Royal Secrets (12 page)

Dinner was served each night at six in the dining hall, where Giancarlo and Dante reveled in sharing their adventures of the day. Alora was touched by how patient Prince Stefano was with their stories. He acted like he was interested, whether they were telling him about the toad they found in the garden or the battle they were waging in their bedroom.

When he arrived at their door on Saturday night, Alora thought perhaps he needed her help for something, but to her surprise he asked to see the boys. He looked at her hesitantly when he said, “I brought them something. I hope that’s okay.”

“Of course. Please come in.”

He barely made it through the door before both boys rushed out of their room to greet him. They both remembered to bow, and the prince watched them with a combination of amusement and an unexpected trace of sadness. “I have presents for both of you.” He lifted his good hand to reveal two small gift bags dangling from his fingers. “The red one is for Giancarlo, and the blue one is for Dante.”

“For us?” Giancarlo asked, even as Dante reached for his.

Prince Stefano nodded. “I thought these might help with the battle you were telling me about.”

The boys dumped out the contents of their bags, both of them grinning when they saw the assortment of miniature tanks and army jeeps tumble out onto the carpet. “These are great!”

“What do you boys say?” Alora asked gently.

Both boys looked up and echoed, “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome.”

“Do you want to come see our army?” Dante broke protocol and grabbed Prince Stefano’s hand.

Stefano looked over at Alora as though silently asking her permission. A little self-conscious, Alora looked at him helplessly and shrugged.

“Sure, I’ll come take a look.”

Alora watched Dante pull him into their room. As soon as they were inside, she could hear the prince making the appropriate comments about what a great job they were doing. When he emerged from their room alone a minute later, he was grinning.

“They’re deciding where to put the new vehicles.”

“That was very sweet of you.”

“It wasn’t any trouble.” Stefano nodded toward the door. “They’ve been good sports about letting me borrow their mother this week. I thought they deserved a little token.”

Emotions tangled within her as Alora considered that this was the first time since the bombing that her children had received a gift from anyone besides her or Janessa. She managed to push aside the grief that threatened and focus on her gratitude. “Was it you who arranged for them to have swimming lessons too?”

“Brenna mentioned that they didn’t know how to swim,” Stefano said in the way of an answer. “I thought you would feel more comfortable here once they were water safe.”

“That was very astute of you. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Stefano stared at her a moment, his eyes dark. Then he drew a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. “I thought you might need this.” He gave an awkward shrug when he added, “It’s directions to your church. Last time I saw Janessa and Garrett go to Sunday services, they left around eight-thirty, so my guess is that services begin at nine.”

Touched by his thoughtfulness, she stared up at him. “Thank you. I was going to ask for directions in the morning.”

“You are still going to have breakfast with me before you leave, aren’t you?”

“Of course.” Alora smiled. “I’ll see you downstairs at eight just like always.”

Stefano returned her smile and gave her a satisfied nod. “Good. I’ll see you then.”

* * *

Stefano checked the caller ID on his phone before pressing the talk button. “Hey, Garrett. Is everything still going okay with the future in-laws?”

“So far, so good; I’m quickly gaining a strong appreciation for people who grow the food Patrice puts on our table.”

“I gather they’re putting you to work out there.” Stefano chuckled.

“Something like that,” Garrett agreed easily. “I was actually calling to see if you can do me another favor.”

“Possibly. What do you need?”

“I was hoping you could speak with Martino about setting up an office in the chateau for Janessa,” Garrett told him.

“I thought she was working over at the naval base.”

“She is, but she’s also doing a lot of work in her private quarters. We both know how difficult it can be to try to relax when your work is staring at you from across the room.”

Stefano stared across his office at the stack of files and nodded to the empty room. “Did you have a preference of where you want her office to be?”

“I thought Uncle Elam’s old office would work well,” Garrett suggested. “He hasn’t used it since the new offices were built for the Meridian Church in Calene two years ago. The layout is perfect, since Alora could use the adjoining office for herself.”

