do you want something to drink? A Coke or tea?”

“Tea sounds grand.”

“Southern sweet, of course.” Avery flirted. Brother …

“If you fix it for me, it will have all the sweetness I need.”

“Oh, please.” Susanna rolled her eyes and exhaled. “I think I just got a cavity.” She shifted Avery out of the way. “I’ll get the keys. You go in there, Mama will see you, and you won’t come out.”

In reality, Susanna wanted to duck into the bathroom and cry into a wad of toilet paper. Colin’s presence awakened all of her buried, impossible feelings for Nathaniel.

“You think I don’t know how to sneak in without her seeing me?” Pffpppt. “Stay here, Suz. I’ll be right back.” Avery bolted for the kitchen and returned with Susanna’s handbag, not one ripple or “hey there” from Mama. “Aves, I’m not going.” Susanna dug out her keys, certain Mama would be at the door any minute, looking for her if not Aves, wondering what in tarnation happened to her help and adding something about docking pay. “Here.” She slapped her keys against Avery’s palm just as Mickey arrived with his banjo and guitar case.

“Susanna.”

“Mickey.”

Avery shoved the keys back at Susanna. “Come on, you’re wasting daylight. It’s going to be dark soon.”

“Susanna, please, for me?” Prince Colin used his sultry, princely voice. Entirely unfair.

She relented. “Mama’s going to flip.”

“I’ll go tell her.” Off Avery dashed. Again.

Was it a full moon tonight? Susanna ducked to see beneath the deck roof and scanned twilight threads through the budding tree branches for a hint of the moon.

“She has a lot of energy,” Colin said to Susanna with affection in his words.

“Yes, she does.”

Any minute now Mama would loom large in the doorway. No way was she dismissing Susanna tonight.

“Let’s go.” Avery marched out big as you please with two tumblers in her hand. One for Colin. One for herself.

“You’re kidding. Mama’s letting me go?” Had the world gone crazy? Daddy with his misty eyes. Mama with her avoidance. Now excusing both of her girls from Friday-night duty. “Okay, whoa, what’s going on?”

“Um, Colin’s here. That’s what’s going on.” Avery was too bright, too cheery. “He wants to see the sights.”

“Are you leaving before tomorrow, Colin? Because if you’re not, we can do this tomorrow. It’s supposed to be a beautiful day. We can see all of south Georgia if you want.”

“He wants to see Lover’s Oak.” Avery threaded her fingers through Susanna’s and pulled her toward the car.

“Lover’s Oak?” All this cajoling was getting on her nerves. “Colin, you really want to see Lover’s Oak?” This made no sense. Susanna aimed the remote entry key and unlocked the car. She moved in numb submission, her fractured thoughts trying to figure out what was going on.

“Grab that latch there, Colin,” Avery said. “Pull down. Yep. Good, now shove the top back.”

“A nine-hundred-year-old tree?” he said to Susanna. “Yes, I’d love to see it.”

“And how do you know about Lover’s Oak?” Pinpricks of revelation began to fire across her spirit. Something was up. Definitely up.

Don’t imagine what, Suz. Don’t …

“Avery told me about it. When she was in Brighton.”

“And you want to see it? Now?”

“Why not? Let’s see this infamous tree.” Colin smiled all bright and overly cheery.

“Well, okay.” Susanna walked around to the driver’s side, ignoring the knot in her stomach. Colin was here. She should relax and enjoy his company. Just seeing Avery’s joy was worth any pain to her own heart.

Her sister was going to be a princess. The idea fluttered large in Susanna’s heart.

She was about to get behind the wheel when Avery came up behind her, reaching for the keys.

“How about I drive? You can be the backseat tour guide. We’ll chauffeur you around.”

Colin stepped up and pushed the seat for Susanna to crawl in the back. “Milady.”

“Backseat tour guide. You best go where I tell you to go. Turn when I tell you to turn.” She dropped to the seat with a sigh. If she had her wits about her at all, she’d pop out of the car the moment Avery backed out of the parking slot and go back to work. To the hustling insanity. To normal. “Aves, why am I going if I’m not driving?”

“Because you’re tour guiding.” Avery, really. So insufferable at times.

“And our chaperone.”

Susanna arched her brow and leaned between the seats for a good look at Colin. “You need a chaperone?”

