After exchanging pleasantries, Margie leaned forward.
“I think I may have just solved one of the biggest entertainment mysteries of our time. I think I know what happened to Alex and Chris Slate.”
Abby’s eyes went wide. “You haven’t kept in touch with them? We know they dropped out of the limelight, but they haven’t kept in touch with their costars?”
“Not that I’m aware of. Chris and I had a very public relationship for several years, but even I never knew for sure where they came from.”
“But you think you’ve solved the mystery?” Tod asked.
Margie looked off-screen. “Can you put that picture of Prince Alexander back up and put it next to one of the promo shots with the Slate brothers?”
Julia gasped as the two pictures appeared side-by-side.
Margie went on. “I don’t know for sure, obviously, since it only just occurred to me, but the names can’t be a coincidence, can they? Everyone knew Slate was a stage name, and if I’m right, it’s probably because of Christopher Mayfield from the movies in the sixties, seventies, and eighties. The names were too close.” The picture returned to the two hosts and the actress. “I’m saying that perhaps the new prince should clear it up if it’s not true. Or Alex and Chris should.”
“Well, the rumors about a reunion have been around for a long time. With all the other reunions going on, like Girl Meets World and Fuller House, it seems the time could be right.” Tod shifted in his seat. “It’s been assumed it would go on without the Slate brothers. If this supposition is correct, and looking at the pictures, it certainly could be, it doesn’t seem likely Prince Alexander would be involved anyway.”
Margie shrugged. “Who knows? Even though our characters were the main couple on the show, I never knew Alex very well. He was intensely private about most things, even more so than Chris.”
“Isn’t it odd that no one ever knew where they were from? Never visited their hometown with them?” Abby leaned forward in her chair. “I’ve been to Tod’s house many times. His wife makes a great brisket.”
“Oh, we did get together, but always in LA.” She waved a hand in the air. “Regardless of what Chris and Alex decide to do, there’s always been a huge call for a reunion. I’ve been talking with several of the others, including creator Dusty Ring, and we’d like to do this thing sometime in the next year or so. With the fifteen-year anniversary coming up, the timing seems right.”
Julia clicked the off button on the remote and grabbed her coat, rushing Alex outside ahead of her. Her boss’s brother was currently in the CVICU at Cox South. It gave her a reason to visit and see if Alexander remembered her.
Or the night he took her home.
* * *
“Did you see the news this morning?”
Alexander looked up as Christopher walked in the room. The grim look on his brother’s face told him he should have.
“No. Why?”
“Margie was on some morning show, saw a story about you being stateside, and put two and two together on the air.”
Alexander grimaced. “Did they buy the theory?”
“Lock, stock, and barrel. I talked to Mady half an hour ago. The calls are coming in fast and furious. Everything from the reunion show to BoyzGoneWild magazine. Again.”
“We’ve turned down every public appearance for a decade, and they think we’ll start now?” Alexander shook his head. “I’m married to the queen of Ravenzario, and they think I’ll do a photo shoot like that?”
“No, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Guess they’re hoping one of use would do it.”
Running a hand through his hair, Alexander stood up. “Guess we should go face the assembled masses. How many reporters are in front of the hospital?”
“About half as many as there will be in a couple hours. Is there someone we want to give the story to rather than just a press conference?”
Alexander thought about that. “Not right now. I’ll make a statement. You can if you want to, but I think we leave it at that for the time being. No questions.” He started for the door.
“Don’t you think you should call your wife first?”
Right. His wife. Had he talked to Christiana since arriving in Missouri? He didn’t think so. The timing hadn’t worked out. When he had a minute, she would have been sleeping or in a meeting. He didn’t want to wake her up or interrupt if he didn’t have to.
His brother had a point, though, so Alexander pulled his phone out and waited for the call to go through. But instead of Christiana, her assistant answered.
“Good morning, Diana.”
“It’s afternoon here, sir.” He could almost see the smile on the woman’s face. “How can I help you?”
“I need to speak with the queen.”
Alexander sensed hesitation on her part. “I’m afraid you can’t right now, sir. She’s asleep.”
Another pass of his fingers through his hair. “Okay. Will you tell her to call me as soon as she wakes up? I have to give a press conference. I wanted to talk to her first, but I really don’t want to put it off any longer.”
“About the news program this morning? She’s already seen the replays.”
How had she known about it before he did? And asleep? “Is she feeling all right? Or just tired?”
“Um, she didn’t sleep well.” There was the hesitation again. What wasn’t she telling him? “She’s feeling much better though. Dr. McCall checked on her earlier.”
He knew there had been no appointment scheduled. Why had the doctor stopped by? He started to ask, when something on the television caught his eye. Christopher had changed it to the news network, and they were replaying the spot. “Have her call me, would you?”
“Certainly, sir.”
He didn’t say good-bye but hung up, crossing his arms across his chest as his brother turned up the sound. “Nothing earth-shattering,” he said as it cut back to new anchors speculating away. “Except for the revelation of our identities, but we knew that would happen someday.”
