The Royals Next Door by Karina Halle
Nine
It rained last night. The air is sweet, and sparkling water droplets sit in the curved bow of the hostas like stick-on rhinestones. The sun barely makes it through the overlap of the hemlock and fir, just enough to make everything glitter.
I knew my mother would need a few days of rest after the hullabaloo over at the royals’, so I’m in her garden, weeding. I hate it. I hate how it hurts my back, I hate how tedious it is, I especially hate how blackberry bushes seem to take over when you’re not looking. But the work is rewarding. At least that’s what I tell myself when I’m picking thorns out of my fingers.
The last few days have been pretty easy. With my mom on her downward spiral and keeping to her bedroom, I’ve been able to clean the house, record a podcast on a paranormal romance I’ve been reading (bear shifters are all the rage right now, and I’m not complaining), do lots of cooking, and . . .
That’s about it.
Even though I told Monica it was fine that we have to deal with the media, I still didn’t leave the house until late last night to do a grocery run. I didn’t see any media, but I did see a black SUV parked on the side of the road, and I have to wonder if it was Harrison in there or the new person who supposedly came in from England. Either way, it’s kept the media away for now.
In keeping to myself I haven’t seen anyone but my mother since the dinner the other night. I thought maybe they’d drop by or send a text, but nothing. It probably means nothing at all, just that they’re busy, but I can’t help but wonder if there was something I did wrong. Maybe they discovered my mother and I are too nutty to have as neighbors. Maybe Harrison told Monica I was being distracting and inappropriate. After all, I brought him cake when he was on duty.
But he was the one who ate that cake like it was foreplay, I remind myself.
Unless I’m only seeing what I want to see, which has always been the case with me. It’s how I’ve ended up with my heart broken every single time.
And why am I even thinking like this?
I shake the thought out of my head and get prepared to yank out the final weeds when I feel a presence behind me.
I whirl around and see Harrison.
Three guesses as to what he’s wearing?
“What are you doing there, you creeper?” I cry out, getting to my feet.
“Sorry, I thought I was being loud,” he says, looking slightly embarrassed.
I roll my eyes. “If that’s your loud, I can’t imagine what you’re like when you’re really trying to sneak up on someone.”
“I’m not a secret agent, you know,” he says wryly.
Well, at least he finds me amusing this morning.
“How would I know? You said you wore many hats.”
His brows come together, and I can’t tell if he’s looking at me or the garden. “Let me guess, you’re a gardening expert too?” I ask.
He takes a few steps forward, until he’s right in front of me, and then reaches out for my face. I try not to flinch as he runs his finger lightly along my cheekbone.
“You have dirt on your face,” he says in a low, gruff voice, before he takes his finger away.
My heart is pounding so loudly in my chest, I’m afraid my ribs aren’t enough of a barrier.
“Oh,” I manage to eke out, and then quickly rub my forearm along my face.
“And those are blue angel hostas. They get bigger every year. In a couple of years, these two will compete for space.”
I give him a steady look, even though my skin is still tingling from where he touched me. Man, I really need to get laid or something, because I should not be feeling this way from a simple touch.
I clear my throat, hoping to appear normal. “Did you come here to nitpick my gardening skills?”
“Actually, no,” he says. “I was wondering if you knew someone who had a boat.”
“A boat. We’re on an island. Nearly everyone has a boat. Why? You have a giant one docked right over there.”
“Eddie wants to get away from the house, but they aren’t comfortable going into town yet. They thought getting out on the water might be good. However, they don’t want to go out on their boat either. People will recognize it.”
“You came all the way here to ask me that? Monica could have texted me.”
He doesn’t say anything for a moment. “Guess I came by to distract you.”
“Well, unfortunately for you, I’m done weeding for the day. And yes, I know someone with a boat. Bert has one. I’m sure he’d be more than willing to lend it to you.”
“Please contact him and see.”
I sigh and shrug. “Sure.”