Lord, you can’t ask me to do this. Lover’s Oak? On the surface, it seemed so simple. Take a couple of kids around the island, then to see an ancient tree fabled to hold the secrets of its lovers.

But it was her tree. Where she met Nate Kenneth. King Nathaniel. Anticipation beaded over her skin, thriving under the cool current of the spring breeze. When Avery whizzed toward Christ Church, Susanna tapped her shoulder.

“Pull over.” She needed to think, to pray, to go face down on the grass and strangle every last living hope of Nate coming for her.

That’s what bothered her. The realization she’d been holding her breath since January wondering if he’d come for her.

Before Avery cut the car engine, Susanna hopped out over the back, her limbs weak and rickety. Just inside the stone wall, she ran across the smooth, cool grass, collapsing on the lawn, forehead to the ground.

Stretched out, arms over her head, sharp grass blades pricking her eyelids and the tip of her nose, she spilled it.

“I thought it was Nathaniel waiting on the beach. I did. I really did. I imagined an outcome and I was wrong. Soooo wrong. But, Lord, I miss him.” She hammered her fists into the grass. “I love him.”

The confession bounced from her lips to the ground and into her own heart. It was the first time she’d ever heard her own true confession.

“I love him, Lord. I do.”

A thick tear dripped down on the nearest grass blade, but with each breath, peace filled her. The wind rustled through the trees. In the distance a car door slammed. Voices. Footsteps crunching on the redbrick path.

Was that what God was waiting for? To hear her confession? What if the answer to “Lord, I’ve got nothing. I’ll do whatever you want” was loving Nathaniel?

But how impossible? To love a man who could never love her.

“Suz?” Avery’s small voice reminded her of when she was a girl, sneaking into her room at night, begging to sleep with her.

“Yeah?” The grass muffled her tone.

“Are you all right? We don’t have to go. I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s Nate, isn’t it? You miss him.” Avery smoothed her hand over the crown of Susanna’s head.

“I do.” Susanna pushed up from the ground. “I’m fine. Just needed to deal.” Avery and Colin peered at her with concern. “Prince Colin, welcome to St. Simons. I’m delighted to be your tour guide.”

“Susanna, sincerely, Avery’s right. We can go tomorrow. Perhaps you’re right. In the light of day and all.” He peered at Susanna. “Aves-love, we’ve only been thinking of ourselves.”

“Yeah, I know. Suz, let’s go back to the Shack.”

“Are you kidding? Mama let us both off? This is a monumental moment. Besides, the island is beautiful at sunset. Tonight’s the night.” Susanna trumpeted her arm in the air. “To Lover’s Oak. Where all true lovers find their way.” She wiggled her eyebrows at Avery. “Who knows what awaits you, my dear sister.”

The teen’s face flashed a delicious shade of apple red. “Suuuzz!”

“Prince Street.” Avery pointed to the street sign as she turned, slowing the car. “Here you go, Colin. Your street.”

“And the tree? Straight ahead?”

“Just down there a bit.” Avery glanced back at Susanna. “You doing okay back there?”

“Peachy keen.” Susanna had finally relaxed and joined Avery’s fun, helping her shine in front of Prince Colin. After a short tour of the southern tip of the island and a climb to the top of the lighthouse, they crossed the causeway and headed for the old Brunswick tree. “My hair looks like I got hit by a wind tunnel, but ah, what the heck.”

Who was she, Susanna Truitt, to determine which sister won the prince? The coronation royal affair landed one of the Truitt girls in a fairy tale. The better of the two at that.

“Y–you want a brush or something?” Avery rose up to see her in the rearview.

“A brush? It’ll just tangle up on the way home.” Susanna tapped Colin’s shoulder. “There’s the tree”—why was it glowing? She reached for the roll bar and pulled herself up—“with all of those white lights.”

Hundreds of them. Thousands. Glittering against the velvet night.

The Cabrio inched into a pocket of air filled with the music of a string quartet.

A sand-bag candle path began halfway down Prince Street, lining the street to the corner of Albany and the tree.

Susanna gripped Avery’s shoulder as she crept along the avenue.

“Avery?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s going on?”

Silence.

“Colin?”

Ditto silence.

Susanna sat on the collapsed rooftop and slid over the back of the car. Jogging alongside, she peered through the flickering angles of light toward the tree.

