Rapunzelle: an Everland Ever After Tale (16 page)

“First of all,
we
kept the secret, but we
also
raised a strong, sensitive,
smart
girl who is bright enough to look at all the facts, realize that we acted out of love for her, and know that, even though it’s hard, nothing will change the fact that we’re a family and we love one another.” Zelle’s brows rose, surprised at her mother’s words. They were true, and Mother was doing a good job at describing her feelings exactly. A little
too
exactly, in fact. “No, her heartbreak is from Dmitri, isn’t it, honey? I’m so sorry he left.”

And
whoops
, there goes the tears again. This time, Mother pushed Papa out of the way and enfolded her in her love. “I know, honey. Being in love is hard. We can only hope that he knows how you felt about him, and will come to his senses.”

“He won’t,” Zelle sniffed. “Why should he? He didn’t know how I felt about him, and I doubt he could love me anyhow.” She buried her face against her mother’s shoulder. “I’m just so, so glad I wasn’t dumb enough to tell him.”

Mother chuckled dryly. “That
would
be embarrassing. Remind me to tell you about my courtship of your father.”

That was a tidbit Zelle would return to, when she wasn’t so distraught, she promised herself. “It was for the best, I’m sure. He didn’t know, and he’d completed his mission. The reason he came to Everland.” Her harsh bark of laughter was filled with all of the despair she could muster. “So he can leave again, go back to his horses and dukedom or whatever they call it in Russia, and just leave me here with a broken—“

“Um, Zelle?” Briar had been standing a little apart from the family group, but now she finally captured the other girl’s attention. “Zelle?”

Sniffing, Zelle turned, irritated that her self-pity—mothers were perfect for allowing self-pitying while doling out generous hugs—had been interrupted. But her best friend was looking from her to the open window, back and forth, back and forth.

No, not the open window. Zelle’s eyes widened. The ladder.

And the call, from outside: “Rapunzel! Rapunzel?”

He’d run from the station, not caring
what
he stepped in, or who he knocked over. Oh, he’d intended his return to Everland to be stately and regal, to show Zelle that he was serious in his intentions, but waiting for the train to slow, he found himself bouncing on the balls of his feet. And when the door finally opened, he bounded onto the platform, and was running by the time he hit the street.

There was no one home at her house. He’d made a proper fool of himself, pounding on the front door, calling her name, and her parents’, and peering through the parlor window where he’d stood less than a week ago. They weren’t there.

Chert
. They
had
to be there. Maybe both doctors were out on calls? And maybe Zelle was in her garden? She’d said that she loved growing things, and described how she enjoyed the hours she spent in the walled garden behind the house. He took off at a run, looking for a way to reach the alley behind her house.

Finally,
there
! He thought he recognized the architecture, and there was a walled garden with a pretty iron gate. Dmitri slowed, panting, about to pull the gate open, when he spied the ladder. Why would there be a ladder, propped against the house? Leading, apparently, to an open second-story window?

And then he remembered Zelle’s taste for adventure. It’d been five days since he’d torn her world apart with his news about her family. Had she gotten over the hurt already? Had she gone off on another adventure?
Had she run away from the pain
? The knowledge that her parents must be unaware of her escape had him moving towards the ladder, craning his neck to see into her window, terrified for her.

What if she’d run? What if she was hurt someplace, on her quest to experience life? What if she needed him, and he wasn’t there? What if—

That’s when he saw her braid, dangling out the window, and the band around his heart eased, to be replaced by an entirely different band. “Zelle?” He grimaced at how his voice cracked, and tried again. “Zelle? Rapunzel?”

Nothing. No response, no movement. Was she just sitting there at the window, ignoring him? He raised his voice, no longer caring if the neighbors heard. “Rapunzel? Rapunzel!” A pause, and no response from the long braid. “Listen, Zelle, I can see your hair!”

Then, a noise, like someone scrambling, and her face appeared. Her beautiful, perfect face, which had kept his dreams company since he’d seen it. Her face, surrounded by a halo of blonde wisps, not at all connected to the braid hanging out the window. “Zelle?”

And then she was smiling, and he was halfway up the ladder before he’d realized his feet had moved.

When he reached her window, reached her, he slowed, his eyes never leaving her face. Had she been crying? She had! Because of what he’d done? What he’d told her?
Bozhe moy
,
he felt even guiltier! Slowly, he forced one hand to release its grip on the ladder, and lifted it to her cheek.

And—wonder of wonders!—she leaned into his touch. Let him caress her skin, as he’d been dreaming, let him feel her warmth. “Zelle.” It was just a whisper, but her strawberry lips curled up slightly. “Zelle, I’m so sorry.”

“I forgive you.” Just like that. So easily? “You came back, after all.”

“I know, and I couldn’t help it. I know that I should not have. I know that I should leave you to your family, but I
had
to see you, to know that you are mending.”

“Mending?” Those lips, which he’d been so close to capturing, turned down again. “Why would I
mend
?” Then she was straightening, pulling away from him, and he almost went with her. Instead, he recovered his grip on the ladder a moment before he might’ve toppled from it, and watched her back away from the window seat where she’d been kneeling.

