Unexpected

Chapter 20

What followed was easily the best night ever. Alex insisted we stay to celebrate with my friends, that he hadn’t come to take anything away from our accomplishment, that we would talk later. Once I finally got used to the fact that he was here, in my everyday life, I relaxed and let loose. It didn’t take long for everyone to realize that Alex was a great, easy-going guy and soon he was blending in as though he’d known them forever. I didn’t even see anyone trying to sneakily take a picture of him, although I did have Maggie take a picture of the two of us together on my phone. I loved all of these people for allowing Alex to have a night like this, to feel ‘normal’ for an evening.

Later that night, Maggie and I were standing next to each other, watching Jack, Alex, our friend Kim’s fiance Tony, and few other guys, all talking animatedly about something.

“It was Jack, wasn’t it? He must have talked to Alex and told him where we’d be tonight,” I said to Maggie, airing the revelation that had finally occurred to me some time ago.

“It was -- I got a full confession out of him earlier,” she said. “He apologized to me for keeping it a secret, but I’m glad he did. I would have had to tell you if I had known and it would have ruined this amazing surprise. This is pretty incredible, isn’t it? You’re happy, right?”

“I’m somewhere beyond happy. I owe Jack big time. I still can’t believe he came all this way to see me.” I couldn’t stop smiling.

“Did he say why, precisely?” Maggie asked.

“No, he said we’re going to talk later -- he just wants us all to have fun. I think we’ll take off soon though -- I worry how it will be once it’s no longer just our group at the bar, you know? I don’t want anyone hassling him. Plus, obviously I’m anxious to talk to him; he has a room at the Cornhusker Hotel so we can just walk over there from here.”

“Good thinking about getting out of here soon. I wasn’t even thinking about that -- where are his guards, by the way?

"There, and there,” I said, pointing out the two men. I had given Robert a big hug when I had seen him earlier, which clearly took him by surprise, and Alex had introduced me to Chris, a new guard. At that moment, Robert was standing in Alex’s conversation circle and Chris was sitting at a table, appearing to look around casually, although I was sure he was on high alert.

“They blend in pretty well -- it helps that Alex always has mostly younger guys guarding him, so they don’t look out of place here,” I said.

“I think we’ll take off somewhat soon too -- I’m so exhausted from the last two days that I’m not even sure how I’m upright right now. I’m clearly fueled entirely by alcohol at this point. I’ll get a ride home with Jack so you’ll still have your car down here to get home in the morning, or whenever you come back to me,” Maggie teased.

“That sounds great, thanks, Maggie. Have I mentioned how very happy I am? Because I am. So so happy.”

“You might have said something to that effect.” She nudged me with her shoulder. “Get back over there with Alex. You can talk to me any old time; he came halfway across the world to see you.”

As I made my way back over to Alex, Adam intercepted me. “How are you doing, Charlie? Are you ok with everything? I don’t want to see you hurt again.”

I reassured him that I was fantastic and that everything was just fine, then took him over to meet Alex. After they spoke for a couple of minutes, Adam said he was just taking off, but as he was leaving, he whispered into my ear, “Well, I guess if you’re not going to be with me, he’s a decent enough substitute.” He then leaned back and winked, and I laughed and gave him a hug before he left.

A half hour later, Alex and I made our farewells also and walked the relatively short distance to his hotel. He put his hat back on and pulled it low and we didn’t get a second glance as we walked along the downtown Lincoln streets, our hands swinging between us. Robert and Chris followed behind us at an inconspicuous distance. It felt so strange to have Alex here on my home turf, I kept looking at him to assure myself this was really happening.

When we got into his room, which was a beautiful suite with a living room and separate bedroom, we both started to speak at the same time. We laughed and I indicated that Alex should go ahead.

“I should have told you this in Mustique -- I knew it then but didn’t want to acknowledge it: I love you, Charlotte,” he said, grabbing my hands.

“I love you too,” I said, tears rolling down my face. “So, so much.”

Alex bent down and kissed me, holding my face tenderly in his hands. He wiped my tears away with his thumbs, pulling back slightly to look at my face as if memorizing it. It meant so much to me to see that he had clearly missed me just as much as I had missed him.

We undressed each other slowly, between long, lingering kisses. There was a difference tonight in the way we touched and looked at each other -- where there had been passion and urgency in our previous encounters, there now was reverence and worship. We took our time, rediscovering each other. Although it hadn't been that long since we were last together, it felt like a lifetime.

As we lay in bed together after, Alex started talking. “I’ve been absolutely miserable these last two months without you, Charlie. I tried to distract myself, to bury myself in my responsibilities, but nothing worked. That’s when I realized that I was in love with you, that’d I’d been in love with you almost the entire time we were together.”

I teared up again at his words, it meant everything to me that we were on the same page. I was still shell-shocked that this beautiful, perfect man was in love with me, of all people. “I love you too, Alex.”

“I’m never going to get tired of hearing you say that. I was going to wait until morning to talk to you about this, but I think it’d be better for you to be able to sleep on this -- I want to be fair and give you some time to consider everything. What I’d like, what I’m asking of you, is that you move to England. I could find you an apartment not far from my residence and we could be together. Nothing would make me happier that to be able to see you every day, to be able to kiss you and hold your hand and watch movies and listen to music -- to have you in my life would make everything else bearable. You could attend all my royal functions and duties, so we’d get to travel and you could see more of the world. But mostly, we’d be together.”

“Alex, wow, I --”

He cut me off, “No, Charlie, let’s talk about it tomorrow. You’ve got to be exhausted and like I said, I want you to be able to think things through a bit more.”

I rolled over to my side and Alex snuggled up behind me, spooning me perfectly like he had those months ago. My mind was racing thinking about his offer, about moving to England and really being his girlfriend, but eventually even those thoughts weren’t enough to keep my tired body awake. I fell into a fitful sleep.