Page 60 of Once Upon a Royal Summer
Lacey relaxed a little, despite how nervous speaking to the queen one-on-one made her feel—particularly since only one of them was dressed for a pajama party. “She was amazing, wasn’t she? I’ll bet Henry was so proud of her.”
The queen nodded. “Yes, we all were.”
“I took a bunch of pictures. Would you like to see some of them?” She glanced around in search of her phone.
It was on the nightstand beside the book she’d started reading on the plane from Florida, a cozy mystery novel about a dog walker who solved crimes with the help of her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
The queen’s gaze snagged on the book. “You read mysteries?”
Lacey clutched her phone to her chest. “Yes. I spent a lot of time alone as a kid, so I’ve always been a big reader. Henry showed me the palace library. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. It would take a lifetime to read all of those books.”
Henry’s mother smiled. “The library has always been my favorite room of the house. I spent many, many hours there when I was a young girl.”
Lacey felt herself smile. So they actually had something in common—one tiny thing—even though the queen was the sort of person who referred to a grand, gilded palace as a house. She tried to imagine Queen Elloise tucked away as a lonely little girl in that big library with her head buried in a book. The queen was so regal, though. So confident. Her mannerisms and just the way she walked was so elegant that it always seemed as though she were wearing an invisible crown. Lacey couldn’t imagine her looking any different than she did right this moment.
She took a deep breath and refocused on the phone, tapping the photo album icon on the small screen and flipping through the pictures as she searched for the start of the ones she’d taken of Rose at the parade.
“Tell me more. I’m interested in knowing why, if you don’t mind,” Queen Elloise said.
Lacey glanced up from her phone. “Why I like mysteries or why I spent a lot of time alone as a kid?”
Her mouth went dry. Please let it be the former.
The queen tilted her head. “Both, actually.”
Okay, then. She was going to have to bare her soul to Henry’s mother…while standing barefoot among the ruins of a blanket fort. Good times.
Lacey took a deep breath. “My mom got sick when I was five or so. She passed away when I was seven. Mysteries were her favorite type of book, so I guess reading them has always made me feel closer to her.”
Queen Elloise’s gaze softened in a way Lacey hadn’t seen before. The tender look in the monarch’s eyes almost made her feel like she could breathe a full breath again. “That must’ve been very difficult for you.”
“It was.” Lacey nodded. Behind her breastbone, she felt a dull ache in her chest, like she always did when she talked about her mom’s passing. “But it was a long time ago, and I like to think it made me into the person I am today.”
“I think I’m beginning to see why Rose feels such a kinship with you.”
“Perhaps.” Lacey smiled. “I know we come from vastly different backgrounds, but I think I understand her a bit.”
The tightness in her chest intensified. Should she really be talking to the queen this way? Lacey doubted Henry’s mother seriously thought she had much in common with her grandchild. They came from vastly different worlds—far different than Lacey could’ve ever imagined.
“Here we go.” Lacey scrolled to her favorite picture of Rose from the parade—a close-up, cropped just to show her beaming face alongside Daisy’s striking gray head and the colorful flowers and ribbons that had been woven through the mane along her crest and forelock. “I really like this one.”
The queen studied the photograph until her customary stoic expression melted a bit around the edges. “It’s lovely. She looks so happy. I couldn’t have imagined her smiling so broadly in the saddle just a few days ago.”
Lacey thought back to their ride on the carousel at Once Upon A Time, and her heart gave a little squeeze. So much had happened since then. Sometimes she felt like she’d stepped onto an amusement park ride the moment she’d landed in Bella-Moritz and was still spinning round and round in dizzying circles, unable to get off.
Did she want to get off?
Lacey wasn’t altogether sure anymore.
“You did this, didn’t you?” Queen Elloise said, handing the phone back to Lacey.
Lacey blinked. “Pardon?”
“The ribbons and the flowers. Dressing Daisy up to look like a carousel horse. All of it was your idea, wasn’t it?” The queen’s mouth curved into a rare smile. “We have you to thank for Rose riding so beautifully in the procession.”
A lightness came over Lacey and she forgot all about the chocolate stain and the blanket fort and her common lavender toenails. She’d done something right, and the queen had noticed. After feeling so out of place for the past few days, she might actually have a chance to get in Henry’s mother’s good graces.
But taking credit for Rose’s success didn’t feel right. Flowers and ribbons were just window dressing. Henry was the one who’d whisked his daughter halfway across the world so she could see the magic in her everyday existence. It had taken a theme park castle and dressing as a storybook princess for his little girl to realize that a life of royal duty could be filled with joy, not just responsibility. And taking Rose there, giving her the gift of that insight, had been Henry’s idea. Not Lacey’s.
