Authors: Carol Moncado
William chuckled. “Mevendia does not have much of a seedy underbelly, Christiana.”
“Neither does Ravenzario, yet my fiancé purchased drugs to kill me with from some of them.”
“Touché. I will talk to my father and the heads of security and intelligence and see what we might have.”
She hesitated before broaching the next subject. “I spoke with Yvette the other day. The wedding plans seem to be coming along.”
William sighed. “I still don’t understand why she has to go through with all of it. I’m sorry, Christiana, but your brother is dead. The wedding is only going to be interesting because of its train wreck properties. My sister is going to be left at the altar by a man who’s been dead nearly two decades. You couldn’t talk my father into letting it go?”
“No. I tried.” She had tried very hard. “Antonio insisted the wedding plans go on.”
“Even though the groom was buried when he was just a couple years old?”
William’s words caught her off-guard. Did he not know the bodies had never been found? Of course, the outcome had been no different than if they had. She had wondered though…did Antonio know something no one else did? Did he believe there was a different reason the bodies had never been found?
Surely not. No one would have kept this from her for so long. “I do not know why the insistence, but please make sure Yvette knows she can call me if she needs anything.”
“I believe she and Lizbeth have things mostly under control, but I will let her know.”
They exchanged a few more pleasantries before Christiana severed the connection. Taking a deep breath, she went to the Ravenzario Chronicle’s home page. The headline blared at her.
Prince Alexander Cavorts with Mistress, Invites Son to Banquet
Feeling sucker punched, she quickly scanned the article. The woman lived in Serenity Landing. Had a son named Alex. Were invited to last night’s banquet and stayed on the property. Nothing new there. Christiana had met the woman and her son. She had not realized Julia was her husband’s alleged paramour.
She went back to the top of the page and clicked on the slideshow of related photos. The first picture was a black and white photo of a much younger Alexander sitting on the grass next to a young lady. Books were spread around them, but they both laughed. She could see the twinkle in his eyes. The one she thought he reserved for her in their private moments.
The caption said it had been taken on the quad of his college campus. She did the math off of the date. He would have been barely twenty-one. The next photo was one of Julia with her newborn son, on the day of his birth. How had they obtained such a photo without the other woman’s help? The date caught her attention and caused her to do another bit of math. Just over nine months after the first photo. She clicked again. The photo through the hospital doors. Julia and her son in Ravenzario the weekend before. The next photo gut-punched her. Alexander told her he had run into an old friend and invited them to the banquet. He had not told her about the hour spent together in the back of his limo or the intimate-looking hug when she emerged.
Five more photos. Could she make it through them? Alexander and Julia dancing the night before. Not too close. Talking and congenial but nothing too out of the ordinary. The next was Alexander down on one knee talking to a seated Alex after dinner. The little boy looked awed. And the resemblance...there certainly was one. Not as much the dishwater brown hair, but the dusky hazel eyes and deep dimples. Nothing definitive, but enough to make tabloids pick up the story. But enough for mainstream news outlets? The last picture told her why they had. Alexander standing at the door of the cottage. A long lens must have been used, but it showed him talking to Julia. How did they get so close?
His tuxedo jacket hung over one arm. His shirt was untucked and his suspenders and tails hung down. Julia looked to be dressed down. Certainly not in the gown she wore to the banquet. Two hours after the banquet ended, he told her he was headed to the security office. Christiana closed her eyes and clicked the next button.
Alexander leaned toward the other woman. Were they about to kiss? She clicked the screen. The last picture. None of him kissing her goodnight. She breathed a prayer of thanks for small favors.
The intercom buzzed again. This time, Christiana reached a shaky hand toward it. “Yes, Diana?”
“Ma’am, there’s something I need to show you.” Her discomfort came through loud and clear.
“I have already seen it.”
Chapter 34
Alexander paced his office. “Where do they get these things?” Justin and Tony both typed furiously on their computers trying to find answers.
“Is she still on the property?” Tony asked.
“As far as I know.” He pulled up another article on his tablet and read basically the same information. “Nothing has
ever
happened with Julia. Ever.”
“I know, sir.” Tony’s distracted answer kept Alexander from commenting further.
He went to the palace’s official Facebook page and started scrolling through the comments. Most of them were fairly scathing. Calling him names. Berating him for even thinking about cheating on his wife. A few cautioned patience because they’d seen him with Christiana before and didn’t believe a word of it. Most were supportive of Christiana at the very minimum. That was good. She needed the support. Better they think him a cad than turn on her for “poor judgment” or whatever she feared they would think.
Justin stepped out to his office and took a call. When he returned, his grim face told Alexander what he needed to know. Not good news.
“She’s suing for back child support.”
“What?” Alexander exploded. “How? I
never
slept with her. I never even
kissed
her. I
cannot
be his father! A DNA test will show that in no time.”
“Then we’ll insist on having one done.” Justin sat back in his seat. “Your lawyer will be here in a few minutes. He’s coming through security now.”
Charlyn walked in with a notepad in her hand. “We need to try to spin this.”
“There’s nothing to spin!” Alexander insisted. “He’s not my kid. He’s a nice kid, but not mine.”
“And we need to get your side of the story out there.”
“She’s here on palace grounds. Get her in here so we can talk to her, convince her to tell the truth.” Visions of Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson danced in his head.
