Chapter 0421


    I was tired from a long day of acting and handling drama. So when I finally made my way back to my


    room, my feet were slow, my pace sluggish. I didn’t reach the hallway where the candidates‘ rooms


    were until well after the others had already gone.


    Maybe this was why I found Mark standing alone outside of Susie’s door. The sight of his face gave me


    pause. He looked absolutely devastated. When my feet started working again, and I came closer, he


    noticed and immediately straightened.


    He didn’t have to. We knew each other well enough that I considered us friends by now. Though I was


    certainly closer with Susic, Mark constantly put himself in danger for me and Elva. He’d well–carned my


    friendship.


    So I stopped before I could pass him, and I asked him t–out, “Are you okay?”


    The hard edge he was trying so hard to keep in his face faded away, and sadness and worry contorted


    his features once more.


    “Susie won’t see me,” he said. “I don’t know why. If I did something, she isn’t telling me.


    I didn’t know what to tell him. I didn’t want to break Susie’s confidence, and I knew she hadn’t decided


    what to tell Mark. That she was sending him away without seeing him was a bad sign.


    Mark could have broken down the door. That he wasn’t spoke to how much of a gentleman he was. He


    wanted to respect Susie, always.


    I wished I had been more insistent that Mark was someone she could trust.


    Then again, I knew how scary it was to be facing the world with a baby. You couldn’t think about just


    yourself anymore. And those tough decisions, the ones about keeping people close, were much harder


    to make.


    I suspected Susie’s love of Mark was what really wanted her to keep him at a distance. A baby out of


    wedlock could ruin both their lives.


    “I haven’t seen her since she fainted,” Mark said. His gaze dropped down to the ground. “I don’t know


    what to do, Piper.”


    }}


    “Just give her some time,” I said. “I’m sure she will be willing to talk to you soon. “Soon? But why not


    now? No one will tell me anything!” Mark pushed a hand through his hair. I’d never seen him like this


    before, so dibobted. It was a little endearing. Was


    +15 BONUS


    this the side of him that he showed only to Susie? Only forSusie?


    He reached into his inside jacket pocket and produced a letter. He held it out for me. Susie’s name was


    written in neat, tight scrawl across the front of the envelope.


    “She won’t speak to me, but she may speak to you, Piper,” Mark said. “If you get in there. If you talk to


    her. Please… give her this.”


    I epted the letter from his hands, then moved for him to step aside. Once he did, I took his ce at


    the door.


    “Just wait here, okay?” I asked.


    At his nod, I knocked on the door.


    Property belongs to N?vel(D)r/ama.Org.


    “Go away!” Susie shouted. Her voice was hoarse, like she had been crying. She’d probably been crying


    for several days.


    “It’s Piper!” I called back.


    Silence replied for several long moments, before Susie’s voice came through once more. You can


    come in. But only you, Piper!”


    I nced at Mark, then opened the door and stepped through it. I closed it behind me, locking Mark


    outside.


    Susie was sitting at a small table near the firece. She doesn’t look much better than when she had


    been lying in bed. There are red rings under her eyes and her face is splotchy.


    Even if I hadn’t surmised she’d been crying from her voice, the evidence is clear in her features. As


    well as the downward curve of her shoulders. She was slouched in her seat, with her head low, like she


    couldn’t be bothered to lift it.


    I approached her, then sat beside her at the only other seat at the table.


    “How are you feelings?” I asked, worried about her health and the baby.


    “Physically, just drained,” she said. “But it’s probably from the crying…”


    She pulled a tissue from the box on the table. Beneath her feet, a sea of used, crumpled–up tissues


    littered the floor.


    I ced Mark’s letter on the table, then slid it across to Susie.


    Susieughed once, sourly, when she saw it. She continued sliding it across the table to where a pile


    were stacked.


    (C


    2/4


    415 BONUS


    “She’s been sliding letters under my door every hour on the hour,” she said. Her voice cracked,


    emphasizing her misery. 2


    “Maybe you should just speak to him,” I said, trying once more to convince her. “Mark is a good man.


    He won’t disappoint you.”


    “I know,” she said, “Or at least, I think so. But you are right. He is a good man.” She looked at me,


    heartbreak in her eyes. “So how can I derail his life by telling him the truth? Shouldn’t I just leave him,


    leave everything, and go back home? Hide away and have my baby – my shame


    in private?”


    “Children are not always expected, but they are a blessing,” I said.


    “It will ruin his life, Piper.”


    “That’s what I thought too,” I said suddenly. I wouldn’t have Susie making the same mistakes I did, and


    suffer the same consequences.


    She looked up at me, surprised.


    “I thought leaving Nick behind was what was best. I couldn’t drag him down with me, especially not


    when I suddenly had a baby from nowhere. It would have totally derailed his life. And I hadn’t even


    known he was a prince back then. If I had, that would have only affirmed my decision.”


    “So you did the right thing.”


    “I made a choice I regretted every day after,” Piper said. “I took choice away from Nichs without


    even asking him what he wanted. I never gave him a chance to do the right thing. And he would have. I


    thought I was saving him, but what I did was denying him a chance to help raise Elva.”


    It was a deep regret of mine. I denied Nichs the chance to raise Elva, just as I denied Elva the


    chance to have a father like Nichs. If I would have asked him….


    All I had to do was tell him the truth, and so many hurts could have been avoided.


    “It’s far toote for me and Nick and Elva now, but it’s not for you, Susie. Give Mark a chance to be the


    kind of man who is worthy of your love and devotion. Do not make the choice for him.”


    Susie was cracking. She kept ncing at the door.


    “Any man who would write you that many letters at least deserves a face–to–face,” I added for good


    measure, nodding to the letter pile at the edge of the table. There were so many,


    +15 B?NUS


    they were starting to spill out onto the floor.


    Suddenly, Susie rose from the chair. She crossed the room to the door. She looked back at me.


    “What if he’s not out there?” she asked.


    “He’s out there,” I said.


    She took a steadying breath, then pulled open the door.


    Mark was standing directly on the other side. 1


    “Susie…”


    “Mark, I’m pregnant.”