The camera switched to the outside of the hospital. “I guess we need to find the hospital PR people and figure out where we can have a short press conference. If they’d rather us just walk out and do it there, that’s fine with me, but I’d rather work with them than irritate them.”
“I agree.”
Mom walked into the small waiting room, the weight of the world resting on her shoulders and visible on her face. “I heard the news. Dad and Gramps are with Mom. What’s the plan?”
They talked for a few more minutes before heading out to find the hospital PR people.
Chapter 26
Christiana was finally feeling a bit better. She no longer felt like her insides were going to explode or that the smallest sip of Sprite would send her running to the nearest trash can. Her entire body still ached, sore from using muscles rarely exercised. The hot, but not too hot, bath had helped, but not nearly enough. Maybe she should have Diana arrange for a massage.
The thought brought to mind Alexander’s shoulder massage several weeks earlier. The man knew what he was doing as he’d expertly kneaded her stress away. What she wouldn’t give to have him lying next to her, rubbing her lower back, maybe even holding her as he slept.
He did that every once in a while. She did not think he realized he did it. The first time she woke up with his arm around her, she barely dared to breath. The warm cocoon had lulled her back to sleep in record time. It had not happened every night, or even all that often, but often enough she missed it when it did not.
Diana walked quietly into the room. Christiana needed to make sure the woman got a nice bonus. She had been going above and beyond for some time but with the pregnancy, she rarely went home, choosing instead to live in the staff apartments.
“I am awake.” Christiana pushed herself into a sitting position. “Have you heard from the prince?”
“He called a bit ago, ma’am. He had just found out about the revelations on television this mor
ning and wanted to speak with you.”
Right. Everyone now knew she was married to teen heartthrob Alex Slate.
“The press conference will be starting in a minute.” Diana picked up the remote and lowered the screen, pulling up the live feed of one of the news networks as they waited.
Alexander had not consulted her? Had he spoken with Charlyn?
The exterior of the hospital showed behind a local reporter who was being picked up by the network. Likely she hoped it would be her chance to break into the big time. It was not a huge story like 9/11 had been or covering a natural disaster would be, but nonetheless a chance to get some limelight.
The sound stayed turned down but Christiana’s eyes narrowed as she looked through the glass doors. Was that Alexander? Or Christopher? Whichever one it was, he was hugging a woman. A long hug. Perhaps an old family friend? Please, God, let that be an old family friend.
Whichever brother it was finally released the woman and turned. When he did, Christiana’s fears were confirmed. Alexander walked out of the doors first with Christopher hot on his heels. Alexander stepped up to the microphones with his brother just behind and to his right. Diana turned up the sound in time to hear the shouted questions quiet down.
“Thank you for coming on such short notice.” Alexander shuffled the papers in front of him then looked directly into the camera. “This morning, Margie McCoy made a supposition that my brother and I are also Chris and Alex Slate from the show 2 Cool 4 School. In that moment, she uncovered something we worked very hard to keep from the public. After the show ended, Christopher and I both just wanted to begin our ‘grown-up’ lives. College, careers, families, without the celebrity specter hanging over us all the time. We always knew this day would come, but we were able to have private lives successfully.”
He gave a wry grin. “Until, of course, I married a queen. That was something none of us could have anticipated. I don’t regret it for a moment and never will. We do ask that you continue to respect our privacy, especially that of our family and friends. The press organizations that cooperate will be given the chance to be among the first we do interviews with. On a personal note, our family asks that you keep our grandmother in your prayers as she recovers from her heart attack. I also ask for your prayers as Queen Christiana continues to struggle,” Christiana winced. “with a difficult pregnancy. Thank you for your time.”
“Except for making me sound like an invalid, it is about what I anticipated.” She did border on being an invalid, but the world being told that irked her. Christiana dragged her attention back to the screen as Christopher took Alexander’s spot.
“I don’t have much to add, except to thank all of you for the continued support of 2 Cool 4 School. Neither of us anticipates being involved in an official reunion special at this point in time.” He started to back away then returned. “And for the record, all requests from BoyzGoneWild and similar magazines or websites will be met with the same resounding ‘no’ they always have been.”
He turned and walked away, ignoring the shouted questions. Christiana took the remote and turned it off.
“Shall I contact the Office of Tourism? I would imagine the number of tourists will jump in the next few weeks.”
Christiana turned the thought over in her head. “Yes. We need to begin to anticipate the additional tourists, doing our best to encourage the highlighting of our culture and lands while discouraging the exploitation of Alexander personally.”
“Agreed.” Diana picked up the phone and placed the call. After speaking with the Minister of Tourism for a moment, she hung up. “The prince already called them. Or rather Justin did at his request.”
“Good.” Something about the whole thing left her unsettled. Perhaps once she spoke with Alexander, it would help.
Diana answered an incoming call. Christiana saw the smile cross her face. “Yes, sir. She’s right here.” She held out the phone. “It’s your husband, ma’am.”
“Hello?” She did not know quite how to address him.
“Diana told me you heard?” No greeting. Straight to business.
