“How much longer is this thing?”
Astrid’s head tipped back so he could look into her eyes. “Why? Do you have somewhere to be?”
His gaze flickered down to her lips. Why couldn’t he kiss her again? “I was thinking some time with my wife would be good.”
“Your wife likes that idea.”
He looked back up at her eyes and could see the desire smoldering in their ocean blue depths. “So how long before this shindig ends?”
She looked to the side. “We can leave now.”
A second later, she was out of his arms, but her hand had been tucked securely in his elbow. This time, as they headed home, they weren’t stopped by everyone and their cousin. Those near them smiled and nodded their heads, but that was it.
All eight members of the royal family were walking down the wide hall together. Astrid’s grandmother didn’t stay up as late as she used to and had left after just a couple of dances.
The walk was a little weird. They were having everyday discussions while all Jordan could think about was getting back to the room he shared with his wife and locking them all out.
Astrid let go of his elbow and lifted the skirt of her dress. Jordan rested his hand on her lower back for support as she climbed the stairs. The king and queen took a different route from the second story. Jordan didn’t know the most direct route to the monarch’s quarters. Maybe there was an elevator somewhere.
The rest of them reached the hallway with the doors to their rooms. Jordan and Astrid turned right while her siblings turned left. Jacqueline Grace and Esther went into Jacqueline Grace’s door while both brothers went to their own quarters.
Jordan let Astrid take care of opening their door. He glanced down the hall to make sure they were alone.
“Hey,” he whispered.
She turned back, one eyebrow raised in question.
Until he scooped her into his arms and carried her into their room. With a squeal, she grabbed his neck.
“What are you doing?”
Jordan kicked the door closed behind him. “Carrying you over the threshold. I haven’t had the chance yet.”
He walked through the sitting room and into their room, setting her on her feet near the bed, and kissed her.
Sometime later, they were curled together with the covers pulled to their waists. With Astrid’s head on his shoulder, his fingers played with the hair at her temple. The sleeve of her pajama top whispered against the skin of his chest as her finger traced his scar.
“What was the weirdest thing about your transplant?”
“You know how they say sometimes recipients have changes in the foods they like or don’t like and stuff?”
“I’ve heard that.”
“One of the first things I really remember after surgery was craving chocolate covered strawberries.”
“You didn’t like them before?”
“I was allergic to strawberries as a kid. Not too bad. Just enough Mom didn’t let me have any. The doctor told her I could outgrow it, but I never bothered to try. The reaction was a bit of a rash. I could handle that, so a few days later, I convinced Dare to get me some.” He let his eyes roll back into his head a bit. “They were probably the best thing I’d ever eaten, ever, in my life, hands down. And no reaction either. So I binge on them sometimes.”
Astrid’s silence washed over Jordan, and he realized what he might have just done. Did Andrei love chocolate covered strawberries? Didn’t a lot of people? It wouldn’t be a dead giveaway would it?
She rolled onto her back and pulled the covers up under her arms. “Andrei loved chocolate covered strawberries. It makes me wonder about his recipient. Does he or she love them, too?”
Jordan didn’t say anything, afraid whatever he said would be the wrong thing and give her the clues she needed.
Abruptly, Astrid sat straight up and turned to look at him. He could almost see the wheels turning in her head. “When was your transplant?”
He wouldn’t lie to her and told her the date.
The second she knew, he saw the change.
“No,” she whispered. “No.” She scrambled out of bed. “It can’t be.”
Jordan didn’t say anything, but pushed himself into a seated position.
“Everyone was told Andrei died more than twenty-four hours after the car accident, but that’s not true. It was less than eighteen before I gave them permission to donate his organs.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “It’s you, isn’t it? You have Andrei’s heart?”
Jordan ran his hand through his hair. This wouldn’t go well.
Another realization came over her. “And you know it.” Her voice grew louder. “You know you have Andrei’s heart, don’t you?” she screamed.
He nodded. “I figured it out a while ago, but I wasn’t sure how to tell you.”
“How did you figure it out?” She didn’t scream, but her quiet tone scared him more.
“I was told the truth about his death before we got married.” No point in implicating her parents just yet.
“How?” she demanded, swiping at her cheeks. “How exactly do you know for sure that you have Andrei’s heart?”
Jordan sighed. No turning back now. “Your father and I put two and two together. Someone gave my family a private jet back to Canada. The only non-San Majorian recipient was a Canadian man who received Andrei’s heart. Your father paid for his plane ride home. When I mentioned that, he knew.”
Astrid clutched at her stomach. “All this time, you knew? I told you I could never be with someone who had a piece of Andrei, yet you married me knowing you did? You let me fall in love with you knowing this?”
Her words sank in. You let me fall in love with you. “I love you, Astrid,” he told her. “We love each other. That’s all that matters, isn’t it?”
With all his heart - with all Andrei’s heart - he hoped she believed that.
19
Astrid could barely see through the tears blurring her vision, but she heard his words loud and clear. “No, that’s not all that matters!”
