Reunited with Her Secret Prince

by Susanne Hampton

  ‘The first deck, cabin nine.’

  Daniel raced to the phone and called for a steward to head to the room immediately and he did the same, leaving Libby to attend to the man’s nausea. Daniel needed to check on the man’s wife. There was still another two hours of bad weather and rough seas ahead and Daniel didn’t want anyone on their balcony, particularly if they’d spent the night drinking. The steward was already at cabin door nine, already knocking when Daniel arrived.

  There was no answer so Daniel used his swipe card to open the door and, just as he had feared, the woman was leaning over the railing and vomiting. He crossed the room with long purposeful steps and pulled her inside just as a large wave slammed the yacht. It was low on the side but still powerful and Daniel and the steward shook their heads in unison, both aware that it could have ended very differently if they hadn’t arrived in time.

  ‘Can you knock on every cabin door and remind guests again that they are not to step outside under any circumstances? And don’t refill any minibars until we dock in Miami.’

  * * *

  Daniel then headed to see his next patient with the suspected sprained ankle. He arrived to find Stella lying on the bed with her foot elevated. He looked around the room and was relieved to see no sign of empty bottles. Stella was in her early forties and travelling with her mother, who had headed off to bring her back some breakfast. Daniel remembered seeing them both dancing at the party. On close examination of her ankle, foot and lower leg, he could see it had been damaged in the fall. There were a number of points of tenderness and pain when she attempted even the slightest movement.

  ‘It appears to be just a sprain, Stella, so I’d advise you to rest and avoid movement that causes discomfort. I’ll order up some more ice and I’d like you to pack that around your ankle for about twenty minutes and repeat that every two or three hours during the day.’

  ‘Better today than yesterday. I would have missed the party and the dancing...and seeing you dive into the water in your tuxedo to save your wife.’

  Daniel said nothing. Libby was not his wife and never would be. Spending the night with her in his arms had made the thought of saying goodbye and never seeing her beautiful face again overwhelming but he had the next two days with her and he intended to make the most of that time.

  ‘Should I see my doctor when I get back to New York?’ Stella asked.

  ‘If the pain’s not subsiding after a day or so I would definitely make an appointment with your GP. He may need to arrange an X-ray or MRI. However, I’ll return later to check on you and I may compress your ankle with an elastic bandage to manage any swelling and we will have a better idea if you have sustained a fracture, but at this time I believe it’s just sprained.’

  After ordering an ice pack for Stella, Daniel headed back to check on Walter. He was his most important patient and had been left alone in the rough weather. He apologised when he arrived at Walter’s suite.

  ‘I’m fine,’ Walter told him. ‘I’m an old sea dog. I quite like it when the sea gets angry and tosses us about. It’s invigorating. Lets you know you’re alive.’

  Daniel wasn’t convinced but didn’t argue the point. He just checked Walter’s blood pressure and was happy it was still within normal range and the wound was continuing to heal. Perhaps the trip to the Caribbean was just what the doctor should have ordered.

  ‘So how did the pair of you dry out after your midnight swim?’ Walter asked as Daniel closed his medical bag and slipped off the latex gloves. ‘Quite heroic of you to dive in like that.’

  ‘It was only a few feet of water...’

  ‘That’s not the point. Women love to be saved and I’m sure Libby appreciated your chivalry,’ he said, smiling. ‘I did notice you two didn’t come back to the party. I assume you took the time to become better acquainted.’

  ‘We decided to stay on the yacht and talk,’ Daniel said, running his lean fingers along his chin.

  ‘I hope you stepped up and finally kissed her,’ Walter said with one eyebrow slightly raised.

  ‘I’m not telling you—’

  ‘You don’t come across a young lady as lovely as Libby more than once in your life,’ Walter cut in. ‘And I’ll take your lack of a denial as a yes. It’s about time because I could see you had feelings for her from the moment you met and she’d be perfect for you. I suspected it was a case of love at first sight...’

  ‘Actually, Walter, we knew each other before this cruise.’

  ‘You knew each other? Libby never said a thing to me and I thought I knew everything about her.’

  ‘You know everything about her? You must have spoken to her for longer than I did.’

  ‘Well, I know she lives close to her parents.’

  ‘In San Francisco. It’s where we met.’

  ‘She’s never travelled much before this trip.’

  ‘I think she’s a bit of a homebody,’ Daniel said with a smile as he crossed to the door to return to the woman about whom they were speaking.

  ‘And she’s the single mother of a three-year-old little boy.’

  Daniel stopped in mid-step and his expression was suddenly no longer light-hearted as he turned back to face Walter. ‘Libby has a son?’

  ‘Yes. Billy’s his name and his birthday’s only a few days after mine.’

  ‘Which is when, exactly?’

  ‘January tenth. He had his birthday a few days before we sailed. I told Libby he was an Easter bunny conception like me.’

  Daniel felt the blood drain from his face. An Easter conception?

  ‘How old did you say her son was?’ Daniel asked.

  ‘Three, she told me.’

