Matrimony With His Majesty

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.”