She wanted to throw him out of her room, but she couldn’t think straight enough to form the words. Instead, she turned on her heel, grateful she was at least clothed for this fight. She bolted through the apartment, her bare feet hitting priceless rugs and bare stone floors before she emerged in the hallway. The door slammed behind her as she ran down the corridor to the stairs that would allow her access to her parents’ quarters.
“Astrid!” Jordan’s voice behind her didn’t slow her down.
Neither did Kensington opening his door and asking what was going on.
The stone steps were cold under her feet, but she didn’t care.
She pounded on the door to her parents’ apartment with her fist. “Father! Open this door! Mother!”
“Astrid.” Jordan’s voice sounded behind her. “Can’t we talk about this before you wake up the rest of the palace?”
“No.” She pounded again. “Father!” Even if he couldn’t hear her, a member of the security team would have woken him. Nothing went unnoticed outside of their private quarters.
The door finally opened. “What’s all this?” Her father stood there, looking very unkinglike.
Astrid did something she’d never done before.
She put both hands on her father’s chest and pushed as hard as she could. “You knew!” she shouted as he stumbled backward. She pushed him again. “You knew about Jordan’s heart, and you didn’t tell me!”
A strong arm wrapped around her waist before she could push her father again. “That’s enough, love.”
Even angry at him, Jordan’s voice seemed to have a calming effect on her. She hated that.
Then she realized her whole family was there. The slamming door, the flight down the hall, Jordan calling after her... all of it must have alerted her siblings.
She broke down, sobs shaking her body. Another arm came around her shoulders, pulling her back into Jordan’s strong chest.
She started to crumble again, but this time her parents were closest.
“Not you either,” she ground out between clenched teeth. “Father, you don’t keep secrets, which means Mother knew.”
The rest of those in the room seemed to be communicating with their eyes and leaving her out. Before she could sort out what they were doing, Kensington was at her side, his arms wrapping around her as her knees gave out. He picked her up and carried her into the sitting room, the most comfortable one in the building, with the rest of the family trailing behind. He sat her in a chair, but didn’t sit next to her. They had sat there together plenty of times before, so why? Because she wasn’t about to land in a heap on the floor?
Because Kensington thought her husband, no matter his traitorous nature, should be the one with her?
“Someone want to tell us what’s going on?” Jacqueline Grace asked.
Everyone looked at her. “Ask him.” She nodded toward Jordan.
He sighed. “I have Andrei’s heart. When Astrid agreed to the organ donation, I became the recipient of his heart. Your parents and I have known since before the wedding but were afraid of Astrid’s reaction.”
“Rightfully so, it seems,” Harrison chimed in.
Astrid glared at him.
“One thing your father and I really didn’t want was for her to call off the wedding because of the implications for her, Sofia, the line of succession, all of that.”
“And you didn’t think to tell her sooner?” Esther asked.
Jordan glared at her. “Without being too rude, the personal relationship between myself and Astrid is really none of your business. I’m not planning to comment further, even with just this group, as to the timing of the discussion at this point.”
“He has a point.” Her father stood. “The rest of you need to leave for now. If there’s something you need to know, we’ll make sure you do. But at this moment, it’s mostly between Astrid and Jordan.” He ushered them out of the room then returned, sinking to the couch just to the side of Astrid. “We did what we thought was best. The reasons you should marry Jordan didn’t change because of who his donor was. You still would have been forced to renounce your claim to the throne and been exiled upon my death. Jordan was willing to accept the chance that you could hate him for the rest of your marriage to make sure that didn’t happen.”
Astrid didn’t know what to think about that, but she did know she didn’t want to be anywhere near any of them. Pushing herself out of her chair and to her feet, she glared at all of them. “I’m going to bed.” With a pointed look at Jordan, she continued. “Alone.”
Not willing to go back the way she came in case one or more of her siblings were keeping an eye out, she went to a tapestry hanging from the wall and slid behind it, not caring that Jordan knew where one of the secret passages could be accessed. She pressed against the right stone and the door swung silently inward.
Years of playing in the tunnels and her parents’ insistence that she carry a mental map of them helped her back to the quarters she no longer shared with her husband. Even in the dark, her feet carried her the right way. After the narrow staircase, and counting the number of branches shooting off, she finally reached the narrow hall leading to her quarters.
When she stepped out from behind another tapestry, Astrid was in the sitting room of the quarters she’d left in such a hurry. Only an emergency light kept the room from being completely dark.
Unable, or was it unwilling, to spend the night alone in the bed, she curled up on the couch and tugged one of Sofia’s blankets over her.
And cried herself to sleep.
Jordan cradled his head in his hands. He didn’t want to impose on the king and queen any longer than he had to, but where was he supposed to go?
“It’s going to be all right, son.”
He looked up at the king’s choice of word.
“I never called Andrei that. I don’t know that I ever would have.”
“Then why me?”
“Because I see something in you I never saw in Andrei.”
“What’s that?”
“My daughter’s best interests at heart.” He snorted. “Kind of ironic, but it’s not your heart that makes you who you are, at least not your physical heart. Your metaphorical heart is a different story.”
