Page 66 of Princess of Pride
The phone has my number and a few others. Text me when you’re ready for the tour. Lorna
I scroll through the contacts. Lachlan is under favorites as well as my home number and my mom and sister’s. How does he have these?
One important number is missing. Adelaide’s. I want to call her and see how she’s doing. Is she with Kingston now? Is he taking care of her? I can’t find out without her number.
I want to ask Lachlan if he can get it for me—I’m sure he has the resources—but I don’t want to owe him anything. He took everything from me and now he’s giving me stuff back.
Luxurious stuff.
This room is for me. I take it all in again. The ivory wood furniture carved with roses. The French crystal chandeliers. The silk and velvet drapery in silver and light blue fabric that shimmers. It’s a room fit for Elsa fromFrozen,including the white marble bathroom.
The dressing room has more clothes than I could need, unless he plans to keep me here for a year. But he said the feud between his family would be over soon. I have enough to be comfortable for a while, even if I don’t wish to be here at all.
Damn you, Lachlan. I hate him as much as I’m intrigued by him.
I open the laptop. It’s set up and ready for me to use, as is the phone. I log into my mail and social media accounts. I can always reach out to Adelaide through them.
I go to those first and DM her from each of my accounts, leaving out the dramatic details of my life. Keeping the messages light, I tell her I’m sorry about her dad, ask if she got my flowers, and if she’s doing okay. I explain I lost my phone and that I need her number again. Then I tell her that I love her and am thinking of her. She doesn’t need to know about my situation. My guess is she didn’t see anything about mywedding in the local news. Even though it was announced in most cities in New England, that doesn’t mean it reached her. Watch Hill is more secluded, and she’s not big on keeping up with the news.
If she had seen the announcement, she would have reached out in shock. If she couldn’t get through to my phone, she would have DM’d me too.
With that taken care of, I move on to what I’ve been dreading—calling my sister. Pippa doesn’t answer, so I leave her a message to call me at this number.
Next, I try my mom. My hand shakes, and my heart gallops in my chest with so much panic I almost hang up.
“Hello?” Mom answers.
My throat locks up. “Mom?” I force out.
“Emery?”
“Yeah. Hi. Please don’t hang up.”
She goes silent.
“I’m sorry I upset you.”
She chokes out a laugh.
“Iam. I miss you.”
“What is this, Emery?” Disappointment rings in her tone. “You’re married now. You should be going to Lachlan with your problems. Not me.”
“I called the other night,” I blurt on the verge of tears. “You were... sleeping, but we talked. You said…” I clear my throat. “You said stuff about my… my birth mother."
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” She ends the call.
Tears slide down my cheeks. It’s not the first time she’s hung up on me, but it hurts all the same. Sometimes she wouldn’t talk to me for weeks. Other times she’d ignore me for months. It depended on her mood and her willingness to make peace. I knew earning her forgiveness after the weddingdebacle wouldn’t be easy, but I thought… I don’t know what I thought. A tear drips from my nose and lands on the desk, darkening the ivory wood.
I could gather my composure and take a moment before calling Pippa. But I don’t want to wait. I have to know the truth. Given how Mom hung up on me and what Candace had said—the memories of that phone call clear in my mind now—Ineedto know.
I call Pippa again.
She replies with a text.
Pippa: Is this an emergency?
Before I can respond, she texts again.