I mean, I’m not friends with Bert; it’s not like I often call up the head cop and ask him how he is. But I’ll do it for the royals.
Not for Mr. Bossy Pants.
“Thank you,” Harrison says, and then he turns and leaves, walking back down the driveway, as silent as a mouse.
“Weirdo,” I mutter under my breath. But the moment I say the word, I feel my face flush and a strange fluttering feeling in my gut. Oh great. Seems not only do I like to annoy him, but I like it when he annoys me.
This is a first.
Despite growing up by the ocean, my experience with boats has been limited. I know, I should be banished from the Pacific Northwest forever. But boats are expensive, and we never had a lot of money, even when my father was around.
That said, since I know the area, and I’ve had experience driving thanks to going out on Joey’s parents’ speedboat a few times, I’ve been delegated as captain.
Bert was more than happy to lend us his vessel and was vocally disappointed that he couldn’t take time off work to accompany us on our little adventure. I think he should have, since he was the one who drove his boat all the way to the royals’ dock, getting a ride into town after with the royals’ driver, but I suppose there was some drum circle in the middle of town that he had to go break up.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Harrison asks me.
I turn around and smile at him. “I’m fine,” I say, giving Monica and Eddie a reassuring look. They don’t actually look all that worried, though; they’re both grinning into the wind and pointing at the scenery as we head down Long Harbour.
But Harrison is watching me like a hawk.
Not that that’s unusual. However, today he’s not wearing his sunglasses, which makes me feel like I’m getting a rare glimpse at a secret side of him.
“I’m fine,” I tell him again, but my hands momentarily slip from the wheel, and the boat starts to nose in toward the shore.
I whip around and grip the wheel hard, straightening the boat.
“You’re sure?” he asks.
I nod and keep my eyes on the water ahead, though I can feel him smirking behind me.
Harrison did offer to command the small speedboat—I suppose PPOs have to know how to drive everything, just like James Bond does—but since I’m the only one who knows where we’re going, I figured it was best this way.
That said, I don’t have much of a plan. Long Harbour is aptly named, a narrow inlet that stretches past a ferry terminal and yacht clubs, all the way to a lagoon at the back I nicknamed Creepy Lagoon for obvious reasons.
I decide to take them all the way back there, the water so narrow and shallow in one passage that cedar branches scrape the side of the boat and you can see crabs scuttling along the green-blue bottom.
Monica and Eddie ooh and aah at the sights, waving at people who are sitting on their docks and enjoying the sunshine, probably having no idea just who is passing by. The last thing locals would expect is to actually see the royal couple out and about.
While Monica has always had a smile on her face, both she and Eddie seem to be at peace for the first time since I’ve met them. I guess it helps that they’re exploring like tourists, not royals, and not confined to their house. No matter how nice their house is, it must feel like a prison sometimes.
Finally, after we tour the lagoon and go past some of the nicer houses along the water, I take them back toward the opening of the harbor, stopping at an island in the middle, near the ferry terminal.
“I love coming here,” I tell them as I try to pilot the boat toward the shore. Joey and I used to come here a lot (we also had sex on this island, but that’s neither here nor there). “Makes me feel like I have my own private hideaway, like I’m Robinson Crusoe. Or Tom Hanks from Castaway. Minus the volleyball.”
“You can’t get enough of one island, you have to come to another?” Harrison asks wryly, leaning over the side and observing the bottom as the water gets shallow. “Watch out for that rock.”
He’s pointing to the left, so I swing the boat to the right and accidently gun the engine. Everyone is thrown back with a collective “Whoa!” and I manage to get the nose of the boat right onto a patch of white shell beach and kill the engine.
“Sorry!” I exclaim, turning around to give everyone a sheepish smile. “I’m so sorry.”
Harrison is just shaking his head, but Monica is laughing.
“Woo, that’s the most excitement I’ve had in a long time,” she says, pressing her hand against her belly. She’s been wearing long and flowy shirts and dresses every time I’ve seen her, though now that I’m staring at the small bump on her stomach, I’m starting to realize why.