  Surely not. It couldn’t be. His mind was racing. They had slept together on the night of the Easter gala almost four years ago.

  ‘But don’t worry, there’s no husband. Libby told me she’s single. When I asked about the father of her child, she told me it didn’t work out. She mentioned something about it being complicated.’

  Complicated? Daniel rushed from the room without saying another word. He had to find Libby. He had to know if she had been keeping something from him. He’d told her everything about his life and she hadn’t told him about her son. Why would she hide that unless it was deliberate? Unless there was a chance the little boy was his son.

  Daniel knew she would not be in his suite so he headed to hers. He needed to know why she had been hiding her son from him. He suspected he knew the answer already. He knocked on her door like a man needing the oxygen inside the room to breathe.

  * * *

  After a few moments Libby opened the door and he stepped inside and slammed it closed behind him.

  ‘I know you have a son. I need to know, is he my child?’

  Libby was stunned by Daniel’s question and the look of fury in his eyes. She had wanted to tell Daniel herself and not have him learn about their son from someone else.

  Her heart began to pound inside her chest. Her chin was quivering, tears building by the moment as she nodded her reply.

  ‘Walter told you, didn’t he?’

  ‘How I know doesn’t matter. I just want to know, is he mine?’

  ‘Yes, Daniel, he’s yours. You have a son.’

  Suddenly, her reasons for keeping her secret from him for all these days escaped her. She was searching for something that made sense. Something she could tell Daniel that would justify her actions. It all seemed wrong now. Very wrong. She’d had every opportunity to tell him for the last week and she had chosen silence. She told herself that she had been looking for the right time but was there ever going to be a right time? Or had she been looking for a reason not to tell him?

  ‘Was it as simple as just wanting to punish me?’ he asked with both anger and sadness colouring his voice.

  ‘No, it wasn’t that. I wasn’t punishing you—’

/>   ‘I disagree, Libby. I think you very much wanted to punish me for leaving you the way I did after we slept together.’

  ‘I was eight weeks pregnant when I found out.’

  ‘Why didn’t you contact me then?’

  Libby looked at him with her guilt quickly morphing into something closer to resentment. ‘By that time you had long gone. As we both know, you’d slipped away before the sun came up the morning after we made love.’

  ‘You could have found me if you wanted to,’ he told her without taking his gaze from her.

  ‘How dare you! I tried to find your contact details through the hospital HR records but they were closed. And it was well above my pay grade to request that they be opened. I guess a prince can have anything he wants but a commoner like me has to play by the rules.’

  Libby was furious at the accusations Daniel was throwing at her. He had no right to put all of the responsibility back on her when he was the one who’d left without saying a word. Or leaving a forwarding address.

  ‘After I left without an explanation, you had every right to be angry,’ he replied, softening his tone slightly but still sounding cold and distant. Then just as quickly it grew in harshness as he spoke. ‘But keeping me from knowing about a child, Libby, for all these years, that’s more than just punishing me. You’ve been punishing our son too.’

  Libby felt an ache in her heart as those words slipped from his lips. It was true what had happened, although it had not been deliberate. But the way he had called Billy our son brought a sting of tears to her eyes. Now that she knew why he had left, she knew Daniel was not the cold, callous man she had created in her own mind over the years but she couldn’t change the past. Nor could he. They had both kept secrets that could tear them apart for ever.

  She knew she should have told him after they’d left the engagement party. She should have told him before they’d made love. Or that morning. There were so many times when she should have told him.

  ‘Billy did not deserve to be denied knowing I was his father or I denied knowing I had a son,’ he said, pacing the room with long purposeful steps that led nowhere.

  ‘I tried to tell you this morning...’

  ‘So you were only going to tell me because we spent the night together? If that hadn’t happened were you going to leave the yacht and not look back? Why didn’t you tell me the first day you saw me? Or on Martinique, or any of the other times we were alone? Did you want to cement us, rekindle what we had before telling me?’

  ‘No. I didn’t want to rekindle anything with you.’

  ‘I think you did. That’s what all of this was about. You wanted to know if we would reunite before you told me about my son. I remember you saying, “Let’s have the night and to hell with tomorrow.” And clearly to hell with me knowing I had a son if it didn’t work out between us.’

  Libby was furious again with the way he was speaking to her, accusing her of only telling him when she’d got what she wanted. It wasn’t true.

  ‘I never said to hell with tomorrow...’

  ‘Maybe not the words but it was what you meant when you said, “Let’s have the night.”’

  ‘How can you twist my words like that?’ she asked, holding back the tears that were building as the accusations poured from his mouth.

  ‘I’m not twisting anything, Libby. I’m telling you how I see it.’

  ‘I wasn’t sure you would even care...’

  ‘You had no right to make such a sweeping assumption about me, Libby. You don’t know me.’

  ‘That’s right, Daniel. I don’t really know you because you kept your real life a secret from me. And perhaps there’s more you’ve kept from me.’

  Daniel stopped in his tracks and stared across the room at Libby. ‘I laid my life bare for you this morning, Libby. Everything was out for you to know. Nothing was hidden because I trusted you and in return you couldn’t even tell me that I have a three-year-old son. Now I know my trust was misguided.’

