“Yep. She said I couldn’t shake her just by moving to another country.” He laughed. “She’s boxing up stuff right now. Won’t let me help. Stubborn woman.”
“I heard that!” Patricia’s voice squeaked through the tiny speaker on my phone.
“Tell her I’m hiring movers! She doesn’t need to do that.”
“She knows. It’s like she’s got a compulsion.”
“Well, keep her from doing any lifting.”
“Right. Like that woman has ever listened to me.” I could hear Patricia laugh in the background. He was right.
“Okay. Well, how are you feeling? What did the doctor say?”
“I have another scan after the chemo is finished.” He never hesitated talking about it all. He was very no-nonsense. “But we’re hopeful that it will have helped.”
“Let me know as soon as you have the results. I wish I could be there with you.”
“Nah. It’s fine!” Dad laughed. “I’m a big boy, Sam. You don’t need to hold my hand.”
“I know.” My voice cracked. “I need you to hold mine.”
“You okay?” Dad’s voice softened. “You sound tired.”
“I am. It’s just really different here. I feel like everyone wants something from me.” Even my new friends. Chadwick wanted me to find my groove, Cathy wanted me to be her best friend, and Alex… I hadn’t seen Alex in days.
“You take care of yourself. You can’t help anyone else if you don’t start with you.”
“You’re right.” I sighed. “I miss home.”
“It’ll get better.”
“I know.” Chadwick knocked on my door and I sighed. “I have to go, the warden says my time’s up.”
He laughed. “Love you, baby. Call me when you have some time.”
“I will. Love you too.” I hung up the phone and took a deep breath. Time to go play tea party.
I grabbed the jacket for my dress and went out into the hall. “I’m ready.”
“Good. The queen has a very strict schedule.”
“I know.”
“How’s your dad?” Chadwick led me through the hallways. I still got turned around in the palace.
“One more week of chemo and then he has another cat scan. If everything checks out, he’ll be here next month.”
“Excellent! I checked out the fishing at your house and it’s supposed to be good. Stanley even has a chair picked out for him. Said it’s the most comfortable.”
“Stanley… How does he seem about the whole new royal coming to the house thing?” I watched Chadwick out the corner of my eye.
“He seems excited, to be honest. I’m sure you guys will have to get used to each other, but he seems happy about having someone live in the manor house.” Chadwick glanced at his paperwork. “He is having everything freshened up for your arrival.”
“He doesn’t need to do that. I can clean up or fix anything when I get home.”
“Samantha, you’re homecoming is a very big deal. He will make sure everything is just right.”
“Okay.” I took a deep breath. It didn’t take long until we were at the doors for the queen’s parlor. The man standing there nodded to me to make sure I was ready before knocking softly and waiting for a response. I followed him into the room before stopping to curtsy.
“Your Majesty.” The footman bowed. “The Duchess of Rousseau.”
“Samantha, so glad you could have lunch with us.”
“Thank you for inviting me, Your Highness.” I smiled at the queen and at the people behind her. Cathy, Alex, and Rose were all standing, waiting on me to join them. I hoped my eyes hadn’t lingered on Alex for too long, but his were locked on me the same way.
“Not at all. You’ve been busy and we thought it might be nice to have a quiet lunch.” She motioned for me to take the open chair next to Alex. He held the seat out for me and I managed to slide under the table with no problems. I was getting better at this manners stuff.
“How are you?” Rose asked.
“Good. Trying to find my footing.”
“Samantha, how have you found Lilaria?” The queen smiled at me over the flowers in the center of the table. I’m not sure why, but Felecia made me nervous in a way that Alex and Cathy didn’t.
“It’s lovely, but I hope I get to see more of it soon.” I put the napkin in my lap and tried to calm my nerves.
“Eager to get to your estate?” Felecia took a sip from her water glass.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“It’s beautiful out there. The D’Lynsal property runs adjacent to the stream on the backside. I used to fish there with my father.” Felecia looked over at Alex. “Do you still go out that way? I know you used to fly birds back there.”
“Yes, it’s a good area to hunt.” He looked over at me. “Don’t forget you said you’d join me sometime.” Was he flirting with me in front of everyone?
“I didn’t realize your property ran alongside mine.” I looked at Alex while the staff placed salads on the table.
“You should have studied your map a little better.” He laughed.
“I would if my teacher would ever get around to helping me decipher Lilarian.” I gave him a pointed look before taking a bite of my salad.