privacy and will talk to you later.”
They both hugged her before she hurried out of the apartment. He put his arm around Christina’s waist and walked her back to the bedroom. “Before we do anything else, I need to take another look at your foot. Why don’t you get undressed first? I want to make certain it is healing properly.”
“This is almost like déjà vu.”
While she started to take off her top and pants, her phone rang again. She’d left it on the end of the bed. “Let me get this first.” The caller ID said it was her great-aunt calling.
She clicked on. “Sofia?”
“Welcome home, darling. How was your trip?”
“Heavenly.”
“But you’ve come home to a viper’s nest. I know something that you don’t and I’m calling to warn you.”
Antonio came to stand next to her.
She gripped the phone harder. “What is it?”
“I’ve spent part of the day with your parents. Your father has left for the palace to talk to you. I tried in my own way to ask him to wait until tomorrow, but you know how he is.”
Yes… Christina knew exactly.
“For once in your life, darling, stand up to him and don’t let him bully you. He’s like his father and grandfather, born mean-spirited.”
This conversation meant her father was furious. “He’s a hard man to confront because he doesn’t have a soft side.”
“Unfortunately your mother has always been too afraid of him to intercede for you.”
Her eyes filmed over. “I always had you, Aunt Sofia.”
“And you’ve been one of my greatest joys.”
“Thank you for alerting me.”
“If there’s anything I can do…”
Christina turned to Antonio. “My husband and I are prepared to face whatever is coming. I love you so much for caring. Talk to you again soon.” She clicked off.
“What’s going on?” he murmured.
“My father is on his way over to talk to me.”
“I won’t leave you alone with him.”
She loved Antonio for saying that. “Knowing his style of quick attack, he won’t be here long. Do you mind if we talk in the living room?”
“Of course not. This is our home. You can have anyone you want here, anytime.”
“Thank you.” She rose on tiptoe and kissed him.
“I’ll go downstairs to my office and talk to my executive assistant. If you need me, I’ll be here in an instant.” She nodded. He put on a fresh sport shirt and left the apartment. Antonio was far too handsome for his own good.
This was her first chance to walk around her new home. The palace was a magnificent structure. Antonio’s apartment was bigger than any home she’d ever been in. Already she knew her favorite place would be the terrace overlooking the water.
To think Antonio had been born here and had lived here until he was old enough to be sent away to schools and college. There was so much to learn about him as a child as well as an adult, but she couldn’t concentrate when she knew her father would be coming any minute.
The phone on the bedside table rang. She walked over to pick it up. “Yes?”
“Princess Christina? This is the office calling. Your father is here to speak to you.”
“Can you send him to our apartment?”
“Si, signora.”
“Grazie.”
“Prego.”
Five minutes later she heard the knock on the door and opened it to see her father standing there. “Come into the living room, Papa.”
He looked around while he followed her, but he didn’t take a seat when she suggested it.
“Where’s your husband?”
“In his office downstairs.”
“What I have to say won’t take long.”
It never does.
His eyes glittered with anger. “If you want to do one thing to restore the name Rose in people’s estimation, you’ll leave Antonio for the good of the monarchy.”
“I thought you wanted a king for a son-in-law.”
He stared at her. “Not when his queen dishonored him by being with another man during the engagement. The people will forgive him, but they’ll never forgive you.”
She lifted her chin. “I didn’t dishonor him. Is that all you came to say?”
His lips thinned. “Use the one shred of decency left in you to allow Antonio to rule with the right queen at his side. He may stand by you now, but in time doubts will creep in, and doubt can ruin a marriage faster than anything else. Let him marry Princess Gemma.”
“Antonio didn’t want her the first time around. He chose me.”
Her father’s cheeks grew ruddy. “The archbishop will sanction a divorce since the marriage was fraudulent and your behavior during the engagement has painted you an immoral woman. You have one more opportunity in your life to right a tremendous wrong. Then public sentiment will end up being kind to you.”
“So if I do that and bow out of his life, will you forgive me for being born a woman instead of a man and be kind to me?”
“The one has nothing to do with the other.”
Her breath caught. “You mean that no matter what I do, there can be no forgiveness from you in this life?”
“You always were a difficult child.”
She stiffened and fought her tears. “I’m your daughter. Yours and Mother’s. I wanted your love. I wanted your acceptance. I tried everything under the sun to be the child you could love.”
“We gave you everything, didn’t we?” He turned to leave.
“Papa—”
Halfway out the door he said, “Has he told you he loves you? Because if he hasn’t, then you need to do the right thing. If you don’t know what is in Antonio’s heart, why take the risk?”
Beyond tears, she walked out to the terrace, clutching her arms to her waist. The warning phone call from her aunt Sofia hadn’t helped. She’d been thrown into a black void. Antonio had never said he loved her. She hadn’t expected him to love her, but that was before they’d gone to Tahiti together and she’d found rapture with him.
If she truly didn’t know what was in Antonio’s heart, then was it a risk to stay in the marriage as her father said?
After standing there for a while, she went back to the bedroom and called the palace switchboard. “Would you connect me with the palace press secretary please?”
“Si.”
In a minute a male voice came on the line.
“This is Princess Christina. I have a statement to come out on the evening news. I’ll have it sent to your office by messenger. If you value your job, you’ll tell no one. I mean, not a single soul.”
“Capisco, Princess.”
She hung up and went into the den, where she wrote out what she wanted to say. It didn’t take long. After putting the note in an envelope and sealing it, she phoned the charity foundation in Voti. Arianna, the manager, answered the phone. Thank heaven she was still there.
“Christina?