Page 20 of Once Upon a Royal Summer
Henry read the email three times in a row, a metaphorical bomb dropped into his inbox. The secretary’s message included a list of governesses Her Majesty considered to be appropriate choices for Rose’s upcoming school year. Would Henry take a look and return the list to his mother’s assistant, ranked according to preference?
No, Henry would not. He and Rose were on vacation, not a royal tour. Tomorrow was her seventh birthday, and the absolute last thing he intended to do on such a special day was to break the news to his sweet daughter that her grandmother wanted to yank her out of school and have her educated at home.
At least now Henry knew what he was dealing with. The queen was digging her royal heels in about Rose’s education. Removing Rose from school would be the consequence his daughter would face if she continued to refuse to ride her horse in the upcoming procession. He’d known the palace officials wouldn’t take a breach of royal tradition lying down. His mother had made that clear, and Henry had suspected she might dangle the possibility of a governess over her head.
He understood the queen’s point of view. Historically, heirs to the Bella-Moritz throne were taught by a succession of governesses when they were young and private tutors once they became teenagers. Henry himself had never darkened the door of a group classroom until he’d gone to university at Oxford in England.
But when the time had come for Rose to begin her schooling, Henry had gone another route. He remembered how envious he’d been of other children who’d gotten to attend real school and make real friends—friends who, at that age, didn’t care a bit if one of their playmates was the heir to the throne. He’d wanted a real school experience for Rose. After losing her mother, the last thing she needed was to be stuck in the palace twenty-four hours a day without any playmates.
So he’d dug in, just as he’d insisted upon taking Rose to America for her birthday, and Henry had no regrets about either decision. The Flower Festival was vitally important to Bella-Moritz, though. Florists from all over the world came to compete in the flower show, and the day of the royal procession was a national holiday. The good people of his kingdom would be severely disappointed if they didn’t get to see Rose riding her pony. The principality’s newspapers and magazines had been anticipating her big royal debut for months already. All she had to do was sit atop the sweet horse for the length of the wide avenue that stretched from Bella-Moritz’s Grand Flower Park to the palace—five city blocks.
Henry planned to ride alongside her, of course. If necessary, he’d even prop her in his own saddle, and they could ride together.
But he’d rather see Rose conquer her fears and learn that she could do anything she set her mind to. He wanted his little girl to thrive, both inside and outside the palace.
“Everything okay?” Ian asked as they stood at the edge of the Little Mermaid Magic Fountain while Lacey and Rose visited the nearby ice cream cart. “You look slightly green around the gills.”
Henry slid his phone back into his pocket. “Green around the gills?”
“Fish humor.” Ian waved a hand at the fountain, where a costume mermaid sat inside an enormous pink clamshell. Water danced around her in sea glass hues of blue, green, and turquoise. “‘When in Rome’ and all that.”
“Sometimes I think you’re enjoying this vacation as much as Rose is,” Henry said as his lips twisted into a smirk.
Ian’s gaze narrowed. “Don’t pretend you’re not having a good time. You and Princess Sweet Pea looked awfully cozy when your sleigh swished out of that crazy mountain.”
Henry felt his smirk slide off his face. “Stop. I just wanted to talk to her in private for a few minutes about…theme park logistics.”
“‘Theme park logistics.’ Got it.” Ian crossed his arms.
Henry averted his gaze. “And to answer your previous question, everything is just fine—or it will be once Rose resumes her riding lessons. She just needed a break.”
“She’s a brave, spirited girl, Henry. Give her time.”
Henry shot him a look.
Time is the one thing we don’t have.
What limited time Henry did have felt borrowed. So far, they’d been able to roam the grounds of Once Upon A Time with little intrusion. Park goers had aimed curious glances in their direction a few times, but their presence had yet to cause a stir, and for that, he was immensely grateful. He just wasn’t sure how long such good fortune could possibly last.
“Daddy, we got you a treat,” Rose said in a sing-song voice that sounded uncannily like Lacey’s princess persona. She skipped toward Henry with a mermaid tail ice cream bar in one hand and a frozen unicorn horn in the other. “Which one do you want?” She held them both up for inspection.
The unicorn horn appeared to have been rolled in pastel-colored sugar. Henry’s teeth ached just looking at it. “I think I’ll choose the mermaid tail.”
“An excellent choice,” Lacey said as she joined them, her massive skirt billowing behind her. She waited until Henry bit into it and then grinned. “It has a bubble gum center.”
“So it does.” Henry laughed as he chewed. And chewed. And chewed.
“We got one for you too, Uncle Ian.” Rose pointed her unicorn horn bar at Lacey.
He plucked a mermaid tail treat from Lacey’s hand and winked. “Thank you very much, Your Royal Highnesses.”
No titles, remember? Henry very nearly said it, until he realized Ian had been addressing Princess Sweet Pea and her mini-me. Not him.
He took another bite from his ice cream bar to prevent himself from sticking his foot in his mouth. He’d done enough of that at Sweet Pea’s Royal Tea Party, apparently.
Henry and Lacey had moved beyond that royally awkward encounter, though, hadn’t they? They seemed to have reached an understanding during their sleigh ride. He hoped so. It was crazy how fast their journey through the Snow Queen’s Mountain had passed. Why did it suddenly feel like time was slipping through his fingers when the previous four years had crawled by at a snail’s pace? Already, their first full day at the theme park was coming to a close.
You still have three more days.
