by Cathie Linz
“Come, leiblings, your godmother has arrived. Let the fun begin!”
Vanessa and Anna just looked at her.
“Why the long faces, mignonnes? Come, tell your favorite godmother all about it. What has that wickedly stubborn father of yours done now?”
“He wants me to marry Sebastian, whom I don’t love at all,” Vanessa replied.
“Vanessa is in love with a Marine,” Anna said.
“Anna is in love with Sebastian,” Vanessa replied in kind.
“Ah.” Desiree nodded. “So this is all about love. Naturellement, love is something about which I know a great deal.”
Desiree had been married three times, her current husband was an Italian count, and they lived in a palazzo on the Grand Canal in Venice. Desiree spoke fluent German, French, Italian and English and enjoyed mixing them all up.
“What are you doing here?” Vanessa asked.
“I came for the masquerade ball to celebrate your father’s sixtieth birthday,” Desiree replied, floating closer to elegantly drape herself into a chaise lounge. No one could lounge the way Desiree did. She was wearing a gorgeous shantung pantsuit in a mint green. “But enough about me, I want to hear about your Marine, Vanessa.”
A blessed numbness had set in since her crying jag of yesterday, but now the pain returned. She tried to shrug it off. “He’s just someone Father hired to spy on me while I was playing hooky in New York City.”
“Hooky,” Desiree repeated with a laugh. “What quaint sayings Americans have. And the talk about setting standards?”
“I want to do more than set the standards for things like this year’s shoe fashion or flower arrangement,” Vanessa said, her voice vehement. “I want to set the standards for the treatment of innocent children who can’t take care of themselves!”
Then do it, a voice within Vanessa said. Just do it.
“You should be focusing on your wedding,” Anna said.
“I told you, there isn’t going to be a wedding,” Vanessa declared. “At least not one between me and Sebastian. Why don’t you go after him? The masquerade ball is coming up, that would be the perfect opportunity for you to make him see you with new eyes. I’m sure Desiree can help.”
“Mais oui, I’m sure I can,” the older woman instantly agreed. “Help you both. I have brought the most delicious costumes for the two of you. No one makes costumes like the Italians. And I found this for you, Vanessa. It’s something I have been meaning to give you. Your mother wanted you to have it on your twenty-first birthday, she entrusted it to me as your godmother, but I was going through that messy divorce at the time, and my things were all in storage. Anyway, I have brought it to you now.”
She handed over a book of poetry. Vanessa opened the leather-bound volume to find her mother’s handwriting.
To Thyne Own Self Be True.
Happy Twenty-first Birthday, my darling Vanessa.
Vanessa blinked back the tears as she traced her mother’s writing with her fingertips. In that instant she knew what she had to do.
When her sister went upstairs with their godmother to try on the costume she’d brought, Vanessa took the opportunity to make some phone calls. By the end of the afternoon, she’d fulfilled a lifelong dream.
She’d started her own foundation, Safe Haven for Children. In the end, it wasn’t that hard to do. Perhaps the hardest things were actually the easiest ones when everything was said and done. It was all a matter of overcoming her need to please others and replacing it with the need to be true to herself and the need to help others.
Those words from her mother had seemed fate’s way of reminding her of that fact.
“This is your sister-in-law calling, and I’m going to kill you.”
“Why, hello to you, too, Prudence,” Mark drawled into the phone, pressing a hand to his throbbing forehead before reaching for the bottle of aspirin his mom kept next to the stove in the kitchen. He and his dad had made quite a dent in that bottle of scotch last night.
“Don’t give me that Wilder charm.”
“How did you know I was here?” he interrupted her.
“I was calling your mother, and she said you’d come to visit. How could you spy on Vanessa like that?”
“Vanessa told you,” he said in resignation.
“Of course she told me. I’m the one who recommended you to Vanessa, the one who assured her you were trustworthy.”
“You shouldn’t have involved me in the first place. Once you did, I was just following orders.”
Her growl told him that she wasn’t cutting him any slack because of that. “What horse manure!”
“Her father bugged her phone at the Plaza. He heard Vanessa plotting with you. He called the State Department, and they called the Marines, who called me. None of this was my idea. I was just following orders,” he repeated.
“Horse manure,” Prudence repeated. “At one time, my father ordered Joe not to see me. I’ll tell you the same thing I told them both, the Marine Corps has no business butting in.”
“This could have caused an international incident. Besides, that princess buddy of yours wasn’t exactly honest herself.”
“What are you talking about?” Prudence demanded in an offended voice.
“I’m talking about that fiancé of hers back in Volzemburg.”
“You mean Sebastian?”
Mark’s stomach rolled. “So you know about him, too.”
“Vanessa is not engaged to Sebastian. Sure, her father wants her to marry him, but she’s not going to do it.”
“That’s not what she told me.”
“She doesn’t love Sebastian. There’s no way she’d marry him.”
For the first time, a flicker of hope. “Then why didn’t she say that when those royal guys were talking about her engagement?”
