Once Upon a Prince

Chapter Eighteen

~Three Days Earlier~

Christian

I looked at my ringing phone and saw Christopher's name on the display so I answered. "Hey."

"Hey, little brother, how are you?"

"I've been better."

"What's going on?" Christopher asked in his concerned big brother voice.

I sighed deeply, I didn't want Topher to know about Raylynn disappearing on me because of Anna. "I miss my girl." I simply answered.

"Yeah, then why don't you come down here and surprise her?" I could hear the grin in his voice.

Raylynn's in England, why, for how long? I thought. My mind was racing but my thoughts surrounded around the thought of explaining myself and reuniting with Raylynn.

"You think I should?" I smoothly asked, not giving myself away.

"Yeah, they'll be here in three days by early evening. I'll take them out to eat and you can make and appearance." My brother was a genius.

"I want to spend some time with Raylynn alone first, do you think you can make that happen without tipping Grandma or Raylynn off about what's going on?" I was now standing in my office, pacing in front of the ceiling to floor windows.

"Chris, we're talking about me, I can make the impossible happen. Don't worry about it.

I nodded my head as if he could see me. "Thank you, I owe you one if you pull this off."

"I'll pull it off and you will owe me." He chuckled.

After hanging up, I went home, booked my flight, packed, and stayed awake all night practicing what I would say when I saw Raylynn. Nothing said sounded good enough but I wasn't going to go out without a fight.

~Present Day~

When it was time, I had a limo service drop me off at the airport and arranged for one to pick me up. Almost a whole day later, I was at Topher's house coming up with a plan. Exhausted, I finally went to sleep and when I woke up, I was ready to face my toughest challenge.

Now, here I stand. I'm waiting in the shadows, watching Topher put our plan in motion. Raylynn went off to the bathroom. Moments later, a waitress came to the table and informed Grandma and Topher that Raylynn was sick and was currently in a cab back to their hotel. Grandma stood and told Topher she wanted a ride back to the hotel to check on her. Topher told Grandma to wait by the valet while he paid the bill. He paid, the waitress came and collected it, and Topher left the note I'd written to Raylynn asking her to come to the restaurant garden to work off the meal.

I made my way to the spot in the garden I had prepared. It was a small, circular table towards the entrance that had two plates of chocolate cheese cake and a Dr. Pepper for Raylynn, water for me.

I sat at the table and waited for her. I grew impatient with every second I had to wait but when she walked through the flowers to me, time stood still.

Raylynn's eyes bulged from their sockets and she looked ready to run. I stood. "Baby, please, hear me out. If what I tell you doesn't convince you of my love for you, feel free to walk away from me and never return."

Raylynn took a deep breath and closed her eyes. I could tell she wanted to run but she also wanted to stay and hear me out. That as a good sign.

I walked around and pulled her chair from the table. Hesitantly, she walked towards me and sat. I wanted to kiss her, touch her, but I settled for a simple 'Thank you.'