Page 123 of Loyally, Luke
Penelope:Hey now. Matt and I prayed for Luke and Ellie as soon as I stopped crying.
Luke:Well, keep ’em coming. I’m not sure how this will help and I get nauseous at the very idea of what I might haveto do, but I think I know someone who can give me some direction.
***
“I don’t know how we can repair this, Elliana.” Her mother pressed her fingers into her forehead as she sat in a chair across from her in their parents’ sitting room. “And after you’d made such progress with your public reputation.” The weariness in her mother’s voice pricked at Ellie’s spine, but she attempted to maintain her composure.
She was not sorry for being with Luke.
She only hated another reason for her parents to have to fight for her public credibility.
“Oh, Elliana. I never wanted this for you, darling.” Her mother’s tender response drew Ellie’s attention. “Why did you go?”
Ellie paused. Myriad answers swarmed through her, all right and good, but how could she fully explain so her mother would hear her? She caught her father’s look and the idea emerged. “Because I love him and I wanted to spend one more day with him.”
“Love him?” Mother glanced over at Father as if he’d provide some help. “You barely know him.”
“I know him well enough to realize that I feel at home when I’m with him. That he makes me a better version of myself because I don’t have to pretend to be anyone else. And I love—” Air burst out in a voiceless laugh. “I love loving him. So yes, I wanted to capture whatever memories I could for whatever time I had, at whatever cost. And I’m sorry to have placed you and Father in this situation, but I am not sorry for choosing to be with him.”
“Life is hard for two people of such different backgrounds, Elliana. The sacrifices... the choices... the ridicule.”
“Would you have become the strong, confident woman you are right now if the road had been easy, Mother?”
Her mother’s expression softened and something close to a smile gentled her concern. “No, likely I would not, but I also would not wish such hardship on you—on any of my children, especially with all you’ve already borne.”
And then Ellie understood the stubbornness, saw it for what it really was. A mother’s protection. An act of love. Ellie moved forward and lowered to her knees, taking her mother’s hands in hers. “One of the best women I know was refined by love and hardship, and I hope to be half the woman she is.”
Ellie could count on one hand the times she’d seen her mother cry, but the regal woman’s eyes filled and overflowed down her cheeks. “Perhaps there are some things I can learn fromyou?” She sniffled through her light laugh.
“I think every royal house needs a thorough commoner thrown into it now and again.” Ellie stood and took the seat next to her mother. “Look at the excellent perspective you brought to Father’s life and this country. Your view on education reform has been the bedrock of so many healthy educational changes here, and it stems from your history. A history”—Ellie looked over at Father with a smile—“of which you should be extremely proud.”
Ellie reached for her bag and brought out the journal. “I found this journal at Cambric. It’s the beautiful story of simple people experiencing hardship, falling in love, and then becoming people who brought positive change to those around them. People from your town in Crieff.” She pressed the journal into her mother’s hands. “The regular people of Skymar want their royals to marry those who will support Skymar and bring good change to our country, no matter where that person is from. Because when we’re loved well, it is no matter whether that person be a king”—she gestured toward herfather—“or a commoner. That type of love makes us stronger, better versions of ourselves so we can serve others out of the overflow.”
Mother’s palm pressed against her chest. “That’s... lovely.”
“It is.” Ellie smiled, tapping the journal. “And I think you’d like this story because it will remind you of the good of who you were, even as a commoner.” She gestured toward Father. “But also of the greatness of what being in love has done, even despite, and sometimes because of, the hardships.”
Mother looked over at Father, her pale eyes watery and tender. He smiled in a way that communicated his love for her.
“And this is how you feel for Mr.Edgewood?” Mother wiped at a tear beneath her eye.
“I do.”
“He’s worthy of a princess then?” Father chimed in, a smile in his voice.
Ellie looked from her mother to her father, her smile growing at the idea of Luke trying to fit into her world. “Worthy? Oh yes, but... while he may not be the sort of man you would choose for your princess, he is certainly the sort of man you should choose for your daughter. I would choose him, because he would make me a better person.”
“You could choose to go with him, you know.” Mother held her gaze. “This royal life doesn’t have to be yours.”
“The past three years, I’ve realized how much I love this country and the ability to serve our people. Before, I resented my station and my responsibilities, but now I see the honor and privilege of being an agent of change for good in a way few other people have the power or influence to do. I choose this family first, this calling as a royal.”
Her mother’s eyes filled with tears again. “And... and he won’t stay for you?”
The question stabbed her heart, but she raised her chin to face the reality head-on. “Should his love for his life and his people proveany less influential or important than mine?” The memory of how he’d wrapped his arms around her on the cabin couch and just let her rest against him came to mind, and she almost smiled. “If... if he thought Ineededhim to stay, I believe he would, because that’s who he is, but that isn’t fair to him.” She sat taller. “Or to me.”
“What do you mean?” Her father came and sat across from her.
“He should stay first and foremost because he chooses this life, not because he thinks I need him to stay.” She blinked back the tears, refusing them exit. “We both have made a choice to move forward with our lives separately because he knows I love this place, these people, and I will not betray your trust in me again, but he cannot spend all of his life in a royal world.” A sad sort of chuckle emerged at the thought of him in a world of constant balls and royal responsibilities. “He would try. I know he would, but having to live in this life all the time... well, I think a part of him would fade and I... I love him much more than to ask him to give up his world entirely for mine.” She drew in a breath, attempting to brace her heart against the ache. “And since there is not a world in between, then we’ve made this choice. Together.”
