Page 74 of Scandal Queen

“You didn’t fail your daughter, Nana. She failed you.”

“You’re a mother, Leia. You know that’s not the truth.” She wiped at her face and pulled herself up straight. “Now, go, be who you have to be now.”

I pulled in a deep breath that was tinged with regret and loss and then I swung my legs out of the bed. “Where’s the dress? Vanessa! I need to get dressed now.”

My poor lady-in-waiting almost fell through the door with relief.

“I’m sorry.” I nodded at her.

“No need, Ma’am. We can still get you there.”

I watched myself in the mirror as she helped me into the dress, wondering just who I was seeing in the reflection. I didn’t think I knew her anymore. If I ever did.

* * *

I crunched over the gravel, my attention focused on not falling over in the black high heels; they had a fancy name that didn’t mean that much to me.

When a shape moved to the side of the building, I gave a little jump.

“Oliver?”

He peeled away from the shadows, his face half hidden, his inky hair blending with the night sky. “I didn’t think you’d come. You haven’t answered any of my messages all afternoon.”

I nodded mechanically, a sharp bop of my head. “It’s been a difficult day.”

His hand reached for me, his fingers stretching. “Bella told me you’d been to Bright Futures and seen Janine.”

Another nod. “Yes.”

“Leia.” His shiny shoes, to match his black tuxedo, crunched over the gravel. “I was going to tell you. I promise on everything I love. I just wanted to find out first how credible the story was.”

Another nod. I’d get a crick neck at this rate.

“You can understand why your hiding things hurts though?” I swallowed, trying to stop my words from shaking. “It’s only been months since you promised me you’d never do something like that again.”

“Leia, I swear I would never do that again.”

My hand smoothed over the lapel of his jacket. “So that’s not why you refused your dad’s idea of giving Daisy a title? Because you were worried we were about to bring scandal down on your family again?”

Oliver face dropped open with shock, his deep eyes registering a flash of fire. “I haven’t even told anyone. I wouldn’t. We will have to, and probably soon, but that’s not what prevented me agreeing with the suggestion.”

“You know they will tell you to pay her off, this woman who lost her son; the woman who might have a granddaughter she’s never met? It’s your family’s way.”

He dropped his gaze, his shoulder’s sagging. “It’s not my way, Leia. You’ve taught me something new. And I’m battling here, every day is a fight for us to be able to be who we want to be, but you are worth it for me, worth the stand to make myself something other than what has been predicted from my birth. Worth the battle.”

“So why don’t you want Daisy to have a title? Wouldn’t it protect her more if the King gave her a precedent that means she’s under his care and duty?” The words Ward of the Crown had been brandished about. I’d recoiled at the time, but now my need to protect Daisy outweighed everything.

“Leia. I said no...” He hesitated, running his tongue along his lower lip, his gaze burning as it traced over my face.

For some reason I couldn’t explain my heat raced, my breath caught.

“Because I want her to be mine. I want to adopt her, to be her dad.”

Shit. My heart.

“Blugh?”

“I love her. She’s everything. One day, assuming you don’t murder me for being a tosser, we will have our own children. I never want Daisy to believe for one moment she isn’t anything other than one hundred percent mine. That I’m committed to her with all my heart.”