The Spare and the Heir

by Carol Moncado

  Gabe looked at Judy whose eyes had gone wide in shock and fear. He nodded his head slightly to reassure her.

  “No. The queen is not pregnant.” Gabe sighed. “She was, but she isn’t any longer.” He didn’t need any more details than that.

  “Did the appendix have anything to do with it?”

  “No, and she doesn’t want anyone to know at the moment. She, along with the rest of the country, is still grieving her mother. She would like to deal with this in private.”

  The chairman seemed to soften. “I understand. My wife and I went through several similar situations both before and after our two children were born. It’s never easy to explain to someone who doesn’t understand why you’re grieving a child who never really was.”

  The sentiment shocked Gabe, but maybe a better relationship with the chairman would come from this. Maybe there was some good in it after all.

  * * *

  Even though it had only been her bed for a very short period of time, Esme felt much better just being in it. Less than two hours after the surgery ended, they’d sent her back to the palace. Security was easier on everyone, and she could be monitored just as closely there. Equipment had been brought in to do just that, and a nurse would be with her constantly for the next forty-eight hours.

  She clicked on the television to watch the press conference. Gabe hadn’t left her side until a few minutes ago to get ready and walk to the media room.

  The release had been sent out about midnight. There really shouldn’t be any other questions that needed answered, but they would ask a million of them anyway.

  Gabe stood in front of the microphones first. “Thank you all for coming. Queen Esmeralda is resting comfortably in her own bed with her condition being monitored. She began to feel nauseated two days ago along with persistent lower back discomfort. Yesterday, it escalated to sharp pain at which time we decided it was time to call in her physician. Though the palace hospital suites are well equipped for many things, including the surgery, it does not have the diagnostic equipment he believed he would need.”

  He looked at his notes. “The decision was made to transport the queen to Ancora General Hospital where she was attended to by the doctors present here today. They discovered her inflamed appendix and removed it shortly thereafter.”

  Her surgeon replaced Gabe at the microphones. “There isn’t much else to tell. The surgery went exactly as planned. The queen’s appendix was in an unusual, but not entirely uncommon, location. Her Majesty will make a complete recovery, though it will be a few weeks before she’s back to her full schedule. Any questions?”

  Hands shot up and questions were shouted before the last syllable ended. Esme turned it off. She didn’t want to listen.

  She wanted Gabe back.

  The ache in her heart gnawed at her. Part of her was missing and always would be. The desire to curl into a ball on her side was strong, but the incisions meant she couldn’t.

  Blighted ovum.

  She’d have to look it up when she was thinking more clearly. Until then, all she remembered was the doctor’s words.

  False pregnancy.

  Baby that never really was.

  The part of her still affected by the drugs wanted to hold onto the belief that it was somehow her fault. That because she’d told her mother too early or because she hadn’t handled the stress around her mother’s illness and death well enough, she was somehow to blame.

  One piece of her, deep down, knew that wasn’t the truth.

  But the rest of her didn’t want to listen.

  Rather than deal with any of it, she tried to go back to sleep, but when sleep wouldn’t come, and Gabe still hadn’t returned, she reached for the remote. Maybe streaming a movie would at least occupy her mind.

  Nothing sappy with happy families. Something with explosions and bad guys or maybe marauding dinosaurs or giant sharks.

  She scrolled through the offerings on demand and finally picked Meg. She’d seen the previews, and it looked like just the thing to keep her mind off things.

  As the rescue mission at the beginning didn’t go so well, she began to wonder if it was such a good idea, but it wasn’t too overwhelming before it cut to a much calmer scene five years later.

  Ten minutes after pushing play, Gabe walked in, so she paused it.

  He looked at humpback whales paused on the screen. “You didn’t watch the press conference?”

  “I watched part of it. Were there any interesting questions?” She shifted slightly, hoping to relieve the pressure or at least move it around a bit.

  “A couple trying to find out for sure if you weren’t pregnant, because surely they wouldn’t have done the surgery if you were.”

  “And?”

  “The doctors said you weren’t pregnant but didn’t mention anything about the rest of it. They did say something to me later about it being a difficult choice to make if you had been pregnant. Well, choice isn’t really the right word. There really isn’t a choice except to have the surgery, but there’s an increased risk of miscarriage with it.”

  He sat on the bed next to her. “There is something else I need to tell you, though. Judy accidentally let it slip to the chairman. He was quite sympathetic. His wife apparently had several miscarriages over the course of their marriage.”

  Her mind moved slower than normal as she tried to take that in. “That would explain why he was so kind to me this morning.”

  “Maybe that’s something good that can come out of all of this.” He nodded toward the screen. “What movie is this?”

  “Meg.”

  “The one with the giant shark that looks like the mosasaurus from Jurassic World?”

  She nodded. “I’m only a few minutes in if you want to watch it with me. I don’t mind restarting it.” And really, she’d rather have him next to her if she was going to watch this. Just in case it was too much and she needed to hold his hand. And if she needed to bury her head under a borrowed pillow, she’d have someone to tell her when it was safe to look.

