Hand-Me-Down Princess

by Carol Moncado

  Not yet.

  My inner self is in too much turmoil.

  I know it’s not all about me, it never has been. But the recent revelations have rocked me to the core, and I need what Rick calls “God and country” time. I really am heading to Montevaro and their country house, but I’m taking the long way. I’m hiking the Mevendia-Montevaro trail for the next few days. Please don’t let them send anyone after me. I need to do this. On my own. I have an emergency beacon with me. I promise I will use it if I need to.

  You are the only one for me, sweet Mia Belle. I love you with my entire being, in a way I never believed possible to love another person. I didn’t know this kind of love truly existed outside of fairy tales.

  Always,

  Kai

  “What’s it say?” Yvette brought Jessabelle out of her intense focus on the letter.

  One tear after another streaked its way down her cheeks. “He needs some time to deal with all of the information that came out this week.”

  “Does it say where he is?”

  “Kind of.” Would she share the information with the king and security? Or would she keep it to herself unless it became necessary to share it?

  Even as she asked herself the question, she knew the answer.

  “I need to call your father.”

  She had just picked up her cell phone to call him when Yvette’s next words brought her attention back to the younger girl. “Don’t you mean our father?”

  Jessabelle tried to decipher the look on Yvette’s face, but couldn’t. She still stared out the window and wouldn’t look over.

  “Yes,” she answered, measuring each word carefully. “He is, technically, our father, but he’s not my father in most of the ways that matter. He didn’t raise me, didn’t take care of me when I needed him.”

  “He didn’t do that for me either.” The bitterness seeped through every one of Yvette’s pores. “He hired nannies to take care of us while he gallivanted around the world, cheating on my mother at every turn.”

  “You’re not being fair,” she told her new-found sister. “He had one very long-standing affair. He’s admitted his wrongdoing and apologized to your mother many years ago. She forgave him. And that was long before you were born,” Jessabelle pointed out. “There is no reason not to believe him since he asked his mistress to leave.”

  “She was here a few weeks ago.” Yvette angrily swiped at the tears on her cheeks. “You don’t think they didn’t spend some quality time together?”

  Another voice, this one male and hurting, joined the conversation. “Yvette, I am sorry you feel that way.”

  Jessabelle and Yvette both turned to see the king and queen standing there. The wounded look on his face would haunt Jessabelle for days.

  The queen was the one to respond to the accusation. “I went with your father to the meeting with her. He wanted there to be no secrets between us. I was there when he found out he had another child in the world, one who could be in danger because of this X-MEN thing. Your father would move heaven and earth to protect any of his children, Yvette, and you would do well to remember that.”

  “He married me off to a dead guy,” Yvette scoffed. “Or close enough. I’m engaged to a man I’ve never really met because he’s been dead over fifteen years, yet I get to plan a wedding. Now Malachi’s run off. Sounds like a father I can really count on.” She pushed out of her chair and left the room.

  Antonio sighed. “She is not wrong, but we will have to deal with her after we find Malachi. I was told you received a letter, Jessabelle. What did it say?”

  Time to put her focus back where it belonged.

  On finding her husband.

  The one her heart loved.

  * * *

  Malachi and Tommy stayed near, but not on, the trail and heading toward Montevaro. He debated turning on his emergency signal, but decided not to. His gut told him it was the wrong thing to do, though he couldn’t really explain why.

  They stopped for the night, but didn’t build a fire. Malachi shared a couple of his protein bars with Tommy. The kid needed them far worse than he did.

  When it came time to settle in to sleep, Malachi leaned against a tree. Without asking or being invited, Tommy settled in next to him. Malachi had promised himself he wouldn’t sleep until Tommy did, but started to doze.

  “I think I heard my mom.”

  Malachi started. “What?”

  “After he pushed her off the cliff. I thought I heard her calling me.”

  His mind started going a million miles an hour. “You heard her?” he clarified. “You’re sure?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you know where?”

  “I think so.”

  “We’ll go find her,” Malachi promised. And if they did, and she was still alive, he’d press the emergency signal.

  Silence came from the kid next to him. “Can we go now?” His voice sounded small and scared.

  Malachi looked up. The moon was fairly full so visibility wouldn’t be too bad. And he had a point. If she was still alive, they didn’t have any time to waste. “Let’s go, but we aren’t going to try to go down a cliff at night. That will have to wait until morning, all right?”

  “Yeah.” The fear in Tommy’s voice cut through Malachi’s heart.

  They started walking down the path. Surely it would be safe enough at night. “How far was it?”

  Tommy thought for a moment. “We stopped for lunch. I think Mom said it was almost noon. We were done eating, and she wanted to know if she could see Montevaro yet. That’s when he pushed her.”

  “Okay. Did you leave right away? Did you run the whole time?” Tommy had found Malachi about four-thirty in the afternoon.

  “I ran some and hid some. I went super slow to be quiet some, too.”

  That would make it a bit harder to figure out how far he’d come. “Can you describe the area to me?”

  Malachi had hiked it before, with Rick and a complement of security guards, when they were teens. Except for a few of the exceptionally memorable spots, he didn’t remember much of it.

