The Cinderella Scandal

by Barbara Mccauley

  "Which Johann was very apologetic about when I spoke with him a little while ago," Abraham said.

  "I don't understand." Tina desperately wished someone would get to the point. "What does this man have to do with any of this?"

  "My mother was a Maximilian before she married my father," Mariska said. "Johann is my cousin."

  "You—we—have other family, too?" Tina asked. "Other than your father?"

  Mariska nodded. "We left our past behind us, so that we could have a future."

  "But what does all this have to do with Wilhelm?" Reid asked.

  "My father was always an unhappy man," Mariska said sadly. "From what I have been told by my family, when my father married my mother and went to work at Castle Marcel, he became obsessed with his own importance. He was a tyrant, in his work and at home. This I know from my own life. He kept my mother and me separated from friends and family, but he also used her family name to elevate his own reputation. When my mother died, he cut all ties to the Maximilians but still retained his status in our town. He was so furious with me when I wanted to marry your father that he would have done anything to stop me."

  "So we left." Ivan stepped beside Mariska and took her hand. "Once we were settled in America, we contacted Yana. She came to the states two years later and took the name Alexander, as well. I am not proud that I did not face Wilhelm," he said, looking at his wife, "but I did what I needed to do for my Mariska."

  Tina put her hand to her chest, struggling to absorb everything she'd just heard. There were too many emotions coming at her at once, and her head literally reeled. Only the strong pair of arms wrapped around her kept her knees from giving out.

  She glanced at Reid, then her parents and Abraham.

  "And now?" she asked carefully. "What now?"

  "Now nothing." Abraham shrugged. "If anyone should happen to discover that Ivan Alexander was once Ivan Savar, the records will show a clerical error. A thirty-year-old arrest warrant no longer is in force, and there is no record of any complaint ever filed." Abraham smiled. "Johann is a very thorough man."

  "I talked to Johann this morning," Mariska said. "He will make sure that no one listens to the incoherent ramblings of an old man."

  Still holding on to Tina with one arm, Reid held his other hand out to his father. "Thank you."

  When he shook his father's hand, Reid felt something pass between them, an awareness of each other that he'd never felt before. An understanding that they faced each other man to man, not just father to son. Strange that it had taken thirty-two years to come to this moment and this place. It felt good, he realized.

  It felt right.

  Just as it felt right to be here with Tina at his side, and even Ivan and Mariska. He turned to Tina's parents and offered his hand to Ivan. "Sir."

  Ivan's grip was like a bear's, filled with emotion. Blinking back the moisture in her eyes, Mariska leaned forward and kissed Reid's cheek. "I wish you all the happiness that my Ivan and I have shared." Dabbing at her tears, she kissed Tina, then stepped back. "My baby," she mumbled, then turned and hurried from the room.

  Abraham turned to Ivan. "I have a full bottle of Palinka on ice. Would you care to join me?"

  "How could I refuse such an offer?" Ivan bowed and gestured for Abraham to go first.

  And then, once again, they were wonderfully, blissfully alone.

  Reid turned Tina in his arms and gazed down at her. "You okay?"

  "I … I think so." Then she smiled slowly. "Yes, I am. Better than okay, I'd say. More like wonderful."

  Smiling back at her, he lowered his mouth to hers, kissed her lightly. "Do you know that I fell in love with you before I even met you?"

  Surprise widened her eyes. "Before you met me?"

  "Yep." He brushed his lips against hers again. "I was standing outside your office door at the bakery and I heard your voice. And then, when you turned me down for a job, well, that cinched it."

  "So are you saying—" her hands slid to his chest and she ran a fingertip along the edge of his tie "—that I have to turn you down to keep your interest?"

  "Too late for that, sweetheart." He grinned at her. "I've got you now, and I'm not letting go."

  He kissed her again. Long and deep. A kiss of promise and love. When he finally lifted his head, they were both breathing hard.

  "Will you marry me?" He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingertips. "Our parents are expecting it, you know. You have to say yes."

  "I suppose we shouldn't disappoint them, should we?" she murmured. "They did go to quite a bit of trouble."

  "Yes, they did." He nibbled on her wrist now, couldn't wait to get her alone and nibble on other areas. "I think we should invite Johann to the wedding, too."

  "Absolutely." She drew in a breath when he touched his tongue to the pulse at her wrist. "I love you, Reid. I don't know how I would have ever lived without you."

  "I wouldn't have let you." He lifted his head and smiled down at her. "Please don't make me wait too long, sweetheart. I want to give you my name, make love to you every night, wake up beside you every morning."

  "I don't want to wait, either," she said softly. "It's just all so overwhelming. To think I have family I never knew. And now Rachel is married and expecting a baby, too. Sophia will never forgive me."

  He furrowed his brow. "For getting married?"

  "For making her the last one. With Rachel and me both married, our mother will completely and wholeheartedly focus on Sophia now."

  Chuckling, Reid pulled Tina close again. "I want you to have your restaurant, too," he said. "When the campaign is over and the headquarters are shut down, I'll help you any way I can."

  "That's a year away." She slid her arms around his neck. "It seems like a lifetime."

  "A lifetime is what we're going to have, sweetheart. Babies. A home. Grandbabies, great-grandbabies. That's a lifetime. God, how I love you, Katina Alexander."

  "And I love you, Reid Danforth."

  He leaned down to press his mouth to hers; she reached up. The kiss was sweet. Tender.

  Timeless.

  "What do you say we go announce it now?" he said when he finally lifted his head. "While the press is here. They're gonna love having the scoop on this one."

  "The press?" She bit her lip. "Now?"

  "Better get used to it, darling," he said with a grin. "You're going to be a Danforth."

  "That," she said, smiling back as she pressed her mouth to his, "I can get used to."

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