  ‘I was trying to tell you about Billy this morning...’

  Daniel shook his head. ‘I guess you didn’t try hard enough, did you?’

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  DANIEL STAYED IN his cabin with his thoughts for as long as possible. The rough seas had abated and the captain had given the all clear for the passengers to venture onto their balconies again. Daniel spoke to him about the minibars being left unstocked, at least overnight, and they agreed it would be in the best interests of the few somewhat intoxicated passengers in order to ensure they were safe and not likely to do anything silly. They could have a drink with dinner in the dining area but not in their cabins.

  Daniel’s mind kept wandering back to Libby and her son. Their son. He wanted to know more about the little boy. What he liked to do. What he looked like. His favourite colour and favourite food. Daniel wanted to know everything. But most of all he wanted to know he was safe. Safe from the genetic disease that ran through the Dimosa family. But that was Daniel’s responsibility. Not Libby’s or anyone else’s.

  That lay squarely with him. He knew what he had to do.

  * * *

  Daniel ate his lunch and dinner in his cabin. He didn’t want to see anyone. He had so much to think about now. More than he could have ever imagined when he’d set sail on the Coral Contessa.

  * * *

  Libby remained in her cabin too. Georgie had called by but Libby had told her friend she was tired and would rather stay inside and they would catch up the next day.

  Libby couldn’t stop thinking about the angst written all over Daniel’s face when he had confronted her. She knew that while she’d had her reasons for keeping Billy a secret initially, she should have told Daniel before he’d discovered it from someone else. She had been the judge and jury and found him guilty three years before and she hadn’t lifted that life sentence.

  She lay on her bed thinking and rethinking everything from the day they had met until that morning. The tears flowed for what might have been but what was most apparent to Libby was Daniel not asking for proof of his son’s paternity. He trusted Libby’s word that he was the father. While he was angry and hurt, he had never doubted her the way she had doubted him.

  She knew in her heart that Daniel had done the wrong thing for the right reason. He had wanted to protect her from a life in a country far from home, potentially nursing him, and she had repaid that chivalrous behaviour by denying him knowledge of his son, even when she’d had the chance.

  Libby didn’t expect that Daniel would want to see her again and she wasn’t sure how they could move forward but she knew somehow that they would work out visitation for Daniel with Billy. Of that she was certain. Libby knew her first instincts about Daniel had been right all those years ago. He was a good man and she would make sure his son got to know that too.

  But there was something else she wanted to do. Daniel deserved to share in Billy’s life up to that day. She opened her computer and began the task of piecing together her son’s life from the first ultrasound to his third birthday. Every precious moment—Billy’s first steps, his first words and everything else that she thought would bring Daniel closer to knowing his son.

  It took all night but finally, at seven the next morning, it was complete and saved to a USB that she slipped into an envelope with her number in San Francisco if Daniel wanted to make a time to meet his son. She quietly left it by his door.

  * * *

  It was night time before they docked in Miami and there was a knock on Libby’s cabin door. She was almost packed, just leaving out shorts and a top to wear the next day.

  She was expecting Georgie as they had arranged for drinks on the deck. While it wasn’t something she was keen to do, Libby knew she owed it to her friend.

  ‘One minute,’ she called out.

  ‘I will wait as long as it takes,’ the deep voice replied.

&nb
sp; Libby froze. It was Daniel’s voice, not Georgie’s. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she tentatively crossed to the door. It took a moment longer for her to open it.

  ‘I didn’t expect to see you,’ she said honestly.

  ‘I guessed as much as you left your telephone number in the envelope,’ he told her without taking his eyes away from hers.

  ‘I thought if you were ever in the area you might like to call and make a time to meet Billy.’

  ‘I want much more than that,’ he said. ‘We need to talk. May I come inside?’

  Libby nodded and stepped back from the door. Her worst nightmare was about to be realised. Daniel, she surmised, wanted to talk to her about more than visiting his son. There was the very real risk that he might want joint custody. And she knew he had the right to ask for that.

  ‘Every child has the right to know they are loved unconditionally by their parents, no matter how their parents feel about each other,’ he began, confirming her suspicions as he crossed to the balcony doors. They were open and the cool evening breeze was softly moving the sheer curtains. Slowly, he turned to face Libby. ‘I want our son to know that I will love him until I take my last breath.’

  ‘I know you will, and I’m so sorry, Daniel,’ Libby began. ‘I know I should have told you but I stupidly thought I was protecting Billy from being hurt. He’s my world. He’s my everything.’

  ‘Protect him from me? How could you think I would hurt him?’

  Libby collapsed back onto the bed, her tears beginning to flow. ‘Because you hurt me and I didn’t want him to love you the way I did and have you walk away. I couldn’t let him know you and love you, only to have you disappear. I thought it would be better for Billy to never have you than to lose you because that is an unbearable pain.’

  Daniel looked at Libby in silence and she felt her heart breaking all over again.

  ‘I’m sorry, Daniel, I’m so sorry.’