The Surprise Princess Read Online Free PDF Page A

the same one was in both cookies? No. Hers said, “What cannot be undone must be considered many times.”
    The doorbell rang as she gave the counter a final wipe.
    Her heartbeat thundered. For absolutely no good reason.
    She flipped on the light and jerked open the front door with unnecessary force, then stopped dead. “Carolyn.”
    “I hope it’s not too late, especially to drop by unannounced.”
    “Of course not, come in.”
    “We had a homework crisis. Finally got the kids settled.” Carolyn’s explanations continued as Katie took her coat and hung it in the closet. Something she hadn’t done for Brad. Both unexpected visitors, but then he had brought her dinner, so by rights she should have—. Carolyn’s next words stopped that mental meandering. “C.J. and I are both concerned about you, Katie. He would have come, too, but with the kids… He lost the coin toss.”
    Carolyn took the new overstuffed chair Katie indicated. She took the old, lumpy couch, which was the next item on her list to replace.
    “There’s no reason for you to be concerned, Carolyn. I’m fine.”
    “You reacted quite strongly to what that Hunter Pierce said.”
    “Wouldn’t you? I’m not even a very good Katie Davis,” she said with a dry laugh, “so the idea of being a princess… It’s ridiculous.”
    Carolyn looked even more solemn. “You shouldn’t say you aren’t a good Katie Davis, even in jest.”
    She hadn’t been jesting. She kept her eyes down, because if Carolyn saw that answer in her face …
    “I realized that even knowing you all these years I know nothing about your parents, except your mom’s death. Will you tell me about them?” her visitor asked.
    “They worked hard. Kept to themselves. They weren’t terribly social. I take after them, so that should show how insane this idea is.”
    With Carolyn silent, she gathered steam. “Without my mother’s financial help I wouldn’t have been able start at Ashton. Without her support I wouldn’t have had the grades to qualify for Ashton. She truly did look out for me. Personal things like my hand…”
    Only after it was out did she think that bringing up the so-called Bariavak Hand might not bolster her argument that Hunter Pierce’s position was laughable.
    “What about your hand?”
    “Oh, it’s silly. Childhood stuff. I used to hide my hand all the time. I’d been teased as a child as long as I can remember –
before
I can remember – about it being strange to have such a long little finger. She always tried to protect me.”
    Carolyn looked thoughtful, but said only, “They must have been very proud of you.”
    Proud of her? She’d never considered that. They’d been mostly concerned that she not draw attention, not cause trouble, not rock the boat.
    “They worked so hard, there wasn’t time for pride.”
    “You said your mother looked after you. What about your father?”
    “My father died when I was ten. I don’t believe he left her anything but this house. She was so worried we’d lose the house. She worked two jobs and, as soon as I could work, I helped out. If I hadn’t gotten the scholarships…” She looked up. “And if you hadn’t stepped in after my mother died, I would have had to leave school. I’m so grateful to you and C.J.”
    “You’ve more than thanked us over the years, especially with all you’ve done for C.J.” She sounded almost absent-minded, then her tone became crisp. “Katie, I’m going to say something … I was struck a bit ago when you said you’d been teased about your hand from before you could remember. So how could you have known?”
    “Oh, my mother said—” She bit it off.
    Carolyn nodded and went on in her calm voice. “If it happened before you remembered, the only way you
could
know is if someone told you that you’d been teased about your hand. That would have been an effective way to encourage a child to keep a betraying characteristic out of sight.”
    Carolyn went on as if this