Crowns & Courtships Compilation Volume 1

by Carol Moncado

  Anabelle shook her head. “I don’t think I can keep anything down. I’m nauseated.” A sip of tea was all she could handle.

  Princess Astrid’s husband walked into the room. “Kensington went over to the chapel.”

  She took some solace in that. At least one of them was formally asking for help from the Almighty.

  “Would you like to join him?” the queen asked. “I am certain that you’re praying just as hard as the rest of us without going to the chapel, but there’s solace in being there as well.”

  Anabelle shook her head. If she tried to move, she’d likely fall. The only thing that could make her try was news that Gracie had been found.

  “The Lord knows our hearts, even if we can’t quite formulate the words.” The queen patted her hand. “We had a bit of a scare with Sofia last fall. She made it to the beach unattended, a wave hit her, and by the time we made it down there, she wasn’t breathing.”

  Jordan took a sip from Astrid’s water glass. “I gave the king a black eye trying to get down there when I saw her from the balcony.”

  “You gave the king a black eye?” Anabelle thought Kensington had told her something about it.

  Jordan shrugged. “He was in my way, and my daughter was unsupervised on the beach.”

  They all started telling stories about Sofia and the rest of the family as children. Anabelle didn’t quite laugh, but she did find herself smiling and her mind focused a little less on Gracie’s still-missing status.

  The stories flowed around her, with the others laughing about a time a four-year-old Kensington got away from his nanny only to be found sound asleep on his father’s throne. That one made Anabelle grin.

  “I do love these stories,” she told the queen in a quiet moment. “I don’t know enough about Kensington when he was little.”

  “He told me you called him Kenny until after your wedding.” Her smile told Anabelle she wasn’t upset by it.

  “That’s what he told me his name was. What else was I supposed to call him?”

  Jacqueline Grace laughed, a delicate, nearly graceful, laugh Anabelle could never hope to imitate. “I love it. No one would dream of calling me Jacquie.”

  “Do you want to be called Jacquie?” Harrison poked Jacqueline Grace’s shoulder. “I can totally do that next time I’ve got cameras in my face.”

  “No. Thank you. I’ve got this two-name thing going on, and I’ll keep it that way. If you go out there and call me Jacquie, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

  Anabelle finally felt steady enough to stand. When she did, she just walked to the window and stared out at the ocean a little ways away.

  An arm slid around her shoulders. “Are you all right, dear?”

  “As much as I can be. I won’t fall over, I don’t think.”

  “We’ll know something soon.”

  “I hope so.” Anabelle wiped under her eyes. She’d started crying without realizing it. “I need to know she’s okay, that she’s being taken care of.”

  “If it’s someone who knows who she is, as we suspect, you can be certain they are taking good care of Gracie and her friend. They know the full wrath of the country will come down on them if they don’t. It’ll be bad enough when they’re caught, but if they’ve mistreated the young Lady, it’ll be even worse.”

  “More likely they want to take her somewhere far away.”

  “Our men and women, and those of all the law enforcement agencies around are doing everything they can.” The queen smiled. “I know you wish it could be under other circumstances, but I was told a couple of minutes ago, that a surprise had arrived for you.” She nodded behind Anabelle.

  Anabelle turned, her mind barely registering what her eyes were telling it. “Rachel? Mrs. T? What are you doing here?”

  Mrs. T stepped forward and curtsied to the room in general. “I’m here because I have something very important to tell you.”

  Could anything that didn’t involve getting the girls home safely be important enough right now? “What’s that?”

  Mrs. T took a deep breath. “I’m your grandmother.”

  Kensington sat on the front pew. His head hung down as he rested his forearms on his knees and clasped his hands together. His prayers had coalesced into something a bit more coherent, but not much.

  His mind ran through a slide show of his time with Gracie, from the first time he saw her in that shopping mall to earlier in the day when she’d given him a hug goodbye and a kiss on the cheek. The feel of her arms around his neck wouldn’t leave him for a long time.

