A Love that Endures 3 Read online

  Mick’s eyebrows shot up. “You said this is your . . . pa?”

  “Pleasure to meet you all,” Marcos added in his Brazilian accent, cultured and aristocratic and nothing like David’s own. His wavy, dark hair was pushed back, and he wore a thin gold necklace that peeked out above the collar of his shirt. Not only did Marcos look out of place in the vagrant camp, he certainly didn’t look British, either.

  “Er . . . right, then,” Mick summed up, shrugging. “Well, guess that’s good. At least you’re not in jail.”

  David grinned. “Yes, that would definitely be worse, Mick. Good observation.”

  “Nice to meet you, Marcos,” Giles interjected in his usual slur, standing from his seat around the empty fire barrel and offering Marcos a grimy hand.

  It gladdened David’s heart to see Marcos accept it without a second thought. To David, that was a sign of a good man.

  “You’ve raised a good boy,” Giles added obliviously.

  Marcos nodded in agreement. “So I’ve come to gather.”

  An odd look crossed Giles’s face at the response, but he didn’t press the matter, returning to his seat instead.

  “So . . . we’re still planning, then?” Rufus asked haltingly.

  David rubbed the back of his neck. “If you guys are still with me, then yeah. But obviously I’ll understand if you’re sick of doing this.”

  In the gray afternoon, a silence stretched out after David’s offer that made his stomach queasy. He had Marcos’s help now, and, even from his very brief interaction with the man, he knew that the two of them could manage on their own. But these were his friends, people who had stuck by him and helped to their fullest ability, no matter what small input they might have to give. Maybe it was selfish of him to continue to ask for their help, but he truly appreciated their support and had thought they’d be willing to give it. Waiting for a confirmation or denial that they were in this together was long and strained.

  But Mick simply guffawed. “What you think we got to do otherwise?”

  “We’re here for you, David,” Giles added.

  “And it’s not just for you,” Rufus said, scraping the toe of his leather boot into the asphalt absentmindedly, but forcefully. “I want to make sure those people don’t cost anyone else their freedom or livelihood.”

  His heart blossoming with appreciation, David nodded with a grateful smile. His friends at the camp had been through so much with him. Knowing that they were still by his side meant more than he could put into words.

  But he had two for them anyway. “Thank you,” he said, looking between each of them.

  “So ‘ow’s about that new plan then, mate?” Mick asked with a broad smile. Giles just looked embarrassed, waving away his thanks. Heads nodded around their trash bin.

  David stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets and sighed. “Actually, we’re still working on that bit.”

  “Oh,” Mick replied unhelpfully, his smile fading.

  In the stretch of silence that followed, Giles coughed and Rufus exhaled deeply.

  “But who doesn’t like a little challenge?” Marcos came in, his confident voice breaking the silence. David turned to him as he went on. “We have some ideas, at least. David and I talked about that this morning. For instance, the palace tours. There’s always a way. David and I . . . we aren’t giving up.”

  Marcos looked at David confidently, and David felt his heart swell. It was short-lived.

  “Yeah, I don’t know,” Mick replied. “David’s black eye makes him look wicked, sure, but it doesn’t really work as a disguise. So unless you’re going to visit a plastic surgeon . . .”

  Mick trailed off, but David understood where he was going. He was right. It would take nothing short of a movie-quality disguise to get David into the palace now, with security the way it was and David being London’s most infamous tramp.

  “That’s just one idea,” Marcos replied with an unbothered shrug.

  “All right. What’s another idea then?” Rufus asked.

  Marcos pursed his lips. “Well . . .”

  David shook his head and spoke up. “So we don’t really have a lot of ideas currently. But we have the drive. We know we’re on the right side. And that’s what’s important for now.” He looked from face to face as he spoke, hoping his motivation was contagious. “We got so close just a few days ago, thanks to everybody’s help. I know that if we really put our heads together, we can come up with another solid plan.”

  Mick clapped in excited agreement. “Spot on, lad. Spot on.” David smiled at his friend’s enthusiasm, until Mick went on. “But, uh, for the record, the catering idea was mine. So, can I get a pass from planning this go around?”

  * * *

  “It’s late,” Marcos said, some time later, as a chilly drizzle began to fall over the car park. This time, Marcos had paid, and they’d sprung for real wood in the firepit, so at least the smoke wasn’t letting off toxic fumes. Combined with the rising spring temperatures, the atmosphere wasn’t unbearable.

  At least not for David, who was quite used to it. But perhaps it was new for a rich Brazilian who had been thrust into a strange situation.

  David looked up from the damp classifieds page, which he’d been perusing rather at random, at his father. The man had spent all day with some of London’s poorest citizens, never once complaining or demanding a creature comfort. But as the night wore on, David realized that the older man probably needed a break.

  “Why don’t you go back to the hotel?” he suggested from his seat. “I’m still looking through the job listings, and I want to get through at least one more paper.”

  It was a long shot, but with no other plan currently in sight, the team had taken to looking through newspaper ads to see if perhaps they could find a new job for Rufus, who would then be able to sneak David closer to the princess again.

