‘I understand, Daniel. You’re letting me down gently,’ she said softly as she closed her eyes.
‘No,’ Daniel said, reaching for her and pulling her close again. ‘That’s not it at all, Libby. You’re far too good for the life I could give you.’
‘That’s sweet, Daniel, but it’s not true. You will have a wonderful life there.’
‘It is true, Libby.’
‘You don’t have to say anything else, Daniel. I wouldn’t fit in to your royal lifestyle and you can’t fit back into mine. My life is simple. I’m just a nurse from San Francisco.’
‘Don’t say that,’ he cut in firmly. ‘You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met and I would fly to the end of the earth for you, but a life with me is not one I would wish on anyone. Least of all you.’
‘You’re a wonderful man, Daniel. I understand that you wanted to protect me from the scrutiny of a life that you are very accustomed to but one that’s a very long way from mine,’ she said as she moved away a little and looked at the ceiling fan gently circling above them. ‘You need a woman who comes from the same place in society, not a woman who may be a liability. You don’t need a woman clumsy enough to fall off a pontoon and embarrass you.’
‘Libby, you could never embarrass me. And I would dive off a million pontoons for you but it’s not about you. It’s about my family.’
Libby reached for the towel on the floor and slipped from the bed and into the bathroom and returned in a bathrobe.
‘Your family? What do you mean?’ she asked as she began to collect her clothes from the floor.
‘It’s my father. He’s not well and I need to return to take over the country. I knew it would happen one day and that’s why I didn’t want to become involved with you. I’m sorry I lost the ability to see reason and walk away. I was selfish to want one night with you. It was unfair and I had no right, but a part of me was in denial.’
‘I guess I understand. It’s sort of how I behaved last night... I just wanted one night with you and to hell with the consequences.’
‘And, believe me, I’m glad you did, but one night is all it can be. I’m sorry.’
‘I know it was just one night. You said upfront you wanted closure between us and I’m a big girl. I went into last night knowing that. You have nothing to be sorry about.’ Her voice was still barely more than a whisper and filled with sadness.
‘I told you yesterday when we were on Martinique that my life was not my own to live. It’s not mine to make my own choices—many have been made for me by virtue of being a member of the royal family and some by virtue of being my father’s son.’
‘Isn’t that one and the same?’
‘Not quite, but I must return home. My father’s condition will never improve. There’s no medication or treatment that can change the prognosis.’
‘Is your father’s illness terminal?’ she asked as she sat on the edge of the bed just out of his reach.
‘Yes, but we have no idea how long he has left. My father’s is a cruel fate because he has early onset familial Alzheimer’s disease. He’s wasting away inside his own body.’
Daniel suddenly felt relieved saying it aloud to Libby. He hadn’t told anyone before and now he had it was as if half the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. Nothing had changed, and nor would it, but he felt more at peace than ever before. He had never expected to feel that way. He’d thought he would feel tortured and racked with guilt for betraying the family, but it was as if he had been betraying Libby for the longest time by not letting her know.
Libby’s expression fell into one of all-consuming sadness. ‘Oh, Daniel, that is so very sad. I’m so sorry. I can only imagine how hard it must be on you and your mother and everyone around them.’
‘It’s been difficult but my father has been able to manage until now. It’s been an early onset but also a slow onset. But the symptoms have worsened over the last month so my mother sent for me. I will be heading there next week. I can’t delay my return any longer.’
‘The people of Chezlovinka must also be saddened by the news of your father’s illness.’
‘That’s just it,’ Daniel said with a resoluteness to his voice. ‘They can’t know. I have to step up and take control so my father can quietly abdicate and keep his dignity. It would cause doubt in their minds about him and about me and about the future of the country. There’s been too much unrest in the world lately to bring more uncertainty to them now.’
‘I understand you don’t want to upset them with news of your father but why do you say the same about yourself? It’s a disease afflicting your father, not you.’
‘That’s just it, Libby. It could affect me. My father’s condition is caused by a mutation in a single gene and a single copy of the mutant gene inherited from either parent will cause the disease in the child. There is every chance I have inherited the mutated gene and my life in a few years may be just like his.’
‘But you don’t know that for sure.’
‘No, but I also have no guarantee it won’t and the people of Chezlovinka are not naive. If they learn the nature of my father’s illness, they will quickly work out that it’s genetic and one day in the future I too may be affected. They need stability and that’s why I will head back to my country and begin grooming my successor so that in the event I do succumb to the disease, he can ascend to the throne.
‘I have looked into altering the constitution to allow my adopted paternal cousin, Edward, who is studying law at Cambridge, to reign over the principality. Because he was adopted at birth by my father’s brother and his wife, there would be no risk of the disease continuing in the family but he would carry on the Dimosa name.’
‘And you have to keep this secret to yourself.’
‘Not entirely. I can’t. My father has deteriorated to a point now that he has a loyal team of nurses who have all agreed to assist and say nothing outside the palace walls.’
