The Heir Affair

in it, both of their faces at peace in a way that had been missing since we’d opened that box. Georgie was named both for the beloved queen that was—whose death during World War I gave all the Lyons heirs their name—and for the one who never got to be, who’d loved her child enough to let a secret tear her to shreds. Maggie bore Eleanor’s name as a tribute to the strongest woman I have ever known, a talisman to help her navigate the twist of being born second—one slender minute that would someday feel monumental to them both. They carried everything and yet nothing at all on the shoulders of their five-pound bodies.

As I watched them nestled in the arms of a queen and of a king in waiting, I sent up a fervent wish that they would lean on each other for the rest of their lives, the way Georgina and Eleanor couldn’t. Unlike the heirs and spares before them, though, they would always have us. Nick and I had taken some blows, self-inflicted and otherwise, and somehow emerged unbroken—forged in fire, fiercely in love, and ready to fight for our daughters. These girls, these women in waiting, wouldn’t repeat history. They would make it.

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Acknowledgments

It’s a lucky thing to write a book, luckier still to have someone read it and not hurl it at a wall, and an absolute blessing when people finish it and want to spend more time with its characters. We are so grateful for you, the readers, who took Bex and Nick and Freddie—and Gaz, always Gaz—into your hearts and didn’t let go. It was your requests that made us sit back and wonder if we could pull off a sequel, and you who inspired us to push ahead to actually write it. We hope The Heir Affair rewards both your waiting and your faith. Without you, it would not have existed.

On a practical level, this book never would have become tangible without the efforts of our dear friend and agent Brettne Bloom, and the support of the rest of the wise, wonderful women at The Book Group, especially Hallie Schaeffer and Dana Murphy, whose early enthusiasm buoyed us more than we can say. Likewise, we have many people to thank at Grand Central Publishing who worked tirelessly on The Royal We after we’d already turned in those acknowledgments, including Emily Griffin, Caitlin Mulrooney-Lyski, and Fareeda Bullert. This go-round, huge thank-yous go out to our brave and brilliant editor Maddie Caldwell (that edit letter was a thing of beauty), Jacqueline Young, Staci Burt, Tiffany Sanchez, Angelina Krahn, Mari Okuda, and Elizabeth Turner Stokes (who produced another perfect cover)—and surely a whole lot of other talented folks whom we’ll end up thanking in our next book.

The Wigtown Airbnb in chapter one is a fictionalized version of a real place called The Open Book. We have not been there, but we gratefully thank Melissa Joulwan for bringing it to our attention and helping inspire the beginning of The Heir Affair. Check it out, everyone, and if you go, report back. Also, of course, the book itself is a fictionalized version of things that may bear a resemblance to real people or events. We wrote The Royal We long before an American actually did marry into the royal family; we outlined The Heir Affair in 2018 and finished the first draft—with no material plot changes—in November 2019. No parts of this book were altered as a commentary on or reaction to subsequent or current royal events. So what we’re saying is, thanks to the universe for giving us a royal psychic hotline, and also, can someone please teach us to channel our predictive energies toward other things?

No writer works in a vacuum. We are lucky to have each other—thank you, each other!—but we are also so grateful to Amy Spalding, Gretchen McNeil, Liza Palmer, Jenny Han, Robin Benway, and Jasmine Guillory for their kindness, support, and advice. The invaluable Eliza Hindmarch once again answered our endless nitpicky questions about Britishisms with patience and love; any errors we’ve made on that front are all our own, and in good faith. Tiffany Brown, thank you for helping to keep Go Fug Yourself running smoothly; you’re the reason it still runs at all, in fact. Go Sparks.

We deeply appreciate our ride-or-dies Carrie Weiner, Lauren Shotwell, Jen Pray, and Catherine Gelera for the laughs and the love and the sushi and Big Brother/Bachelor/Survivor hot takes, and letting us hold a bunch of Emmys. We’re grateful to Jason and Erin Oremland for helping with emergency playdates, among many other things. Thanks to Jenn Carofano-Rosen, Diana Aizman, Corinne Murphy, Lee Broekman, Tina Sanchez, Julie Kaplan, and Moksha Bruno—the Roscomare fam—for being perfect just as they are, for bringing love and levity when it was needed, and for their equally excellent partners. (Double thanks to Moksha and Lincoln Bruno of Linc Imagery for making us feel like queens ourselves in our author photos.) Thank you to Marissa Gluck, Grant Rickard, and Morgan Fahey for always being an invested ear and an interested party. Michelle Dornfeld, BBBFF, thanks for all of it, black belt and beyond. And Rachael Gerstel, to whom all good things should come, you are a blessing. And thank you, Evil Witches. You know who you are.

Last is never least. Our families are the best. Thanks to Susan, Jim, and Elizabeth Morgan for their constant love and enthusiastic interest and support. Maria Huezo, you are a treasure, and the only reason sanity ever prevails. Thank you, Kevin Mock, for always being present even when physically you could not be; you are an exemplary human and husband. Dylan Mock and Liam Mock, the beans, the best of us: You are both brilliant and loved beyond measure, and your hugs are our sustenance. Love always to Kathie and Alan