  “We got off the trail at that tree that had been hit by lightning a long time ago.”

  One of the few places he did know. “I remember it.”

  “We turned off there and went to a clear area to eat.”

  Malachi pulled out the map he’d snagged at the trail head. The moonlight wasn’t quite enough so he pulled out a small flashlight and tried to keep it hidden from anyone on the path. He figured out where he thought they were and how far they had to go. It shouldn’t take too long. “Okay. Let’s go. And we’ll be as quiet as we can so we can hear if anyone’s coming.”

  He didn’t think it would be a problem. Tommy didn’t seem like a talker.

  They walked for about an hour before Malachi insisted they take a break. Moving about fifteen feet off the trail, they each ate another protein bar and drank some of the water Malachi purified with tablets. After about fifteen minutes, he could sense Tommy’s impatience, and they started to walk again. Malachi kept his ears open for anyone coming from behind.

  “There it is!” Tommy’s voice echoed in the stillness.

  “Sh!” Malachi reminded him.

  Tommy clapped his hands over his mouth.

  “Let’s go,” Malachi whispered. They found the clearing with the picnic left where they had eaten. “Where did he push her?”

  The boy swiped at his cheek with the back of his hand then pointed. “Over there.”

  Malachi walked carefully around the area. If there were footprints or any other evidence, he didn’t want to disturb them. He didn’t get too close to the edge. It would be too easy to slip in the dark. “We’ll hunker down until dawn.” He hated doing it but he wasn’t equipped to go rock climbing in the middle of the night. Where was Rick when he needed him?

  They found a well-camouflaged area with a place to sit. Tommy laid his head against Malachi’s arm and fell asleep. Malachi found himself listening not only
for the step-father but for Tommy’s mother.

  He heard nothing but the sounds of the night.

  His mind wandered back to the palace to where Jessabelle was likely sleeping alone. Was his letter enough? Did she feel abandoned? Was she still coming to grips with the revelations?

  Tommy shifted slightly at his side.

  It didn’t matter to the boy that Malachi was a prince. He didn’t even know. Was there a lesson in that? Malachi wasn’t sure, but he didn’t have the mental fortitude to find out.

  Dawn broke over the horizon, waking Tommy.

  “Can we go look now?” the boy whispered.

  “Yeah.” Malachi left his backpack by the trees. He didn’t need the extra weight right now. He didn’t have any supplies in it that would be of much use anyway. With a protein bar in his pocket and a full Camelbak strapped on, he began to look for a way down the side of the mountain.

  “Kai!” Tommy’s whispered yell caught his attention.

  The boy pointed toward what seemed to be a small trail.

  “Go back and hide with my backpack,” he told the boy. “Stay there until I get back.” Taking a deep breath, he started down the path, one hand braced against the cliff face. It wasn’t a difficult path, but not an easy one either. The decline was gradual so even though he’d walked a ways, he wasn’t too far from the top of the cliff.

  Before long, he went around a bit of a corner and found a wide spot in the trail. There, against the rock, lay a woman.

  Malachi took a deep breath. Her eyes were closed, but was she still alive? Dried blood had caked in her hair and bruises could be seen on her face and arms. Malachi took a deep breath and reached out, pressing his fingers against the side of her neck.

  There. A weak, but definitely noticeable, throbbing deep inside. She was alive. Malachi decided it was the right time to press the button on his watch three times in a row. The emergency signal would be transmitted to the security office of all three countries in the commonwealth, but he had no idea how long it would be before rescuers would arrive.

  One question reverberated through his mind.

  Until then, how would he keep Tommy safe and his mother alive?

  Only one answer came to him.

  Pray.

  Chapter 40

  “Ma’am?”

  Jessabelle bolted awake at the sound of Emily’s voice. “What is it?”

  “The security office just picked up the prince’s emergency signal.”

  She pushed out of the chair where she’d fallen asleep. “Where is he?”

  Emily shook her head. “I don’t have that information, ma’am, but I knew you’d want to know as soon as they heard.”

  “You’re right.” Did she even know where the security office was? The tablet from Malachi lay on the table next to her. She pulled up the map of the palace and in less than a minute had directions. Emily followed close behind as she hurried through hallways and down staircases into the basement. There she found her in-laws and the top tier of security officials staring at a map on the conference room table.

  “Where is he?” she demanded as soon as she walked in.

  Everyone turned to look at her. “On the trail, just as he said. Or not far off it anyway.” The head of security pointed to a spot on the map. “The signal is accurate within a few feet. It’s putting him right here.” He tapped the spot. “But right next to that is a drop off.”

  “He fell off a cliff?” she whispered.

  “It’s possible,” he conceded. “But not necessarily. The prince would never pass by someone in trouble. He could have found someone else who fell or have activated the signal for any number of other reasons.”

  Jessabelle crossed her arms over her stomach, hugging herself. “Okay. Let’s go with that. How fast can we get to him?”

  “We aren’t going anywhere, ma’am.” The grim look on the security guard’s face made her swallow her protest. “We have helicopters headed that way. Prince Richard and a search and rescue contingent from Montevario are actually closer and just asked for permission to come into our airspace.”

