Hand-Me-Down Princess

by Carol Moncado

  “Kai!”

  The crash of people going through underbrush helped pinpoint where it was coming from. He ran through the woods until he neared the spot where he told Tommy to wait. At the bottom of the stand of trees stood Tommy’s step-father, looking way up.

  Malachi followed the man’s gaze to see Tommy high up in one of the trees. What a monkey.

  “I suggest you go on your way,” the man told Malachi without turning to look at him. “This is family business.”

  “No, I think I’ll stay.”

  “What kind of lies did the kid tell you? I’m his step-father, not his biological one? I killed his mother and tried to kill him? It’s all in his mind. His mother is at home.”

  That might be true, but there was definitely a woman right where Tommy had said she’d be. “Why don’t we walk together then?” Malachi suggested. Anything to get the man’s attention off Tommy. “We can get to one of the ranger stations and sort it all out there. If what you say is true, then we can get help for Tommy and his pathological lying.” He didn’t say what would happen if Tommy proved to be right, but the man knew anyway.

  “I don’t think so. He’s my kid, and I’ll handle him.”

  “It’s not true, Kai!” Tommy yelled from his perch.

  Malachi slowly walked toward the base of the tree. “Why don’t we go to a ranger station and sort it all out there?” He debated telling them helicopters were already on their way, but decided to keep that to himself for the time being.

  “Okay.” The man sneered, and Malachi knew he was only going along for his own reason. “Let’s go to the ranger station with this man.”

  Malachi looked up to see Tommy’s face frozen in fear. “It’s okay, Tommy. We’ll go and sort it all out.” He winked with the eye Tommy’s step-father couldn’t see.

  Tommy slowly nodded his head. “Okay.”

  In a few minutes, Tommy had climbed down, and Malachi had put his backpack on. When they reached the clearing, Malachi played dumb. “Wow. Someone left a mess. We should clean it up.”

  The man’s only answer was a glare, but he did snap at Tommy and wave to the mess. Frightened, Tommy scurried to clean it up. Malachi wanted to help, but didn’t want to take his attention off the other man for a minute. He tried to make small talk, but all he discovered was that the man went by Junior.

  But when Tommy returned to his side, the boy tripped and stumbled into Malachi. By the time he could regain his footing, Tommy’s step-father had attacked. He kicked at Malachi, but he rolled out of the way. The three-foot long, two-inch thick branch the other man now wielded missed Malachi’s head by inches.

  “This is how you want to settle this?” Malachi got to his feet and let his backpack slip off. “Really?” For once, he was grateful for the hours upon hours his father had insisted all of his children spend learning martial arts. Just in case, his father had always said. Well, just in case had come.

  The man raised the branch over his head, swinging it downward toward Malachi’s head. Malachi easily dodged the charge and pivoted on one foot, bringing the other up to land a kick in the back of the other man’s kidneys. It brought a sense of satisfaction that he remembered what to do, but Malachi didn’t actually want to hurt the other man. If only he’d give up.

  The man stumbled forward, but didn’t go down or lose his grip. He turned, this time holding the branch as a baseball bat and looking around for Tommy.

  “Tommy?” Malachi called.

  “Yeah?” the boy called back from a few feet away.

  “I want you to go down the trail, okay? The one we found earlier today.” Was it the best option? Probably not, but Tommy would be with his mother and the bright orange would help the others find them in case the worst happened here. “You’ll see where I dropped my windbreaker. Wait there, okay?”

  “Okay, Kai.” The frightened tone of voice was underscored by something else. Steel. Strength. Feeling the fear and doing it anyway. Footsteps crunched away from the clearing where Malachi faced off with the other man.

  “You’ll regret this,” the man growled.

  “Oh, I doubt that.” Assuming he was ever caught, the man would be charged with attempted murder and assault on a member of the royal family.

  As long as the charge was only assault.

  Malachi needed to stay vigilant or the man would push him over the edge, too.

  This time when the man charged with the branch over his head, Malachi stepped to the side again. He kicked out, and his foot landed squarely on the side of the other man’s knee. It buckled and the man cried out as he fell to the ground.

  “You’ll pay for that!” Junior scrambled back up, favoring his left knee.

  Malachi merely smiled.

  It seemed to irritate Junior who came at him once more, this time holding the stick as a bat again. As he swung it, Malachi reached up and grasped the other end, flinging Junior to the ground.

  The other man’s head bounced off a rock, and he lay still.

  Malachi blanched. Had he killed another man? Despite defending himself, he prayed not. First, he tossed the stick to the side. Second, he felt for a pulse. As Malachi breathed a sigh of relief, his ears picked up the sound he’d been waiting for.

  Helicopters.

  He walked toward the cliff face where he could be seen better as he waved his arms.

  The chopper circled out over the valley then came back. Malachi could see the face of his friend, Prince Richard, through one of the windows, and his shoulders slumped. It was over.

  But what? Richard was waving his arms and yelling?

  Before he could figure out what his friend meant, everything went black.

  Chapter 41

  Jessabelle’s hands twisted together, her fingers aching as she clenched and unclenched them from each other.

  “Why won’t they tell us anything?” she grumbled.

