King Maker (King Maker 3)

Like father, like son, I thought.

“But I wasn’t foolish, or so I thought. His pretty words, full of compliments, didn’t sway me to immediately go out with him. My parents had warned me about men and the things they wanted. But Royce didn’t give up. He showed up several days in a row before I finally agreed to go out with him.” Her expression became thoughtful. “When he told me he was taking me to a fancy restaurant in Edinburgh, I told him I had nothing to wear.” She laughed. “His way of solving that was to take me dress shopping.”

She sighed and again I thought of Kalen and his gifts. Did he know how much alike he was to his father?

“I think what endeared me to him was he never pushed for more than the chaste kiss I was willing to give. For a whirlwind month, he took me to places I’d never been. It was such the adventure.”

Her eyes grew more unfocused as I wondered if she was seeing the past in her head. She blinked rapidly and focused on me again.

“I won’t bore you with all the details… Let’s just say I knew my father would never allow such a guy with his rich looks and American accent to date his only daughter.” After a long, deep breath, she continued, “Rebelliously, I didn’t let that stop me. He was fascinating in all the ways that I’d always dreamt of, like in the movies.”

She paused again and I could see her going back to that time in her mind.

“When he told me he was leaving to go back to America, I was devasted. I’d fallen deeply in love and felt the twinges of heartbreak until he said he wanted me to go with him.”

She pursed her lips in thought.

“I told him I couldn’t. My parents would never agree.”

Though I knew she went, I felt on the edge of my seat as if I was reading a chapter that ended on a cliffhanger.

“He said, though I might think it was too soon, he wanted to marry me. I felt like Cinderella. But I’d been right about my parents. They didn’t agree to any of it, but not for the reasons you might think. My father wanted compensation for losing his only daughter. Roy denied him. I think that’s what made up my mind. He told my father I wasn’t a thing to be sold and that he should be happy I’d be well taken care of.”

That sounded nothing like the shrewd man I’d met.

“So I agreed even though my father warned me I was making a mistake. He also told me I wouldn’t be welcome home when I realized it.”

“How did your mother feel?” I asked.

“She wasn’t allowed to have an opinion. But I think secretly she was happy I was getting out of the life she was stuck in.”

It was eerie how similar our lives were.

“At first, everything was new and exciting. We’d married in Scotland and obtained papers for me to leave. And he married me again in New York. Everything was like a fairytale, even with galas and beautiful gowns. Roy showed me off like a prized possession.”

“What about college?”

She’d mentioned that she’d begun school.

“Roy promised I could go to school in America once all my paperwork was complete. But there was always an excuse. It was too late to enroll. Then I’d gotten pregnant and I was too sick, which I was. Then I would be so close to giving birth. And then I should focus on our son.”

Her words drifted off as her eyes fell to her lap. Suddenly, I felt like an intruder and almost told her she didn’t have to continue when she did.

“I could have lived with all of that. The parties and entertaining. Even the disapproval of me from his parents and all of their friends. None of that mattered because I was in love and thought he loved me too until I found out I wasn’t the only one he shared a bed with.”

Were all men cheaters? I didn’t think Father was, but the culture in our community didn’t forbid it. They just gave it another name: sister wives.

“There were many women. I caught him ducking out of sight at the parties we attended with a beautiful woman and thought maybe all men were that way. My father was the same. But the final straw came when I caught him with our nanny. The one he insisted I have.”

The bitterness was fresh on her tongue.

“I fired her the next day. He wasn’t happy and made sure I knew where my place was. At the time, I wasn’t strong enough to stay. Selfishly, I bought two tickets back to Scotland with money I’d saved from shopping sprees he’d sent me on. I’d been frugal, as was my upbringing. I didn’t like to spend money the way Roy did. So I saved, which worked out for me because I didn’t have any other means to get money on my own.”