  He seemed to think it over for a minute. “I have paperwork I’d planned to do in here rather than the office. I’ve postponed all of my meetings for the next few days. I can take a couple of hours to watch it.”

  With a wince, Esme reached for the remote that had fallen just out of reach.

  “Hey! Let me get that.” With the movie restarted, Gabe held her hand and let her rest.

  23

  About halfway through the movie, Gabe’s phone rang. Jonathan. He silenced it and left it to the side.

  “Do you need to take that? We can pause it.”

  “It can wait until later. I’ll call him back.”

  They watched the rest of the movie lying next to each other with fingers linked. Gabe would have liked to be closer, but he didn’t want to hurt Esme. He thought about offering to be her back rest, but the piles of pillows were certainly more comfortable than he would be.

  When the movie ended, he muted the music running over the credits. “Do you want to watch something else?”

  She seemed to think it over. “No. I don’t think I do. It’ll be time for the nurse to come in soon anyway.”

  Gabe rolled until he could kiss the side of her head. “I’ll let you get some rest then.”

  Esme squeezed his hand. “Don’t go yet. I’ve got a few minutes until the nurse comes in. Stay until then? I’ll rest when she’s done.”

  “Okay. Want to watch a show then? Something shorter?”

  She shook her head. “No. I don’t have quite that long.” Something was clearly on her mind, though he didn’t think she wanted to mention it out loud.

  “What is it?” he finally asked.

  “I was thinking about the day our engagement was announced.”

  He winced. “What about it?”

  “You said you’d designed the engagement ring.” She lifted her left hand and twisted it back and forth with her thumb. “When? There wasn’t time after you met with my mother.”r />
  Gabe pulled the hand he held over until their clasped hands rested on his abdomen. He covered them with his other hand. “Several years ago. I knew you had a thing for sapphires.”

  “Is there some meaning behind any of it?”

  “The sapphire came from the Auverignonian collection, believe it or not. I think it was supposed to be used for a tiara a few decades ago, but never was. My grandfather said I could use any loose stones with no historical significance because the contract between the families stipulated that the ring would come, at least partially, from the Auverignonian Crown Jewels.”

  “What about the others? The diamonds, emeralds, and amethysts?”

  “There’s three on top and bottom because you were three when we became engaged and six total because that was my age. There are six on the sides because I was six but three of each kind.”

  Esme pulled her hand out of his and slid her engagement ring off to study it closer. “I would never have guessed you’d have put that much thought into it several years ago, but I had no idea you were already a changed man that long ago.” She slid it back on. “Why are the sides asymmetrical?”

  “Because I thought you’d like something a little off-beat, but not too much. A square stone surrounded by square and rectangular stones to make a bigger square was a little too plain.”

  She reached out to take his hand again. “I do love it.”

  But there was something else. “What’s bothering you?”

  Her eyes were fastened on the ring. “The girl at the hotel...”

  Gabe closed his eyes. “Right.”

  “Who was she?”

  “I really don’t know. I met her in New Sargasso at some point before things changed.”

  “How do you know that?” At least she didn’t pull her hand away.

  He explained about the cards and that Jack had been fired minutes after Esme left.

  “Sometimes you’d have women show up in your hotel?”

  He’d promised her the absolute truth. “Yes.”

  “I see.”

  What she didn’t see was how over that part of his life he was. “Do you trust me? Here today?”

  It took seconds longer than he wanted, but she nodded.

  “Then I’m going to tell you a story about a girl I found in my room one time, okay?”

  More hesitation but another nod.

  “She was cute. Curly, brown hair and light-to-medium brown eyes. Everyone thought she was cute, even the paparazzi.”

  Esme tensed next to him but didn’t stop him and still didn’t pull her hand away.

  “I was at an island resort with my family. My father and grandfather were meeting with someone important. I’d been at the beach, but I came back to my room and found this girl there.”

  Tension radiated off her.

  “She was sitting on the floor of my room holding a model airplane I’d brought with me. I’d built it with some help from my nanny when I was five.”

  Gabe watched her carefully. Something began to change. She was puzzled more so than guarded like a moment earlier.

  “I might have kind of yelled at her to put it down. She did, but tears filled those eyes of hers. I hated that I made that happen. I told her it was fine. She shook her head. I sat down next to her and showed her all the cool things about the plane.”

  He rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. “I was glad she didn’t cry. A few minutes later, someone came in and told her they’d been looking for her and it was time to say good-bye. She leaned over, to kiss my cheek I guess, I don’t really know, but I had turned my head. She kissed me right on the lips.”

  Esme’s hand gripped his, though for different reasons.

  “It was my first kiss.”

  “Mine, too,” she whispered.

  That surprised him. “You remember?”

  “I didn’t remember it was you, but I remember being at an island resort and this boy telling me about his model airplane.”