  Not for the first time, he found himself wishing he and Anabelle could adopt her, though he knew that was unlikely for many reasons. At least it was probably legal in San Majoria for him to adopt her without it affecting his spot in the line of succession, though that didn’t really matter too much.

  A noise behind him caught his attention, though he didn’t turn to see who it was.

  “Sir?”

  “Yes?” It was a member of the security team. He knew that without looking.

  “You need to come with me.”

  That made Kensington’s head snap up. “What is it?”

  “I’m not sure, but your mother has summoned everyone. She said it’s important.”

  Kensington looked up at the guard. “Is there news?”

  The man shook his head. “No, sir.”

  Kensington hurried through the palace halls to the sitting room where he’d been told everyone gathered. “Rachel.” He greeted Anabelle’s friend with a kiss on the cheek then saw who stood behind her. “Mrs. T? I didn’t realize you were coming.”

  “Mrs. Thorbjørnsdóttir has something to tell all of us that she thinks might be relevant,” Rachel told them. “She only wants to tell the story once, so we waited for you to get here.”

  Kensington sat next to Anabelle, his arm wrapped around her shoulders and his other hand holding hers. He wondered what the elderly Icelandic woman could possibly have to say.

  “It started over twenty years ago,” she began. “My only daughter met a young man, fell in love, and eloped. Two years later, their car drove off a switchback on the way home from Lake Akushla. The doors were open, but they weren’t in the car. No bodies were ever found, so they were presumed dead.”

  “Why were they presumed dead? Why wouldn’t they have stayed with the car?” his father asked.

  “Accidents at that switchback are common,” Mrs. T explained. “Depending on traffic, they’re not always seen right away so, if they’re ambulatory, people will sometimes leave to find help or a way to the nearby village. Occasionally people survive the accident, but wander off in the woods and aren’t found for days or their bodies aren’t found for years. When they didn’t show up after a couple weeks, they were presumed dead.” She stared at her hands. “Not long after that, things happened that made me wonder if they had survived but couldn’t tell us for some reason.”

  The woman dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. “Eighteen months ago, Clari, my granddaughter, started dating Rachel’s brother. Right around that time, Anabelle, your parents were killed in a car accident on the same switchback. I’d already been shopping for yarn at Rachel’s store, but I took notice because of the connection.”

  Anabelle gripped Kensington’s hand. “And you think my mother is your daughter?”

  Mrs. Thorbjørnsdóttir nodded. “I know she was.”

  “How can you be so certain?” Anabelle asked.

  “A mother knows.” Kensington’s own mother spoke softly.

  “Did she have a birthmark on her right shoulder blade? Sort of heart shaped?” Mrs. T asked.

  Kensington watched as Anabelle nodded.

  “In the eighteen months since your parents were in the car accident that killed them, my husband and I have done some research and looked more closely at our last communications with your mother.” She took a deep breath. “We believe your other grandfather is actually a criminal mastermind. Your parents wanted out of the life,
but he threatened to kill all of them, including you, because she was pregnant at the time, though barely.”

  Anabelle had turned white as a ghost.

  “Your grandfather has the power and connections to do just about anything he wants. For some reason, he wants Gracie.” Mrs. T started to reach for Anabelle but stopped, likely afraid of the response.

  “I believe I can explain that.”

  Everyone turned to see Esmeralda, Crown Princess of Islas del Sargasso walking in.

  “Esme!” Most of those assembled stood at her entrance. The queen gathered the younger woman in for a hug. “What are you doing here?”

  “As soon as I heard, I knew I needed to come.” Esme took a seat on the other side of Anabelle as everyone else sat back down. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea there was still any danger, or I would have said something a long time ago.”

  “What are you talking about?” Kensington rested his hand on Anabelle’s shoulder.

