Page 24 of Once Upon a Royal Summer
The book’s slim gold spine cracked as he lifted the cover. Inside, Lacey had written an inscription to Rose in swirly pink lettering.
Sweetest Rose,
Wishing you a birthday filled with dreams come true.
Love, Princess Sweet Pea
Rose traced the handwriting with the tip of her finger, and Henry’s chest felt as though it were being squeezed in a vise. How was it a woman they’d known for only two days had made such a profound impression on his daughter?
Henry frowned to himself. Who was he kidding? Lacey had made quite an impression on both of them.
He cleared his throat and began reading. “Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away, there lived a handsome prince.”
“Just like you, Daddy,” Rose said, burrowing further into the covers.
Henry turned the page. “But the prince was—” his voice cracked, “—very, very lonely.” He hadn’t seen that coming, nor the empty feeling in the pit of his stomach as he’d read the words out loud.
“Are you lonely, Daddy?” Rose peered up at him, her blue eyes huge in her dainty face.
Yes.
The word nearly tumbled right out of his mouth before he could stop it.
“Not right now, sweetheart. How could I be lonely when we’re here together?” He pressed the tiny furrow in his daughter’s brow with a gentle touch of his finger.
She nodded, but didn’t appear convinced. “This story is about a prince searching for his perfect princess. Did you know that?”
Sort of? He mostly remembered the part about the pea. But he was beginning to think that reading Rose a bedtime story hadn’t been such a brilliant idea, after all. “Let’s see how it turns out, shall we?” He forced a smile.
Coward.
“Okay.” Rose nodded and focused her attention back on the story book.
He moved on to the next page, where the prince indeed embarked on a journey to find the perfect princess, because “only a real princess would do,” which seemed rather snobbish to Henry. But he refrained from dwelling on that fact, lest Rose ask more questions. Her comments were beginning to feel like a thinly veiled commentary on his own life rather than the fairy tale at hand.
“The prince met many princesses, but in his heart, none of them seemed right to the prince,” Henry read.
He paused again as Lacey’s generous smile flitted through his mind. How was it that he felt more himself around her than any other woman he’d ever met, when Lacey was playing a fictional part? Their entire interaction had been based on make-believe.
It defied logic. Henry didn’t know anything about the real Lacey, did he? All he knew was a princess persona that wasn’t even real.
Except every now and then, he caught a glimpse of the woman behind the ball gown and the white satin gloves—like when they’d shared a sleigh together on Snow Queen Mountain and when she’d been so eager to leave the royal group behind to go talk to Molly at the swan boats. As much as Henry didn’t want to admit it, those tiny glimmers of reality had left him longing to know more.
When he started reading again, his voice sounded rusty—even to his own ears—as if he hadn’t used it in a long, long time. “So the prince returned to his kingdom with a heavy heart…”
He swallowed, and it was a relief when Rose’s breathing became heavy and her little chest lifted and fell with the steady rhythm of sleep.
Because even though Henry was pretty sure he knew how this story ended, he simply wasn’t quite ready to turn the page.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Faster Than a Spinning Teacup
The following morning at Once Upon A Time began with The Ugly Duckling’s Boat Parade, a grand procession of boats that wound its way through the Swan Princess River. Every boat in the flotilla was duck-themed, laden with colorful feathers and sparkling, golden eggs, except for the final watercraft, which was, of course, a beautiful white swan with enormous outstretched wings.
Lacey had arranged for her regal guests to watch the parade from a platform at the top of Jack’s Towering Beanstalk, a twisty, multi-level treehouse flush with climbing ivy and dripping with Spanish moss. The tiptop of the attraction overlooked the river, affording park-goers a perfect view of the parade. Rose was mesmerized, and she and Ian had a contest going to see who could most accurately count the number of golden eggs aboard the various boats.
“My lips are sealed,” Lacey said, pretending to zip her mouth closed.
