One More Chance

“I thought you looked familiar,” Kylie said quietly. She had both hands, white-knuckled, curled around her purse.

“We did spend a lot of time together.” Henry had his hands tucked into his pockets. The posture was familiar, but now that he was clothed in a five-thousand dollar Armani suit instead of ill-fitting clothes from the open door mission he was a different man.

Kylie nodded. “You didn’t lie about that much, did you? Your name, the subjects you liked in school. The little things.” She tilted her head to one side. Her dark eyes were curiously blank. “The things people who are in love with each other should know about each other.”

Henry swallowed hard. “You didn’t care how rich I was then. Why should it matter now?”

“It doesn’t, in the grand scheme of things.” Kylie worked one hand loose from her purse and reached for the door. “Of course, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not about how rich you are - it’s about who you really are. And who you really are is a man who can never be with me.” She turned away and pushed the door open.

Henry caught her shoulder. “Kylie, wait.”

She glanced back at him. “Yes, Your Highness?”

He flinched. “It’s not like that in my country. I’m allowed to marry the woman I love.”

“I’m happy for you, Highness,” Kylie said.

“Then why are you leaving?”

“I was in love with a man, but I don’t think he really exists.”

Henry closed his eyes and sighed. “Kylie, I promise, everything I told you about me was true - where I was born, how I grew up. I just had to be sure that you wouldn’t care about stupid things like - like titles.”

“Your title can’t be that stupid, that you felt the need to hide it.”

Henry opened his eyes, and Kylie could see the raw hurt in his expression, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of betrayal, that the entire time she’d been fighting to get over Ben and reconcile herself to her feelings for Henry the entire world had been in on the joke.

“I didn’t know what else to do,” Henry said.

“You could have told me. Before you left,” Kylie said. “I spent months imagining the worst - that you’d died from exposure or been killed or-”

“I’m still alive,” Henry said quietly. “And I still love you.”

Kylie shook his hand off. “I’m in love with Henry, but I don’t know who Prince Henry is.”

“Prince Henry is the man who was grateful for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hot chocolate, and a warm blanket in the middle of winter,” he said.

“Did you think you could reveal your identity and I’d fall into your arms?”

“No. But I hoped you’d at least give me a chance.”

Chances were what had gotten her into this mess. Kylie took a deep breath and decided that she could do like Ben always said and take one more.