  She looked at her father-in-law. “You gave permission, right?” Her vision blurred as she stared at him, pleading with her eyes.

  “Of course.” The king put an arm around her shoulders. “We’ll get to him as soon as we can.” He squeezed and let go, as though unsure how much comfort she would want from him.

  “The Montevarians were doing a search and rescue exercise on one of the new trails Prince Richard is getting ready to open. They needed to go refuel, but should be there before our men will be. Their operating and refueling base is closer than ours here in Erres.”

  The tears spilled down her cheeks as her head began to spin. “I think I need to sit down.”

  Her mother-in-law was by her side in a split second. “Did you get any sleep?”

  Jessabelle nodded. “Yes. A few hours.”

  “In a chair,” Emily interjected from behind. “It couldn’t have been good sleep.”

  Jessabelle glared at her. “How am I supposed to sleep when my husband is out in the middle of nowhere?”

  “No matter.” The queen gently directed her to the outer office where a comfortable looking couch greeted her. “Lay down.”

  You didn’t argue with the queen when she used that tone of voice. Jessabelle lay down on the couch, her head resting on a pillow as she curled onto her side. “How do you do it?” she whispered.

  “How do I do what?” The queen sat in the chair at a right angle from Jessabelle’s head.

  “Deal with all of this. Being in the public eye all the time, your husband cheating on you, finding out about the rape, finding out your husband had a child with his mistress who, oh by the way, is married to your son from another man?” Bitterness laced the words. “I don’t see how you can do it all.”

  “I do not,” the queen answered softly. “I cannot. All I can do is lay my burdens at the cross, just like everyone else. I will not lie and say it has always been easy, because it has not, but every time I could no longer stand on my own, my Savior carried me. When that man admitted to what happened, Antonio and I realized Malachi may not be his son. My husband became the man I always needed him to be. He stepped up to the plate. I believe that is the American phrase. He immediately ended things with his mistress. I knew he gave her enough money to get set up somewhere else, and I do believe, in his own way he loved both of us. It is difficult to admit that, even today when I am secure in the knowledge that I am his beloved, and he is mine. He did not have ‘just a fling’ with your mother. I do not know what would have happened if your existence became known before or immediately after your birth, but I believe things happen for a reason. That God’s hand is in all of this, and He had a purpose for it.”

  She reached out and brushed Jessabelle’s messy hair off her face. “You are the woman God created for my son. If it was known from the beginning that you were my husband’s daughter, even if we had known for certain Malachi was not his biological child, the marriage never would have happened. But how do I do it? I put my faith, my trust, in the One who spun galaxies from His fingertips. He knew all of this before the foundations of the earth, and I trust Him. ‘Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress and I will not be shaken. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my mighty rock, my refuge...One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: “Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”.’ Psalm 62:5-7 and eleven and part of twelve. He is my rock, my fortress, and my soul finds rest in Him.”

  “How?” Jessabelle whispered.

  “One day, one hour, one moment at a time. It is not always easy. It would be simple to want to use my position for retribution against the man who so violated me or against your biological mother who was an active and willing participant in my husband’s affair. Instead, I have to learn to trust. Is it easy? No. Is it worth it?” She smiled a soft smile full of compassio
n. “Oh yes. Many times over yes. And, darling?”

  “Yes?”

  “I purposed in my heart, many years ago, that if it were ever discovered that Antonio had another child, and if it seemed right to do so, I would take that child as my own as well.” The kindness on her face brought more tears to Jessabelle’s eyes. “If you would ever want to, I would be honored if you would consider me your adoptive mother, of sorts. Even call me Mother like my other children do. But only if you are comfortable with it.”

  Jessabelle gave her a tremulous smile. “I would like that.”

  Mother smiled back. “Me, too.” Her eyes seemed to light up. “I still haven’t told you how proud I was of you at the Garden Club Extravaganza.”

  What was she talking about? “How so?”

  “You picked the arrangement you liked best. You didn’t succumb to what you thought I would like or anyone else.” She reached out and brushed the hair off Jessabelle’s forehead. “I wish we’d been able to do more to plan the wedding together.”

  Jessabelle closed her eyes. “I should have been more involved. I know that now. At the time, I wanted to pretend it would never happen.”

  “I understand. I am glad we will have the chance to get to know each other now.”

  Tears escaped out of Jessabelle’s eyes. “Me, too,” she whispered. “Me, too.”

  * * *

  Malachi was torn. He wanted to stay with Tommy’s mother, though he didn’t know what he might be able to do for her if she were to awaken or take a turn for the worse. He also didn’t know if the rescue helicopters sure to come would be able to spot him as easily as they could from the clearing above. Tommy had to be scared, too.

  Finally, he eased off his windbreaker and laid it gently over Tommy’s mother. The inside was lined with bright orange fleece that would make it easier to spot. Inside out, maybe they would see her better. It made sense in his mind. He worked his way back up the narrow path, breathing a sigh of relief when he emerged back onto solid ground.

  “Kai!”

  Malachi’s head whipped around, searching for Tommy. The yell didn’t come from the direction he’d expected. Where was he?