he’s not.”
That had been Darrell’s reaction when she’d first read the information on the Internet.
“Your father’s waiting for us. We better hurry and get packed.”
She started up the stairs. He was close on her heels.
“Mom—come on. You’re joking, right?”
She kept on going.
“Mom?”
She pulled his suitcase out of the hall closet before hurrying into his room and opening drawers.
“Some dads drive buses, others are engineers, lots of them run businesses…and a select few on the planet rule over their own country. I thought I’d let you know that before you run outside and tell him we’re going with him.
“Once we reach the airport, I don’t want you to be surprised when you hear his staff and security people call him ‘Your Majesty.’”
Five minutes after Alex climbed in the limousine, Phillip came flying down the walkway toward him. The resemblance between them shouted his paternity. Alex suffered pain to realize he’d already lost twelve years with him. Only now could he appreciate Chaz’s joy when Vito was born.
“I can’t describe the feeling, Alex. You’ll have to have a child of your own to understand what it’s like!”
At last Alex knew exactly what it was like. He had his own wonderful child. Incredible. Phillip was his son! Realizing he was a father filled his world with possibilities he’d never considered before.
Phillip opened the door. “We’re coming with you! Mom said to give us about twenty more minutes.”
The excitement those words engendered caused Alex to shove every other concern to the back of his mind. “Take all the time you need.”
Phillip scrutinized him for a moment. “Mom told me something else, but I didn’t believe her.”
His son expressed himself exactly like young Jules. That was because they both had Valleder blood flowing through their veins.
“I didn’t believe it, either, when my father who was dying said, ‘Alex? Promise me you’ll look after your mother and be a good king.’”
There was another full minute of silence before a hint of devilry entered Phillip’s eyes. “Did it freak you out to be a king at first?”
Just then Phillip sounded so much like Chaz, Alex was dumbfounded. When they’d buried Chaz, Alex never expected to see traces of his cousin come to life in Alex’s own son.
“Don’t tell this to anybody, but it still freaks me out.”
“You have to worry about terrorism and stuff, huh.”
For a twelve-year-old, Phillip understood too much.
“It’s part of my job, but certainly not all.”
Phillip studied him. “Mom told me you’re getting married to a princess.” After a slight hesitation, “I wish my real mom hadn’t died.”
With that comment Alex was beginning to understand the burning issue Darrell had been forced to deal with over the years where Phillip was concerned. Having a son who had been deprived of his birth parents and suffered over it couldn’t have been easy for Darrell who’d devoted her life to raising him.
His brows knit together. “I’m sorry, too, but look at it this way. You’ve been lucky enough to have two real moms, Phillip. Your second mother loves you so much, she came looking for me and wouldn’t stop until she found me.” In fact she’d taken a dangerous risk. The analogy of the mother and the burning building was no joke.
“Think how happy her efforts have made you and me. She didn’t have to do anything at all. In fact another kind of mother might not have spent her time and hard-earned money to make your wish come true.”
Hoping Phillip would think long and hard on that he added, “Why don’t you go inside and see if she needs any help. After her long flights to Switzerland and back, she must be exhausted.”
She’d put her son’s welfare before anything else. What an amazing woman she was…
Phillip appeared more subdued before he nodded and hurried back to the condo.
The moment he disappeared inside, Alex pulled out his cell phone to alert his pilot, then tell his security staff he was ready to leave with Ms. Collier and her son.
Once that was taken care of, he phoned Carl. If there’d been anything urgent from his private secretary’s end, Alex would have heard from him by now.
“I’ll be home in the morning, Carl. Do me a favor and tell the staff to get the Saxony apartment ready by the time I arrive back in Bris.”
“I’ll see to it at once, Your Majesty. I understand Princess Isabella has a preference for daffodils. Shall I arrange for some?”
Alex’s hand gripped his cell phone tighter. “You’ve misunderstood me, Carl. I’ll be bringing my twelve-year-old son and his mother with me. Fill the drawing room with white roses, and make certain there are plenty of snack foods and fruit drinks on hand for Phillip.”
“Phillip?” Carl whispered in an unsteady voice.
Alex couldn’t help but smile. He’d always wondered if the secretary who’d worked for Alex’s father and was loyal to him could be shaken by anything.
Now he knew he’d given the sixty-year-old man a minor coronary. This was only the beginning, but no force could stop him now. Phillip needed his father. Alex found he didn’t like the idea of any other man taking over that role no matter the consequences of his actions.
“Until I tell my mother, I know I can count on your discretion, Carl.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
After the click, Alex made his last phone call for the night.
“Leo? Sorry to waken you, but I thought you’d like to know the crisis has been averted.”
“So she doesn’t pose a threat?”
“No,” he lied.
“Thank God.”
“As it turns out, she’s the mother of my son, but thirteen years ago she was a girl who has changed a great deal since then.”
“Sorry, Alex. We must have a bad connection and I heard you wrong. Say that again.”
The connection was perfect.
“Darrell Collier has been raising my son for the last twelve years. I’m afraid I parted with that ring one starry night in the Colorado mountains where she was working for the summer. But as I told you, the memory is vague due to too much alcohol on both our parts.
“When Uncle Vittorio had a bad accident while I was
