“Did a Miss Kyra Rogers check out this morning?” he asked a man at the reception desk.
“Let me check that out for you, Prince Marcus,” the man said. He stared at his computer, then looked back at Marcus. “Yes, she did. About two hours ago, it seems. She asked for a cab to the airport.
Marcus felt cold. Kyra was going home to Atlanta.
And if she got on a plane to the US, he may never see her again.
Filled with dread that he’d already missed Kyra, he ran back out to the Bentley.
“To the airport, Roland, and please step on it.”
“Yes, sir,” his driver said, and they sped away from the hotel toward the airport and a chance at a future with Kyra. He only hoped he wasn’t too late.
14
Sovalon’s small airport was abuzz with travelers. Marcus pushed his way through crowds of women in business suits and casually-dressed vacationers. He noticed a man pushing a baby stroller, and a sense of even deeper urgency propelled him toward the departures board.
He’d figured out her itinerary thanks to an online search, and now he scanned the screen until he found the flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, which was the first leg in her trip back to Atlanta.
“Boarding.” He read the word aloud, the sound of it deflating him completely. Kyra was already on the plane.
He was too late. He’d missed her.
Marcus’s shoulders slumped, and his hands hung limply at his sides. A sense of loss overwhelmed him, and as he was about to turn around, he heard a familiar voice.
“Marcus.”
“Kyra,” he said in surprise, her name coming out more like a breathy whisper. Dressed in yoga pants and a T-shirt and looking as gorgeous as always, she stood in front of him with luggage at either side of her. She looked as shocked to see him as he was to have found her here. Overtaken with sheer joy, he ran to her and hugged her. At once, he stood back cautiously, his wits returning. “You’re not on the plane,” he said.
“No,” she said. “I had planned to be, but as I was standing in line to check my bags, I decided I couldn’t go home without talking to you first.”
“Oh?” he asked, unable to steal his eyes away from her beautiful face.
“I realized I was wrong about you,” she said, looking shy.
“In what way?”
“I should have listened when you tried to tell me that night out with the investor was all about business.” She revealed to him what Neil had told her over the phone this morning. “You really sealed the deal, Marcus,” she told him.
He nodded, stunned by her words of affirmation.
Marcus watched as Kyra began twirling her hair, a nervous habit of hers he’d noticed before. It was endearing.
“I was wrong about my sister too,” she went on. “I’ve been doing the same thing to her as your family does to you. Letting the past keep me from seeing the way she’s grown and changed. You opened up my eyes to that with Maggie, and I have to thank you.”
Marcus stepped a few inches closer to her, wanting so much to take her in his arms, but Kyra had more to say.
“I should have had more faith in both of you,” she said. “I realize now that I let my fears take over, blinding me to the things I knew about you—the things I had come to trust, no matter how it all appeared on the surface.”
Marcus took her hand and kissed it then grinned at her. “Did you miss your flight just so you could apologize to me?”
With tears in her eyes, Kyra nodded. “I guess I did,” she said and sighed. A look of consternation came over her face then. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
Marcus looked Kyra straight in the eyes. “I guess I realized something too,” he said. “I realized I had to fight for what I really want, and what I want is you.”
Kyra placed a hand over her mouth, and a tear leaked down her cheek. Marcus wiped it away and went on telling her the things he needed to say.
“I want you. I want our baby. I want us to be a family.” He squeezed her hand. “I was wrong to not just be honest with you from the start about that night out. I guess I was afraid you’d judge me or doubt me, so I found it easier to just tell a white lie in the moment. I know now that I have to take the time to communicate openly.”
Kyra listened to him without interrupting, making him feel like his words mattered.
“I wanted to prove to you that I could be a good father and a good partner and then I failed by backing down when I should have fought for you.”
Kyra lowered her eyes.
“Let me correct that mistake, Kyra,” Marcus said. “I want us to be a family. I want to yell it out from the rooftops that you’re mine and we’re having a baby together! I’ll tell anyone off who has a problem with that—the media, my father—that it doesn’t matter what they think.”
Marcus noticed that Kyra’s cheeks were a hot shade of pink. Maybe he’d spoken that last bit a little too loudly. But she was smiling. That was what mattered to him.
“Forgive me?” he asked.
“I do,” she said and threw her arms around his neck. “Forgive me?”
“Always,” he answered. While people rushed past, heading off to their own adventures, Marcus took a moment to enjoy their reunion. They had the adventure of a lifetime in front of them. And now that she’d taken him back, nothing would get in the way of making things work. He would make sure of it.
He took Kyra’s hand. “Will you come with me?” he asked.
“Where to?” Kyra’s face peered up into his.
He didn’t answer her but just smiled and led her to the waiting car.
Marcus handed Kyra’s bags to the driver who placed them in the trunk while she got settled in the backseat of the Bentley.
“Where to, Your Highness?” Roland asked.
“To the estate home in Havershire please.”
Kyra looked at him, and he grinned. “Sound good to you?”
Kyra’s heart swelled. A trip to the estate sounded more than good. “Sounds wonderful,” she said and scooted close to Marcus.
For the first fifteen minutes or so of the drive, she cuddled into him, grateful she’d decided not to board the plane, glad to be by Marcus’s side. She felt so at peace having admitted her own mistakes to Marcus and was suddenly struck with the urge to do the same with Maggie.
“Do you mind if I give my sister a call?” she asked Marcus.
“Go ahead,” he said and smiled serenely at her. “I don’t mind at all.”
Kyra dialed Maggie’s cell, but there was no answer. She thought about hanging up and trying again later but decided to leave a voicemail. She wanted to get these thoughts off her chest right now.
“Hey Mags, it’s Kyra,” she said. “I wanted to let you know I’ll be extending my trip a bit.” She couldn’t help but smile at Marcus’s reaction—a grin the size of Texas that spread across his whole face. “I don’t want to be too long-winded here, but I wanted to apologize,” she continued. “You were right. It’s time I stop punishing you for your past mistakes. You’re a grown woman and a great mom.”