‘But what about you? You must know how I feel about you. I can be there for you, if you’ll let me.’
‘You’re the most wonderful woman, Libby, and you know how I feel about you too, but I can’t ask you to do that. I can’t ask you to give up the life you have and risk spending your life caring for me. I don’t want that life for you. I don’t want you to have to look after me the way my mother has looked after my father and will continue to nurse a man who soon may not even recognise her.’
‘But you may not have the condition, Daniel. And if you did it wouldn’t change the way I feel about you.’
‘It would change everything to me,’ he said. ‘I can’t allow you to risk being trapped with a man who is trapped inside himself.’
Daniel wanted to add And one who didn’t want children. Libby would be the most wonderful mother and he wasn’t prepared to risk having a child who might also carry the gene. Daniel was adamant he wouldn’t be tested until he showed symptoms. No good would come of learning his fate early. He felt certain that he would not have been spared the same destiny as his father and he didn’t want his mother to have the worry of her only child being trapped like her husband. If he didn’t have the test, he didn’t have to lie to his mother about the prognosis.
Libby wiped the tears that were spilling down her cheeks. ‘If you truly care for me, why don’t you let me make that decision?’
‘I’m giving you the chance to find a man who comes without the risk of a disease that will rob you of a long and happy life. I don’t want you to be a care-giver. You should be a man’s wife and lover for ever without the risks that being with me would carry.’
‘It wouldn’t change my feelings for you whatever the result but if it’s forcing you to make this decision to shut me out, why won’t you get tested? You would know what the future held and then be able to make rational decisions based on fact.’
Daniel drew a deep breath. �
�I will be tested one day but not now. I need to be strong for my family and my country. I need to focus on them and not me. If it was confirmed now that I had the gene for early onset familial Alzheimer’s disease, then every day I would live with that knowledge and I would not be able to hide that from my mother. It would not be fair to add further to her worries. She shouldn’t lie awake concerned about both of the men in her life.’
‘I do understand, but perhaps not knowing is also a worry for your mother...’
‘Maybe I’m being selfish, Libby, but if I learn the truth, and it’s as I suspect it will be, then I may not have a single moment of peace. I will live my life in fear of how it will play out.’
‘But, Daniel,’ she told him, ‘that’s how you’re living your life now.’
Daniel looked at Libby in silence, considering her words...and wondering if she was right.
* * *
Libby reached for her locket as Daniel climbed from the warmth of the bed in silence and, slipping on a bathrobe, stood by the window, looking out to sea.
‘There’s something I need to share with you,’ she said as she followed suit and climbed from the bed. Pulling the sheet around her, she crossed to him. ‘Something that may change the way you feel about everything. About your future...and even about being tested.’
Daniel turned back to her and held her tightly to him. ‘There’s nothing in the world that can change my future, no matter how much I wish it to be true. And I will not consider testing until it’s absolutely necessary. I need to think of my mother and my country, not myself, at this time. I’m sorry, Libby, but there’s nothing you could say that would change how I feel or what lies ahead for me.’
‘I disagree. I know there is.’ She began stepping back and started to open the locket that hung around her neck, the one that held the picture of Daniel’s son, their son, who looked so very much like his father.
Suddenly the yacht was tossed by a wave with such force it sent Libby back into his arms. ‘Are you all right?’
‘I... I think so,’ she stammered. ‘I’ve never felt anything like that. Are we going to be all right? That was a huge wave. The water hit the window and we’re on the top deck.’
‘We’re back out in the Atlantic Ocean, and I’m guessing there must be bad weather ahead. Please sit down. Don’t leave the cabin,’ he began as he grabbed some casual trousers and a shirt from the closet and dressed quickly, looking outside to see ominous dark clouds had overtaken the sky. ‘I’ll head to the bridge and check with the captain to see what’s happening. I’ll also call in to see Walter on the way. I shouldn’t be long.’
‘Please don’t forget I need to speak with you,’ Libby said as she sat down, still draped in a sheet. ‘It’s important.’
‘We’ll talk, I promise, as soon as I get back.’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
DANIEL CHECKED HIS watch as he closed the door to his cabin where he had left Libby. It was seven o’clock and the scheduled time to give Walter his daily early morning medical check. He made his way to the master suite at the end of the corridor, all the while being tossed from side to side with the motion of the yacht in the waves. His arms were outstretched and he kept his balance with his hands firmly against the corridor walls.
Suddenly, he realised it had been the first day he hadn’t checked the time upon waking. It was his habit to check and plan the day but that morning, with Libby so close, knowing the time had been the last thing on his mind. But everything he had told her weighed heavily on him—not that she would betray his trust but that she wouldn’t accept his resolute position on setting her free.
He had a swipe card to open the door in an emergency and when there was no answer to his knocking, he did just that, but quietly. Walter, he found, was still sleeping and it appeared that the waves tossing the Coral Contessa about hadn’t broken his slumber. Daniel let him be. He had heard the guests rowdily return in the early hours and had assumed Walter would have been one of them, so he was not surprised that his patient was still happily asleep under his covers.