  How? That part wasn’t clear yet.

  “Why don’t you come with me,” Marcos said, folding his own newspaper in half in his seat. “Your mind would probably be sharper with some rest now. Then tomorrow we could get back to it.”

  David sighed. He didn’t have the time to rest and relax. Katy was leaving for Esserby in less than a week, and, while he wasn’t sure how he could make things work in London, he had even less idea how to find her in Esserby, without just showing up at her fiancé’s home.

  Which he was stridently hoping to avoid.

  “I’ll meet you back there,” David replied simply.

  Marcos looked at David for a few beats before nodding and pushing himself up out of his chair. He walked the few steps over to David and then extended his hand.

  “I had a good day with you today, David,” he said warmly.

  David looked up into the older, darker version of his own face and smiled. He grasped his father’s hand and shook. “Thanks for being here.”

  There was a part of David that was ready to open himself up to his father. He wanted to embrace him, tell him how much his presence meant during a dark time, how Marcos showing up had given him the strength to keep going.

  But he still had things he needed to do first. And he wasn’t ready to become distracted by anything else yet. So, after shaking hands, he watched his father leave without another word. He’d given David the money for a cab to meet him at the Wayland later in the evening.

  David still had a paper to get through. In fact, he was making good progress, thoroughly analyzing a promising ad as a third-party landscape assistant at the palace, when he heard Rufus’s voice calling out for him.

  David laid the paper down in his lap and peered around in the darkness. The fire only lit a diameter of several yards, and the streetlamp closest to the area was beginning to go out, leaving him in relative darkness every time it flickered off. He didn’t see Rufus. Perhaps he hadn’t actually heard the man at all. He was about to turn back to his paper when he heard it again, clearer this time.

  “David? David, you there?”

  David laid the
paper down on the ground and stood from his seat. He strained his eyes in the direction of Rufus’s voice. He spotted the man’s dark silhouette approaching.

  “Rufus? What is it, mate?”

  Rufus didn’t respond. But David thought he heard Rufus speaking quietly to someone else, though in the darkness and the slight fog, he couldn’t make out another figure.

  “Rufus?”

  David took a wary step in the man’s direction before he was finally able to make out his new friend’s face. He opened his mouth to speak, but Rufus was faster on the draw.

  “You sure get a lot of visitors for a hobo.” Rufus winked in the firelight, his face lit up as though he knew some delightful secret.

  David’s face twisted into confusion, but before he could ask the man what was going on, Rufus deftly side-stepped, revealing a petite woman who had been walking directly behind him.

  David squinted in the light—blinked, then opened his eyes again, wondering if he was seeing a mirage.

  Or if it was actually Princess Katerina of Lorria, standing in front of David, here, in a derelict car park on the wrong side of the tracks.

  Words failed him. His brain sputtered and misfired as he stared at Katy in disbelief. She was dressed casually in jeans, a blouse, and ankle boots; a far cry from the evening gown he had seen her in last.

  But she was just as beautiful as always, if not more—more like the Katy he remembered, less like the faraway princess on TV.

  She spoke first, which was a blessing, since David had no idea how long it would have taken his thoughts and tongue to untangle themselves.

  “David? Is that really you?”

  David breathed out sharply at the sound of Katy’s melodic voice. The trash bin fire was reflected back at him in her lovely gray eyes, making her look otherworldly.

  Which was how he felt about seeing her in the camp, anyway. She was a stunning rose among a barren field. She was a breath of fresh air in the void of dark space. She was hope, she was light, she was grace eternal.

  Am I dreaming?

  As he studied her, his brain working a million miles an hour, his pulse thundering in his chest, he couldn’t find a response inside of himself. Everything jumbled together in his throat, and what he ended up saying to answer her question was, “Um. Yeah.”

  He kicked himself silently. Man up, mate! She came all this way to find you.

  “I’ll, uh, leave you two to it,” Rufus said suddenly, reminding David that they hadn’t been alone. He’d barely been able to see anything other than Katy.

  David nodded and Rufus took his leave, leaving the two of them alone.

  “How did you find me?” He struggled to even the pitch of his voice, so he didn’t sound quite as shocked and nervous as he actually was. But it all still felt so unreal.

  No. This is really happening. She’s really here.

  “Well, it took the better part of the day,” Katy admitted softly. She wasn’t smiling. In fact, she looked a bit hesitant. And, as a dark figure moved purposefully ten or so yards away from them, David realized that she hadn’t come quite alone.

  He couldn’t blame her. In fact, he was happy that she was being safe. He’d never have been able to forgive himself if she had gotten injured looking for him. And the parts of London she would’ve been looking in, if she’d known to look in homeless camps, were definitely dodgy.

  “Katy, I . . .” David started to speak. He wanted to finish what he’d tried to say a few days ago at the palace. He wanted to tell her what he believed was happening behind the scenes in her life, so she could make decisions for herself moving forward. Even if she ended up unable to believe him, or if she was too in love with her fiancé for David’s words to change anything, he still needed to tell her.

