Courting Royal

Chapter Twenty-Two

By 6pm, I've showered, dried my hair, done my makeup, gotten dressed in a knee-length, cap-sleeved navy dress that I hope is royal parent appropriate, and can tell you nearly every single fact about James and Mary Davenport that is available online.

Which probably means that I know next to nothing about them.

As I'm furiously Googling even more information about the charities that they're patron to, I finally get a call from Liam.

"Hey," I say.

"Hi," he says. "So sorry I couldn't call until just now. And about having to rope Natalie in to inviting you to dinner tonight."

"Dinner with your parents," I say, enunciating carefully.

"I know."

"This is...hugely unexpected."

"I know," he says. "It took everyone by surprise."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"As we were all walking out to board the carriages, my mom turned to me and said, 'Liam, why don't you invite the American you've been running around with to dinner tonight?'. Then she turned right back around and got into the carriage, and didn't mention anything else about it to me all day."

"Whoa," I say, somehow feeling shocked that they even knew about me.

"I knew that they know about you," Liam says, clearly on the same brainwave as me.

"You did?" I ask. "Why didn't you say anything about that to me?"

"We have a staff, Maggie," Liam says. "Everyone talks. Of course they know about you."

"Right," I say, feeling stupid for not thinking of that myself. "Okay, yeah, that makes sense. But still. Why do they want to meet me this early on?"

"My dad said that my mom had heard about you from several different people and her curiosity was getting the best of her."

"And what did your mom say?" I ask.

"The same, basically."

"Basically?"

Liam sighs. "I think someone from the polo match must have mentioned your new job to her. At least, that's all I can come up with."

"Have they always wanted to meet your girlfriends early?"

Liam laughs at that and then says, "Well, normally they would have known them – or at least known of them – before the two of us had gotten together. So, in a way, this is the first time I'm really introducing someone to them."

"No pressure," I mutter.

"You'll be fine," he says. "My parents aren't incorrigible or anything."

"So tell me about them," I say. "I think I've only ever heard you mention them a couple times."

"What do you want to know?" Liam asks.

"Anything! Or, at least, anything that isn't on the Internet."

"My dad loves The Great British Bake-Off and has a shockingly vast collection of pocket squares. My mum hates mayonnaise and has a subscription to Tatler."

"Okay," I say, amused by this intel. "And what do I need to do? Or not do? Or say?"

"Honestly, Maggie, just be yourself."

"But myself isn't impressive."

"You don't give yourself enough credit," he says.

"I'm not, though!" I say. "I'm not well-traveled, I rarely do volunteer work, I'm not a self-made millionaire, I've never run a marathon – or, hell, even a 5k – and the only thing that might be impressive about me is that I'm the foremost American blogger who chronicles the lives of their sons and daughter-in-law."