American Royals

As Samantha moves around the engagement party, she tries to keep her jealousy and sadness at bay, reminding herself there is “more at stake here than her own teenage heartbreak” (365). Suddenly, Beatrice interrupts and asks to speak to Sam privately. Beatrice tells Sam she plans to cancel the engagement because she doesn’t love Teddy. Sam is taken aback, and she correctly guesses that Beatrice is secretly seeing someone. When Beatrice explains that she is in love with a commoner, Sam is further amazed, but she fully supports Beatrice’s decision and offers to break the news to Teddy herself. Beatrice agrees, and Sam tracks down Teddy and tells him to meet her in the coat room. Sam tells Teddy that Beatrice is breaking off the engagement because she loves someone else, and he confesses that he thought she might. He adds that he was “doing exactly the same thing” (371), thinking about Samantha when he was engaged to Beatrice. Sam and Teddy kiss in the coat room once more, and although they know that things will be hard, they’ll have each other.