  “All we know is that Prince Malachi and three others are being brought back,” Emily reminded her. “Three of them were injured. We don’t know that the prince is one of them.”

  “Yes, we do. If it wasn’t, they would have told us he was all right.”

  The car pulled up outside the hospital where the helicopters would arrive momentarily. A couple of “ambulance chaser” members of the paparazzi were there waiting to see if anything interesting came in. They snapped pictures of Jessabelle as she emerged from her car, joined by the rest of the royal family from two other cars. The king moved to her other side, blocking the photographers with his body. He put his hand on her back, reassuring her of his now-calming presence.

  “King Antonio!” one of them yelled. “What’s going on? Where’s Malachi?”

  She glanced up to see the king glare at them. “It is His Royal Highness, Prince Malachi, to you,” he growled, not stopping to say anything else as the doors whooshed open in front of them.

  Once in the hospital, they were taken to a conference room in the administration part of the building.

  “How much longer?” Jessabelle asked the room as she stared out one of the windows.

  No sooner had she asked than a speck on the horizon became more visible. A rescue helicopter. Moving very quickly with another one behind it.

  “Is that them?” She turned, sure her eyes were wide. “Can we go?”

  An administrator walked in and bowed in the general direction of the entire family. “They will be seen in the emergency department, ma’am. We will make certain you can see your husband as soon as possible.” Then he sighed. “But I am afraid the story is already leaking.”

  The door opened, and a woman walked in. She was introduced as the hospital’s media liaison. “I’m afraid the photographers have already uploaded their pictures to the gossip sites.” She picked up a remote and clicked it in the direction of the ceiling. After a few seconds of whirring, a picture appeared on the screen at one end of the table.

  A picture of herself, looking more frazzled than she had in some time, filled the screen. The woman cli
cked something again and the picture changed. This time, the king was next to her, leading the royal phalanx with his hand on her back. He glared at the photographers, a look that would make most people wilt.

  “The early speculation is that something has happened to Prince Malachi since he was not with you. We’ve started to receive phone calls from more mainstream news outlets, but every question will be answered with ‘no comment’ until we have further direction from you, Your Majesty.” She nodded at King Antonio. “News crews have already started to arrive.”

  The man glanced at the phone in his hand. “I can take two of you to see the prince.”

  Jessabelle stayed still. She wanted to charge ahead, but something held her back. Was she really one of the first ones to go? Not his parents?

  “Jessabelle?”

  She looked up to see the king standing by the open door.

  “Go on, dear.” The queen had taken a seat at the table. “He’ll want to see you before his mother. The way it should be.”

  Overwhelmed, Jessabelle nodded and hurried to catch up with the two men.

  “Is he awake yet?” the king asked.

  “I haven’t been told.”

  Awake yet? The king knew Malachi had been hurt and hadn’t told the rest of them?

  They reached the emergency department through a hospital-employees-only route. The few people in the corridors all reacted the same way. Wide eyes. Moving to the side. Bowing their heads or bobbing a quick curtsy. The administrator stood to the side, holding a curtain back just enough for them to slide in.

  When the king motioned for her to go first, Jessabelle didn’t protest. She walked through, tears overflowing her eyes when she saw him.

  With a small cry of “Kai!” she rushed to his side.

  His eyes blinked open and he reached for her. “Mia belle,” he whispered. “Are you really here?”

  “I am,” she whispered back. “Are you okay?”

  He closed his eyes again, his hand gripping hers tightly. “I hurt everywhere, but I will be.” Malachi groaned and tried to sit up further. “What about Tommy’s mother?”

  Jessabelle wiped her cheek with her other hand then reached out to press lightly against his chest and keep him in his bed. “Who?”

  “Tommy. His step-father pushed his mother over the cliff.” He settled back against the mattress. “Can you find out?”

  “His mother is in surgery but expected to pull through,” the king answered, moving to the end of the bed. “Tommy is being taken care of at the palace right now. He’s getting a bath and clean clothes. They’ll bring him back here when his mother is able to have visitors.”

  Malachi shook his head. “What about his stepfather?”

  “Arrested. Handcuffed to his hospital bed.” His mouth settled into a grim line. “He’s about to find out what happens when someone attacks any one of my children or tries to kill his wife and step-son. I may not have been the best husband or father at all points during my life, but there’s simply no excuse for what he tried to do.”

  “He would have killed me.” Malachi’s eyes closed. “Those self-defense and martial arts classes came in handy.”

  “My children need to know to defend themselves.” He turned to Jessabelle. “Which reminds me, you will need to spend some time learning, as well.”

  “Me?”

  He gave her the tenderest smile she remembered getting from anyone except perhaps Malachi. “You are my daughter. You have security with you nearly all the time, but, like all of my children, you need to know how to protect yourself.”

  Her heart warmed. He was including both of them in the statement. He was in a room rather than a curtained partition, but there was always a chance someone could overhear what was being said, but if they did he could point out she was married to his son. The reality though? He was reminding both of them that they were his children, no matter the biology.

  A doctor walked in and distracted them from the conversation. Jessabelle turned her attention to the woman who would tell her if her husband was really all right.

