The General's Daughter

Chapter 20

The following days were a blur. It seemed that every person I'd ever known, came to visit.

Mother hadn't allowed anyone to disturb me until I woke on my own, which wasn't until almost dinner time, but after that, I was completely occupied almost every minute for the next several days.

My family were the only ones who really cared about me. The rest of the "well wishers" simply wanted a sensational story to pass on. And because this particular story had a happy ending, no one seemed the least bit shy to ask about every detail. Not many people seemed to notice or care that I didn't have any interest in talking about it anymore.

Aunt Charlotte had been nearly hysterical when she arrived, but that wasn't so unusual. To distract her, I told her about Alex. Which hadn't exactly calmed her down, but at least she was much happier.

Of course, choosing that particular news to distract my aunt with, had begun the chain of telling the rest of my family. Something I regretted pretty quickly as I was still having a hard time wrapping my head around it.

My younger cousins and brothers weren't told at all to prevent them from blabbing to anyone else before Alex and I were ready. Everyone else had mixed reactions.

Grandmother couldn't have been more thrilled. She contained her enthusiasm much better than my aunt had, but I'd never seen her so happy. There was never a doubt in my mind that she loved me, but it was also fairly obvious that I'd been something of a disappointment to her for the better part of my life. In all honesty, I think this was the first time she was actually proud of me.

Aunt Keira and everyone else seemed happy...but also not. They all acted as my father had - apparently glad that I was happy, but also holding back on whatever negative comments they were thinking.

After a few days, it was beginning to get to me, especially since my own feelings were still pretty uncertain. I wanted to be happy, and mostly I was. I loved Alex, but the idea of being royalty was still pretty frightening.

It was a relief when things began to calm down and we were able to return home. I hoped that life would get back to normal quickly, but I wasn't really sure what normal was any longer. I felt like a different person. And with all the coming changes, it might be a very long time before I felt like myself again. If that ever happened.

It was strange to suddenly be so sure of Alex, yet so unsure of myself.

Thinking it might help, I decided to visit the pond behind the house. It was at least a mile walk and had always been one of my favorite places. Best of all, it was on the property, so no one would care if I went alone.

I made my way through the house and down the stairs, but stopped when I saw Reed.

With all the activity, I hadn't been able to get a moment alone with him since we first arrived at Uncle Jeremy's home. Which felt strange, given that for roughly a week, he'd been my sole ally and companion.

"Hi." I approached him and then noticed that he wore his hat and coat and was heading for the door. Reed had gone on a few errands in his time here, but that wasn't what he was doing now.

"You're leaving?" The thought shouldn't have made me quite so sad. I hadn't been expecting him to stay as long as he had.

He nodded. "It's time I went home."

What home? I wanted to ask. Instead I said, "where will you go?"

"I'm...not exactly sure," he admitted. "I have a few ideas, but I'm going to take some time and figure it out. Your father was very generous." He laughed uncomfortably. "You weren't kidding."