Page 85 of The Prince and the Puck
The celebration had almost ended when a familiar face appeared. A tall man with close-cropped dark hair and a beard that hugged his jawline stepped out onto the patio just as we were finishing our burgers. My heart dropped.
“Uncle Jericho?” I stood and moved to where he stood.
“Declan, my boy.” He pushed his dark glasses to his forehead and grinned at me before enclosing me in a hug that reminded me of being a little kid again.
“It’s so great to see you!” I’d invited him when I’d learned Mom and Dad would be in town, but hadn’t gotten a response. Jericho had always been a little bit secretive.
Uncle Jericho greeted my parents, giving them formal handshakes and nods. I’d never really figured out quite whatthe relationship was there. I only knew Jericho was not actually related to me by blood.
But as I turned to Lizzy, ready to introduce her, it was as if the world suddenly clicked into a smoother orbit. Her eyes were trained on Jericho and her mouth had dropped open.
“Eliza,” he said, smiling warmly at my wife.
I looked between them, and I almost wasn’t surprised when Lizzy said, “Dad?”
It was a long night of talking, explaining, and reuniting after that. But Dad finally told me that the only reason he’d agreed to send me to the United States was because his top guard had agreed to take me and act as my chaperone for as long as it took. In the end, Jericho had retired in the states, never returning to Murdan. Or to his daughter.
Late that night, I held Lizzy in my arms, a strange combination of emotion flowing through me. “I think I owe you an apology,” I told her.
“For what, babe?”
“I took your dad.” As I said the words, the guilt that had been growing inside me all night finally came out. “I feel like shit, Lizzy. I’m the reason you grew up without your dad?”
Lizzy, who had been lying quietly at my side, bolted up and flipped me on my back, straddling me on the Alaskan King. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“But it’s true, isn’t it?”
Lizzy scowled at me. “No, it’s not. Do you remember him from before? From when we were kids in Murdan?”
I thought back to all the times I’d hung out with Lizzy’s mom… but I’d never seen Jericho. “No.”
“That’s because he was never there. He was always off serving some mission for the crown.”
That was even worse. “So my whole family owes you an apology.”
She huffed out a sigh, and repositioned herself on my chest, giving me a frustrated squint. “No, silly. He chose to be away.”
“He did?”
“I had the same job he did, remember? I know how it works. They throw assignments your way, but you can say no.”
“You can?”
“Of course,” she said. “My mother and father never really got along. They did best when he wasn’t around, and that was just what I was used to.”
It didn’t make a lot of sense. Jericho had been good to me. Kind, caring. “He almost acted like a father to me,” I said, the guilt rushing back.
She shrugged. “I’m glad. It makes me happy that you both got that opportunity. To care about someone. To be cared for.”
“But you?—”
“I had my mom,” she said. “And it makes me happy to think that my dad was busy taking good care of the man I loved for all those years.”
I liked that idea. “You sure?”
“I’m sure,” she said, finally relaxing back down into our bed.
“I love you, Eliza.” The words felt so small compared to the enormous rush of feeling I had for the woman in my arms.
“A lot?” She asked, her voice coy.
“More than a lot.”
“Enough for two people?”
I turned so I could look down into her face. “What’s going on?”
“Declan, we’re going to have a baby.”
I hugged my wife tightly to me, happiness lighting the very air around us as her words settled into my heart. It was perfect. Everything in my life was perfect.