I look to Eddie and notice him staring at me in concern.
I quickly turn around, blinking.
My god.
Is Monica . . . pregnant?
Or is that just a food baby? Because lord knows I get that after I eat a bunch of cheese (doesn’t stop me from eating cheese, of course, nothing will ever stop me).
I decide to mind my own business. If she’s pregnant or bloated, it’s never anyone’s place to ask, and I’m sure if she’s the former, it will come out in due time.
“Okay, let’s get out,” I say, trying to ignore it. I go to the bow and attempt to climb over it onto the shore, but Harrison has already jumped off the boat, narrowly missing the water, and he’s standing below me, holding out his hand.
“Here,” he offers.
“I’m fine,” I tell him, trying to push his hand away. I wish my legs weren’t so short, because this looks like quite the leap. Perhaps this wasn’t a good idea.
But Harrison has his own plans. He reaches over and grabs me by the waist and literally hoists me in the air like I weigh the same as a bag of feathers instead of a sack of potatoes.
He gently places me on the ground, and there’s a brief moment when I’m up against him and he’s staring down at me and I swear there’s a glint of something fiery in his eyes, a tic along his jaw. Then he quickly looks away and steps back, clearing his throat.
“Need help?” he asks Monica, going to her as she comes to the end of the boat.
What was that? I swear that look was something.
“Be extra careful with her,” Eddie warns Harrison, and something silently transpires between them, adding extra fuel to my little theory.
Mind your own business, Piper!
Harrison plucks Monica off the boat in the same manner, checking to see if she’s okay, and I start heading farther onshore. It’s a steep scramble over barnacle-covered rocks before an ascent up scrubby, dry hillside to a grove of arbutus trees at the top. Normally I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, but now with what I might know about Monica, I’m a little worried.
I stop and turn around before I climb the first rock.
“Is this going to be okay?” I ask.
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Monica asks.
Eddie and Harrison exchange a look over her head.
She notices and frowns at them. “What? I’m not an invalid. I’m fine.”
“Perhaps this is a little dangerous,” Eddie says gently, putting his hand at her elbow. “Maybe we should stay by the boat and let the two of them explore.”
“I’m fine,” she insists, giving me a weak smile.
“This is probably a bad idea,” I say.
“Why?” she asks again.
Eddie gives her arm a squeeze. “Monica, dear, I think we should tell her. She’s going to find out eventually. Everyone in the whole world will.”
She stares at me, and I can see her weighing options in her head.
Tell me, tell me, tell your friend Piper.
She licks her lips and then nods, looking up at Eddie, smiling gently. “Okay.” She nods at Harrison and then over to me. “I guess you’ll figure it out sooner or later. Piper . . . I’m pregnant.”
I burst into a grin. “I knew it!”
“You did?”
“I mean, I only figured it out in the last five minutes, but yeah, I knew it!”
Monica laughs. “Okay then. Well, the secret is out.” She places her hand on her baby bump. “Shit, it feels good to finally tell someone!”
“Of course, this will stay secret until they’re ready to tell the public,” Harrison says in that ultra-stern voice of his.
“She signed an NDA, Harrison,” Monica chides him. “Besides, I trust Piper completely.”
I beam at that. Not that I could legally talk even if I wanted to, but I don’t want to. I feel pretty damn important being entrusted with this secret, and I’ll guard it with my life.
“I won’t tell a soul,” I assure her. “This is so exciting!”
The royals are having a baby!
“I know,” she says, matching my grin. “It’s one of the reasons why we moved here, so I could go through my pregnancy in peace. We’ll head back to England for the baby, I’m sure, but for now I just wanted to be here with Eddie and really sink into the experience. We’re not far along, and I don’t even know the sex yet, but I’m just enjoying being pregnant.”
“And I’m enjoying being a father-to-be,” Eddie says, wrapping his arm around her waist. “Not that I do anything.”