Daniel guessed that most of the other guests would be doing the same, as they had both eaten and drunk themselves merry in San Lucia.
The captain had made mention the night before that they would be heading off at six in the morning for two days at sea on their way back to Miami, so they would be able to sleep off the effects of the party for forty-eight hours if necessary, but Daniel was concerned that with the rough weather he might need to check on the nausea medication supplies after he visited the bridge. Then he would return to Libby so they could continue their talk. While it wouldn’t change anything, he wanted to spend every last minute of this time with her before they parted for ever. It felt good that there were no secrets any more. It was how it should be.
* * *
Daniel arrived at the bridge and received an update on the weather from the captain. They were in the tail end of a storm that was heading south and further out to sea, but they were still feeling the effects of the waves.
‘We’re on the clean side of the storm,’ Eric told him, dividing his concentration between the navigation panel and the undulating horizon ahead. ‘Unless there’s a sudden change, we’ll have the shallower waves and lower winds this side. We’re surrounded by thirteen thousand tons of yacht so there’s not much risk to us.’
‘So we shouldn’t be concerned about the waves hitting the top deck a little while ago,’ Daniel said, remembering the force that had thrown Libby off balance.
‘Before the storm shifted southerly, we were slammed by towering walls of water but they’ve subsided now and the skies should clear up soon. The seas will still be a little rough for another two hours but nothing as severe as we’ve just encountered. After that, it should be smooth sailing back to Miami. However, I’ve asked the stewards to inform guests not to go out onto their balconies for the next few hours until I give the all clear.’
‘Do you think they would actually consider doing that in this weather?’
‘You’d be surprised,’ Eric said, rolling his eyes but still looking ahead.
A steward appeared at that moment to inform Daniel that a guest had been thrown from his bed in the last big wave, lacerating his head. He was bleeding profusely and another thought she had a sprained ankle after falling on the way to the bathroom. Concerned there might be more injuries over the next two hours in the rough seas, exacerbated by the effects of the too much alcohol at the party, Daniel needed Libby to assist him. He knew she had her pager, so he sent her a message and asked her if she could change and head to the infirmary as soon as she could while he left the bridge and headed to get his medical bag and then go to the head injury patient first.
Within minutes, Daniel was at the first patient call and knocked on the cabin door. A clearly distraught woman opened it and invited Daniel inside. ‘There’s so much blood. I think he’ll need stitches,’ she told him as she took a sip from her wine glass.
Daniel could see the injured man sitting on the bed slightly slouched over. He appeared to be in his late sixties and was holding a white hand towel on the area over his left eye. There didn’t appear to be too much blood on the makeshift bandage.
Daniel opened his medical bag, donned gloves and with some sterile swabs crossed to the man.
‘I’m Daniel and I’m the ship’s doctor. You’ve no doubt seen me around the ship. What’s your name?’
The man looked him up and down. ‘I’m Stan and I’ve not seen you on the yacht but I saw you dive into the water last night. That was an odd thing to do at a party.’
‘It was very peculiar, I agree,’ the woman chimed in.
Daniel chose to ignore their comments. ‘Let’s look at your injury, Stan. If you could drop your hand, I’d like to take a look at the cut.’
Slowly the man released the pressure he was applying to the towel and Daniel leaned in, prepared to see a
deep wound, but instead found there was a slight abrasion. A graze of sorts. There was little sign of bleeding.
Daniel wiped the area with the swab. ‘Would you like me to cover the skin with a dressing?’
‘You’re not stitching the wound?’ the woman asked with the glass still in her hand. ‘I think he needs stitches or he might start bleeding again. He could bleed all over the cabin.’
‘Yeah, you should just stitch it and be done with it,’ Stan agreed.
‘There’s nothing that requires stitches...’
‘Are you sure?’ the woman asked as she swayed with the movement of the yacht, though that wasn’t the only reason for her inability to stand upright and perhaps for Stan falling out of bed. Daniel could see a small pile of minibar-size bottles of liquor on the dresser. It appeared that the party had continued in their room. He applied an adhesive dressing to the clean area and reassured them that the injury was not as serious as they had first thought. He left their cabin and called instructions through to the stewards to keep an eye on the pair and perhaps not refill the minibar that day.
Daniel arrived at the infirmary to find Libby inside with another guest.
‘When did the nausea begin?’ he heard Libby ask the man as she drew closer.
‘When the big wave hit, we both started throwing up.’
Daniel looked around but there was no one else there. ‘You said we. Is there someone else suffering from nausea?’
‘Yes, my wife, but she didn’t want to come down. She decided to go out on the balcony and get some fresh air. She thought it might help.’
‘In this weather? She’s out on her balcony? Which room?’
Reunited with Her Secret Prince Page 14