Following her wasn’t a choice, but a directive, straight from his heart to his legs without his brain pointing out that perhaps climbing into a lady’s bedroom through her window was a tad improper. He swung his legs over the sill—momentarily distracted by the long blonde braid that hung out the window and had so thoroughly fooled him—and climbed over the window seat. “What did you do to your hair?”

“My hair?” Her question was low and threatening, as she moved towards him. “You want to know what I did to my
hair
?”

Oh,
chert
, there were her parents, standing near the door and looking shocked to see him. And her plump friend—Briar, wasn’t it?—by the bed. He had an audience, and he’d apparently severely irritated Zelle. On the other hand, this was exactly the welcome—or lack thereof—that he’d expected, and had he not seen the way she’d been pleased to see him a moment ago, he wouldn’t be surprised. So he held out his hands, palm up, trying to understand why she was angry now. “I didn’t mean… I only—“

“You
left
me, Dmitri Volkov. You walked out of my life! And then you saunter back in—“

“I climbed a ladder. It was just sitting there—“

“You
sauntered
back into my life, and you were expecting to ‘check’ on me? To see if I was mending?” She now stood in front on him, one long finger poking at his chest, her nose nearly at his level, her hair wild around her gorgeous green eyes. She looked like an avenging angel. “
Why would I be mending, Dmitri?”
Then she lifted herself on her tiptoes, until they were almost eye-to-eye. “And
stop
looking at me like that!”

He couldn’t help it. He smiled, and captured her finger in one of his hands. “I’m sorry, Zelle. I can’t help the way I look at you.” A deep breath, and he knew he had to confess. “You see, I love you.”

Her expression went slack, and her mouth actually dropped open. “You…what?” She tried to take a step backwards, but he wasn’t letting her finger go. “You left me.” This time, it wasn’t an accusation, but a whisper.

Helpless to understand, Dmitri met Doctor Carpenter’s angry gaze over Zelle’s shoulder. His wife, beside him, just looked pitying, but the friend—oh,
what
was her name?—had a big smile on her face. And that gave him hope, more than anything.

“I’m so sorry, Zelle. I
had
to tell you. I hope that one day, you’ll forgive me for ruining your life, and consider, somehow, maybe—“

“Ruining my life? Tell me what?”

Her genuine confusion stopped his attempt at explaining his feelings. Stopped him cold. “Tell you…” And then he really looked at her expression, her eyes. Saw hurt, but something else. “Tell you about your parents?”

“You think I’ve been miserable because of what you told me? About being a princess, and my parents not really being my parents, except that they are?”

Dmitri was lost. “…Yes? I mean, aren’t you?”

She exhaled, long and slow. And then, just as slowly, a smile bloomed onto her lips. Lips that, no matter how much pain he’d caused her, no matter how much she might hate him, he still wanted to claim. Lips that he hadn’t stopped thinking about since that evening that she’d accidentally landed on his lap and kissed him. Flustered, he caught Meredith Carpenter’s big smile, and wondered what he was missing.

“You stupid man.” Zelle twisted her hand, so that her finger was no longer captured in his, and a pit opened in his stomach at her absence, minor as it was. “You stupid, stupid man. You thought I was miserable because of some ancient history? No. No.” She stepped closer. “Your story was sad, and I’m sorry for my birth parents, but this is my home. I belong here. I love it here, and I love my parents.”

And then she stood before him once more. Proud, perfect. “I was miserable because you left. Left Everland, left me. I
loved
you, and you left me alone, to go back to your home.”

“You love me?” He hadn’t been sure that he’d heard her correctly, over the pounding of his pulse in his ears.

“
You left me!”

“I had to. I’d ruined—“

“You did no such thing, until you got on that train and chose your moldy old dukedom over me!”

The heartbreak he saw on her face was what finally made him understand. He’d hurt her because he hadn’t trusted her, hadn’t told her his feelings. And when she nodded, slowly, he knew that she’d seen it in
his
expression. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Her lips pulled into a pretty frown. “What?” she asked mulishly.

He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry.” Hesitantly, watching for any sign that this wasn’t what she wanted, he wrapped her in his arms. “I’m sorry, Zelle. I shouldn’t have left. I’d never chosen home over you. I didn’t
want
to go home. Home is here. Home is where you are.” Was it his imagination, or had she stopped breathing? “I love you, Zelle Carpenter, Princess Wilhelmina Gertrude, and I shouldn’t have left. I should’ve told you how I felt, instead of assuming that you’d hate me for what I did.”

“I couldn’t hate you.”

Her gaze was focused entirely on his lips, and he realized that he just didn’t care that her father was standing
right over there
clearing his throat meaningfully. Their kiss was full of warmth and sparks, and apology, and finally—
finally—
a future. It lasted a million heartbeats, but was over before they could breathe, and it wasn’t enough. Looking down at the woman in his arms, Dmitri knew that
forever
wouldn’t be enough.

“I was coming back,
moya lyubov
.
I knew that you might never forgive me, but I’d hoped…” He swallowed, reveling in the feel of her hands clasped behind his back, pulling her tightly against his chest. “I’d hoped that maybe, someday, you might consent to allowing me to court you again.”

“
Again
?” They both ignored her father’s outraged whisper, and her mother’s shushing.

“I’d hoped that maybe I could build a house here, and start that partnership I’d planned with Max, and in time, show you that I could be trusted again, and that I was worthy of you.”