I didn’t want to watch the news of my stepmother. Instead, I enjoyed my time off of work and spent it with Henry. For two weeks, we either stayed at my place or with his family. I ate meals with him and his brothers and even managed to make the older one smile a time or two.
His mother accepted me like a long lost daughter. For the first time since my father died, I knew what it felt like to have a family around me again.
For two weeks, Henry and I did nothing that required us to be regal. We were just a normal couple that went out for dinner and stayed in a nice hotel. There were some perks to him being royal, but we spent many of our evenings holed up in my tiny apartment doing nothing but talking and kissing.
Henry kept attempting to teach me how to cook and I managed not to burn down the kitchen a single time. I did set a turkey on fire, but caught it before it spread. We ate grilled cheese that night.
It was heaven.
But I knew it had to end. He was a prince of Paradisa. The trade negotiations were over. It was time for him to go home and help rule his country. I had to decide if I would go back to work for the senator.
Since meeting Henry, I was having a hard time finding the enthusiasm to return to my former life. As much as I had once loved it, I loved my time with Henry more. I loved who I was around him more than I liked myself as a senator’s aide.
The days flew by, and before I knew it, it was Henry’s last evening in America. We’d decided to eat grilled cheese and go for a walk, just like we did for our first lunch date. The food sat heavy in my stomach as we walked down the street toward the Reflecting Pool.
“I can’t believe you’re leaving,” I said, taking his hand in mine. The weather was warm and perfect. Spring was slowly giving way to the heat of summer. The trees leafed out in full green to the blue sky full of cotton clouds. The sky still held the light of day for a few minutes longer every day, so the golds and purples hadn’t started yet.
We walked past the tourists taking pictures and talking. Their voices made a gentle hum of sound as we worked our way down the street. It felt so different than the first time we’d done this. It was better, and so much worse because he would be leaving in the morning.
“You will come and visit me soon?” Henry asked, his eyes looking far ahead as we walked. He was acting nervous again. He looked comfortable on the outside, but his eyes darted to me too many times and he kept swallowing hard.
I nodded. “I have my plane tickets. I’m just waiting on my passport. It seems to have gotten held up somewhere. Once I have it, I can come.”
He nodded and tugged on my hand. “This way.”
I frowned slightly as he pulled me away from the fountains of the World War II memorial and across the grass toward the Washington Monument, but I didn’t fight him.
He brought me to the spot where we first met in front of the Washington Monument. I thought for a moment of my father and how this had been a special place for the two of us.
It was more special now. Now it was the place that I met Henry, the love of my life. I remembered how he crashed into me, his legs tangling up with mine. I still liked tangling my legs with his, though I appreciated not being knocked to the ground.
“Did you bring a Frisbee?” I asked, turning from the monument to grin at him.
“Not quite.”
He went down on one knee and pulled out a small box from his pocket. My heart trembled.
“Aria Ritter of America, I love you.” His blue eyes came to mine, full of hope and love. His red-gold hair caught the sunshine like beautiful fire. “I love that you don’t see me as a prince. You see a man. You see me as no one ever has.”
He swallowed hard, his nerves suddenly apparent as his fingers fumbled with the lid of the box. He pushed the lid back to reveal a single solitaire diamond in a simple white gold setting.
“This is the ring my father proposed to my mother with. They were blessed with a wonderful and loving marriage.” Henry’s voice cracked as he looked up at me. “I would be honored if you would wear it to marry me and follow in their path.”
The world slowed for a moment of crystal clarity once again. I could see our lives together. We would be happy. We would grow old in a world of our making. In a world where love reigned.