Escaping A Royal Wedding (16 page)

“I agree,” Ana nodded. “And I understand about the flight,” she said and handed the clerk her credit card. Funny, it didn’t feel so wonderful this time as it had at the coffee shop a week ago. Had it only been a week? It seemed like an eternity to Ana who knew she had fallen hopelessly in love with Marcus. As she signed the ticket and handed the woman her passport for validation, Ana wondered if she would ever feel whole again.

She had to hurry in order to make her flight. Security took a long time, longer than she’d ever realized. Flying in private jets, security was streamlined. And traveling as royalty definitely had its advantages, she thought as she put her shoes back on and grabbed her purse to run the rest of the way to her gate.

Ana stared out the window of the plane for the next twelve hours, wondering if things could have ended differently between her and Marcus. She knew she’d never be satisfied being a mistress. And her family would never allow it either. She didn’t even have the luxury of being disowned. Her father would simply ignore all her arguments and the wedding would proceed with or without her agreement.

She’d known that this moment would have to come anyway. Even from the start, she’d known there could never be a future with Marcus. All her life, she’d lived with the obligations that were defined by her birth. Now was the time to pay up.

She tried to sleep but thoughts of making love with Marcus drifted into her head as soon as she closed her eyes. So she stayed awake, concentrating on one subject or another, anything to keep her mind from thinking about Marcus and wondering about the woman he was about to marry.

But questions and thoughts kept jumping to her mind. Was she beautiful? Was she funnier than she was? More educated? Why couldn’t he give her up? Was he in love with the other woman? Every fiber of her being rejected that possibility but the cold, hard reality was that it was probably true. Why would a man as strong and dedicated as Marcus let himself be trapped into a marriage he didn’t want? So this other woman had to be incredible to have gained the love of a man like Marcus.

Ana stopped herself. It didn’t matter what she was like. Apparently, he was in the same kind of situation she was. Oh, he probably wasn’t in an arranged marriage to a stranger. Those things didn’t really happen anymore. She was just unlucky enough to have a father who believed he knew what was best for his children and didn’t listen to anything other than his own opinion.

That made her realize that Marcus had probably chosen this woman. That was even more painful. She’d thought that she couldn’t be in more agony but the fact that he had fallen in love with someone and was about to marry made her heart ache more than she’d thought possible.

She changed planes in Paris, then again in Bonn. When she was on the final leg of her journey home, she was still hurt but thought she had that under control. She’d been traveling for almost twenty four hours now which meant she would be later than she’d told her family. That worried her enough to call and tell them that she was about three hours from the airport in Cordova. The phones in the plane were not the best and she decided to not speak with her mother. She called her mother’s secretary instead and told Alicia that she was fine, her arrival time and what flight she was on.

“Are you okay?” Alicia asked, the worry and exhaustion in her voice apparent. “I’ll get your mother immediately,” she said.

“No, Alicia. Please, just convey the message and time I’ll be there. I’ll talk to her soon enough.”

“What flight are you on again?” Alicia demanded before Ana could disconnect. Ana searched through her travel documents and verified the flight information for her a second time.

Ana could hear the relief in Alicia’s voice. “I’ll have an escort for you shortly. I know your parents will be enormously relieved to know that you are safe.”

“Fine,” Ana said and hung up, knowing that Alicia was probably stalling in order to get her mother on the phone.

Ana didn’t want to talk to anyone and didn’t want to hear everyone’s disappointment. It would come soon enough. Ana looked out the window of her plane and sighed, wishing she didn’t have to face the music. But Ana had known all of this would happen when she’d left two days ago.

Twenty minutes after she hung up the phone, Ana was still staring out the window. She noticed a plane flying close and her heart skipped a beat. Were they going to run into that plane? It was flying directly for them. Obviously other people on the plane saw the same thing. Someone called out, “What the hell!” and others started raising their voices in panic. A moment later, the plane pulled up beside the jet and Ana recognized the colors of Cordova’s military on the side of the plane. Then the pilot’s voice came on the speakers. “Please don’t worry everyone. We are just receiving a military escort into the airport. We are cleared for a direct landing which will eliminate thirty minutes from our flight. We should be arriving in less than an hour at Cordova’s International Airport. So sit back and relax as we enjoy the added security of Cordova’s superior Air Force escort.”

Ana sank lower in her seat and tried to become inconspicuous. She didn’t want everyone on the flight to know she was the reason for the military escort but knew there was nothing she could do about it. Thankfully, no one approached her and asked to confirm her identity. The plane landed without incident and Ana stood up, preparing to walk off the flight with the other passengers.

That was the plan anyway. As soon as the doors were opened, an armed guard rushed onto the plane. Ana was quickly identified. “Your highness,” the lead guard said and bowed. “We’re here to escort you safely to the palace,” he said and physically moved the other passengers out of her way.

Ana ducked her head as she walked out of the plane. She was escorted to a waiting limousine with strange body guards who quickly ducked her out of site. The limousine traveled the five minutes from the airport to the palace, the trip streamlined as police blocked off the streets to ensure a quick and safe trip.

The same, strange guard opened the door for her once they were in the palace garage and Ana walked quickly into the palace. She wanted to go to her rooms, but knew that she needed to face the music with her parents before she had any relief.

Instead of heading to the left which would lead her to her suite of rooms, she turned right and walked slowly toward her father’s office.

As soon as she walked in, her father and mother stood, nodded to the guards who quietly closed the doors behind her. Ana heard the sound of the closing doors and thought it sounded ominously like a death knell or maybe even a prison gate closing behind her.