“Because she’d probably prefer you think she was a bored princess toying with you than know the truth, that she’d fallen in love with you.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“She didn’t have to. I know her. You broke her heart.”
Anguish replaced the anger that had been eating him up, as Mark realized how much his deception must have hurt Vanessa. “I … I regret that more than I can say.” His ragged voice was rough with despair.
He didn’t tell his sister-in-law about feeling torn between his duty to the Marine Corps and his newfound love for Vanessa. What was the point? It didn’t change anything.
“So what was she to you?” Prudence demanded. “Just a another special op, another Marine Corps mission?”
“No!” he said harshly. “I loved her.”
“Then—”
He cut her off. “It doesn’t make any difference. There’s nothing I can do. She hates me now. Besides, she’s a princess. She has everything. What could I possibly offer her?”
“The most valuable thing of all,” Prudence gently but firmly replied. “True love. It’s something Vanessa has been searching for all her life, and you’re the one man who can give that to her. If you’re brave enough to do that. Are you brave enough, Mark? Are you brave enough to go after her?”
Chapter Eleven
“What do you mean?” King Leopold bellowed at Vanessa. They were in the King’s Dining Room, with its emerald-green silk walls framed by exquisitely carved oak panels and a dozen ionic columns in malachite. All day yesterday Oscar had been telling her that the king was far too busy to speak to her, so she’d ambushed him at breakfast this morning. “What do you mean you’ve started your own foundation? That is not your place.”
“Yes, it is, Father. I’ve been trying to tell you that for the past hour.”
“And what of your marriage with Sebastian? Did you consult him before taking this rash action?”
“It is not a rash action and no, I did not consult with Sebastian because it does not concern him.” She gazed at her favorite painting, a Constable of a serene English countryside, in order to keep her composure in light of her father’s stubbornness.
The painting had been one of her mother’s favorites as well. To Thyne Own Self Be True.
“Not concern him? He is your fiancé.” Her eyes shot from the painting to her father. “No, he is not!”
“Is this about that Marine you were kissing in Central Park?”
“Wha…at?” His question stunned her.
“You heard me. Is this about that Marine?”
“How did you know I kissed him in Central Park? Did you have people spying on us?” Vanessa demanded.
She remembered Mark’s maneuvers to ensure they wouldn’t be followed from the park because he’d been suspicious that someone was watching them. Apparently he’d been right.
Her father didn’t look in the least bit repentant. “Naturally I arranged to have my firstborn daughter, the heir to the throne, protected.”
“And who is going to protect me from you, Father? Can you answer that question?”
“I am your father and your king. You don’t need protecting from me.”
“Yes, I do,” she said sadly. “Because you are more king than father. You aren’t caring for your daughter, you are protecting your own vision of the future at her expense. Can’t you see that? Can’t you see what you’re doing to me?”
For the first time since her mother died, she let him see the pain he’d caused her with his disapproval and criticism, with his constant emotional detachment. Eventually his expression changed until he looked almost stricken. “I did it for you. If you are to rule, you must be tough.”
“I am tough. In many ways. But not in the ways that matter to you as king. That’s why I think it would be best that the crown pass to Anna instead of me.”
“That is impossible.”
“No, it’s not. It’s happened before. I checked with Desiree. And she told me that Queen Adrianna was actually the second-oldest child. The history books don’t bring that up, but she showed me the family bible. The oldest child was Kristina.”
“She went into a nunnery,” her father retorted. “Is that what you are planning on doing?”
“She had a higher calling. So do I. I want to make a difference in those children’s lives. And the restrictions placed on me as the future queen of Volzemburg prevent me from doing that. Anna is the one who should be queen. You know she’d do an exceptional job at it. And she’d be much more willing to marry Sebastian than I am. This is the best thing for both your daughters, Father. It also happens to be the best thing for the Crown of Volzemburg.”
He looked at her as if finally realizing he couldn’t change her mind—or her. “Have you spoken with Anna about this?”
“I wanted to speak to you first. I’m sorry to have disappointed you all these years.” Her voice was choked with emotion. “I really did try hard to be the kind of daughter you wanted me to be.”
His eyes held more than a hint of melancholy as he softly said, “You are so much like your mother.”
Vanessa shook her head. “I wish I were, but I’m not.”
“Oh, but you are.” He reached out to touch her cheek. “You are just as fiercely independent as she was. When she was pregnant with you and there were complications, it didn’t matter that we had excellent doctors here. She wanted to return home to America and she went. She was very headstrong, and once she got an idea into her head there was no changing her mind. Yes, you are very much like her.”
“Then how could she handle being queen?”
“Because she loved me. She did it for me. I thought perhaps if you could grow to love Sebastian, you would curb your independence because of your love. But instead you fell in love with an American Marine.”
“I’m not—”
He cut her off. “I know you, Vanessa. You wouldn’t be kissing a man in public the way you were if you didn’t have strong feelings for him.”
“I’ll get over him,” she fiercely vowed. “I’ll be much too busy helping the children. We’re hoping to launch a major fund-raiser soon.”
“Why not do that at the masquerade ball this weekend?”
