Suddenly Royal
Page 90

“Yeah?” I pulled stuff out of my carry-on bag, hoping I’d stuck the e-reader in there for some reason.
“Hi to you, too.” Alex laughed. “Bad day?”
“Yes. The doctor never called me back and a very nice lady spent three hours refusing to speak any English.” I shook out my jacket, but still no e-reader.
“I’m sorry Dr. Bielefeld didn’t call you back.” The rumble of his voice went a long way to soothing me. “Something important must’ve come up.”
“Probably. I just want to know more about my dad’s scan and medicine.” I sat on my bed and sighed. “Just a frustrating day.”
“I can tell.” He was quiet for a minute. “Did you learn any Lilarian?”
“A little. I guess she’s doing her job.”
“Well, that’s good.” He sounded distracted.
“What’s going on?”
“Eh, it can wait.”
“Oh no. Just get it out of the way.” I leaned back on the bed. Today was not going well.
“I don’t want to upset you.”
“What is it?” My stomach clenched.
“Someone published a picture of me at your house.”
“That’s not so bad.”
“Well, they also titled it Royal Rendezvous.” I could hear the worry in his voice so I tried to curb my immediate response. “Samantha?”
“It’s okay, Alex.” I chewed on my lip.
“I can hear in your voice that it’s not okay.”
“It’s fine.”
“Oh, now I know it’s bad. No matter what language a woman says those two words in, it means bad things.”
I chuckled weakly. “Seriously, it’s okay. I mean, they don’t know anything for sure. Maybe it’ll just blow over.”
“It might.”
“I think I’m going to call it an early night.” I closed my eyes.
“Okay. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Good night.”
The next morning my phone rang during breakfast and I almost dropped it in my rush to answer.
“Hello?”
“May I speak with Duchess Rousseau?” An accented voice asked politely.
“This is Samantha.”
“Ah, this is Dr. Bielefeld. I apologize for not returning your call yesterday. I had an emergency pop up.”
“That’s understandable. I just had a few questions about my father. He said that his scan hadn’t shown any changes and he was taking new medicines.” I got up and walked outside. “He seems pretty miserable.”
“Yes, I have his file here. Mr. Thompson’s scan didn’t show much change, so after speaking with his physician in the States we decided to try a medicine that is a lot more powerful. He’s likely experiencing some side effects.”
“What kind of side effects?”
“Nausea and insomnia are the most common, but he may also experience a change in mood and temperament.”
“I believe he’s dealing with all of those.” I sat down on the steps leading from the kitchen door to the yard. “Is this medicine necessary?”
“Duchess, I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t believe so.”
“Doctor, how bad is this? I thought he was doing better.”
“Cancer often leaves us scratching our heads, but we’re doing everything we can. Once Mr. Thompson is up to traveling, I’ll be making a trip to Rousseau to examine him personally.”
“I’m really worried.” I said the words quietly. “I thought he was doing better and this is a bit of a blow.”
“Samantha, I can only tell you so much. Your father’s cancer was never an easy case because it went so long without detection. At this point, we just need to try to keep it from spreading.”
“I understand.” I gripped the phone tightly. “Will we be able to get him over here soon?”
“I’m supposed to have a phone conference with his doctors tomorrow. I’ll let you know if there is anything I can tell you.”
“Thank you.”
I sat there on the steps and looked out over the yard. The main reason I had decided to come out here and accept my title was so I could get healthcare for my father. Now I was over here and he’s too sick to travel. I leaned forward, rested my elbows on my knees, and took a deep breath. I was here now and there were some things that had turned out pretty good. I’d made some friends. Cathy was the little sister I never had and it felt as if Chadwick had always been a fixture in my life. And then there was Alex.
Alex was by far the best part of all this mess. Even with all the media and scary pressure of what it meant to be in a relationship with a prince, he was worth it. In the middle of all this mess, he made me feel normal. We spoke every day and I missed him while he was gone. I missed him a lot. Taking a deep breath, I stood up and tucked my phone in my pants. There was no going back at this point. The scariest part was that I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
Mrs. Rewell spent the majority of the rest of the week working on my lessons. By Friday I could manage most of the phrases I would need for the ceremony. There had been speculation about me and Alex, but no one brought it up. In fact, the last time I’d seen a picture of Alex in the paper, the reporter had been speculating that Alex was secretly dating Adriane again. It had hurt, but I knew better than to give it any credit. Alex had attended a charity event that Adriane had set up, but had asked me to come with him. In fact, he asked me to go to every event he attended. I was the one who kept saying no. I just wasn’t ready to deal with the media explosion that would happen when it was official. I refused to look at the papers after that and even Chadwick had stopped reading them when I was around.