Page 125 of Reign
“I’m so happy for you, Bee.” Sam’s voice snagged on the words.
Hearing it, her sister halted in her tracks and pulled Sam in for a hug. “I love you, Sam,” she whispered.
Sam closed her eyes, willing back the tears. Beatrice had been so many things to her over the years: her oppositionwhen they were children, her fiercest advocate when they were older, and always her role model. Quiet and selfless and brilliant and strong.
Beatrice deserved every ounce of joy that was headed her way today.
“I can’t believe you’re going to useDaphne’swedding,” she couldn’t resist adding. “It’s just going to be so…” So full of white flowers and frilly lace linens and pink champagne, everything that Daphne thought of as happily ever after. “So princess-y,” Sam concluded.
Her sister snorted out a laugh. “That’s okay. I don’t mind a little bit of princess-y.”
“In that case, I’ll go buy you as much time as I can,” Sam promised. “See you in the throne room, Bee.”
When she stepped out into the cold winter afternoon, a sea of noise greeted her, and an unwitting smile rose to Sam’s face.
There were thousands of people out here, holding bottles of wine or confetti cannons, wearing plastic tiaras and veils and shrieking with excitement. They reached toward Sam, shouting questions about the wedding and who had designed her dress and was she single or not, and, to her shock, they weresmiling.
The same crowds that had always been indifferent toward her at best, and actively disapproving at worst, now seemed delighted that she’d shown up. They waved American flags and set off noisemakers and threw shiny silver confetti. Most of the posters were about Jeff and Daphne—Sam saw one that readJeff Will Always Be Prince OfMyHeart!—but a few of them were actually about her:I’m on#TeamsamandJust Try to Samcel Me!
Her eyes were drawn to a little girl holding tight to her father’s hand, wearing a pink peacoat over a T-shirt printed with Jeff’s face and cartoon hearts.
The girl tilted her head, curious. “What are you doing out here? Aren’t you supposed to be taking wedding photos right now?”
“We got a little behind schedule this morning, so I came out to say hi.” Sam knelt down to the girl’s level and winked. “I like your shirt. I need to get one of those for my brother.”
“Oh, my dad designed it!”
Sam glanced up at the girl’s father, who visibly reddened. “I have an online merchandise shop.”
“We make some amazing gear about you, too!” the girl told Sam eagerly. “My favorite is ourSpare Me the Dramashirt. We’ve sold thousands since you came back to town!”
“Michaela,” the dad said warningly, but Sam chuckled.
“Spare Me the Drama? I like it.” Because she’d been born the spare—and, she had to admit, she did have a flair for drama.
The crowds erupted in another roar of noise. When Sam heard the direction of the cheers, and saw everyone’s eyes darting behind her, she realized that someone else had walked out of the palace.
She turned around slowly, a part of her already knowing who she would see.
Marshall looked achingly handsome in his tails and waistcoat; even his white gloves were clasped with a gold button at the wrist. Then Sam saw the telltale gleam on his lapel—the grizzly bear pin that was the symbol of the Dukes of Orange.
He started walking toward her, and Sam was hit by a crippling mixture of fear and longing.
“Marshall—what are you doing?” she whispered. Now a showdown with his family would be inevitable. Now everyone in the entireworldwould know he was here.
With that very first step outside the palace doors, he had thrown away his chance at going back to Hawaii.
“I’m coming to the wedding. If you’ll let me, I mean.”Marshall looked at her with a tentative smile. “I believe they call this a grand gesture? A way to show someone you love them, when telling them isn’t enough.”
Vaguely, Sam was aware of the thousands of people staring at them, the lights of flashbulbs exploding over her skin. It all felt inconsequential compared to Marshall.
“I love you, too,” she told him. “But nothing has changed. We still want different things.”
“I wantyou,Sam. None of the rest matters.”
The roar of the crowds seemed to retreat behind a curtain as Marshall went on: “Hawaii wasn’t the same after you left. I loved the people I met there, and the things I learned about myself. But paradise doesn’t really feel like paradise if you’re not there to share it, Sam. I kept hoping you would come back soon, but the longer you stayed away, the lonelier I got.”
“Marshall, I was lonely too. I needed you just as much as you needed me.”
