Chapter 174

I couldn’t believe it when I looked at my watch and saw that Nolan and I had been speaking to the crowd for almost three hours.

The adrenaline of standing in front of that huge live audience, with the entire world watching on TV or livestream too, was a new level of exhilaration.

Back in the limo after it was all over, Nolan gave me a critical look with a curious little half smile. “So?” he asked. “What did you think? Easier than you expected?”

“That was surreal,” I said. “I don’t think easy is the right word. But it was sure exciting. I hope I did okay.”

He grinned. I loved to see Nolan smile brightly like that. “You did great.”

I scrunched my face up, doubtful. “Really? I wasn’t rambling?”

Nolan shook his head. “You were perfect. They appreciate your candor, I can tell. I imagine it’s a refreshing change of pace after listening to boring politicians like me all the time.”

I had to laugh. “You, my dear, are the last person in the world I’d ever call boring.”

I could hardly wait to see my family and friends for our dinner at the palace. I thought all the activity of the morning would’ve worn me out, but no. There was something final about doing that press conference, something that felt like closure and relief. Like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

The first guest to arrive was a delightful surprise.

“Cindy!” I ran over when she appeared, stepping into our dining room looking a touch nervous, and pulled her into a hug.

“Hi, Yena.” She smiled from ear to ear. “It’s so great to see you again!”

“You as well, Cindy. I didn’t know that you were coming here tonight.”

She smiled sheepishly, darting her eyes over to Nolan. “He told me you might enjoy the surprise.”

“Well, he was right.”

Nolan came over to join us, his hands in his pockets and a content closed-mouth smile on his lips. “Hi, Cindy.” He opened his arms wide, inviting a hug.

Cindy’s eyes sparkled at the sight of him. “I still can’t believe it,” she said as she accepted his embrace. “I can’t believe you made it through that.”

“It’s thanks to the two of you that I did.” Nolan’s voice was quiet and serious.

Cindy blinked quickly to bat away the happy tears that were trying to force their way out. “It was nothing,” she said modestly.

Nolan let her get away with that response for now. More was coming on that topic later.

Everyone else arrived together, all at once. I guess Evan gave Lucy a ride and Tina and Peter drove separately.

“You look so beautiful, sweetheart!” Tina was so overflowing with excitement, I worried she might explode. “And on the news this morning, you were fantastic! Gorgeous, and poised, so sophisticated! I can’t believe I raised such a fine woman!”

“All right, enough of that,” I whispered, letting her hold me in a bear hug longer than was comfortable. My protests fell on deaf ears and Tina continued on with her excited prattle.

Evan helped. “Hey, little sister,” he said, pulling me in for a very quick hug of his own before then taking Tina by the shoulders and steering her over to the table.

I mouthed “Thank you” when he looked back in my direction and he gave me a knowing wink in return.

The table was set up per my instructions, decked out in a beautiful green and pink floral motif. Rafaela had been more than happy, when I caught up with her in the afternoon, to execute all my ideas for setting up the dining room for our party.

There were two small but elegant floral arrangements on the table, featuring white roses and pink peonies with fern leaves and other foliage. I planned on sending them home with Tina and Lucy after dinner. A deep green tablecloth matched the garden motif, and the places were set with simple, elegant white and gold dishes and cutlery.

Nolan had purchased gifts for the ladies in attendance. He must have been very sneaky about this because I was totally oblivious to it – somehow he snuck beautiful gold boxes into the room without my notice, and placed them at Tina, Lucy, and Cindy’s seats at the table.

Tina’s box, the largest, was sized suspiciously like a bottle of wine. The smaller box with Lucy’s name on it contained both her old phone and a brand new one to replace it. Cindy found, in a tiny little box, a car key. The sight of this stunned her into frozen silence.

“It’s not a luxury vehicle or anything,” Nolan said, meeting Cindy’s wide-eyed stare. “Just a van, a very big and very safe one. I know you and the others at the orphanage can make good use of it. It’ll be waiting for you there when you return.”

“Awesome,” she said, slipping the key into her pocket. “Thank you.”

Tina and Lucy were all thanks too, of course. For a second I wondered if Evan and Peter were feeling left out.

But then I remembered the gift Nolan had given my adoptive father back when I first agreed to marry the prince – that deal we made for ten million dollars that Peter needed for his debts.

Pretty sure Peter was okay without a dinner party gift.

And as for Evan, he did something I did not expect.

He cleared his throat, smiled broadly and announced he’d like to make a toast.

Tina, never meaning to be rude but simply used to talking over all of us, kept prattling on a moment longer as we all raised our glasses. Nolan did Evan a favor and cleared his throat, echoing Evan’s own gesture and succeeding at finally shushing Tina. Then he bowed respectfully to Evan.

Evan stood up, held his glass high and said, to my absolute astonishment, “To Nolan, our future King. Congrats, brother, on a well-deserved victory.”

“Here, here!” Peter called heartily in response. Cindy, Tina, and Lucy joined in.

Nolan and Evan shared a meaningful glance as they clinked their crystal goblets together.

“Not to be a bore,” Nolan said, standing himself while Evan sat down. “But I’d like to make a quick toast myself. To Yena and Cindy—the two women who saved my life, without whom I would not be here today.”

Cindy said, “No, no—”

“I was awake for a lot of that, Cindy.” Nolan interrupted her, shut down her protest quickly with a serious voice. “I remember vividly how hard you worked to keep my heart beating. Not just anyone could have done what you did. I owe you my life.”

Finally out of arguments, Cindy exhaled heavily and smiled. “You owe me nothing.”

Conversation ebbed and flowed as we enjoyed each other’s company along with a four-course feast. We were finishing up dessert when I whispered to Lucy, who was sitting on the other side of me, that I wanted to talk to her in private for a minute.

She finally tore her eyes up to meet mine. She had been fussing with her new phone all through the evening, too excited to wait till later to set it up. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I’m being so rude.”

“Stop.” I gave her a mock-glare. “You’re fine. There’s just something I wanted to talk to you about, and Cindy as well—can you loop her in? I want to sneak out while Tina’s distracted. It’ll only take a few minutes.”

Cindy was sitting on the other side of Lucy.

“Okay,” she said quietly, a mischievous smile starting to turn the edges of her mouth upward. Then she leaned over and whispered to Cindy, who had just piled a big bite of cheesecake into her mouth.

I mouthed “Let’s go” at my new little girl gang and led them quickly out of the room, before Tina could take a pause in the story she was telling Nolan for long enough to notice and say, “Hey, where are they going?”