Chapter Twenty-Three
The Duke Disappoints
Mallory
It was evening at camp and the crickets were chirping. Everyone else was preparing for some kind of quaint evening activity, an outdoor movie or a moonlight walk. Mallory couldn’t remember and she definitely didn’t care. She needed to get out of this place. Technically, he should have already reported the whole ruse to her dad and whatever authority agreed to let Blake go to camp instead of prison. Instead, they’d been camping on standby, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Fozzie, it seemed, hadn’t figured out what to do with them yet.
Mallory was done waiting. Every time she put herself together and managed to stop crying, she’d see Ben across the mess hall, and the water works would start all over again. She’d been just fine before she met him. Maybe she hadn’t been as happy as she could be, but she was okay. At least she hadn’t been miserable. Now she was ruined.
She finished writing a letter to Zoe. “Sorry I’m leaving early, but I’m sure you’ll understand why.”
Blake already knew. She’d tried to talk her out of it, but in the end, the drama appealed to her and she provided some escape advice. Blake had advised, “Don’t call Ed for a ride. He’ll get in trouble for disobeying Daddy. Get an Uber,” which had made her feel even worse. She had been just about to call Ed. Her sister was more thoughtful than she’d ever given her credit for. Who knows how many times she’d unfairly judged Blake?
So the plan was to Uber out of camp in the middle of the night so that Fozzie wouldn’t notice her departure and intercept. She was skipping the evening activity to pack, but as she glanced at her things, she realized there was nothing to take. Everything she’d brought was Blake’s, even the person she’d been at camp was Blake.
The only things that were hers were the firefly posters, which she was leaving—all of those ideas about fireflies symbolizing the magic within, lighting your own path, blah, blah, blah. Who was she kidding? Mallory was Mallory—more of a beetle than a firefly. And there were the stupid books. She picked up The Accidental Duchess and scowled. The duke had annulled his marriage to Lydia on the grounds of trickery. After two days riding horses and gambling by his lonesome, the duke realized that he could not stand life without his accidental duchess.
Mallory saw Ben eat three plates of spaghetti at dinner last night. He didn’t seem properly tortured at all. It would have been nice if he lost his appetite at least.
Unlike Ben, the duke knew he needed to do something amazing, so he sprung Lydia from Scotland Yard and rode off into the sunset for a secret wedding. Happily ever after. The end.
Mallory would have loved that ending a week ago. Today, she was scowling at the book, frustrated. Why did she persist in torturing herself, reading fictional happily-ever-afters that would never play out in real life?
She couldn’t even blame Ben for not wanting to chase after her. She’d lied to him the entire time they were together. What had she expected to happen? The whole experience was so embarrassing. Why had she been such an idiot? Roughly, she shoved The Accidental Duchess into the free library by Kipper’s bed. She’d be stuck with a thirty-dollar replacement fee for not returning it, but what did it matter? She didn’t want to see it anymore. It reminded her of Ben.
Just then, the cabin door creaked. She looked up from the Duke of Blackmore to see He Who Shall Not Be Named. No, that was a little dramatic, especially since she talked about him constantly. She propped her glasses up on her nose like a secretary ready to speak with the next in line and tucked her hair behind her ear (because she was suddenly fidgety).
Ben sat down next to her. Somewhat sheepishly, he held out his hand and said, “Hi, I’m Ben.” He had a bouquet of wildflowers.
“Really?” she asked, totally disbelieving. She didn’t mention that the flowers were at least partially weeds. Seemed appropriate.
He nodded.
She had just read about the duke rescuing Lydia from the gallows and taking her on horseback to a secret wedding in a Scottish chapel. For her, Ben had weeds. They would probably trigger an asthma attack. That’s what she deserved, though. Even though she was dying to see him, she wanted to hide. She’d behaved so shamefully. All that lying—just the thought made her want to hide her face.
He said, “I know. I was a jerk. Will you trust me a little though? I want to show you something.”
He was apologizing to her?
A little glow of hope blossomed. When he held out his hand for her, she reached out. The touch of his fingers was so right. But could she forgive him so quickly? After everything he’d done, maybe she shouldn’t let him off that easy. She pulled her hand back.
