the driveway, I saw Auggie burst from the castle just as we pulled away. I leaned forward and opened the privacy panel. “I need you to do a favor for me, Sean.”
“Anything, miss,” he said. I knew he meant it.
My mind scrambled to develop an escape plan. Clearly, I couldn’t go back to either castle. It would only mean I’d face Auggie again, and I couldn’t bear it. “I need you to drop me at the airport. If you can, please retrieve my family and I’ll meet them there.”
“Is there something wrong?” he asked. “Peaches,” he finally said, like a concerned father.
Tears ran unchecked down my cheek. “I don’t belong here, Sean. It’s time for me to go home.”
He looked at me through the rear-view mirror. I could hear raised voices coming from his earphones. I knew immediately it was Auggie. He pulled the device from his neck to focus on me. “For what it’s worth, Miss Peaches. I think you do belong here. I always have. And I shall hate to see you go.”
I choked back a sob as I closed the panel.
It took roughly twenty minutes to get to the airport. We didn’t stop at the private gate this time around. Instead he stopped where all the regular people were dropped off. People going on vacation. Business folk traveling for work. Newlyweds going on their honeymoons.
Now, I was going back to a farm where I could live in a pool house until I could deliver my son. Alone. How I would do this with no money remained a mystery. I planned to wire every single thin dime I had left back to Auggie. I’d return the rest of it later, like the money I would have to use to get back to the States with my family.
God, I couldn’t even think about my family. What would I say to them? This was supposed to be a magical trip. Now, it was just another nightmare. I could already hear Archer’s ‘I told you so.’
The entire thing was made even more complicated when I realized that we’d made it all the way to the airport, and I hadn’t brought my purse. I hadn’t needed my own money since April. Auggie had paid for everything during the trip, so my wallet was packed with my luggage at Castlewick.
Realizing this only made me cry harder. I was literally homeless and penniless. And I couldn’t face Auggie again. I just couldn’t.
I spilled all of that in a desperate wail as Sean opened the door. He bent down to speak to me. “I will bring your belongings, miss. If you’re sure this is what you want to do.”
I nodded. He helped me out of the car and offered me what looked to be $100 in Aldaynean money. The queen’s face was on the bill. It only made me cry harder. “Go to the bar,” he said, giving me directions where it was located. “I will bring your family and your luggage.”
“You won’t get in trouble, will you?”
“You don’t worry about that,” he said. “I can handle it.”
“I know you can,” I told him. My iceberg of a companion. I was truly going to miss him. I reached for a hug, to hell with the protocol. I noticed people staring at the strange sight, a hysterical pregnant woman hugging a guard in front of the Queen’s state car. But if this was the last time that I was going to see Sean Tover, I wanted to make sure he knew how much I had appreciated him through everything. “Thank you,” I said.
“Go with God, Peaches McPhee,” he said, hugging me back.
I nodded and waved at him before rushing into the building. I didn’t want to draw any more attention than I already had.
I kept my head down as I moved through the sprawling airport. There was a lounge just outside the check-in, exactly where Sean said it would be.
I sat at the bar, ordering a ginger ale to keep me occupied while I waited. Who knew how long this was going to take? All I could do was pray Auggie wouldn’t figure it out and come after me before I got a chance to escape.
I was about half a glass in when life got a whole lot worse.
“Hey, Peaches.”
I froze. No. It couldn’t be. Not now. Not like this. Slowly I turned to face the arrogant, smug face of Christopher Tyler.
“What are you doing here?”
He grinned, hopping up on the seat next to me. “See,