Page 33 of Her Royal Daddy
He startled when he saw me. His expression quickly shuttered, but only until he noticed the bags I had with me, and then he startled all over again.
“Who is it?” the king weakly called.
Hesitating twice, Jax eventually took a step back, clearing the way for me to come inside. “Ms. Norah Baxter,” he announced, his startlement still evident in his voice.
Leaving my things by the door, I approached the old king’s bed. In spite of everything, I liked him. I really did, and once I was close enough for his weary eyes to find me, I could find no animosity toward me in them. Reluctant curiosity, yes. There was even a hint of sadness.
“My son told you?” he asked, wasting no time before getting right to the point.
I nodded.
Jax quietly approached the foot of the bed, and both he and the king watched me closely.
“Is he going to leave, do you think?” the old king finally asked.
Hoping I was right, I shook my head. “All he’s tried to do since he got here was be what you and Osei need.” I swallowed hard. “If that’s going to continue, then I-I need to not be in the way.”
The two men exchanged openly startled looks.
“Please don’t try to talk me out of it,” I whispered, already dangerously close to changing my mind. “Everyone in this room is doing what they think is best for everyone else involved. Including me. It’s just that I... need help to do it.”
Realization of what I was asking swept over him.
“Ah,” he said, his eyes and mouth both rounding. “I see.” He studied me for the longest time before beckoning to his personal assistant. “Jax, please make arrangements to fly Ms. Baxter home. She will need money too. Compensation for her time here... and a generous severance allowance.”
I shook my head. “That’s not necessary.” But Jax was already walking away and it wasn’t my directions that he had any interest in following.
For almost a minute, I stood awkward where I was, not sure if I should leave and if so, where I ought to go. Mazi might wake up at any point. If he came looking for me, I was terrified that I would lose my resolve the moment I saw him again.
Withered hand sliding over the blanket, the king patted the edge of his bed. “Sit down,” he coaxed.
I was going to lose it. Already my throat was getting tight and my eyes stung. I blinked to keep the tears from blurring everything as I sank down to sit where he told me.
“This is a noble thing you are doing,” he told me, not unkindly.
Swiping away a tear I couldn’t quite keep back, I sniffled and nodded. “I guess I know how Mazi’s mom must have felt the night she left.”
Mazi’s father stared at me, saying nothing.
I should have kept my mouth shut, but my heart was splintering, fracturing away into tiny glass shards, every one of which felt determined to cut me open from the inside out. “Did you love her?”
He almost didn’t answer me. “With all my useless heart.”
Heartbeat after heartbeat, cut after cut. I wasn’t even on the plane for home yet. I don’t know how I was going to bear it.
I wiped away another tear, trying my best to laugh it off as if it really didn’t bother me even as I asked him, “How long did it take? Before you got over it, I mean.”
“Before it stopped hurting? Oh, child,” he said, shaking his head.
When he reached for my hand, I took it. We held onto one another until Jax came back and took me away.
