friendship had to end.”
“That’s harsh,” Clem said and gently caressed Edward’s thigh.
“As I got older, it just got to be a habit, aligning my life and my choices with what he’d want,” he said. “If I’m honest…” Edward’s words trailed off before he finally gathered himself to say, “You know, you’re the only person I’ve ever admitted this to, but, if I’m honest, I’m afraid to fail.”
“What?” Her eyes were incredulous. “Fail who? Your father?”
He nodded. “My father, the kingdom,” he said. “It’s a lot of pressure. And as much as I want to be my own person and pursue my own dreams, I don’t want to let down my family or the people of Sovalon.”
Clem was silent for a moment, leaving him worried that perhaps he’d said too much. Finally, she took his hand and met his eyes.
“I completely get it,” she said.
“You do?”
“Ever since Mom left, I’ve felt like I’m the one who has to hold things together with Uncle Stoddard and Dad—at home and at the shop,” she said.
His heart went out to her. “How painful to have been abandoned by your mother, especially for a young girl.”
“I think that she’s the reason I work so hard to preserve beautiful things.” Clem stared wistfully off to the right. “I watched my parents’ marriage disintegrate so quickly,” she said. “Beautiful things can easily be lost forever if you don’t take care of them.”
This shed so much light on Clem’s personality and her appreciation of antiquities. “How old were you when your mom left?” he asked,
“Only seven,” Clem said. “But I remember her. I remember her and Dad fighting constantly at home. Every day was a battle. ”
“That’s awful.”
“Yes, it really was. Their inability to get along was the reason she left. It’s also the reason I’m so careful about who I get into a relationship with,” Clem said. “My parents were complete opposites, too different to coexist. I don’t want to end up struggling like they did.”
“I can understand that,” Edward said. “But not every relationship will be like your parents’.”
“I know.” She ran a hand through her tangled hair. “Anyway, now it’s just me, Dad and Uncle Stoddard. I’m a musketeer—one of the three. The only way to manage is for all of us to work together. I have to succeed in my part of the business, because if one of us jumps ship, the others sink. I understand the pressure.”
“I guess you do.” He hated for her to have to deal with so much stress and wanted nothing more than to protect her from anything negative. Clem was the most precious thing of beauty he’d come across in a long time, maybe ever. He wanted to take care of her. He took her face in his hands and drew her to him, his lips closing in on hers in a sweet kiss.
For the rest of the afternoon, Edward made it his personal mission to take care of Clem. As the sun sank low in the sky, they basked in the afterglow of their lovemaking behind the old mill, a place they both agreed was beautiful enough to work hard to preserve.
The next morning, Clem sat across from Edward in the dining room of the old castle, eating sweet rolls for breakfast and staring out the bay window at the breathtaking grounds. Edward was looking over paperwork of some kind, but Clem was taking a quiet moment to appreciate the beauty of the castle yards.
Edward placed his hand on top of hers. “You look lovely when you’re daydreaming.” He grinned. “What are you looking at?”
She nodded at the window. “I bet that garden used to be spectacular,” she remarked. Even though the fenced-off space outside the window was overgrown, she could see by the rusted metal stakes and the whitewashed fence enclosure that it used to be a garden. “Do you remember it at all from the summers you spent here?”
Edward looked up from his stack of papers and scratched his head. “I remember a gardener, maybe, but I’m not sure. I don’t know that I’d have noticed a garden.”
Clem smiled wistfully. Gardening was one of her most-loved pastimes. When she had time, she loved to get her hands in the dirt. Flowers were her favorite thing to grow, especially sunflowers, but she loved her vegetable garden in the summer as well. The patch of garden she could see from this window was just about perfect for any season.
“How peaceful would it be to just sit here