She had no thoughts. No conclusion. Just a powerful urge to move toward the lights, toward the fullness of the oak tree.

Then he stepped around the craggy old trunk. Handsome and regal in his pressed white shirt and blue jeans, his dark hair loose about his face.

“Nathaniel.” She broke into a full run, the heels of her worn work clogs soft against the hard pavement. “Nathaniel.” When she reached the tree, she launched into his arms.

“Susanna.” He swept her around, holding her so tight she couldn’t feel where she ended and he began.

“I missed you so much.”

“I missed you.” He cupped her face in his hands, brushing his thumbs over her lips. “I’m so sorry for my silence, so sorry.”

“No, no, it’s okay. Of course you were silent. I left without a word. I told you I wouldn’t marry you. But I was wrong. I would, I would. If you could. I’m so glad you’re here.” She threw her arms around his neck and wept against his shoulder. “I love you. I do. I can’t help it. No matter what, I do love you even if you can’t—”

“Hey, love, hey.” He freed her arms and stepped back, holding her face in his hands, joy in his glistening eyes. “You just made my quest much easier.”

“What quest?” She didn’t bother with her tears or wet cheeks.

“To see you. But I had to take time to arrange things.”

“What things?” Had she not just been lying face down in the grass telling the Lord she was letting go? Was this the fruit of letting go? Seeing Nathaniel stirred the silt of her soul where she’d hoped her prayers had settled.

“This.” Nathaniel skipped back toward the tree and pulled a scroll from a leather bag.

With great pomp and circumstance, he unfurled the scroll, cleared his voice, and read in his best bass. “‘We, the Parliament of Brighton Kingdom’“—he leaned toward her—“this is my version because the official one is full of barrister speak, but I assure you it’s all valid and official.”

“Official?” The stammering of her heart vibrated in her words.

“‘Along with the Crown and House of Stratton, decree a new covenant of love in the Marriage Act of 1792 and hereby grant rights to King Nathaniel II and his descendants hitherto and hereafter to marry whomever they choose as long as the Crown, the prime minister, and the privy council don’t disapprove.’”

Tremors anchored Susanna to where she stood and shook her breath.

“‘In so being, we decree our high approval of Miss Susanna Truitt’—they really said that, Susanna, I didn’t add that part—’of St. Simons Island, of Georgia, of America.’” Nathaniel lowered the scroll and peered at her. “Of Nathaniel’s mind.” He lowered to one knee. “Of Nathaniel’s heart.”

“Nathaniel, w–what are you doing?” The quartet, in portable chairs on the left side of the Prince and Albany intersection, raised their bows. Neighbors came out of their houses, stepped from their porches.

“Susanna Truitt, I don’t know truly how you feel. Or if you’d fancy marrying a king. But I love you, I can’t stop thinking of you, and I want to spend my life with you.” He pulled a wooden ring box from his jeans pocket. “It’s unfair to ask you to leave your home, your friends and family, your country, your right to privacy, and your own career and desires, but I’m asking anyway. Will you marry me?”

What did he say? The breeze moving through Lover’s Oak must have twisted his words.

“Will you marry me?”

She covered her mouth and took a step back, her world quaking.

“No man will love you more. I can’t be a good king without the woman I love. Without you. Once you said if we were meant to be you’d have been born in Brighton, or I’d have been born in America, but I respectfully decline your theory, Susanna. We are meant to be. You are right for me, for Brighton. God expands the boundaries of nations, changes their DNA, by giving us sincere souls like you. By the love of a king’s heart. Brighton needs you. I need you. But the lingering question is, am I right for you? Do you need and want me?”

Susanna dropped to her knees and searched his gaze. “I do. I can’t get you out of my heart. I’ve tried, oh, I’ve tried.” Words watered with the sweetness of tears were the best. “I’m terrified of all of this. But I love you.” She laughed low, suddenly realizing how wild she must look. She patted down her wind-matted hair. “Now I know why Avery asked me if I wanted to brush my hair.”

“He went to Parliament, Susanna.” Jonathan came from the other side of a dark SUV that was merged with the shadows. “He implored them to change the Marriage Act. Risked his reputation, his credibility. First time a king brought an Order of Council before the Parliament in over a century.”

“Jon, please, chap, I think I can woo her on my own.”

Jonathan grinned with a slight bow. “His love for you changed our nation, Susanna. Changed me.”

