Daniel enters the library behind us with my father close on his heels. I can feel my father’s gaze burning a hole through me. I wish this part would be over and we could start getting to know one another. Despite the way he’s been acting, we have a connection. If he plays this right, we both can have my mother back.
Dante pulls me to the settee furthest from the door and away from my father. Daniel leans his backside against the front of his desk with crossed arms looking at me, waiting for my father to sit. This is the first real chance I’ve had to look at my father. His eyes are a piercing blue and in this light his dark brown hair looks almost black. He is handsome and I can see why my mother fell for him in the first place. But what did he see in her?
“Start explaining.” My father says sternly, looking first at Daniel then to me.
His gaze travels to Dante’s and my clasped hands then back up to Dante’s face. I feel dismissed again. Dante stiffens next to me, ready to erupt at any moment. I squeeze his hand reassuringly.
“I think it’s best if Daniel explains because up until recently, I never knew you or this place existed.” I say, sounding smug but not sorry for it because he needs to know that I am in the dark as much as him.
Daniel explains everything from the moment he and I met including what was uncovered in his father’s files up to my flight from New York. He told him about the men chasing us out of Paris. My father’s expression hardened then softened slightly towards the end. Daniel looks at me when he finishes.
“I think Daphne can tell you her side. Michael, you have an amazing daughter. She and Dante have had to endure quite a life so far. He has protected her with his own life at times.”
Dante straightens further at Daniel’s accolades towards his character. My father nods in Dante’s direction. His gaze falls upon me. It is no longer full of accusation and malice, but still not the loving one I was hoping for.
“I’ll start back as far as I can remember. I think I was five when…..” I explain in detail, my whole life.
There are times during the explanation that Dante steps in to add some tidbit or to correct me. I enlighten my father as to how important Dante is to me. I tell him what type of mother she was. I tell how she was addicted to drugs. I let the flood gates open as I replay my life in vivid detail.
“I hope you accept me, but you need to know that if you do accept me, then you accept Dante. We are a package deal. I do not go anywhere without him as Daniel can vouch. Even though we don’t share blood, he is my brother.” I say staring at my father.
My father looks back and forth between the both of us, then glances at Daniel.
“You know what this means?” My father says then points at Dante and me. “And you’re okay with this?”
“Without a doubt. I encouraged Daphne to have Dante as her personal assistant.” Daniel adds.
“Why would she need a personal assistant?” My father asks.
“As my wife, she will need someone to help her navigate the aristocracy as a duchess should.” Daniel supplies evenly, never mentioning me becoming queen.
My father looks taken aback as much as I am by Daniel’s words. We said I needed a personal assistant as princess and subsequent queen, not because I was marrying him. We never actually discussed this proposed marriage.
“What about Lady Elizabeth?” My father asks coldly. “Have you forgotten about her in your quest for my throne?”
The tension in the room rises. Daniel looks taken aback. He pushes himself away from the desk to his full height then walks to my side. His fists clench then release as he starts to speak barely controlling anger.
“No, I haven’t forgotten about her. But we all know, ours is not a love match. It would have been a marriage of necessity. I don’t want your throne, only what is mine by rights. Rights that you, as King, know all too well. I want her whether you decide to claim her or not as your daughter.”
Daniel’s declaration brings tears to my eyes. No one, besides Dante, has ever fought for me the way Daniel is right now. He professed to never having loved Elizabeth, but he hasn’t said he loves me either. What’s the saying, “don’t count your chicks until their hatched?”
“So, what you’re saying is that if I deny her you will still marry her?” My father asks.
“You are a fool if you don’t, but yes I will. There is no other woman out there for me. She is it.”
Michael, as I am now starting to think of the man who should be my father, looks at me with soft eyes. I seek Daniel’s hand. He rests it on my shoulder instead. My father notices this and something in the way he looks at me changes.
He asks me gently, “May I speak with you alone.”
“Abs-” Dante starts, but I cut him off
“Sure.” I say to him then look at Dante. “I’ll be fine. You and Daniel aren’t going to be too far away.”
“Dante, she’ll be fine.” Daniel says reassuringly.
Michael looks a little taken back by Dante’s fierce protectiveness, but pleased at the same time. Dante searches my face and whatever he sees must reinforce what Daniel said because he nods curtly. Daniel kisses me on the crown of my head before leaving. Dante kisses our joined hands before rising. When he walks past my father, he stops directly in front of him.
“You hurt or upset her, I will hurt you. I don’t care who you are.” He says then storms off.
Daniel closes the door behind them.
Michael walks over to the chair next to the settee and settles down. He looks at his clasped hands for what seems like an eternity. When he looks up, I see in the depths of his eyes the years of sorrow since my mother left. He is nothing like Daniel explained. I don’t see the gay, emotional man that Daniel knows. I see a man, a heterosexual man like Daniel. A man who has been hurt by life.
“I never knew.” He says quietly. “If only I knew…”
“I know you didn’t, but you do now.” I say equally as quiet. “Can you tell me about her? The mother I knew is quite different then the woman, I think, you knew.”
“I don’t know what happened. She never told me she was pregnant. If I had known, I don’t know if I would have made the same decisions I made back then.”
“What was she like?”
He grabs my hands in his.
“You look like her, the same coloring and stature, but Daniel is right, your eyes are like looking in a mirror.”
