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Esme had seen enough dramas and romantic comedies. She’d read enough romance novels to know how the airport scene worked. The hero would come running through the airport terminal at the last second, dashing around travelers, leaping over luggage to arrive at the gate where his true love was just about to give up all hope and board the plane. He’d stop her and take her hand and profess his true and undying love before the haggard passengers.
Esme stood at the gate. Her boarding pass was in one hand. Her suitcase was in the other. Everyone had boarded, and not a soul was rushing down the hall. The last vestiges of hope left her on an exhale, and her shoulders deflated.
He wasn’t coming.
Jan wheeled her case up to the annoyed attendant. Beep went her boarding pass, confirming that time was up. Esme stretched out her hand to give over her pass. But she jerked it back and turned once last time.
Perhaps he had gotten caught up at security. This traditional scene would likely suffer some technical issues in today’s high security age where only ticketed passengers and guardians of minor travelers could enter the actual terminal.
But Leo was the king. This was his country. He was the final law.
And he was not coming.
Finally, Esme handed over her boarding pass. The beep was like the last blip of a heart monitor where the spike in the line signaled the end. It was the end of her fairytale. The last page of the book. And the tale had not ended well.
Maybe those kindergarten parents like Aubrey Thomas’s mom were right. Maybe Esme shouldn’t be reading the children fairytales. She’d read them all of her life and grown up believing. Leo and Penelope kept insisting that their lives weren’t that of storybook fodder. But Esme had refused to believe them.
Duty and matters of state came before matters of the heart. A five-year-old got that lesson. Esme, a grown woman, was just now coming to face the fact.
Still, she couldn’t be too disappointed. Penelope had developed a small sense of imagination. Hopefully, that would carry her through her life. And Leo …
Well, he’d been loved by someone who’d wanted his happiness more than anything. And he’d loved her too, Esme was sure of it. She just needed to content herself with that part of the tale.
The past week of her life had been magic. She’d been rescued by a knight in shining armor. She’d journeyed to a faraway land. Slain a stone dragon. And even kissed a king.
Oh, that kiss. She’d felt like she could fly when he’d kissed her. And now she was being told to strap in for the journey back to earth.
“Goodbye Cordoba,” she whispered looking out the plane’s window. She saw the spire of the castle in the distance. It looked like a magical kingdom, and it was. But it was all grounded in reality.
“Girls like us live in the real world, Esme,” said Jan. “But ... I will admit, there was a thing between you two.”
Esme nodded as tears pricked her eyes.
“But a thing like that can’t exist in the real world. Only in dreams.”
“Leo was a dream come true.”
“He’s a good guy, but he has a job to do.”
The plane began its taxi, and Esme’s tears fell in earnest. She buried her face in Jan’s shoulder as the plane accelerated and the wheels left the ground. Even before takeoff, Esme’s heart dropped into her gut. It still couldn’t let go of the dream that should’ve been.
Soon, the fasten seat belt signs went off. For a while, Esme kept hers on. She felt so restless and lightheaded that she needed to be tethered to something.
After thirty minutes in the sky, she needed to be free of the constraints. And so she rose and walked toward the front of the plane to the nearest bathroom. She didn’t need to use the facilities. She just needed to move.
She couldn’t shake that this was not how her story was meant to end. Part of her wanted to knock on the cockpit and tell the pilots to turn the plane around. And then what?
Leo had made up his mind. He was likely on the balcony kissing the duchess at this moment. Esme would have to move on.
But there would never be another king of her heart. A prince would no longer do. Even a knight would not suffice.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the pilot’s voice rang over the intercom. “Please retake your seats. We will be making an unscheduled landing.”
Esme snapped back to reality. Had she heard that right? She flagged a passing flight attendant.
“What’s wrong?” Esme asked. “Is there an emergency?”
“Nothing to worry about, ma’am. We’ve just been ordered to land.”
