Page 6 of His Royal Request

George laughed up front. “Is that all I am to you, Aiden? Just a driver?”

I chuckled and shook my head, but Charlie gasped. “Oh no! That’s not what I meant at all.”

George chuckled. “I’m teasing, my dear. I wouldn’t have a job if Aiden conquered his fear of driving.”

She watched me waiting for an explanation.

I shook my head. “He’s joking. You know you're more than that, old man.”

I turned to Charlie. “George has known me since I was in nappies. He worked for my parents first but took a liking to me. I'm lucky to have him as an assistant and driver. He also seems to love keeping me in my place.”

Charlie laughed and seemed to relax a bit. George caught my eye and I could see the laughter he was holding in. We’d pulled it off. For now.

I couldn't help but watch Charlie's reaction as we drove through the towns and vast expanses of open land. I felt like I was seeing the landscape for the first time.

The rolling hills of land made of patchwork plots of land seemed to go on forever in every direction. The sporadic barn or house was sprinkled around.

She gaped at the passing scenery. “It's so green, Aiden.”

“Yes, welcome to Ireland,” I said with a chuckle. It was called the Emerald Isle for a reason.

“No, you don't understand. I knew Ireland was green but it's so much greener than I expected.”

I fought the urge to laugh. I didn't want to make her feel embarrassed, but I was used to living around this.

“Look at how adorable these houses are!”

We drove past cottages with thatched roofs. Each one painted a different color. Pink, yellow, teal, lime green, and blue. It was charming.

She held her phone out snapping pictures as we drove. “It's magical. Like living in a storybook.”

I smiled. “If you think this is beautiful you need to see Lochland.”

She turned to me with narrowed eyes. “You and Lochland. I'm sorry that I don't have it on my itinerary.”

I smiled. “It just might be a place you’d want to see one day.”

She turned back to the window as we drove through a larger town, Ennis. “I can't believe it actually looks like this.” She continued snapping pictures as we drove past the buildings. Each business was a different color than the one attached to the next with hand-painted signs over the door. “It really looks like something off of a postcard or from a book.”

After a few minutes, Charlie set down her phone. “Where are we heading to first?”

George looked over his shoulder to her. “We're heading to the Cliffs of Moher.”

Charlie bit her lip looking as excited as a child seeing a roller coaster for the first time. “It hasn't really sunk in that I'm here. That I'm really here. I dreamt about traveling abroad especially in Europe but I never had the chance growing up.”

“So, what finally brings you here?”

Her eyes flew to mine, and then she looked at her lap.

I continued, “Other than graduating college.”

She nodded. “I did an ancestry kit and found out that my mother's family is from here. I asked my dad about it, and he told me my grandparents lived here, so I wanted to see Ireland for myself.”

“So, you came to see the motherland?”

She laughed and I froze, mesmerized by the sparkle in her eyes. To say she was different from any girl I met would be cliché but it was true. She wore her emotions on her face, not hiding anything. Most of the girls I was around had everything staged. No word, no expression happened without precise planning. Charlie was unlike any of those girls, so I could tell she was holding back. There was a hurt in her I recognized. She mentioned the death of her mother the night before but there is something more. Something she might not have even been aware of.

She asked, “How close can we get to the cliffs?”