Drina looked from Alice, who was beaming with happiness, to Friedrich by her side. “I’m so glad that Alice found her perfect prince.”
“And I’m so glad it wasn’t me,” Friedrich said with a wicked smile.
She laughed.
“Come over here, Drina,” he said. “I have something for you.”
They walked to a corner of the room behind the Christmas tree, which blocked their view of the other guests. Friedrich pulled a Christmas card out of his pocket and handed it to Drina. “When I first saw this, I thought only of you.”
She turned over the card to see a picture of a hideous snow monster holding holly and giving a creepy smile to a little red robin. Drina laughed so hard that she snorted. “It’s so hideous!”
“Read the back.”
Drina turned it over and read: From your devoted knight and cousin, Friedrich.
She threw her arms around him and gave him a quick hug. “I love it!”
Her cousin returned the embrace and when she let go, Drina handed him two Christmas cards.
“Two?”
“I couldn’t pick just one,” she admitted. “They were both gruesomely perfect.”
Friedrich turned over the card with the dead robin first and burst out laughing. He shook his head. “You English are crazy. Who sends pictures of dead birds to their friends and family for a Christmas greeting?”
“You have to see the next one.”
He turned over the card where the man was being held by the bear. He smiled. “This won’t end well for the man.”
They laughed together merrily. “I have more gifts to give,” Drina said. “Happy Christmas, Friedrich. Try not to break too many hearts tonight.”
He gave her wolfish grin. “I can’t help it. I was born to break hearts.”
Drina went back to the Christmas tree and found her gift for Alice. She picked it up and made her way to her friend. When Alice saw her, she hugged her tightly.
“I’m so very, very happy for you!” Drina said.
“I’m happy for myself,” Alice said, still beaming. “I have the happy ending I didn’t think I’d find.”
“Here’s your Christmas present,” she said, handing the brown paper package tied with twine to her friend.
Alice unwrapped the brown paper and read the title of the book: “Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not, by Florence Nightingale.”
“I know you used to follow her letters during the Crimean War.”
“Her hygiene methods in field hospitals were innovational,” Alice said. “I can’t wait to read this!”
The princess opened the book eagerly.
“Well, not now,” Drina protested. “It’s Christmas Eve. The best methods for disposing of bloody bandages can wait.”
Alice laughed and took Drina’s hand. “I’m still working on your present.” She leaned in conspiratorially to whisper, “Don’t forget to put your stocking out for Father Christmas.”
“I won’t,” Drina assured her. She saw Prince Louis standing behind them, looking like he was waiting to speak with Alice. “I believe your handsome fiancé has a present for you as well.”
Drina took her card from Friedrich and walked over to the fireplace to sit. She looked around the room. Edward was grinning at Emily, who was holding a diamond circlet. Lord Weatherby’s hand was on Lady Hyacinth’s back; Drina shivered in disgust. Lady Clara sat rather close to Friedrich and they were laughing together. And Alice and Prince Louis were grinning stupidly at each other. She watched Prince Louis give Alice a brooch; Alice exclaimed in delight and grasped his hands. She looked genuinely happy and Drina was genuinely happy for her friend.
But George was gone. Drina suddenly felt rather gloomy and stood up to leave the room. She didn’t want to bah humbug anyone else’s Christmas Eve. She quietly left the room and found her father sitting on a sofa in the corridor.
“There you are, Drina,” her father said. “I’ve scarcely seen you this week. Come and sit down by me.” He must have seen her dour expression for he added, “Why so glum on Christmas Eve?”
“I’m not feeling glum,” Drina lied as she sat. “In fact, earlier today, I read about a special parliamentary act passed in 1706 that allowed a daughter to inherit her father’s estate and title in her own right.”
“That’s wonderful!” he said. “We should go tell your mother at once. Have you told Queen Victoria about it? Perhaps it will help sway her decision.”
“Alice promised to,” she said, secretly hoping her friend wouldn’t forget with all the excitement of her own engagement. “So now you don’t have to regret that I wasn’t born a boy.”
“I never regretted your birth even once,” her father said, taking her hands in his. “From the first moment I held you in my arms, I knew that I was luckiest man alive. I have a beautiful wife and a beautiful daughter—”
“Except for the nose,” Drina interjected, touching the tip of her long, pointy nose.
“Except for the nose,” her father agreed, and touched his own long nose. “And the unfortunate height.”
“I don’t mind that one as much.”
“I adore them both,” her father said earnestly. “Because they make you you, Drina. You are more important to me than any title, any estate. You are my greatest legacy.”
“Thank you, Papa,” Drina said with a sniff as she leaned over and embraced him. “You are wonderful.”
He patted her hair. “Almost half as wonderful as you.”
She sat back and sniffed again. “I think I’ll go to bed now, Papa. I’m awfully tired.”
“I have one more thing for you,” he said. He took a small box out of his coat pocket and handed it to her. “This is from your mother and me. She picked them, of course—she says I have no taste for jewelry. Happy Christmas.”’
Drina lifted the lid of the small box to reveal a sparkling set of sapphire earrings trimmed with silver. “They’re stunning, Papa!”
“The same color as your eyes,” he said. He smiled wryly and added, “Try not to get arrested for stealing them.”
Drina clutched the box to her stomach. “You know? You knew?!”
Her father nodded. “Next time, tell George to tip the coach driver as well as the footmen if he doesn’t want his exploits spread about. Dinsmore’s driver was full of details and I was more than happy to pay for his discretion.”
“Are you angry?”
“Not a bit,” her father said, shaking his head. “But next time, I would be honored if you called on me to rescue you.”
“I didn’t want you to tell Mama,” Drina admitted. “And George was afraid you’d tell his father.”
“I can keep a secret from your mother,” her father said, patting down his gray hair that stuck up in the back. “And I’m fond of George. I would never say anything to his father that would get him into trouble. In fact, I’ve always thought he was rather fond of you, too. And in my opinion, he’s worth a dozen princes.”
She blushed and shook her head. “He doesn’t care for me that way.”
“You might be surprised,” her father said, and then kissed her on the cheek.
Drina kissed her father’s cheek and took her own jumble of thoughts back to her bedchamber. She pulled the cord for her servant. Within a few minutes, Miss Russon arrived and assisted her out of her evening gown and into her nightdress. Drina dismissed her and then carefully placed the jewelry she was wearing, along with her new sapphire earrings, into her lockbox.
She climbed into bed and sat for a few moments watching the flames dance in the fireplace. Then she suddenly remembered Alice telling her to put a stocking out for Father Christmas.
Drina groaned as she scrambled back out of bed. She pulled the stocking off her foot and placed it on a hook in front of the fireplace. It was silly to put out a stocking for Father Christmas at her age, but she wasn’t quite ready to give up on dreams and magic yet. And in the morning when nothing was in her stocking, she would pretend something wonderful was inside.
She closed her eyes and smiled, picturing George in a very large stocking.