  “You had the biggest brown eyes. I hated the tears in them. My parents had already told me we were going to get married someday. In my six-year-old way, I swore to myself that I never wanted to make you cry. I forgot that for a few years, but I never forgot the little girl sitting on the floor of my room.”

  “That was when I learned I only kiss my parents and grandparents on the cheek when I say goodbye. My nanny was scandalized, even though she knew about the engagement.”

  Gabe let his head fall back against the headboard. “She yelled at you in the hallway, didn’t she?”

  Esme shook her head. “I don’t remember yelling, but definitely very stern.”

  “That is my all-time favorite girl in my room, Esme. Always was.” He leaned his head sideways against hers. “You’re the only girl I’ll ever find in my room again.”

  “I can’t believe you remember that.”

  Before he could answer, his phone buzzed again. “Jonathan can wait,” he told her.

  “Go ahead...” she started, but before she could finish, the nurse knocked on the partially open door.

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He snatched up his phone and headed for the dressing room.

  He made sure no one was around then took the call from Jonathan and cut to the chase. “Did you get the DNA in from that little girl?”

  * * *

  Gabe’s words drifted to Esme, though she doubted he realized she could hear him.

  Not when he was talking about a child’s DNA.

  What could that be?

  Jonathan owned multiple companies, including one that did investigations. Kenzie had mentioned it when they were here.

  Investigations. DNA.

  A child.

  Gabe’s child?

  He’d asked Jonathan to find out if a child was his.

  Did the woman show up and claim Gabe was the father, and Jonathan was investigating?

  Esme knew there had to be other explanations, but her mind was still too sluggish to come up with them. Maybe it was something else entirely.

  She didn’t really believe that.

  There were other possibilities, but she knew the answer had something to with a potential child for Gabe.

  Of the dozens - or more - women he’d been with before her, one of them had a child the right age to potentially be her stepchild.

  For weeks, she’d managed to put the thought of him with those women out of her mind, to forget that she’d never been his one and only.

  His question danced around the outskirts of her mind. There had been someone special in her life. Someone she still saw on occasion. Someone she’d be seeing a lot more of come the first of the year.

  She hadn’t lied, hadn’t avoided the question even. It wasn’t her fault the doctor came in to check on her when he did.

  The next day she’d spend in the other room, out of the bed she shared with Gabe. She couldn’t do much, but she could move to a recliner in the sitting room. Her office was still off limits, but a laptop could be brought in or set up with an external keyboard and mouse.

  A text to Judy set it in motion. She wouldn’t work for long, but she would spend most of the day out of this room. She’d also schedule an interview in a few days. She hadn’t given one in a year. With all the changes, it was time.

  She called for the nurse to help her to the restroom then back to bed for more rest. The nurse helped her get comfortable. By the time Gabe came back in she was sound asleep.

  With the nurse’s help, she made it to the new recliner in the sitting area. Judy brought her a light breakfast then moved the laptop into place on a tray not unlike the ones in the hospital.

  A wireless keyboard and mouse were given to her. A side table was close enough to the chair that she could rest the mouse on it.

  The first thing they did was have the press secretary come in and help draft a statement to the people, thanking them for their prayers and support.

  After an hour of working on correspondence, Jared cleared his throat. “The
chairman is here to see you, ma’am.”

  At least she was wearing clothes and not pajamas. Her hair was in a ponytail but recently brushed and neat. She hadn’t taken a shower or bath yet but didn’t think she smelled too bad. A shower was on her schedule for the next morning. “Send him in.”

  “Good morning, Your Majesty.” This time he bowed the way one would expect.

  “Good morning, Chairman. You will excuse me for not standing.”

  “Of course, ma’am. I wanted to stop by to see how you’re doing.”

  “Sore. Ready for a shower. But not too badly.”

  He sat on the sofa at a right angle to the chair. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

  Right.

  The baby.

  She closed her eyes and tried not to let the fresh grief wash over her. “It’s harder than I thought it would be.” When she wasn’t focused on the pain of recovery, the threat of tears for other reasons always hovered nearby.

  “I understand, as much as a man can anyway.”

  “Gabe told me. You have my condolences.”

  “They were a long time ago. My wife remembers better than I do. She knows what day she found out she was pregnant, when the baby was due, and when she realized it wasn’t the time for this particular baby.”

  Esme rested a hand on her stomach. “I don’t know when my due date would have been.”

  “I’m sure you could figure it out if you wanted to. I’m surprised the doctor didn’t give you one.”

  “The confirmation was the day after my mother’s passing. We had a lot going on.”

  “Of course. It’s probably in his notes somewhere if you wanted to know.”

  “Maybe I’ll ask him.” Maybe she wouldn’t. She didn’t know if she wanted to know. Not if there was another child out there who was her husband’s oldest child.

  “I hate to do this today, but we do have a legally mandated meeting. It doesn’t need to be long, but it does need to happen.”

  Esme let out a breath. “The new chairman.”

  “Yes. He’s waiting for us to be ready. I told him I needed to discuss something with you first.” Chairman Franklin actually smirked. “He might have thought it was something of national secrecy.”