Reluctantly Royal(46)

And then Max! Telling me that I had to leave, dismissing the staff. I’d never seen someone stand up to my father in that fashion, but it went exactly the way I would have expected. Horribly.

Then again, we were out of the house, and for once I didn’t feel guilty about it.

“Do you have any Pop-Tarts?” Marty’s voice pulled my attention back to the present.

“Marty,” I admonished. “Look at all of this great stuff that they have for us.” I grabbed a bowl of fresh fruit and picked out some of his favorite pieces.

“Sorry, I just thought I’d ask.” Marty looked down at the table.

“I like those!” Cathy smiled at my son and his cheeks turned pink. Lord help me, the boy was already noticing pretty girls.

“Would you like an apple turnover?” Samantha held out the tray. “I’ve been craving these for the last month.”

“You’ll like that.” I picked one off of the tray and set it on his plate.

“Is Alex here?” Max asked. His deep voice made my heart speed up. Whether it was from anger or what, I wasn’t sure.

The truth was that while I was angry with him, I was also a little grateful. He had taken me out of the house and away from my father’s abuse. And while normally I would not have stayed, I felt trapped by Granddad’s passing. It seemed like I had to stay to try and keep things from going haywire. And honestly, I hadn’t been doing such a good job.

“He’ll be back this afternoon,” Sam replied. “He had a meeting today at the palace. Some of the ambassadors from the Future Bird Trust are in town.”

“Fun.” Max was busily filling his plate with food. “Better him than me.”

“What is the Future Bird Trust?” Marty asked around a mouthful of food.

“We are a group that educates people about birds.” Sam smiled at him. “We have classes that work with children. You should come out sometime. One of our centers isn’t that far from here.”

“Will I get to hold a bird?” Marty sat up in his seat.

“You might be able to work up to that.” Sam leaned forward. “It takes a lot of training to learn how to hold a bird.”

“Cool.”

Brunch with the royal family was far more normal than I had thought it would be. They talked about work, about family, and teased one another. It wasn’t long before I could feel myself relaxing for real, no longer playing a role.

“Are you going to sing tomorrow?” Cathy smiled at me. “I’ve heard that you have a beautiful voice.”

“Yes, I’ll be singing.”

Max looked up at me sharply. “You’re going to sing tomorrow?”

“Yes.” I felt my eyebrows pull together. It would be my final tribute to my granddad. Of course I was going to sing.

“It won’t be too . . . difficult?”

“I’m a performer.” I shrugged. “I can keep it together for one song.”

His eyes took on a worried cast and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to smile or smack him. Why did he seem to think I couldn’t take care of myself?

“I’m sure it will be beautiful.” Cathy reached out and touched my hand. “It’s so hard to lose someone.”

I nodded my head, not really trusting myself to speak. If there was one thing I knew about the royal family, it was that they knew about personal loss. When King Joseph died, it had been splashed across the headlines. I hadn’t paid much attention because I’d been young and dealing with things that life had thrown my way.

“What do you have planned for today, Meredith?” Samantha asked.

“I’m not sure.” I shot a look at Max. “I need to call and let Rachel know that I won’t be at Thysmer.”

“Do you have an assistant?” Cathy cocked her head to the side. “I’m sure they could take care of that for you.”

“No, I don’t have an assistant.” I pulled my phone from my pocket and quickly sent a text to Rachel. As savvy as she had seemed, I figured a text would work. “I really didn’t need one in England.”

“No bodyguards?” Sam raised an eyebrow. “No one following you around?”

“No.” I frowned. “Is that weird?”

“It sounds amazing.” Sam sighed. “Not that I would trade my Chadwick for anything.”

“Chadwick?”

“My assistant.” Sam shook her head. “No, he’s more than that. He’s my rock. He takes care of everything. I don’t know how I would have adapted without him.”

“We had someone that helped us when we first took over Thysmer, but Granddad didn’t keep them around for long. He said it felt weird to have someone following him around when he just wanted to fish.” I smiled, remembering how he would jump whenever Bernard would come up with a question.