His suggestion surprised her. “But the ball is to celebrate your birthday.”
“What is that saying, something about killing two birds with one stone? We can do both. Celebrate my birthday and launch your new foundation.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “Are you doing this because you think it will make me change my mind about the crown going to Anna?”
“No, I’m doing this because it is the right thing to do. I will go speak to Anna now. Despite what you think, I do love both my daughters. And I am sorry you felt you disappointed me. As you said, I was not viewing you as a father but as your king. No father could have wished for a more loving daughter, Vanessa.”
His quiet pronouncement brought her to tears as she gripped his outstretched hand. “I love you, Father.” She hadn’t said the words since she was a little girl.
If he turned her away now, her heart, already broken by Mark, would never recover. His other hand trembled as he placed it on her bent head. “I…” His voice sounded rusty. “I love you, too.”
“I have to be careful around the candles tonight, I fear I may be flammable,” Desiree declared with her customary flair for drama. She was wearing a designer dress with a puffed pink ostrich-feather skirt. She’d scorned wearing a mask—“What, cover this gorgeous face?” she’d said in outrage. On her left hand was the flawless five-carat diamond ring the Italian count had given her, and in her right hand was a silver magic wand.
Vanessa thought she was carrying this godmother thing a bit far, but then that was Desiree. She wasn’t a woman to do things in half measure. And neither was Vanessa.
Tonight was the launch of her Safe Haven for Children Foundation. She’d been working nonstop the past three days getting ready for it, so she was tired, but this was a good kind of exhaustion, the kind that came with knowing you were making a difference. Just from the advance press coverage alone, they’d already gotten enough donated funds to triple the nursery staff at the orphanage in Romania she’d visited a few months ago. Babies needed to be held and touched, or they didn’t develop emotional bonds and as a result had problems that stayed with them long into adulthood. Increasing the staff increased the ratio of adults to babies.
She’d also worked on setting up an exchange program with college students from Volzemburg volunteering several months of their time to simply hold the babies and rock them and talk to them. American hospitals had a similar program for premature infants who had to stay in the hospital.
It was wonderful finally being able to focus all her attention on the charity dearest to her heart.
There was no word from the man dearest to her heart. Not that she expected Mark to contact her. What was there left to say? He’d never told her he loved her, he’d just looked at her that way and kissed her that way.
No, she couldn’t think about him tonight. She must not. This was the night for the foundation and for her father.
“Well, mes enfants, you look absolutely ravishing. Those dresses are simply divine.”
Desiree had excellent taste. Both Vanessa and Anna were dressed like fairy-tale princesses in dresses that would have done Cinderella proud, with a tight bodice and waist flaring out to a full, long skirt with a slight train in the back. Anna’s dress was in a lovely lavender shade while Vanessa’s was white. Both wore diamond tiaras in their upswept hair. And both wore samples from the royal jewels—Anna had the sapphire set and Vanessa wore the diamond necklace their father had made for their mother. Their dresses’ off-the-shoulder necklines displayed the jewelry to perfection as well as showing just a hint of cleavage.
Which worried Anna. “Are you sure it is proper to show so much…”
“Bosom?” Desiree said. “You want Sebastian to notice you, yes?”
“I have a certain standard to uphold now,” Anna reminded her, referring to the announcement that would be made tonight.
“And you shall uphold it while upholding your bosom. Now come, leiblings.” Desiree
tapped them each on the shoulder with her silver wand. “It is time for us to make our grand entrance.”
And grand it was, with the three women poised at the top of the palace’s grand staircase leading directly to the royal ballroom. The floor on the stairway and the ballroom itself was laid in a beautiful pattern of different-colored marble. The mirrored walls reflected the gathered aristocratic crowd, all elegantly dressed in brightly colorful costumes with jewels flashing.
Liveried trumpeters, wearing the white and gold colors of state, heralded their arrival. “Their Highnesses, the Princess Vanessa Von Volzemburg and Princess Anna Von Volzemburg and the Countess Desiree Dupres-Konig-Bernini.”
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Abraham Rosenthal softly asked Mark as they gazed up at the St. Kristoff Castle.
Mark had studied the layout ahead of time. Inside the castle walls were the palace itself, residential buildings and a chapel. It stood on a hillside slightly above the quaint city of St. Kristoff, looking like a fairy-tale castle with its spires, towers and graceful lines.
The place was pretty intimidating. What could he offer a woman who lived in a place like this? Love, he reminded himself. True love, the kind that lasted a lifetime. He could only hope it would be enough.
“Crashing the king’s party? You’ve thought this through?” Abraham inquired.
“I didn’t ask you to come with me,” Mark reminded him. “You were the one who insisted on tagging along.”
“I figured you could use some backup. Semper fi and all that.”
“Or did it have something to do with that quiet little lady-in-waiting?”
“She may be quiet, but she’s feisty underneath.”
“She may not be glad to see you,” Mark warned him.
“Vanessa may not be glad to see you, either,” Abraham retorted.
“That’s a given. I’ll just have to convince her otherwise.”