“And Andrei didn’t?”
The king kind of winced and shook his head and shrugged all at the same time. “I wouldn’t go that far. I think Andrei wanted what he thought was best for my daughter. I don’t think what he thought and what really is best for her always aligned. You want what’s best for Astrid, even if it’s something that scares you or makes you uncomfortable. Andrei wasn’t like that.”
Jordan wasn’t sure how he felt about being compared to a dead guy who had told his wife he wanted his organs donated. “I see.” He wasn’t sure he did.
His in-laws shared a look Jordan couldn’t interpret. “There’s more,” his father-in-law said. “I won’t get into it now. Just know that I know far more about you, or could with the snap of my fingers, than you can imagine. Even things you think are secret. Like the friend of your sister’s you had a crush on as recently as a few weeks before you moved here.”
Jordan had to think for a second. “Laura?”
“Yes.”
“I had maybe half a crush on her a few years ago. I wouldn’t describe my feelings for her, or lack of feelings, before our trip to Serenity Landing as a crush. Curiosity maybe. I thought about taking her to dinner while we were there, but crush is a bit strong.” Maybe. He didn’t want to delve that far back to figure it out.
“You see my point though.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You may assume the same was true for my last son-in-law.”
Jordan thought that over. “So you know things about Andrei that Astrid doesn’t. Things she wouldn’t like.”
The king just stared at him.
That was enough confirmation for Jordan. “What do I do about it? How do I get through to her?”
“Give her time and space,” the queen answered. “Not too much. Don’t disappear from her life, but don’t force her to let you be around. Go to your office. Play with Sofia. Whatever you would normally do.”
“I have a meeting with the kids’ hockey league tomorrow. We were supposed to spend the rest of the day together.” He sighed. “I’ll find something else to do. Brush up on my San Majorian history. Somehow, independence didn’t feature that prominently in my education the last few weeks. We skimmed over it.”
The king leaned back in his chair and stared at Jordan until he grew uncomfortable.
“I’ve been debating something even before tonight. I believe I’m going to kick you three out.”
Jordan blinked a couple times. “Pardon?”
“There’s a palace on San Minoria, the second largest island in our country. I would like the three of you to move there. It’s not far. You can take a boat over in about less than an hour - a helicopter in less - which will allow you to fulfill your obligations here and do things like be a patron of the children’s ice hockey league. Andrei never even visited that palace. I think it will be good for the three of you to get away from here and stand on your own a bit.”
“If you say so, sir.”
“I’ll break the news to my daughter in the morning. I’ll give you a few days to wrap up things here.”
They all stood and Jordan, once again, realized how underdressed he was to have a discussion with the king and queen. At least the last time he’d been wearing a shirt.
As they walked toward the main door, the king rested a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t think I told you the great things I heard about the carnival. Everyone I’ve talked to had simply wonderful things to say. The pictures also said a thousand words. We both especially loved the one of you hugging Astrid while you were soaking wet.”
“It was a pleasure, sir. The kids were easy to be around, and it wasn’t my first dunk tank.” He might have to print that picture just for the reminder that, somewhere deep down, she did love him.
“I know.”
As they stood at the main door leading back into the palace, Jordan turned. “Where do I stay tonight? She’s made it quite clear I’m not welcome in our quarters.”
The king raised one brow. “Where did she sleep the first month of your marriage?”
He had a point.
Jordan just nodded. The normal sized staircase reaffirmed Jordan’s suspicion that there was another way in and out of the monarch’s quarters, something much more ornate. The painting of a child’s room on the outside of the door to Sofia’s quarters made Jordan stop and think. Wasn’t it odd that they were across the giant hall from each other?
What if the little girl got up and wandered around overnight? Who knows where she would end up?
Jordan looked around the hall. He couldn’t see them, but he suspected there were cameras keeping an eye on everything. Otherwise, how else would the king have known Astrid was banging on the door? He didn’t know where their rooms were, but based on the little he’d seen, they weren’t close.
He opened the door quietly. The first room was the play room. He texted Nanny Gretchen so she would know he was there then slid into Sofia’s bedroom. At least his phone had been in the pocket of his pajama pants.
For several minutes, he watched his step-daughter sleeping in her crib. He wanted to reach out, to run a finger along the side of her soft cheek, but he didn’t want to wake her.
Would he ever see Astrid holding his child? Would he ever rock his newborn to sleep?
Without any answers, he pulled the covers back on the twin bed in the corner, the one Astrid had slept in for several weeks. It seemed to take an eternity, but eventually, he drifted off to sleep.
20
“No!” Astrid hadn’t raised her voice to her father in years until the night before and here she was doing it again.
“It wasn’t a request, Astrid.” His face gave away nothing. “You, your husband, and your daughter will be moving next week to Minorian Palace. You will remain active in the community here, but you will also become a member of that community. It’s quite common for the heir to spend several years living on different islands. You know that.”
Crowns & Courtships Compilation Volume 1 Page 15