Ben didn’t look offended. Instead, he said, “I want to show you something. Will you go on a walk with me?”
When she didn’t jump up, he said, “Come on. It’s really special.”
Reluctantly, she stood up and followed him out of the cabin. He gestured for her to follow up a little trail into the woods. The sun was going down, and they should be headed back to their cabins any minute. When she hesitated, he said, “Follow me,” looking straight into her soul with his chocolate brown eyes. It would be easier to say no if he weren’t so good-looking.
“We should go back, Ben.” Her mind flashed back to the going to all the pranks, but mostly to putting her heart on the line and him throwing it back in her face. She said, “The thing is, the more I think about it, the more confused I’ve been. I told everyone my name was Blake, but I didn’t lie about the way I felt about you.” She looked down and said, “Did you ever really like me or did you just want to hook up with Blake to even the score or something?” She thought she knew the answer, but she needed to hear it from him.
“You. I don’t even know Blake.” He paused to think before going on. “The more I got to know you, though, the more I liked you.” He kicked the dirt and said, “I should have known something was wrong when your sister showed up. I mean, I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know it was that. She was wearing so much more makeup than you and acting weird. I didn’t know what was going on.” After a pause, he gave her a look of intense scrutiny. “So that’s my excuse. Do you have anything you want to tell me?”
Mallory couldn’t help but smile. No horseback ride to Scotland and he expected her to apologize. He was right, though. She took a breath and started in: “Yes. I’m sorry, too. I never should have lied about who I was. I should have told you the truth a lot earlier. It’s just that…I was scared of losing you.” She confessed, “I’ve never felt the way I do about you with anyone.” Ben was her first love.
Looking hopeful, Ben looked into her eyes with palpable hope. “Does that mean there’s a chance we can start over?”
She looked at Ben. It was time to put it all on the table, no more secrets. “Yeah, there’s a chance.” From her tone, it was obvious his chance was 100 percent.
A smile broke out across his face and his eyes lit up. “Really?”
She nodded, relishing how happy he was because of her.
He breathed out the biggest sigh of relief. “I’m so…”
“Happy?” she guessed.
“And relieved,” he said. “I was miserable.”
“Me, too.” It was crazy, but she’d gone from the saddest she’d ever been to skyrocketing joy in the space of ten minutes.
She looked around and realized they’d made it all the way up to a meadow. The sun had sunk almost all the way below the horizon, leaving the forest dark. Just when she was about to suggest they turn around, she took a good look at her surroundings and her breath caught. There were fireflies everywhere, flitting around the meadow like magical fairy lights. Her hand went to her mouth. “This is so beautiful.” She looked at him. “How did you know?”
“Betsy told me it was firefly season and where to find them. I knew you’d love it.”
The tears threatened to spill. He had known she’d love this more than anything, fireflies in a meadow. She wasn’t the kind of girl who wanted fancy jewelry or big nights out on the town. Fireflies in the meadow was so beautiful and perfect. He knew her.
Mallory’s eyes brimmed with tears. She always felt ridiculous crying. With her heart in her eyes, she turned to him. She knew the next part of the story by heart. This was when they kissed. Looking just about as relieved as he did happy, Ben said, “I couldn’t help but remember the poster in your bunk.”
“I love how something plain can become so magical.”
He raised an eyebrow, clearly catching the subtext. Softly, he said, “Not everyone needs makeup and fancy clothes to be magical.”
Embarrassment swamped her for just a second. Were her insecurities that obvious? But then she thought better of it. Even if they were, Ben really saw her for who she was, and he wanted to be with her.
When she said, “Thank you,” she really meant “I love you.” She’d save that for later. It might be too much for their first official night as Mallory and Ben.
In the dusky twilight with fireflies whizzing past them like fairies, he reached his hand out to her. His hand was so big and warm. She was in love with his hands alone. It got better. He leaned in and pulled her closer until she was pressed up against him. She’d thought their kisses before had been passionate, but nothing compared to this. There was something new and raw between them. This was their first kiss as Mallory and Ben. Their hearts were both on the line.