  “It’s quite a long story, but Mrs. Thorbjørnsdóttir is correct. Her daughter was Anabelle’s mother. Anabelle’s grandfather runs a white collar-type criminal operation and has for decades. Currently, they deal mostly in Wells Fargo and PayPal scams as well as identity theft and sales.”

  Anabelle gasped. “I’ve never been fond of my grandfather, but truly?”

  “Yes. Many years ago, your parents wanted to get out altogether, but the only way he would let them was for them to virtually disappear.”

  “What about Gracie?” the king asked. “What does he want with her?”

  Esme stared at her hands. “I was at an event in Eyjania about two years ago. I met your parents by chance I thought, but later found out they’d been sort of stalking me because they needed my help. After due diligence, we discovered they were telling the truth. This year, when you and your family came to the Games, all of you were going to disappear, first to Sargasso then likely Athmetis for a time.”

  Anabelle’s grip on his hand tightened. “But why?”

  “Because of Gracie. Gracie is actually your cousin. Your grandfather had an illegitimate daughter. When she gave birth, and subsequently died, he convinced your parents to raise Gracie until she was old enough to send to the boarding school of his choice.”

  Esme did reach out and rest her hand on Anabelle’s arm. “Your grandfather found out, and we believe he somehow made their car run off the road.”

  “How could he do that? There was no evidence of foul play.” Anabelle’s cheeks were wet and her eyes red. Kensington knew she was holding back sobs.

  “It’s possible he has enough clout to influence the investigation or to manage it somehow so there isn’t any evidence.”

  Esme looked up at Kensington. “But that’s not all of it.”

  “Tell us the rest.” The king’s words were a demand despite his quiet tone.

  “They believed, though they didn’t have definitive evidence to back it up, that Gracie’s biological father is King Benjamin.”

  16

  Stunned silence greeted the princess’s pronouncement, but after all of the other revelations, Anabelle found herself numb.

  Her grandfather was a criminal mastermind.

  Her adopted sister was really her cousin.

  Her parents planned to run away during the Games, taking Anabelle and Gracie with them.

  Her grandfather likely had her parents killed.

  But perhaps most surprising, even more so than the presumption about King Benjamin’s relationship to Gracie, was the revelation that Mrs. T was her biological grandmother.

  Ignoring all the other implications about everything, she turned to her favorite yarn customer. “You’re my grandmother?” she whispered.

  Mrs. T nodded. “I can’t knit or crochet to save my life, but once I knew, I had to have a reason to keep coming.”

  More tears streaked down Anabelle’s cheeks. “You didn’t need to buy yarn. All you had to do was be yourself.”

  “I know. Now will you call me Amma?”

  Anabelle did a sniffle-laugh thing through her tears. “Of course.”

  “I know all of you want to catch up, but it will have to be later.” The king turned to look at this new princess, one Anabelle couldn’t quite place. “Esme, what makes you think Benjamin is Gracie’s father?”

  “Gracie’s biological mother worked at the palace until a few weeks before she was born.”

  King Edward crossed his arms. “I’ve never heard any allegations that Benjamin takes advantage of the women living in the palace.”

  “Neither have we,” the princess told them. “But for whatever reason, one I’m not privy to, they believed he is Gracie’s biological father.”

  “Does Benjamin know?”

  The princess shook her head. “I have no idea.”

  “He has to.” It all suddenly made sense to Anabelle. “My grandfather wanted me to marry Benjamin so he could get his hands on Gracie by volunteering to take care of her for the first while when we got married. But Benjamin wanted the marriage so he could get Gracie into the palace as his supposed sister-in-law and ward. Isaiah was quite insistent that Benjamin wanted her to live with us and would find someone to take care of her.”

  The king gave a sort of half nod. “That would seem to indicate that he does know.”

  Anabelle wiped her cheeks. “So which one of them took Gracie? And where is she?”

