Page 29 of The Princess Home for Christmas

Chapter 11

When they reached the top, Dahlia immediately made her way to an outdoor café. Lovely. They chose a table right on the edge, overlooking all of Torren, out to the sea.

“We should definitely come here more often.” Dahlia ordered and turned to Thomas. “Thank you for making this possible.”

“I needed it just as much as you.” He took his phone and the keys out of his pocket and left them on the table. “If you’ll excuse me a moment?”

She sat back, letting the gentle breeze tickle her hair and fill her with the happiness that Thomas had promised. They could work through this. They could go undercover and no press would harass them. If she steered clear of her refugee group, no one would ever think to find them. And perhaps even Thomas could help her think of a way to legally help them, to get them permanent status.

His phone buzzed, vibrated the table. He had left it face up and Dahlia shook her head at the stream of texts that kept growing. Most appeared to be one or two word messages. What on earth was up with the stalker texter person?

Then somebody was calling, from across the table, she saw it was a name, his mother’s. She reached for it to answer but the call disconnected. And now she worried. What if all the texts were from his mother? What if there was some urgent emergency? The screen went black for a moment and she clutched the phone, unsure how to handle the situation. She craned her neck to try to see if Thomas was on his way back.

The phone buzzed again and the message said, “He’s your son! Joe is yours. There, does that make you feel better? Now, come get me out of this hole and let’s raise a family.”

Her heart stuttered. “What?” She scrolled with her thumb to read more.

“Find anything interesting?” Thomas’ voice sounded anything but pleased.

She swallowed. “Yes, as a matter of fact.” Her eyes narrowed. “Your mother called and I answered it too late and then some interesting news showed up.” She handed him his phone.

He glanced down and then his eyes widened and he whipped out a few more messages, his thumbs flying across the letters. He glanced up as if remembering she sat in front of him and said. “This is not what you think.” Then his thumbs returned to another response.

“I don’t know how else it could be interpreted, honestly.” She felt sick. Perhaps it was alright if Thomas had a past, but he hadn’t mentioned it. And a child? That was problematic. And a woman who wanted to make a family together? Those children at his home. Could they all be his? Joe was the boy’s name. The more she imagined an interpretation of the texts, the more ill she felt.

She stood. “Look, Thomas, I’ve got to get home.”

“Mmm.” He continued a fast and furious typing on his phone.

She pushed in her chair. Then he stopped, took one more look at the screen and then pocketed his phone. “I’m sorry. I know how this looks. It’s not what you think, but I’m going to need to work some things out for a few minutes.” He held out his hand, presumably to escort her back to the trolley.

She ignored the hand and turned to leave. “I can see my own way out.”

“Wait, Dahlia, please, just a little more patience…”

She held up her hand and shook her head, picking up her pace.

Thomas ran to catch up. Just as he reached her, the girl from the trolley ride shouted. “There he is! The creep! That’s Thomas Castellanos.”

“What!” Dahlia couldn’t believe the starry eyed girls now scowled at Thomas like he’d ruined their day.

“Oh no.” Thomas groaned.

She and Thomas turned to run but there was nowhere to go. As quickly as they could, they loaded the trolley, running feet chasing after. As many as could, piled into the trolley with them, phones out, no doubt videos recording.

Dahlia sat against the window, looking out, hat pulled low. Thomas sat beside her. At first everyone was silent.

Then a teenage girl, sitting in front of Dahlia turned around. “Princess?” her voice was quiet, respectful.

Dahlia smiled. “Yes?”

“I’m sorry he’s such a jerk. I follow all the work you do. You’re a good person and deserve someone really special.” She scowled at Thomas and then smiled again at Dahlia before turning around.

“I’m not a jerk.” Thomas said it under his breath, but many women responded to the contrary.

“I’m not. I’m sure it’s all a big misunderstanding.” He turned to Dahlia. “I know you misunderstood. Please, give me a chance to explain what you saw while spying on me.”

Dahlia felt her face drain of color. But after a quick glance at all the listening ears, she pressed her lips together and fought several verbal responses. More came to her the longer the trolley ride.

---