“Yes. I saw your press conference. Have you really had offers from BoyzGoneWild?” Whatever possessed her to ask such a thing?
“Just this morning,” he confirmed. She could almost see the grim set of his mouth. “Don’t worry. Neither of us would ever agree to it, much less together.”
“I did not doubt that. I just did not know you received such offers.”
“Many times. Starting about six months before we turned eighteen. We’ve turned them all down.” She heard him blow out a breath. “I’m heading back in a few minutes. As soon as the plane can be ready. There’s not much I can do here except draw unnecessary attention to the hospital and interrupt already stressful times for lots of other people. My family will keep me updated.”
“Very well. I will make sure everyone necessary is notified on this end.”
“I already did.”
“Oh.” Christiana deflated back against the pillows. “I suppose I will see you later tonight.”
“It’ll be late when I get in.” He sounded distracted. “I’ll probably just sleep in my room so I don’t bother you.” Before she could respond, he went on. “I gotta run. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Christiana stared at the buzzing phone. “Good-bye.”
* * *
“You’re fired.”
The words rang over and over in Julia’s head as she drove home twenty minutes after she arrived at work. She’d tried to explain to her boss that she’d gone to the hospital to visit his brother, a former classmate of hers. It was the absolute truth. She’d also hoped to get a chance to talk with Alexander, even for just a minute. Just because.
She wouldn’t have stalked him. Just if she happened to run into him while she was there. Checking up on her old friend really was something she’d been meaning to do anyway. Running into Alexander had been a bonus.
And she had talked to Alexander for just a minute. He seemed to recognize her though she couldn’t be sure. Unfortunately, she’d forgotten about the meeting she was supposed to set up for. Normally, it didn’t matter too much what time she got to work as long as she got her work done, but today she was to have gotten the conference room ready. Julia had even left a message for her boss telling him she’d be late. Their normal procedure. But with the conference room not ready for the meeting it was too much.
By the time she reached home, her headache had reached epic proportions, and her tears had long since left her dehydrated. Once inside the apartment, she sat on the couch, staring into space.
Julia had no idea, how long she sat there before her phone buzzed, but the text from her mom about her trip sent her into a fresh round of tears.
Her Alex had picked the place for their spring break trip. And because he wanted to visit the country where the nice man his mama knew lived, she’d booked the trip to Revenzario. A splurge. One she shouldn’t have made. She knew she shouldn’t have even when clicking the buttons. Sales helped. And the islands were gorgeous. They had a wonderful week and a half planned. They had no idea what Prince Alexander’s schedule was, but she’d planned to look it up when they arrived and hope there might be a good time for them to at least see him in person.
The tickets were paid for. The rental car was paid for, as was the ferry crossing and the deposits on some of the hotel rooms had already been put on her credit card, with money set aside to cover it. None of it was refundable.
Alex would be devastated if they didn’t take the trip. With her help, he’d researched all the cool places to go and painstakingly mapped it all out. He helped pick the hotels and planned to tell all of his friends about it when they returned.
Julia texted her mom back. It was only a few days away, and she’d do her best to keep her job loss a secret until after they returned. No reason to stress anyone else out over her downturn in income.
And maybe, just maybe, Steve would cool down. She’d screwed
up. Big time. She knew that, but she’d also been an invaluable asset to the company for some time. Maybe he’d give her another chance.
If not...well, she’d cross that bridge when she got to it.
* * *
Alexander reached for the other side of the bed, not quite awake as he wondered where the warmth he usually found spooned behind his wife had disappeared to. Was Christiana sick?
He opened one eye and looked to see the other side of the bed hadn’t been slept in. Sitting up he realized why. When he got back to the palace in the wee hours of the morning, he’d changed into pajama pants and collapsed into the bed in the room he’d used when they first returned to the palace.
But...he leaned back against the headboard. The bedding was the same as Christiana’s room. Had it been when he’d lived in here before? He swung his feet over the edge, grabbed a t-shirt, and walked out into the living area. Diana was at her desk, talking with someone, though he couldn’t figure out whom. She held up a hand to keep him from going into Christiana’s bedroom.
A minute later, she hung up. “It’s good to have you back, sir. How’s your grandmother?”
Alexander shrugged. “Last I heard, she was recovering as well as could be expected, and her doctors anticipate a mostly full recovery though it may take some time.” A thought crossed his mind. “Have you heard something else since I got in?”
She shook her head. “No, sir.”
“Is the queen in?”
“No, sir. She’ll be back in a little bit.”
Did Diana look uncomfortable? “Where is she?”
“Out for a walk. Not a long one, but she wanted to get outside for a few minutes. Dr. McCall’s nurse went with her.”
“Why was the nurse here?”
Definitely shifting uncomfortably. “Dr. McCall was here earlier checking on the queen.”
“Do you know where she is?” Oh, for a normal house. He’d have to change at least into jeans and a collared shirt before he could go find her. Even the baseball hat and sneakers he’d toss on would get him questionable looks.
Winning the Queen's Heart: Contemporary Christian Romance (The Brides of Belles Montagnes Book 2) Page 18