  * * *

  Malachi hurt in more places than he knew he had. He hadn’t tumbled down the cliff like he’d feared when the fight started, but according to Rick, Junior had clubbed him with the branch then kicked him a few times before someone could rappel down to fend Junior off.

  He had been released into the care of the royal doctors and taken back to the palace to recuperate. For now, he had a hospital bed set up in one of the spare bedrooms. Malachi wouldn’t get to sleep in the same room as his wife for several days, though that bed would likely be more comfortable.

  Three nurses had been assigned to him, each taking a shift and staying in the palace in their off time, just in case he coded or something, he supposed.

  Jessabelle walked into the room looking more tired and pale than he’d ever seen her.

  “Hey,” she called softly as she approached. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I hiked for two days then got beat up.” He tried to frown, but it hurt. “You look awful, though. I know it’s impolite to tell one’s wife that, but you look like you need a nap far worse than I do.”

  “It’s the stomach bug I caught a few days ago.” She sat on the edge of his bed, taking his hand. “I don’t want to give it to you, so I won’t stay long. It’s knocked me for a loop, and I can’t imagine what it would do to you if you got it, too.”

  “You looked better yesterday,” he protested.

  “I know, and I was feeling better. But I didn’t sleep well last night, and it hit with a vengeance about three this morning.”

  Malachi gripped her hand a bit tighter and stroked the back of it with his other hand. “Take care of yourself for me, Mia Belle. I don’t want to be the cause of you getting even sicker because you’re looking after me. There are nurses here to help with that.”

  She cocked an eyebrow at him. “You really want one of them helping you to the bathroom?”

  He gave her his best fake shocked look. “I’m a prince, Mia Belle. We do not do such plebeian things as go to the bathroom.”

  She rolled her eyes and gave him the smile he’d been hoping to elicit. “If you say so.” She hesitated. “There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “What’s that?”

  “During all of this, I met the security guard who’s been staying in my house. He said their house is going to be a total loss after all. I want to let them stay there indefinitely.”

  Malachi gave her the best smile he could. “I think that’s a great idea.”

  She grinned like the Cheshire cat. “His wife is a nurse, so Tommy and his mother are going to stay there until they can get back on their feet.”

  Malachi hadn’t know. “That’s great. Now, seriously, please go get some rest. You look about like I feel.”

  Jessabelle gave him a weak smile. “I feel about like you look, so I suppose it is a good idea.” She stood up, but must have done so too quickly because she pressed a hand to her stomach and closed her eyes as she swayed.

  Not waiting to see if she righted herself, Malachi pressed the call button. In two seconds, the door opened with a nurse rushing in.

  “I’m fine,” he called, “but my wife needs someone to help her to bed. She’s not feeling well.”

  “Of course,” the nurse replied, taking Jessabelle’s elbow. “Let’s get you to your room, ma’am.”

  Malachi picked up the phone and called his assistant, asking him to have the family doctor check on Jessabelle. Having done what he could, Malachi closed his eyes and napped.

  A few hours later, the door opening woke him up. The family doctor walked in with Jessabelle at his side. A couple of aides moved a recliner next to his bed. So she was going to convalesce next to him?

  “I wanted to talk with both of you,” the doctor explained when it was just the three of them.

  Malachi reached for Jessabelle, and she tucked her hand snuggly inside his own. “What is it?” sh
e whispered.

  She must fear the worst and now that she did, Malachi wasn’t sure what to think.

  “It’s nothing so dramatic, thankfully,” he told them both with a smile. “In fact, I hope I’m not too presumptuous saying it’s quite a blessing.”

  He shared a look with his wife. “Blessing?” he asked.

  The doctor’s grin widened. “Yes. In fact, your parents will be quite thrilled I’m sure.”

  Jessabelle glanced at him, her brow furrowed. “Pardon?”

  “You’re pregnant, Your Highness. You are going to be parents.”

  Stunned silence descended on the room.

  “What?” Jessabelle finally whispered. “Pregnant?”

  The doctor’s smile changed to a smirk. “I am certain you are both well aware of how such a thing occurs.”

  “Of course,” Malachi murmured as he too tried to assimilate the information. “You’re sure?” he asked to clarify.

  “We did a urine test and have the blood work being done now.” He glanced at his phone. “In fact, the results just came in.” After a few taps on his phone, he nodded. “As I suspected. You are definitely pregnant.” He hesitated then, “If you like, I can arrange to have an ultrasound machine brought here, and we can get some more detailed information.”

  Malachi looked at Jessabelle who nodded. “That would be wonderful.”

  The doctor smiled again. “All right then. I won’t share the information with anyone, you know. And I’ll have an obstetrician friend bring the equipment.” He nodded at Malachi. “He’s the one who delivered all three of you, so he can be trusted.” And he left.

  They sat in silence for several minutes. “A baby?” Jessabelle whispered. “Is that what he really said?”

  Malachi rolled onto his left side as best he could to face her. “Yes. Are you happy about that?” He was. He wanted to be. But not until he knew for sure she was.

  “Yeah. I guess.” She blinked rapidly. “Just not expecting to hear I am, well, expecting. I had no clue.”

  “None?”