Page 26 of Once Upon a Royal Summer
Had she really just said that? It seemed horribly intrusive, but was she supposed to sit there and pretend she hadn’t seen that famous photograph of Henry and Rose? Doing so would’ve felt disingenuous. It seemed better to just acknowledge the elephant in the room.
Henry nodded slowly, and Lacey felt compelled to keep talking to fill the loaded silence. “Losing my mom is actually what inspired me to be a theme park princess.”
His eyes met hers, and her insides immediately tumbled like she was on a tilt-a-whirl. For a pretend princess and a real prince on holiday, this moment was beginning to seem far too real.
He angled his head closer, so close that she could see tiny flecks of gold in his blue irises beneath the brim of his baseball cap disguise. “How so?”
“She was sick for a long time before she passed away, in and out of the hospital for almost a year. My dad and I spent a lot of time there, and on Fridays, princesses from a local theme park would come visit the hospital playroom.”
A warm glow filled Lacey, like it always did when she thought back on those rare glimmers of happiness during such a confusing and difficult time.
“I was enraptured. Those stolen moments with the princesses every week made me believe everything would be okay in the end. They were always so cheery and kind, and they told me I was beautiful and strong and that even the saddest stories eventually had happy endings.” Lacey gave Henry a lopsided smile. “And I believed every word. Those princesses might’ve been pretend, but they were a ray of light to me when I needed one most. I like to think I can do the same for guests here at Once Upon A Time.”
Henry’s gaze bore into hers until his mouth curved into a smile that reached all the way to his eyes.
Lacey’s pulse fluttered in her throat. “I know it probably seems silly to someone like you, but—”
“No, not at all.” He shook his head. “It seems lovely. I can’t think of a better reason to be a princess—the theme park sort or any other variety.”
Lacey went all fizzy inside.
“Really and truly?” she asked in her Sweet Pea voice.
“Really and truly,” Henry said, and the softness in his tone made her head spin.
His hand moved closer to hers again, and just when Lacey thought he was about to weave his fingers through hers, a gravelly voice boomed from the nearby loudspeakers.
Fee-fi-fo-fum!
The huge, man-made beanstalk began to shake.
Henry looked so alarmed that Lacey couldn’t help but laugh. “Don’t worry. That’s just the giant.”
Henry glanced over his shoulder. “He’s not about to grind my bones to make his bread, is he?”
Ah, so the prince was well-versed in fairy tales. How adorable was that? If Lacey had been standing, she would’ve definitely been weak in the knees. “You can rest easy. It’s just a special effect that happens up here every hour on the hour.” She winked.
“Daddy, I heard the giant!” Rose scampered back toward the bench with Ian trailing behind her. “Did you hear him?”
“I think they heard the giant all the way back in Bella-Moritz,” Henry said.
“No, they didn’t.” Rose giggled.
Henry stood and stretched his arms over his head, Frankenstein-style, and began chasing Rose around the terrace. “Fee-fi-fo-fum!”
They’d been plunged back into the land of make-believe, but a rebellious piece of Lacey’s heart lingered in the real world with a real prince and real feelings she couldn’t wish away.
No matter very how hard she tried.
After the parade, Henry and his group followed Lacey down Jack’s Towering Beanstalk, back to the cobblestone promenade of the park. For lunch, they feasted on something called sausage-on-a-stick at a wood-paneled tavern straight out of Beauty and the Beast. It seemed as if most theme park food came served on some sort of skewer, which Henry rather liked—even if Lacey seemed amused when he’d ordered seconds.
After lunch, with the Florida sun high in the robin’s egg-blue sky, Rose’s round little face became flushed, and Lacey suggested they cool themselves off with a ride on The Three Billy Goats Gruff Wild Water Crossing. They followed colorful signs held aloft by sparkly fairy wings pointing in the direction of the attraction. Rows of carnival games lined either side of the pathway, where giant stuffed animals hung from the ceiling, waiting to be claimed as prizes. Players tossed footballs through hanging tires and threw darts at a wall of colorful balloons, lined up in the happy hues of the rainbow.
Not one person gawked at Henry. For once, he could walk through a crowd of people without being met with endless requests for selfies or having his every move recorded on cell phone videos. Henry was the center of attention everywhere he went in Bella-Moritz. Here, in this place where people came to feel like kings and queens, Henry reveled in being just a regular nobody. A dad. A man…
A man who was starting to remember what it felt like to be drawn to a beautiful woman, even if that woman’s job was to dress up as a cartoon version of his very real existence. He couldn’t seem to stop looking at her, and every time Rose snagged the seat next to Lacey on a ride, his chest ached. Henry had forgotten how tortuous attraction could be. It seemed he’d forgotten a lot of things in recent years.
Just as the swishing waters of the Billy Goat ride came into view in the distance, Lacey paused. She looked up at Henry, and warmth spread through him. “Did you hear that?”