  “That’s the question, isn’t it?” The king turned to his head of security. “Make sure those who need to know are aware, but we don’t want to spread this unnecessarily. Until we know for certain Benjamin is Gracie’s father, no one needs to know. And it’s quite serious for us to even insinuate he might have had something to do with the kidnapping without proof, so it’s best that everything we said is kept within this room and only tell those I deem necessary.” He turned to the princess. “Does anyone know in Sargasso, Esme?”

  “Not the full story. Mother knew there was a couple from Eyjania who wanted to defect and might be able to help bring down the crime boss who stole credit card and other personal information from a large portion of our population a couple of years ago. I saw no reason to share the information about Gracie unless I needed to.”

  Anabelle tuned out. The conversation revolved around political implications and things she didn’t much care about. All she cared about was getting Gracie back and keeping the little girl away from both their grandfather and King Benjamin.

  The foreign princess stood and started a quiet but earnest conversation with the king. Several other members of the family, including Kensington, joined them.

  Mrs. T and Rachel came to sit by Anabelle. Anabelle let Mrs. T envelop her in a grandmotherly embrace far too long coming.

  “It makes me so happy to know you’re my grandmother,” Anabelle whispered.

  Mrs. T moved back and brushed a bit of hair off Anabelle’s face. “I wish I’d told you what I knew sooner. I don’t know that it would have made any difference, but maybe it would have.”

  “We’ve been on the lookout for anything grandfather might try since we eloped. They’ve never found any indication he was going to do something, much less something like this.”

  Anabelle slumped back against the sofa in a decidedly unprincesslike position. Rachel slumped next to her.

  “I think you need to get some sleep.” She leaned her head against Anabelle’s shoulder. “I know I need some. So does Mrs. T. Maybe you can show us where we can rest?”

  Giving a half-shrug, Anabelle let her head fall against Rachel’s. “I don’t know my way around this place. Kensington and I don’t live here. This is only the second time I’ve actually been in the palace, I think.”

  Jacqueline Grace reached a hand out to Anabelle. “Come on. I’ll show you where all three of you can get some rest.”

  With Rachel helping hold an exhausted Anabelle on her feet and Jacqueline Grace guiding Mrs. T, they went up the wide staircase and passed a guard into what seemed to be the family’s private quart
ers.

  “This is Kensington’s apartment.” Jacqueline Grace opened the door and let them in. “There’s plenty of room for all three of you. I believe your things have already been brought here, Mrs. T and Ms. Christiansen. Anabelle, I know some of your things were brought over earlier, just in case this dragged on and you needed them.”

  “Thank you, Jacqueline Grace.” Anabelle nodded as she stumbled over the threshold. “Will you let Kensington know where we are?”

  “Of course.” Jacqueline Grace reached out and pulled Anabelle close. “We’re doing everything we can,” she whispered. “They all are.”

  “I know.”

  After Jacqueline Grace let her go, the princess left the room and closed the door behind her.

  The three of them explored just long enough to find a room that had to be Kensington’s and then two more for Rachel and Mrs. T.

  Once they were settled, Anabelle returned to Kensington’s room and collapsed onto the bed.

  Overwhelmed by everything the day had wrought and the information overload in the last couple of hours, Anabelle let the sobs finally break free again.

  With shoulders heaving, she cried herself into hiccups and eventually, sleep.

  He didn’t mean to fall asleep in his chair in the security office, but that’s just what Kensington did.

  “Sir?”

  Someone shook him awake. “What is it?” Kensington growled.

  “There’s news, sir.”

  Kensington bolted out of the chair and looked around. “What time is it?”

  “Just after ten.”

  “How long did I sleep?”

  “I’m not certain. I believe you fell asleep sometime after four this morning.”

  “So what’s the news?”

  “Jenny has been found.”

  Together they started for the door. “Where is she?”

  “On her way here with Cabo Juan-Eduardo police. That’s all I know.”

  A few minutes later, Kensington waited inside the palace near the portico where the car would arrive. Anabelle ran in with Rachel close behind her. “Where are they?”