She pats him on the chest. “You do plenty,” she says. “Holding back my hair during morning sickness, that was something.”
“I do that when she’s had too much champers too,” he says, winking at me.
Harrison clears his throat, and we all look to him.
“I’m just wondering if we should get back on the boat,” he says, his gaze going up the sharp sides of the island. “Not only do I think it might be too dangerous . . .” He then looks to the ferry terminal behind us, where the big ship is pulling away from the dock. “But that ferry is about to pass. In fact, it’s probably for the best if we get back in the boat. All those tourists on the deck have their cameras out already.”
“Aw,” Monica whines. “This was our first real trip out of the house.”
“I know,” Eddie commiserates. “But perhaps Bert will let us do this again.”
“I’m sure he would,” I tell them. “And I won’t take you back here. There’s a really cool white sand beach in the next harbor over. It’s called Chocolate Beach. I’m not sure why, but it’ll make you feel like you’re somewhere tropical, even if the water is freezing.”
“Then I must insist Piper isn’t the captain,” Harrison says.
“Hey,” I say to Harrison, glaring at him. “Not nice.”
“In fact,” Harrison goes on, a faint twinkle in his eye, “I’m commandeering the ship as of now.”
“It’s practically a dinghy, Harrison,” Eddie says with a good-natured rolling of his eyes.
“Doesn’t matter. I’ve seen her drive.”
“And you always get where you’re going in one piece,” I shoot back.
“I chalk it up to luck.” The corner of his mouth twitches.
Funny guy.
“Suit yourself, then,” I tell him, walking past him to climb back in the boat.
This time I don’t want any help, which means I’m struggling to pull myself on for a good few minutes as the three of them watch my futile attempt to even swing one leg up on the side, my ass in their faces. Monica is trying not to laugh.
“Oh, Harrison, go help her,” she says. “Please.”
Next thing I know, Harrison is doing that caveman thing again where he has me by the waist and is hoisting me up, and I am doing what I can to pretend I’m not actually enjoying this. Damn if it isn’t the sexiest thing being picked up by him, and even though I know he’s just being helpful, his hands against my body feel absolutely delicious.
I have to tell myself to chill out as I take my seat at the back of the boat. Monica gets on the same way I did and takes a seat next to me, while Eddie and Harrison push the boat back off the shore.
“So I assume your family knows about the baby,” I say to Monica as Harrison goes behind the wheel, Eddie acting as skipper.
“They do,” she says, nodding slowly. “My parents are thrilled, of course. They want to come visit at some point.”
“And Eddie’s parents?”
She gnaws on her lip for a moment. “They’re happy. Of course they are. It’s just . . . you know, I’m used to people telling me how they feel, I’m used to emotions being on display and all that, and with them . . . it’s like getting blood from a stone. It’s actually quite hard being around them, because there is so much poise and tradition and distance that’s bred into them, like everyone is wearing a mask except me. I suppose that’s what makes me an easy target.”
“You’re too real,” I point out as Harrison starts the engine and we start reversing.
“Not too real. Just real enough. I don’t think I’ll ever fit in with them. I definitely tried at the beginning, you know. I tried to wear the right clothes and carry the right bags and greet people the right way, but my true self kept slipping through, and I was breaking protocols left and right and up and down.”
“Sounds exhausting,” I tell her. “I could never do it. I would fail right away. There’s no hiding who I am.”
Okay, so there’s a little bit of hiding with my saucy romance podcast, but Monica doesn’t need to know that.
“I know. That’s why I think we get on so well,” she tells me.
Now I’m smiling the cheesiest smile. I’m so hopeless.
“By the way,” she adds, “another bodyguard has just arrived. His name is James, and he’ll be sharing duties with Harrison. Once news of the baby gets out, you can bet we’ll need to step up our security.”
“Is he like Harrison, or is he normal?”
Monica bursts out laughing, and I look to the front of the boat to see Harrison glaring at me.
I give him a look like, Well?
He turns back around, and we speed away.