King Stephan walked around his desk to stand directly in front of her. “Have a good time?” he asked, deceptively quiet.

Ana was actually afraid of her father. She didn’t really know what to say but thought perhaps the truth would be the best plan of action. “Father, I..”

“Answer the question,” he snapped, not raising his voice but authority ringing through nevertheless.

“I…I can explain.”

He shook his head. “No. You can’t. Nothing you can say will excuse the worry you have put your mother and I through over the past three days.”

“I left a note,” she said as her only defense against their worry. But she saw the stress etched in each of their faces and felt even worse for being the person who put it there.

Her father was having none of that. His hand waved it aside as if it was unimportant which, in his mind, it was. “The note said you needed time. Did you have enough time?” he demanded.

“Yes,” she whispered, not able to look him in the eye.

He paced in front of his desk, shaking his head in exasperation. “Ana, I don’t know what has gotten into you in the past week. I’ve never had any worries that you would act this way. Marabeth, now I worry about her and the little digs she makes toward George. But you’ve always been the sensible one, the one I could count on to know your station and act with decorum. This is not like you. Please explain what would make you go off, without your guard and without any planning at all. Do you have any idea of what could have happened to you?” he asked, not allowing her any time to explain. “Have I not drilled into your head all the things that could happen? These things actually do happen and quite often. Would you like to see the reports that come across my desk? Would you like to know how many people were kidnapped and held ransom in the past three days? Do you want to know how many groups internationally are now suspected of kidnapping innocent people in order to finance their military operations? And you’re not an innocent person. You’re a political symbol! Ana! You have put yourself into unacceptable danger!”

Now he was yelling and Ana shrunk at the full force of that anger being directed at her. “But I’m fine!” she pointed out. “None of those things happened.”

“Because of luck and the fact that no one knew you were gone without protection.”

She finally found a place to contradict him and possibly ease his anger if only slightly. “I wasn’t without protection. I had guards with me at all times. I promise.”

“Who’s guards?” he demanded immediately.

Ana was trapped but she wasn’t going to tell him the whole story. She couldn’t tell her father that she‘d had a brief affair with an engaged man. That would really be awful. “The place I was staying had very good security. There were armed guards and fences, gated enclosures. Oh, father, I just wanted to get away and think things through.”

“And have you thought things through?” he asked, his tone not calming down at all despite her assurances that the facility in which she’d been staying had adequate protection. In his mind, nothing was adequate unless he’d personally reviewed it and decreed it legitimate.

“Yes,” she said, her voice whispering. “I understand that I now have two weeks before my wedding. I promise I’ll be the epitome of royal upbringing.” Her chin went up several notches with that comment, her anger rising up again at the realization that she was simply chattel for another man. Slightly more if she produced children for him.

King Stephan saw her defiance and it flamed his anger even more. “Don’t even start with the sarcasm, girl,” he snapped, his face turning red with his fury.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her chin dropping and her eyes falling to the floor.

Her mother stepped in at that point. “Stephan, I think this conversation could wait another day. Look at her. She’s exhausted.”

Ana’s father looked closely at her features. “Why haven’t you slept?”

“I’ve been on a commercial plane for the last twenty four hours,” she explained. That was partly true. The plane hadn’t kept her awake, memories of Marcus had.

King Stephan relented, but only slightly. Her admission brought back his anger but he knew that it was pointless to continue with his daughter looking so exhausted. “Go get some sleep and be back here tomorrow morning at eight o’clock sharp,” he said and turned away from her.

Ana knew she had been summarily dismissed and she walked out of her father’s office on unsteady legs. Moving toward her suite of rooms, she realized she really was bone deep tired.

She was a little startled when she reached her rooms and found that there were two guards stationed on either side of her door. She looked at them oddly but neither even caught her eye as one opened the door, then shut it behind her.

Ana then knew, she was not to be trusted to leave the palace. Apparently, her mother had figured out that she’d been sneaking out all those times in America. Ana didn’t even ponder that issue. She pulled off her clothes and crawled into bed. She was asleep before her head even hit the pillow.

The next morning, Ana woke up and stretched, wondering why she felt so depressed. Then the events of the previous two days hit her and she wanted to pull the covers up over her head and hide from the world.

Instead, she got out of bed and showered, changing into a modest black skirt and white silk blouse, preparing mentally for her interview with her father. It was seven o’clock when she was sitting down in the family dining room, nibbling on toast when her sister walked in. Rushing over to her, Marabeth gave her a huge hug. “Oh, Ana! I’m so glad you’re okay. When I heard that you’d finally come home last night I was so relieved.”

Ana accepted the hug from her sister. “Was it really so bad when I was gone?” she asked, not really caring anymore. She put down her dry toast and sipped her tea, not even feeling the heat from the steaming liquid. Marcus was getting married, she was being fitted for her wedding dress and picking out the menu for her wedding. Nothing really mattered anymore. Ana was grateful for the numbness. It was far better than the pain she had been enduring previously.

Marabeth was thrilled to see her sister and not able to stop asking questions or relent on her excitement over her sister’s adventure. “Where did you go? What did you see? Were you with anyone? Who was there with you? Did you have a fabulous time?”

“Does it matter?” Ana said and stood up. “I’m sorry Marabeth. I just can’t talk about it,” she said and left the dining room.

She passed her brother in the hallway but didn’t even smile toward him. She headed aimlessly down the corridor, not sure of where she was going.

Ana found herself in front of her father’s office and looked at her watch. It was only seven fifteen. With nothing else to do, she sat down on the chair outside and stared at the wall, not even acknowledging the guards standing sentry outside his office.