‘It was his mother all along?’ Clem stared at Sally in astonishment. ‘But you said she seemed so sympathetic!’
Sally sank into a chair and leaned onto the kitchen table in Arrosa’s villa, holding her head in her hands. ‘I was so naive, Clem. I took her at her word. I accepted that email address as truth, the words written as his. I should have realised the Ben I knew, the man I fell for, couldn’t have been so dismissive, so cruel, but I felt so stupid and vulnerable. He was an earl after all. I was just a local girl.’
‘There is nothing wrong with being a local girl, and nothing special about being an Earl.’
Sally managed to smile at that. ‘Says the daughter of a king and the girlfriend of a vicomte.’
‘Exactly.’ Clem sat next to Sally and put a consoling arm around her shoulders. ‘My father is a king and all my life he has been distant, keeping me a secret. We’re finding our way to a relationship now but it’s not easy.’ Clem’s expression saddened. The king was currently in hospital after a heart scare.
‘Hey.’ Sally nudged her. ‘The doctors said he would be fine.’
‘I know. But I just wish we hadn’t lost all those years. If Alice has a chance of having any kind of relationship with Ben…’
‘Then I have to make that happen. I was going to do my best even if he had written those emails. At least I know he really is keen to get to know her.’
But how it would work Sally had no idea. Ben had mentioned that he would be taking on the management of the vast Askett estate as well as running his company and that, she knew, meant he would need to spend most of his time in Buckinghamshire, nearly two hundred miles away from Cornwall. Would he want regular weekends? Holidays? Would she have to share Christmas? Her heart clenched at the idea. ‘I don’t know how to do this.’
‘One day at a time,’ Clem reminded her. ‘Have you mentioned anything to Alice yet?’
‘Not yet. I thought I’d wait until we were back in Cornwall. I’m going to be as honest as I can. I always told her that her daddy went away before we knew she was going to be born and was on the other side of the world. I think I’ll just tell her he didn’t get my emails but now he knows about her, he can’t wait to meet her. She’s outgoing, loves people. I think she’ll be fine.’
‘And what about you?’
‘Me? I’m always fine.’
‘Having Ben back in your life I mean. He was always the one who got away. You’ve never really fallen for anyone else.’
‘I’m a single mother. I haven’t had time to date.’
‘You’re gorgeous and still in your midtwenties. You’re a catch. And judging by the look in Ben’s eyes at the ball, he thinks so too.’
‘It’s too late for that, Clem. Too much has happened. Alice is facing too much disruption. Even if I did still have feelings for Ben, I couldn’t risk complicating things. And that’s a big if.’ But Sally didn’t know who she was trying to convince more—Clem or herself.
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