“Susanna.” Nathaniel opened the ring box. The jewel inside caught the tiny white lights and created a rainbow over Susanna and the base of Lover’s Oak. It captured her breath, her heart. “This belonged to Brighton’s last reigning queen, Anne-Marie.”

“I–I couldn’t … It’s … incredible.” She’d never seen anything like it. An oval center pink diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds, sapphires, and rubies.

“Lord Thomas Winthrop designed it for her. They were known in Brighton for their love. Then my grandfather gave it to my Granny, Isabella.” Nathaniel reached for her hand. “But I think Queen Anne-Marie Victoria Karoline Susanna would love for you to have it.”

“Susanna?”

“Yes, and you’ve not given me your answer. Will you marry me? Be my queen?”

“Marry you?” She didn’t mean to repeat the question but it felt so overwhelming.

“Marry me.”

“Marry you?” She couldn’t stop trembling.

“Susanna Jean.” A sharp but very familiar voice hit her in the back of the head. “Stop stalling. Say yes.”

“Mama?” Susanna jumped to her feet and whirled around to see Daddy, Mama, Avery, Colin, Gracie, and Ethan sitting on car hoods and truck gates. “Are you tailgating my engagement?”

“Oh, my stars-a-mighty.” Mama surrendered her hands. “Pay attention to the man on his knees.”

“Suz”—Nathaniel grabbed her hand and rose to his feet—“if you want to think for a while, I understand. It’s all quite sudden.”

“Do you think I can do it? Marry you, be a … a … queen?” The word tumbled awkwardly from her tongue. “Can I do what’s required?”

“I have no doubt. I’d not be here otherwise. I need you, Suz. Brighton needs you. I’d not put you in this position if I didn’t believe in you.”

“What about Hessenberg, Lady Genevieve, the entail?”

“Goodness, you ask a lot of questions when a man’s heart is beating against his chest.” He kissed her forehead. “We found an heir to Prince Francis.”

“Really?”

“An American. Regina Beswick.”

“An American?” She grinned. “Seems America will be invading the nations of the North Sea.”

“What are you saying?”

Susanna loved the look of realization in Nathaniel’s eyes. She tugged at his button-down shirt. Might as well have some fun of her own. “I would say yes, Nate, but I told God it’d have to be a snowy day in Georgia before I ever fell in love again. Or at least admitted to it.” She tipped her head toward the night and offered up her palms. “Sixty degrees and no snow.”

“So, that’s it? No snow, no engagement?” He backed toward the tree, somber, serious.

Susanna regarded him a moment, wondering how far she could push this bit. “Yes, that’s it. No snow, no engagement.” She glanced back at her family. Were they eating popcorn? Oh, mercy … back at Nathaniel, she crossed her arms. “Yeah, chap, it has to snow.”

“I wasn’t sure you’d reduce me to this, but …” He pulled a cord and smiled as a delicate cloud of Styrofoam snow drifted down from the highest limbs of Lover’s Oak.

“Oh my …” She held up her hands as she turned slowly in the swirling white flakes. They covered her hair, her shoulders, the edge of her eyelashes, and filled her with tears.

“You never said it had to be real snow, milady.”

“No, I guess I didn’t.” She peered at him, love spilling over her heart into her mind, will, and emotions. He did this for her, to win her heart.

She didn’t need fake snow or a proposal beneath an ancient tree to know God had brought this man into her life.

The morning she’d confessed to God she had nothing and he could set her on any journey he deemed necessary. Susanna understood completely now the Lord had Nathaniel in mind all along.

“Susanna Truitt, please, you’re killing me. Will you marry me? How many times must a king ask?”

“Yes, Nathaniel II of the House of Stratton”—she laced her arms about his neck—“I will most definitely, certainly, one hundred percent marry you and be your snow queen.”

“Thank goodness.” He exhaled, then scooped her up, whirled her around as the last of the fake snow whispered down over their true love.

The tailgaters erupted with cheers and whistles.

“I love you, Susanna-babe.”

“I love you too, Nathaniel. I love you too.”

He set her down and held her face in his hands, smoothing his thumbs over her cheeks, and sealed the moment with their first kiss. Tender but passionate.

Susanna had never believed much in fairy tales or charming princes, or knights on white steeds, but she’d always believed in the one true love.

And tonight, and forever, he held her in his arms.