Page 51 of The Prince's Castaway Baby

For so long, those were the exact words I wanted to hear from them. All these years, I’ve been chasing this high, the one that comes from being recognized for who I want to be, the potential I have tomeansomething.

But to hear them actually say it, out loud… I can hardly believe it.

“You’re proud,” I say slowly, waiting for the catch, the but at the end of the sentence.

But there isn’t one.

My father gets to his feet and places his hand on my shoulder. “Yes, Jensen. We are. You’ve been doing excellent work these past months, and you’re living up to the family name at last. You should be proud of yourself. And, you know, we’ve never wanted you not to have fun.”

“Really?”

Out of everything they’ve said, this is the hardest thing to swallow.

“Despite what you might think,” says my mother, raising an eyebrow, “we never wanted to be harsh. But you haven’t exactly made it easy for us.”

“I’m sorry,” I say, staring at my feet. “But I get it now. This is way more fun.”

They both smile again, and I smile back.

That night, over dinner, I tell them some more stories about my travels, and there’s this rush of something that goes through me the whole time — I don’t know if it’s relief or joy or what, but for the first time maybeever, I actually enjoy spending time with them. It’s good to talk.

For a second, I contemplate asking them whether they would change their minds about me dating a commoner, but I don’t.

After all, my life is blooming into something amazing now. But Billie is gone, and nothing I can do will bring her back.

CHAPTER 26

BILLIE

When I pull into my mother’s driveway, the feeling of being seven years old again floods through me. The last time I was here, I was twenty, trying desperately to get through to my mother, promising myself I’d give her one last chance to show me she can be the kind of person who might understand me. One last opportunity to be the person I’ve always wanted her to be.

In the end, it was no surprise when she let me down.

I had told her all about the new job I got — it was the first time I ever got to go to Isla Mostaza. I had been so excited because finally it felt like my life was coming together the way I wanted it to. But the entire time I was here, all my mom did was tell me how poor my career choices were.

She told me how much she wished I’d gone to college. How I should have been more like my cousin, who was a doctor. How this career path was going to bring me nothing but pain because I was never going to have a steady income and I was never going to succeed. And she didn’t say a single word about how pleased she was for me.

I cried the whole way home after that, and never came back. Until I called her last month, it had probably been two years since I spoke to her at all.

It’s not that I don’t want to talk to her. But every conversation we’ve ever had has been us talking over each other and not listening, like both of us are standing at a crossroads, yelling and yelling at one another, neither quite able to see the other’s point.

Neither of us was ever going to be the person the other wanted us to be. For all that I feel she doesn’t understand me, I know she feels I don’t understand her either. That’s a fact I have never been able to recognize until now.

As a child, I found her put-downs cruel, but as an adult I can see that she did care. I get why she acted the way she did. I can understand the stress she must have been under, with a kid and no support, and a job she hated.

It all makes sense the way it never did before.

That doesn’t make any of it right, and I haven’t forgiven it all yet, but in a wicked twist of irony, I’m pregnant and on my own just like she was.

I’m scared, just like she must have been.

I need her help.

I sit in the car for a while, taking some steadying breaths. I don’t have to do this. I wouldn’t lose anything by just turning around and heading back home.

But if I did, I’d be letting her down again, and this time it really would be my fault.

Unbidden, an image of Jensen drifts into my mind. I imagined him facing his parents just like this. I wonder if what he told me was true, about the pressure they put on him and the disappointment they felt as they watched him act out like a dumb kid.

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