“My mother used to say I looked like you. I thought she was just saying that.” I remark.
“It’s only your eyes.” He replies sadly. “Otherwise you are all her.”
“When she used to talk about the mark on my shoulder, she mentioned it with such hatred and I didn’t understand why.”
“I don’t know why Edward never said anything to me either.” He says thoughtfully. “He would have been the only person to mark you.”
“I don’t think he meant for me or my mother disappear. She must have had help escaping because Daniel couldn’t find anything in his father’s papers until right before he died.” I supply.
“What happened?” He asks.
“From what we have been able to piece together, my mother ran away shortly after I was born. She told Edward she was going back to Scotland. She never made it there. We found proof that she went to France and took a ship from there. The boat she left here in was reported missing. There were extensive notes in Edwards’s file regarding the search for the boat. He never seemed to give up looking for it. She changed her name to Delaney Michels and mine to Daphne.”
“Edward told me she died in Scotland. She was supposedly distraught after I formally denounced her, but I never did it in my heart.” He explains sadly.
“I think Edward knew this which is why he probably never told you about me. Why upset you further with news of a child you would never know.”
“Why would she leave?”
“Things were a bit rough for you back then. Daniel told me there were numerous attempts made on your life as well as my mother’s. You were forced to choose the country.” I say softly. “I think that’s when it must have all started. Looking back on what she said and what I remember, I think she may have been suffering from depression. She died of an overdose. I remember she used to take pills, but eventually she went to the harder stuff. I can’t help but think maybe she wasn’t an addict after all.”
He shakes his head in disbelief.
“During her lucid moments and some not so, she would tell me we were being chased because of you. I always thought she was crazy. I remember a time when someone did come up to me asking me my mother’s name.”
“I am so sorry.” He whispers.
I shake my head trying to dispel the images of the abuse and her dead body.
“I think Edward did eventually find us and that was who came up to me. I also believe she and Edward were trying to keep me safe.”
“But why not tell me?” He asks.
“I don’t know and I don’t think we will ever know. But what matters now? What we do from here?”
He looks at me questioningly.
“Will you claim me as your daughter?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” He asks, seeming upset that I would think differently.
“Well, you did give Daniel a hard time about me.” I retort.
“Let first ask you, do you want to marry him?” He asks gravely.
“Yes. I do”
“Your life is going to change regardless. You won’t have any of the freedoms you have now. I want you to marry, but I want you to marry for love not because of duty. Even if that means that other fellow.”
“Who? Dante? Eww. No!”
He chuckles.
“I do think Daniel and I still need to get to know one another better.”
He laughs then says soberly, “Did he tell you how a princess is supposed to go to her marriage bed?”
I blush crimson and nod.
“We had that discussion and let me tell you, I plan on changing that when I’m queen.” I blush even more.
“Then that won’t be a problem?” He asks, blushing himself. “I never thought to be having this discussion with anyone especially not my daughter.”
“It won’t be a problem there.” I say not looking him in the face.
Never in a million years did I think I would be having a conversation about my sexual history with my father.
“Good!” He exclaims happily. “Then the Purists will have nothing to denounce your claim to the throne.”
“About that.” I say hesitantly. “I don’t want to actually become Queen, but know I must. Its part of my heritage. But, I don’t become Queen automatically, do I? I mean, Daniel said the women inherit the crown. I don’t want it now if I do. I need to know you and understand this new country of mine.”
“I see.” He says, diplomatically hiding his feelings.
“Don’t get me wrong. I want to be here with you and all that it entails.”
“Since you found me, I want you by my side in all things. We need to make up for lost time. I have a lot to teach you, not only about the country but about your mother and me. If nothing else, know you were conceived in love. Never doubt that child. I loved your mother dearly.” He reaches for my hands.
“Then why did you give Daniel a hard time?”
“In my position as King and your father, I need to know how Daniel feels about you. I need to know he is not a wolf in sheep’s clothing. When we make the announcement, there is going to be backlash and uproar. I need to know if he will stand by you no matter what. He has never given me any cause to think otherwise. I rely on him like I did his father.”
“There are so many things I want to know, but I don’t know where to start.”
He laughs and the tension seems to fade.
“We definitely have that in common.” He remarks.
I laugh along with him and that is how Daniel finds us when he steps back into the room a little while later. My father releases my hands, leaning back in his chair. Daniel sits down next to me on the settee, entwining our fingers. He kisses my knuckles while my father observes Daniel’s every move.
“Everything fine?” He asks me, ignoring my father’s presence.
I look at my father who blinks in acknowledgment. I nod at Daniel, leaning into him. His other arm wraps around my shoulder.
“Are we good?” Daniel asks my father.
“Yes. Thank you for bringing my daughter home.” My father says, and then looks at Dante. “Thank you for always keeping her safe. Words cannot express the gratitude I feel.”
Dante nods solemnly.
“I want everyone to know you, but understand what that means? Your life will never be the same. The Purists are not going to be happy.” My father explains, giving me the chance to back out.
“I understand.” I reply gravely.
My father stands up. Daniel lets go of me while I stand.
“Then come here child of mine.” My father says with shining eyes.
I walk into his outstretched arms with tears overflowing. He hugs me as a father hugs a child. I finally feel fully at peace. This powerful man is my father. A family is what I have always wished for and now I finally have it. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever take it away from me again.