“Whenever you want. It’s up to your mother.”
Phillip flicked her a glance she couldn’t decipher. Then he looked at Alex again. “How long are you going to stay in Denver?”
“I have to fly back to Switzerland tonight.” While Darrell’s heart plummeted for Phillip’s sake, Alex unexpectedly said, “How would you like to come with me and see where I live? That invitation includes your mother. You’re welcome to stay with me for as long as you want.”
“Mom—”
Phillip was ready to burst with joy.
Darrell knew what he was asking, but everything was happening way too fast.
“I’m afraid you can’t go right now, sweetheart. For one thing you don’t have a passport.”
Alex eyed her with a direct stare. “That’s no problem. Trust me.”
Of course it wasn’t a problem. He was the king. He could let anyone in his kingdom he wanted. It appeared he wanted his son.
“What’s the other thing?” Alex challenged her.
He knew exactly why she was holding back! The news about Phillip would be like a hundred megaton bomb exploding in his country.
How could he just get off his private jet with a son in tow no one had ever seen or heard of? Surely he would want to prepare his family first. His fiancée most of all…
Darrell tried to put herself in the other woman’s place. The shock of learning the king she was going to marry came complete with a twelve-year-old son would destroy her dreams of starting out marriage in the hope of raising a family of her own.
“Phillip? Remember that Danice asked us to spend the Fourth with her?”
“But I told you I don’t want to go.”
Alex flicked her a penetrating glance. “You have other plans made?”
She averted her eyes. “Not yet. That call in the kitchen was Danice phoning to finalize everything.” She could feel both of them looking at her, yet neither said a word. Already father and son were in lockstep.
The onus was on Darrell. If she said no to Phillip, he wouldn’t understand. Not when she’d gone all the way to Switzerland to find his father.
Now that she’d achieved her goal, a whole new range of problems loomed over the horizon. She was starting to get scared and Alex knew it.
“Tell you what, Phillip. I’ll go out to the limo so you and your mother can talk in private.” He was reading her mind.
“Come outside when you’re ready and let me know what you’ve decided.”
“Thank you, Alex,” she murmured.
“But, Mom—”
In a few swift strides his father left the house. Phillip turned to her ready to do battle.
“Before you say anything to me, young man, I want to ask you a question.” He blinked. “What else did your French teacher tell you about the Romanche-speaking canton?”
He blinked again and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t remember.”
“It’s ruled by a king.”
“That’s cool.”
“Cool doesn’t begin to cover it. Your father has a very important job which is different from the jobs of any of your friends’ dads.”
“What is it?”
“Did your teacher happen to mention the name of that particular canton?”
“No.”
She drew in a deep breath. “It’s the Valleder Canton.”
He cocked his head. “That’s Dad’s last name.”
“That’s right. Your dad…is the king of Valleder.”
Phillip let out a bark of laughter. “No, 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