Page 85 of Finding Lord Landry

My father leaned back in his chair, bringing his wineglass with him. “He could be. It’s clear the two of you have serious feelings for each other.”

I shook my head. “Not him. And he wouldn’t want to be an MP’s spouse or settle full-time in England anyway. Kenji has dreams that don’t involve living in the center of a three-ring media circus.”

My father tilted his head at me as if to understand. “Did I ever tell you how your mother and I met? Funny story, that. She was here on a school trip.”

There was a silent, collective groan of disappointment in the room as he began one of his favorite story repeats.

I tried to focus on a centering technique I’d overheard Kenji describing one time—Breathe in. Feel your feet. Exhale slowly—but all I could think about was that my feet felt hot and humid in my running shoes after my workout.

That was a shit centering technique.

“What you may not know,” my father continued, “was that I deliberately didn’t pursue her at first.”

I blinked at him in surprise. This was a new verse to his usual song. “You wrote her, like, a hundred letters.”

He nodded. “That’s right. But that’s all I did. I was afraid if I pursued her, if she came back over here and married me, all the parts of her I loved, all of her spirit and playfulness, would be stifled under formality and the pressure of trying to fit into my world.”

Nan didn’t look surprised by this information, but Cora and I sure were. “I never knew that,” I admitted. “So what happened?”

He scratched at an old scar on the table with a short fingernail. “She showed up on my doorstep.”

Cora shook her head. “We know that part, but why didn’t you turn her away if you were worried about it?”

His face softened with memory and old affection. “You must not remember your aunt. She wasn’t the kind of woman who allowed anyone to turn her away.” He looked up at Cora and then me. “I told her I hadn’t wanted to throw her to the wolves by asking her out. She implied that she didn’t need anyone making decisions for her, and she pointed out that if I liked her enough to write her a hundred letters and discontinue seeing other women for those five years, that was evidence enough that I was interested in her as more than a friend. And of course, she was right.”

Their love story had been romantic and epic. Years after the press had gotten hold of it—leaked by one of my mother’s American school friends—they’d gone on to compare Charles and Diana’s love story to my parents’, which had become more and more offensive as details of the royal couple’s true relationship had come out.

It had taken them fifteen years—and countless losses—before my mother had become pregnant with me. My mother had always said the wait for me allowed her more time to spend with the love of her life.

Looking into my father’s eyes reminded me that he’d had to spend the past fifteen years without his Kenji. How the hell had he survived?

His gaze was lucid and piercing. “Do you know what she told me that day? Sometimes choosing the path of happiness comes with unexpected sacrifices.”

“I don’t want him to sacrifice. I told you that.”

Dad leaned forward and gripped my hand. “Darling boy. Whoever said I was talking abouthimdoing the sacrificing?”

I stared at him. “I don’t understand. You make it sound like I’m not willing to sacrifice anything for him, and that’s simply not true.”

He took a slow sip of his wine, the liquid leaving defined legs as it slid back down the bowl of the crystal glass. “Then why are you here in London playing a game only Teddy Baines will win?”

Once again, I looked at my father in shock. And once again, Nan didn’t look surprised.

“I thank God every day that you are your mother’s child, Landry,” Dad said with a wink. “And your mother would advise you to choose happiness.”

He turned to Cora with a smile and asked for details about her recent archery win, as though he hadn’t just set my whole world on its ear… and called meLandrywhile doing it.

Nan shot me a warm look of understanding. “He meant what he said, Landry. Ed has only ever wanted your happiness. If you want a seat in the Lords, he wants you to have that. And if you want a life with Kenji, well…”

“It’s a moot point whatIwant if the guy doesn’t want me.” I shook my head to clear it. “Meanwhile, this hasn’t distracted me from the main point, which is this ridiculous media speculation.” I pointed back to her tablet, where the headline and photo were no longer visible since the screen had gone to sleep. “We’re going to ruin this reporter’s career?—”

Nan sighed and stood up, tucking her tablet under her arm. “We’re not. Not tonight, anyway. Instead, we’re going to put this in the hands of our crisis PR teamtomorrowand let them respond with brains instead of…” She waved a hand at me. “Whatever this is.”

I rubbed my face with both hands. “Fine.”

It wasn’t fine, but Nan deserved her rest. And I was perfectly capable of contacting the crisis team myself.

After retrieving my phone from the workout room, where I’d accidentally left it, I poked my head in to make sure Kenji was asleep.

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