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“Clar-Bear, I am so sorry about earlier. Please forgive me. I just got in from Sweden and I was finishing up a very important email. This isn’t an excuse, but Uncle Reginald needed an immediate answer to his offer of a royal warrant for my shoe company. You are the most important person in my life. I’m sorry if I was a wanker and made it seem less so. I love you. Please call me back as soon as you get this.” David disconnected the call and sat on the edge of his bed. There was no point in trying to sleep now.
His mind was reeling with scenarios about Clara’s safety and mental health in dealing with the paparazzi and now leaving LABT. She sounded as if she was running on empty every time they spoke. The spark he saw in his ballerina a few weeks ago wasn’t there anymore. How could he help without overstepping his boundaries? Should he call Amanda in? The answer was right in front of him. Just what was it, though?
David got himself fully out of bed and forced himself to answer a few of his many messages. He waited until the sun began to rise before he could take a much-needed break.I need a distraction. Swimming’s out. Too early to hit up the BP pool. Running it is.What David needed was fresh air and someone to push him hard. He headed down to his kitchenette and had a light snack.
David poured himself a cold cup of day-old coffee and rang down to his and Eddie’s security teams. In Kensington Palace, or KP, the officers didn’t stay in the same apartments as the royals, but kept close tabs on them. As part of their arrangement, the teams were to be notified anytime they stepped out in public. Things were more relaxed within palace grounds.
Awake enough, David checked the app on his phone, noted it wasn’t due to rain, and headed next door to Eddie’s flat. He was let in by a sleepy-looking butler without question. Unlike his cousin, David took care of his apartment himself. He didn’t see the need to keep a staff when he could very well manage to take care of things. Would Clara mind not having a staff? Perhaps he should look into a housekeeper, at least.
David climbed the steps to his cousin’s bedroom. Eddie slept dead to the world, sprawled out in the middle of his bed. How he managed to get his sheets and blankets so tangled only mystified David. “Edward, training drill time,” he yelled at the top of his lungs and pulled his younger cousin out of bed.
“Sod off…” a sleepy Prince of Wales slurred and tried to go back to sleep.
“Wake up. You need to be ready to train.” David wanted Eddie prepared for boot camp when it was time to leave for basic training.
“Urg, I’m up.” Eddie threw a pillow at David and rolled out of his bed.
“Let’s go. A run now.”
Eddie was up and ready to go within a few minutes. He was in shorts and a light hoodie and was slow to tie his running shoes. He met David downstairs. They walked outside and shivered in the cold, brisk morning air.
“What’s happening?” Eddie asked, yawning. “You only wake me up at dawn and punish me with running if I’ve done something wrong or you have something on your mind.”
“I need to clear my head. I need to bounce ideas off of you.” David indicated they would run through the palace grounds today.
Eddie grumbled under his breath. “I should pull rank here. Technically, as the Prince of Wales, you have to listen to me.”
“That’s a new technique. I’m impressed.” David’s voice oozed with sarcasm. The two took off at a steady pace for warm up.
“In all seriousness, what did you want to discuss? The trust is off to a good start. I’m due for a hospital visit with our first set of art supplies in a couple of hours. I had planned to enjoy some extra sleep,” Eddie shot out at David. He began to pick up the pace. David, a seasoned runner, had no problems matching him stride for stride.
“Clara is in L.A. I’m miserable without her, and we just had our first fight. I’m also dead worried. She’s now had her auto broken into and confided to me she’s receiving some less-than-enthusiastic letters. I have the home office looking into them. Things, however, are going to escalate if the public finds out we’re engaged.” David turned their run into an all-out sprint. They raced one another to the statue of their grandfather. David grabbed the statue and breathed in and out hard.There. Eddie now knows we’re engaged.David needed someone else to understand his agony. Eddie was his closest friend and ally. He was David’s ‘brother.’ David knew Eddie would help rather than kill him for keeping his engagement a secret.
Eddie wheezed in and out. “Wait, what?” Eddie asked now fully awake. “When did this happen? What did I miss? Can I be your best mate? How is Auntie Charlotte not going insane?”
David didn’t have any answers.
“No wonder you’ve been so uptight and such a lost soul the last couple of days. You miss her don’t you? What did you do to screw up? It’s all over your face. You look guilty about something. Not just the secret-agent bit,” Eddie suggested.
Do I look guilty?David reflected on his behavior. Had he been absent? Was he a shell of himself without Clara? David walked in silence and caught his breath. Eddie joined him. The two, in mutual agreement, stood silent. Eddie took the lead on the way back.
“You know, if you are so concerned about Clara, why don’t you go see how she is doing for yourself? The best way to apologize is in person. I suppose you could use the Whaleeds Trust launch as an excuse. Some of the donors happen to be in Los Angeles, if I remember correctly. You could take me with you. I’ve never been to sunny California.” Eddie grinned.
Why hadn’t he thought about this earlier? David could be in L.A. by tomorrow. Would Clara be cross with him if he just showed up at her home? David could give her the gift he’d been working on early in the mornings. He didn’t even know exactly where she lived. Perhaps he should ring Amanda and run this by her first. She knew Clara better than he did.
David picked up his walking pace and took off in a light jog back toward their apartments. “Eddie. You are a genius. We have some arrangements to make. You up for a little California adventure?”
“If you promise to slow down your pace so I can keep up, I wouldn’t mind one bit. We can call it my last hurrah before I leave civilian life. Do you think we might be able to squeeze in a surfing lesson? I’ve always wondered about it, or even Disneyland? Not that Father or Mum would be too thrilled about it.”
“Maybe not Disneyland this time around, Eddie, however, I promise it in a future trip for you. Logistically it’s already going to be a nightmare attempting this trip on such short notice. I need some help here… I better call in Amanda, my Pacific Skyways contact.”
The two jogged back and enjoyed a hearty English breakfast upon reaching Eddie’s kitchen.
Clara. I’m coming for you. Whether you like it or not, I’m not going to be pushed away until you have everything you need from me. My Aurora needs her Prince Desiree.
Clara triedto block everything out and distract herself with dance. Ballet was her escape from the world just as it had always been. She would have her body ready by the beginning of theNutcrackerseason no matter where she was. December marked one of the busiest times in the calendar for ballet companies and schools around the world. This would be the first time she hadn’t danced with LABT in years. She felt refreshed and terrified not knowing what her next step was going to be.
Clara pushed herself to the limit to gain back the strength and flexibility she had lost over the course of her layoff. It was difficult with her walking boot, however, even in the few days since the cast’s removal, she had made a few baby steps of progress. She knew she needed to take her recovery a little slower, but it was so hard to remain patient. If she played her cards right, Clara would finally be able to do some pointe work away from the ballet bar within the next two months. Her feet constantly ached; building up the muscles in her atrophied foot was excruciating.