“That’s a good idea. It shouldn’t take much effort to modernize the equipment,” Stefano considered. “Although we should probably speak to Uncle Elam before we make any significant changes.”

“I already did,” Garrett told him. “In fact, that’s why I didn’t ask you about this sooner. I left a message for Uncle Elam last week, and he didn’t respond until this morning.”

“What was his reaction?”

“He thought we had taken over his office months ago.” Humor laced Garrett’s tone. “If it’s okay with you, I thought perhaps Alora could help you. After all, she’ll be spending a good amount of her time there.”

Stefano considered the prospect of working with Alora for a while longer, and he found himself looking forward to it. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything.”

“Thanks, Stefano.”

* * *

“Prince Stefano knows.” He breathed the words, his voice filled with angst.

Dark eyebrows drew together. “The prince knows?”

Frustration and impatience surfaced now. “Blood work was done when he was in the hospital after the accident. The test was ordered for Merid’s syndrome. The results would have been processed days ago. He must know by now.”

“How did you find this out?”

“I had one of the orderlies at the hospital check the prince’s chart. A series of blood tests was run before he was released from the hospital. The one for Merid’s syndrome was among the blood tests ordered, but the results were missing from the file.”

“It’s possible that someone else stole the results . . . just as we did when the test was run years ago.”

“But how can we be sure?” Anxiety hummed through his voice. “If the royal family knows the truth, they may realize that Prince Stefano wasn’t the only one we were after in that car accident.”

“You’re overthinking this. They still believe it was only an accident.” He tapped a finger against his chin, his confidence never wavering. He would gain the power he was entitled to, and he was prepared to destroy anyone who dared deny him. “Did Prince Stefano’s medical record show who ran the blood tests?”

“I believe so.” He flipped through the file he held. “Name was Belinda Parnelli. Why would that matter?”

“Because if she ran the tests, she knows who received the information.”

Awareness filled his eyes. “Perhaps I should have a talk with her.”

“I agree. I’m sure we will both feel a lot better if we can gain a more complete understanding of the current situation.” He nodded, evil shining from his eyes. “And of course, we don’t want to take the chance that she might be starting any unfortunate rumors we aren’t prepared to handle.”

Chapter 15

Janessa felt the stares the moment she walked into the chapel. She automatically reached for Garrett’s hand in search of comfort.

Over the past several months, she had grown accustomed to the curious looks when she and Garrett entered a room. She hadn’t expected those looks today though, now that she was among her family and friends.

Self-consciously, she followed her brother Jake down the aisle and sat on the same pew her family had been sharing for years, the fourth one from the back. When the time came for Lindsay’s blessing, Janessa watched all of the men in her family stand and walk up to the front of the chapel where the baby would be blessed, leaving only Garrett behind. Since Garrett was a new convert to the Church, he hadn’t yet received the Melchizedek priesthood, which would have allowed him to participate in the blessing.

Even if Garrett had been able to participate, the moment he exercised his priesthood in public, he would be acknowledging that he had joined the Church.

As her brother-in-law began the blessing, Janessa tried to focus on his encouraging words about Lindsay’s future rather than the sinking feeling in her stomach as she realized that such precious moments would never be simple for her in Meridia.

* * *

Alora parked her car in her assigned spot at the far end of the twelve-car garage. Most of the spaces were occupied, the structure deep enough to accommodate two stretch limousines on the side farthest from her.

“Can we go for a walk now, Mama?” Dante asked, tugging at his clip-on tie. “We were good in church.”

“You were good in church,” she agreed with a smile. “Let me hang up my keys, and then we can go explore a bit.”

“Yes!” Giancarlo grinned.

Alora couldn’t help but smile at her son’s enthusiasm. They all climbed out of the car and crossed to the cabinet where she had been instructed to leave her keys. Martino had explained that the chateau drivers preferred to have the ability to move cars if it was necessary. She didn’t see why anyone would want to bother with her car, since it was tucked away in the last space, but she didn’t see a reason to argue the point either.

