Page 59 of Royal Caleva: Luis

After dinner, Luis had given them a tour of the house, so now Eve knew where the master suite was. Was she really going to go there?

She burned with the need to touch him again…but she had a responsibility first. Eve took three deep breaths, shoved Luis out of her mind, and went to her door, yanking it open to find Grace outside with her hand raised to knock.

“Great minds,” Eve said. “I was about to knock on your door.”

“I figured you would want to talk,” Grace said, giving her a peck on the cheek. “I want to talk.” She dropped onto a chair and hooked one knee over the upholstered arm.

“And I want to hear all about your conversation with Raul.” Eve sat in the chair across from her daughter. “First, tell me what you think of him as a person.”

Grace tilted her head back to look at the ceiling for a minute before she spoke. “He’s like he was at dinner. Really nice, funny, smart, considerate, polite. He made me feel like he was genuinely happy to have a half sibling. He told me to ask him anything and he would answer it.” She shook her head. “But he has such a different life that it was hard to know what to ask. And he takes things for granted that sort of freak me out.”

“Like what?”

“When he’s not in the palace or here, he has a bodyguard or two following him around all the time. He doesn’t think it’s weird when people bow to him. He spent a year in the Calevan militia and can fly a helicopter. He goes shopping either before a store opens or after it closes. He’s met a ton of famous people and has some of their personal cell phone numbers.” Grace shook her head again. “That doesn’t even cover the official and governmental stuff he does as the future king. All of that boggles my mind, but he loves it.”

Grace had the option of stepping into the royal succession after Raul. Would she want that?

“Raul is Luis’s son, so I’m not surprised that he is good at what he does,” Eve said with careful neutrality. “What are your thoughts about all this?”

Grace unhooked her leg from the chair and sat up. “Here’s the interesting thing. Being the prince gives you a platform, and Raul can do a lot of good. His support of the charities he’s passionate about has brought serious money and attention to their missions. Think about what I could do for animals with a platform like that! Not to mention having real input into the new veterinary school.”

Raul was in on the seduction too. Had Luis asked him to tempt Grace, or had Raul jumped on the bandwagon on his own? Raul would want his father to be happy. Luring Grace to Caleva would accomplish that.

Eve quelled her resentment and jammed on her mom hat. Grace’s eyes blazed with crusading spirit. The world needed young people like her who wanted to make a difference. Here was her daughter being offered the opportunity to have a significant impact for a cause she cared about.

“That would be really exciting,” Eve said. “And you would do a terrific job.”

“We would do a terrific job.” Grace locked her gaze with Eve’s. “Mom, if I move to Caleva, will you come with me? I know it’s asking a lot, but I just can’t see myself here without you. We’re a team. And now that Nana Nelle has passed, we don’t have any close family in Iowa anymore.”

With the unconscious obliviousness of the young, Grace hadn’t factored in Eve’s network of friends built over the years. Or the fact that Eve had a job she loved ninety percent of the time and a house she had lavished loving care and sweat on to make it a home. Not to mention what Grace didn’t yet realize—that Eve would not be an integral part of her daughter’s new world here in Caleva. As an American commoner, Eve would always be an outsider to the royal family, no matter how cordially they might treat her.

“Of course I’ll come to Caleva with you,” Eve said, her heart melting that Grace would want her here so much, even as a flicker of panic rose at the thought of flinging herself into the unknown. “Does that mean you know what you want to do?” She held her breath.

“No.” Grace massaged her temples. “It’s such a big decision.”

“You can bounce your thoughts off me, you know.”

“My thoughts are still so scattered that I don’t know where to start. Every time I think I have my mind wrapped around the fact that my father is a king, my brain explodes again.”

“Sweetie, that’s to be expected.” Eve knelt in front of Grace, taking her daughter’s hands in hers. “No one could be prepared for such a huge revelation. You’ve handled it with amazing poise.”

“Things were so much simpler when it was just you and me in Iowa,” Grace said, squeezing her mother’s hands.

“I know.” Eve sighed. “But we can’t turn this ship around. You have to navigate a new course, whatever you decide it will be.”

“It’s a lot of pressure, but it’s exciting too,” Grace said.

Eve sighed again, but differently this time. She was excited for her daughter, for all that was opening up before her, but she hadn’t been wrong when she’d sensed Grace slipping away from her.

They talked for another hour before Grace yawned widely. “I’m going to go enjoy that amazing bed with all its adjustments.”

Eve had secretly hoped Grace would want to sleep with her, as she had back in Ames. That would take her decision about Luis out of her hands. “I love you, sweetheart,” Eve said, giving Grace a hug and a kiss.

“Love you too, Mom. You’re the best.”

Eve closed the door behind Grace and leaned back against it, tilting her head to rest on the wooden surface. The weird thing was that she wanted to discuss Grace’s dilemma with Luis. He would be brilliant at analyzing all the pros and cons and coming up with a solution. But he had his own agenda.

Which brought her back to her other quandary. She pushed away from the door just as her phone pinged with a message. She swept it off the coffee table to see that the text was from Luis.

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