‘Nice to know there’s been some sort of rough justice in all of this,’ Alex said before he could restrain himself.
He saw the sudden slump of her slim shoulders and gave himself a mental kick. It was totally wrong that she’d had to suffer for her father’s actions so long ago. She had nothing to do with this.
Or had she?
The suspicion crept towards him like a lurking shadow, stealthily consuming the sunlight of his belief in her innocence. What if she had known all along? Was that why she had agreed to go out with him, her little act of initial reluctance a ploy to keep him interested?
He looked down and saw tears sparkling in her eyes. ‘You have every right to say that,’ she said. ‘My father took you away from everything that was rightfully yours.’
‘Yeah, well, at least he didn’t kill me,’ he said, still trying to make up his mind about her. ‘I guess I should be grateful for that.’
‘He couldn’t do it,’ she said. ‘He was given the order to do so but he just couldn’t do it.’
‘So he shipped me away, one imagines to Sicily, and got some papers doctored in order to send me to Australia.’
‘I haven’t asked him how he did it but I’m sure he will tell you. I don’t expect you to forgive him…it would be hard for anyone to forgive such an action, but it’s a thousand times worse for you have lost so much.’
Alex felt the see-saw of doubt tipping back the other way, making it hard for him to believe her capable of such complicity.
‘I don’t see it quite like that,’ he said after a little pause. ‘Or at least I haven’t as yet. I have a wonderful family. I have wanted for nothing my whole childhood and adult life.’
She gave him an agonised look. ‘Your biological parents were killed two years ago in a yachting accident. They went to their graves not knowing the truth about your existence. You can never meet them or talk to them now, even if you wanted to.’
He frowned as he took it all in. ‘I hadn’t thought about that.’
‘There’s more,’ she went on. ‘You have siblings. Your twin brother for one thing and two sisters. Can you imagine how thrilled they will be to know you are alive?’
He shook his head as if he still couldn’t quite make sense of all she’d told him. ‘This is going to take some getting used to. What’s my kid sister going to say when she finds out her brother is a prince?’
‘She will love you just the same. So will your adoptive parents. It doesn’t change anything in that regard.’
He gave her an incredulous look. ‘It changes everything, can’t you see that? Damn it, Amelia, what the hell am I going to do? I have a life and a career back in Sydney. I don’t belong here. I don’t even speak Italian!’
‘Language is not an issue—almost everyone speaks English now anyway. This is your rightful heritage, Alex. You can’t ignore your right to the throne.
‘The king is your grandfather,’ she continued. ‘It will bring him much joy to finally meet you, having believed for so long that his reluctance to pay the ransom for your return led to your death.’
Alex came back to her and took her hands in his, hoping his gut feeling was right in all this. ‘How like you to think of the other innocents in all of this,’ he said, watching her closely. ‘Is that something the nuns taught you?’
‘They taught me that forgiveness is not always clear-cut but it’s essential to let go of the things you cannot change,’ she said softly. ‘It’s sometimes the only thing you can do.’
‘I can’t change who I am.’
‘No one wants you to.’
‘You don’t know that,’ he said. ‘I bet as soon as the palace officials hear about this there will be members of the press running about shoving cameras under my nose, people following me no doubt trying to kiss my feet or whatever it is that people do with royalty. I’ll go crazy within days and then they will have to find a dungeon for me with a strait-jacket as well as ankle chains.’
‘It might not be anything like that. I would assume for the sake of everyone’s privacy that they will keep this quiet for a while. They’ll want to make absolutely sure of everything before it is announced publicly. They will probably organise a DNA test to establish your identity once and for all.’
‘You already said the island was rife with rumours,’ he pointed out. ‘How much worse will it be trying to do what I came here to do with everyone gawking at me as if I’m some sort of freak?’
Amelia let out a ragged sigh. ‘I know this is hard. You’ll get used to it in time.’
‘And what about us?’ he asked, his eyes coming back to pin hers.
She gave him a look of immeasurable sadness. ‘There can be no “us” now. Surely you can see that?’
Alex let a little silence count the seconds as doubt and belief each jostled for position in his head.
‘I can see no reason why I shouldn’t live my life the way I want to,’ he said. ‘If I want to be involved with you or anybody then surely that’s up to me, not someone else to decide.’
‘My father is responsible for what happened,’ she said. ‘It would be unthinkable for you to be involved with me now. The palace will outlaw it as soon as they find out.’
‘No one’s going to tell me what I can and cannot do. Come on, Amelia, surely you’re not going to fall for that rubbish? This is about you and me. We’ve got something going, a good thing. Don’t let this other stuff get in the way.’
‘It will always get in the way, Alex. This is not something you can brush to one side as if it’s nothing. This is your birthright, your heritage. You were born to this.’
‘But I didn’t grow up with any of this! How can I change my life now? I want to be a normal person. Damn it! I am a normal person. I make my own meals, I drive my own car, and I even do my own tax income forms. I would have a hard time accepting a knighthood let alone a royal throne.’
‘You have to accept it!’ she cried. ‘You have to.’
‘I’m not accepting anything until I know what exactly happened to me when I was two. This could all be a mistake. There’s no guarantee that any of this is true,’ he said. ‘We’re going to visit your father and I’m not taking no for an answer.’
He reached for his keys and held open the door. ‘Come on, let’s get this over with.’
He didn’t speak again until they were driving along the foothills to Amelia’s cottage. ‘I know you think I should come forward, Amelia, but don’t forget I have to perform heart surgery on the king in a matter of days. I think it’s better all round to continue to view him as a patient like any other, despite the fact that he may be my grandfather.’
Amelia could appreciate his point of view. It would make the surgery a lot more stressful if Alex was in some way emotionally involved with the patient. Surgeons were usually discouraged from operating on close relatives in case their clinical judgement was affected.
‘Besides,’ Alex continued, ‘I want to investigate this myself before anyone else jumps to conclusions that may not be accurate. If it turns out to be true, then I’ll have to cross that bridge when I come to it.’
‘But how will you investigate it?’
‘Firstly I want to talk to your father and get his angle on what happened, and then I’ll get someone to run a check on my birth certificate and adoption details, which will no doubt take a week or two.’
‘Will