“Can we go down to the beach again?” Giancarlo asked as he trotted along behind her.

“We’ll see,” Alora said in the tone that made her sons know that if they were good they would get what they wanted.

She hung up her keys in the appropriate spot then turned toward the door. Stepping to the side, she waited for Giancarlo to pull the door open for her. She stepped through the doorway and smiled down at her older son. “Thank you, Giancarlo. You are such a gentleman.”

A deep voice sounded behind her. “I see you are training them early.”

Alora whirled around and lifted a hand to her rapidly beating heart. Remembering herself, she dipped into a curtsy. “Prince Stefano, you startled me.”

“I do apologize.” He was dressed casually, at least she guessed he would think of the camel colored slacks and white button-down shirt as casual. He looked down at the two boys as they followed their mother outside, and Alora could have sworn he was fighting back a grin when both boys bowed to him. He greeted them both by name before turning his attention back to Alora. “I gather you found your church building okay?”

“We did. Thank you for giving me such good directions.”

“It was no trouble.” He motioned toward the path leading to the chateau and then fell into step beside her as the boys scrambled along ahead of them. “I forgot to mention at breakfast this morning that my brother asked a favor of us.”

“Oh?” Alora’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “What favor is that?”

Stefano explained Prince Garrett’s request, surprising Alora with the fact that she too would be provided with office space outside her private quarters.

“I would love to help,” Alora agreed eagerly.

Prince Stefano motioned to the chateau. “Shall we go look at what needs to be done?”

Alora hesitated, glancing down at her boys before lifting her eyes to look at him once more. How could she explain to a prince, one who had allowed her to move into his home, that she didn’t work on Sundays?

“Is something wrong?”

“I’m sorry, but I try to reserve Sundays to spend with my children.” She looked at him apologetically. “We always go for a walk after church.”

“Of course,” Prince Stefano said, his tone more formal than Alora had expected.

“Would you mind terribly if we started first thing tomorrow morning?”

He nodded to her and stepped back stiffly. “Tomorrow morning, then.”

She hesitated for a moment before giving in to her instincts. “If you feel up to it, we would love for you to join us for our walk.”

Surprise and something else flashed in his eyes and then was quickly gone. “I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“You wouldn’t be intruding,” Alora said. The boys began speaking over one another as they echoed their mother’s invitation.

“Please?” Dante crossed to the prince to grab his hand excitedly.

Prince Stefano stared down at him for a moment, and Alora watched with amazement as he smiled down at her son and his formal air melted away. “Well, Master Dante, how could I refuse such an enthusiastic invitation?”

Dante grinned excitedly. “So you’ll come with us?”

“Yes, I would be happy to accompany you.” Prince Stefano glanced up at Alora and offered her a smile. “And where are we walking to on this fine day?”

“The boys mentioned walking down to the beach, but we’re open to suggestions.”

“You can never go wrong with a walk on the beach,” he agreed easily, motioning toward the path that led through the garden, past the swimming pool, and then to the stairs leading down to the sand. “Shall we?”

“Yes!” Giancarlo didn’t have to be told twice, and he dashed toward the gardens. Dante abandoned Prince Stefano and raced to catch up with his brother.

“Stay where I can see you!” Alora called after them as they continued down the path.

“I think they’re a little excited about the beach.”

“Yes, very much so.” Alora nodded, her eyes shining with humor. “I walked with them down to the beach the afternoon we arrived. They loved every second of it.”

Prince Stefano smiled as they followed behind the boys. “My brother and I always loved it here when we were children.”

Alora noticed a bodyguard stationed by the seawall a short distance away. “What was your life like growing up, if you don’t mind my asking?” She nodded toward the guard. “I imagine it wasn’t easy having guards following you around everywhere.”

“The guards have always been there. I guess I’m used to them, and they don’t really follow me around unless I’m away from home.” He looked at her as though he sensed her unasked questions. “You want to know what it was like to be both a child and a prince?”