“No. That would just make things worse.” A man walked in, his suit nearly as nice as Alexander’s. “I’m Ben Tyler, attorney for the royal family. We’ll get a court order for the DNA test and go from there.” Ben looked him dead in the eye. “I know what you’ve said, but, sir, if there is
anything
I need to know, now is the time to tell me.”
“No. I never slept with her.” Alexander ran his hand through his hair. “I know it’s hard to believe, in this day and age, not to mention the whole
2 Cool 4 School
thing, but I was a virgin when I married the queen. Neither one of us have ever been with anyone else.”
“So where did these pictures come from?”
He sank into one of the chairs. “The pictures are real. We had a couple classes together in college. I remember the photographer telling us jokes to get us to laugh for the newspaper photo. I took her home, once, a long time ago, after a party where she had too much to drink. I ran into her at the hospital. She had a flat tire the other day, and she sat in the limo with me for a while so it could get changed. Her son is fascinated with ‘mom’s friend, the prince’ so I asked if they’d like to come last night and stay in the north cottage. I would have done that for just about anyone I know.”
“What about being detained by the cops and the money you supposedly gave her?”
Alexander just shook his head. “I have no idea about any of that. She told me she’d been detained, and they put her up in a nice hotel and gave her some cash for her inconvenience. She never gave any indication that she thought it came from me.”
“What about money to tide her over until she gets a job?”
“What?” It was too much, all too fast. “How do they know about that?”
“So it’s true?”
“She lost her job last week, in part because of the traffic around the hospital while we were there. I told her to contact one of the charities I work with back in Serenity Landing, and that I’d make sure they didn’t get turned out on the street or lose their car.”
Ben took out a legal pad. “Walk me through the whole thing. From the time you met her until today. Anything you can think of that has anything to do with Julia or Alex.”
Alexander let out a breath and started from the beginning.
* * *
“Mom?”
Julia looked up from her tablet. “Yeah?” Alex laid on the couch and stared at the ceiling.
“When are we leaving?”
“The prince said he’d send someone over to get us and take us to the ferry when the time comes. They must be running late.” She went back to her book. “Why don’t you write a thank you note or draw a picture?”
Alex got his coloring book and crayons out. It would keep him occupied for a little while.
“Did you find the bookcase?” Alexander had stopped by the night before to make sure they were settled in, and he’d told her the secret to finding the hidden room. Alex had already been asleep, but she’d given him hints all morning.
“No!” Alex shot up and took his stuff with him and ran off to find the bookcase. “I’ll work in there!”
Julia smiled. According to Alexander, Christiana had spent a fair amount of time in this cottage. The queen’s stamp was everywhere. The abundance of unicorns, most tasteful, had to have come from the monarch herself. Decidedly feminine in nature, the rest of the decor spoke of an earlier elegance. The furnishings in the living room alone would cost Julia about five years’ salary. When she had a job.
Alexander’s recommendation to call the Helping Hands organization in Serenity Landing surprised her. She’d never looked for handouts, not even as a single mom trying to finish her degree. But now she had to look out for what was best for Alex and, she was more convinced than ever, the new baby. She’d taken a test before leaving Serenity Landing and it was negative, but she feared it had been too early.
“I found it, Mom!” Alex’s exuberant cry made her smile.
She wanted to get online and catch up with the news back home, but apparently the very nice quarters didn’t come with Wi-Fi and the data service signal on her tablet was too weak to load anything. Instead, she curled up in a window seat overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and read the book she’d been working on for several days.
An hour later, with the book nearly finished, the hero and heroine were having their biggest fight yet, a knock at the door surprised her
Julia set the tablet down and went to the door. “Your Majesty?” Was she supposed to curtsy? She did, just a bit, just in case. “To what do we owe this honor?”
The queen didn’t look very welcoming. In fact, she looked downright mad. “I just have one question.”
What could Julia know the queen would want to? “Anything.”
“Are you pregnant with my husband’s child?”
* * *
The woman’s face blanched. An admission? Or shock?
She moved to the side and motioned Christiana in. Nice of her since it was Christiana’s property.
“I don’t know where you heard that...” Julia started.
Christiana waved her hand. “Where I heard it does not matter.” She shut the door behind her. “Is it true?”
“That I’m pregnant or that I’m pregnant with the duke’s child?” The cautious words unsettled Christiana.
“Either.”
Julia sank into one of the chairs. “I think I’m pregnant, but if so, there is no chance the baby’s father is the duke.”
“Is he the father of your son?”
The other woman’s brows pulled together. “No. I’ve never slept with your husband, ma’am. Not in college and certainly not in the last few weeks. I might have slept with a few boyfriends, but never a married man.”
Christiana pulled out the paper copy of the day’s newspaper. “Then how do you explain this?”
Julia took it from her and skimmed through it. “I can’t. All I can say is that some of it is true. Alexander and I had a few classes together in college. I did see him in Springfield last week, and he did offer to make sure Alex, the baby, and I would be okay since I lost my job, but through a charity in Serenity Landing, not personally.”
“What about the money?”
Christiana watched as she pulled an envelope out of her purse. “There’s only two hundred dollars missing from there. I was told the money came from the police to make up for inconveniencing us last weekend. Honest.”
To her surprise, Christiana found herself inclined to believe her. “So who told the papers this? Where did the pictures come from?”
“What pictures?”
Christiana knew there was no Wi-Fi in the cottage. “A picture of the two of you from college. Another of your son when he was born. He shares a name with my husband. Pictures from last night and the limo the other day.”