Once Upon a Prince by Rachel Hauck

Author:Rachel Hauck [Hauck, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780310315483
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2013-04-15T16:00:00+00:00

Oh my … Her heart beat wild and loud in her ears.

“Mama, if you let me go you won’t have to buy me another present for Christmas or my birthday ever again.”

“Would you stop all that forever talk?” Mama read over Susanna’s shoulder, then exhaled hot and heavy against her skin. “Goodness, I don’t know what to say.”

“M–me neither.”

“Say yes, Suz. Yes, we can go.”

“Susanna?” Mama bent to see her face. “You’ve gone pale. I guess you didn’t expect this.”

“No.” Every limb of her body weakened as she shoved the invitation back into the envelope. This didn’t make sense. She’d not heard from him since he left in July. He’d put Jon in charge of approving the garden. She’d assumed he didn’t want to talk to her.

“So, we can go? See, look.” Avery fumbled through the contents of the envelope. “‘Guest.’ That’s me. And here’s one inviting you to stay at the Parrsons House as a guest of the queen.” She clasped her hands together. “Oh my gosh, Suz, who gets an invitation to a coronation? No one! We have to go.”

The edges and lights of the porch blended together in the cold breeze. But the idea of seeing him again warmed her all over.

What are you doing, Nate? How could she go? Why would she go? She couldn’t even be sure he’d invited her, though she found it hard to imagine the disapproving Jonathan adding her name to the guest list.

“Suz, come on, we have to—”

“No, we don’t, Avery.” Susanna tapped the heavy invitation against her palm, then squeezed between Mama and her sister to head for the kitchen door. “I’ve got to prep for dinner. Mama, did Catfish bring the meat from the walk-in?”

“You can’t be serious.” Avery blocked Susanna’s path to the door. “We don’t have to go, but we should go. We’d be crazy not to, Suz. Crazy. Give me one good reason.”

“I’ll give you three. I can’t afford it. I can’t afford it. I can’t afford it. I don’t even have a place to live, Avery. I owe Blaine Jessup sixteen hundred dollars for my office rent, and the invoice for my new website arrived yesterday. And to be perfectly honest, I don’t want to go. It’s two weeks away, and we just now got the invitation? How rude. Clearly we are a second thought, or worse, and most likely, it’s a joke.”

Could this be from Mrs. Butler? Getting back at her for upstaging her benefit. Or from the person who took the picture of Susanna on the deck with Nate?

“Who cares about rude? Or being a joke? We’re invited to the coronation of a European prince.”

“Not if it’s a joke, Avery.” Susanna rapped lightly on the girl’s forehead. “Hello, McFly.”

“We’re guests of Her Majesty, the queen. The quueeenn … How can you not want to go?” Avery spoke with her arms waving, her body jiggling and wiggling. “Mama, make her go.”

“Don’t rightly see how I can. Didn’t work when she was three, and it certainly won’t work now that she’s grown.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.