  But, standing in front of the love of his life, David realized that he didn’t want to get into that yet. He didn’t want Katy to think that he had only reached out to her to get justice or retribution. That had never been the only thing, and he knew deep down that it wasn’t the most important one, either.

  With that thought in mind, David took an anxious step toward her.

  He hoped Katy was thinking along the same lines, because she did the same. There were only a few feet between them now.

  “I’ve missed you,” David whispered. He hadn’t meant to be so quiet, but everything felt so intense and intimate that it had simply come out that way.

  “I’ve missed you, too,” she murmured in response. He hadn’t thought his heartrate could accelerate much faster, but it did. And then, as the orange light nearby flickered back on, David watched as Katy’s beautiful eyes misted over.

  He knew he was taking a risk. He knew it might be too much, too fast. He knew it was an impulsive, passionate act devoid of all logic and reason. But he didn’t care. At the sight of Katy’s tears, David took one big step toward her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in close to his chest.

  Katy hesitated only for a moment. And then, incredibly, David could feel her relaxing, her body melting in toward his, her arms rising up to wrap around him with a returning tenderness.

  For just the minute or two that they held each other—one of the best two minutes of his life—David felt complete again.

  He knew that it could only last for so long before he’d have to pull away and a very difficult conversation would commence. But he didn’t care. If he had died in that moment, with Katy’s arms around him, he would’ve died happy.

  28

  Katy

  Wrapped in David’s strong arms, Katy closed her eyes. As he held her, she felt calm, complete, and safe. It felt like the only taste of happiness she’d felt in five long years.

  But, slowly, her mind started its rambling again. And a hint of the old nerves came with it. She loosened her grip just barely, but—like he always had—David seemed to instinctively know that something had changed. With no sign of reluctance, he pulled back, letting her go but not stepping quite so far away.

  “Katy,” he started again, his voice heavy with emotion.

  Katy swallowed hard and faced him. It still felt surreal to be so near him again. A part of her had never thought it would happen. But another part of her had wanted it so desperately—even if a smaller part was still afraid of what could happen. What if David truly was guilty? What if he really was a liar and a cheat?

  Was she safe here? Were the feelings that had coursed through her, the assurance she’d felt in her bones as he held her, truly wrong?

  Now she could finally get some answers.

  “Katy,” David repeated. It was obvious that he, too, still couldn’t quite believe that she was actually there, in the flesh, before him.

  Neither could Katy. But there were things that she needed to say, things that she needed to hear.

  She willed her voice to be strong, her mind to remember why she’d come. “David,” she began, gazing intently into David’s deep eyes with every orange flicker of the streetlamp. “Why did you come find me at the party?”

  David looked down, and Katy was able to better examine the changes his face had undergone during their five years apart. He was thinner now, his cheekbones slightly more prominent. His dark facial hair was certainly new, though Katy quite liked its appearance. His eyes looked somewhat sadder and deeper. But for the most part, it was still the youthful, handsome face of the boy she had so loved.

  And yet he’s been through so much since I saw him last. What if he’s not even the same person anymore?

  “I needed to tell you some things. Some important things,” David replied with gravitas. He kept his gentle but pained eyes on her face.

  Katy waited, but when David didn’t speak again she prompted him further.

  “Tell me what, David?”

  “Well, to be honest . . . I’m worried to tell you.”

  Katy’s breath caught. If she’d had her doubts before, she felt fairly confident now that David was about to say exactly what Cerise had prepared her for.

 
“Is it about my parents?”

  David’s eyes widened.

  “Were you trying to tell me that my parents had something to do with what happened? Back in Cambridge?” Katy continued. She was trying desperately to keep her voice firm and even, though her knees grew steadily weaker. But she had to hear it firsthand from David. She had to hear his side of the story.

  “Did you hear that from the news?”

  “No, I heard it from Cerise.”

  David looked back up at Katy then, his eyes swimming in the flickering light.

  “Why don’t you talk to her anymore?” Katy continued. “Or Joseph? Or Zeke?”

  David sighed. He chewed lightly on his bottom lip before answering. “I couldn’t face them. Not as the person I was. The person I turned into.”

  Katy kept her voice gentle, but a little corner of her felt the deep sadness in David’s words. “From what I heard from them, and from what I knew of them, I don’t think your family or best friend cared that you went to prison, David. They just cared about being able to continue a relationship with you.”

  David shook his head. “I know, Katy. I can’t really explain what happened or why I acted the way that I did. You don’t know what prison is like.”

  Katy couldn’t argue with him there. She knew what her own self-imposed prison had been like over the past five years, but it would never be quite comparable. Katy could’ve gone outside anytime that she wanted. She could’ve traveled. She’d had her freedom and her liberties, even if she hadn’t had the heart to live life fully.

  “I can understand why you’d be nervous about talking to me about all this,” Katy said. Then, thinking further, she added, “And I don’t know if I’ll believe you. But I need to hear it from you. You never explained it all those years ago. Not even a call.”