Royal - Danielle Steel Page 0,55

Jonathan was convinced it had to be, for the Windsors’ sake, and also for Annie’s. She had a right to know who she was, and what had happened, and that Lucy loved her, but was in fact not her mother. Jonathan had no idea how Annie would react to the news, not to mention the Windsors’ reaction. And he wanted to clear Lucy’s name and protect her. What she had done was very wrong, but also naïve, and she had been suffering from the loss of her own family, and clinging to the infant for love and comfort, however misguided.

It was a most unusual story. Lucy was not delusional, she was trying to repair the mistakes of the past at the eleventh hour. They were not small mistakes. Whether she meant to or not, Lucy had stolen Annie from the Windsors for more than two decades, her entire life so far, and had deprived Annie of the life she had been born to and had a right to, with her royal family, in a palace, not the life of the child of a housemaid and a stable master in Kent. The biggest question of all was how to get the information to the queen now, without causing a scandal, and catching the attention of the press, and then leaving the royal family to handle it as they wished. Jonathan didn’t want Lucy to be punished for an enormous error of judgment she had committed at nineteen. And what would Annie think of Lucy once she knew, and found out that the mother she loved in fact wasn’t? She had lived with a lie all her life, and was someone else entirely than she thought she was.

One thing was certain in Jonathan’s mind. The Windsors would want to see Annie. And the other thing he felt sure of was that Lucy had made a terrible mistake, and taken it too far. He was grateful she had told him, and he lay awake thinking about it all night. He was sitting next to her on their bed, when she woke up the next morning. In spite of the drops that had made her sleep, she remembered immediately what she had asked him to do, and she searched his eyes as soon as she woke up.

“Did you read it all?”

He nodded, with a serious look. “I did. That’s quite a story. You got in over your head through a series of unusual circumstances, and some bad decisions on your part, made from the heart.”

“I don’t regret it, I love her. But now I wonder if she’ll hate me for keeping her from the life she was born to. We should tell her, but I don’t want to just yet.”

“We both love her, and she won’t hate you,” he said quietly. “But she has a right to know where she comes from.” He was the only father she had ever known, and Lucy the only mother, but in fact she had an entire family of aunts and uncles and cousins, a grandmother who had loved Annie’s rightful mother. She was a royal princess, and no matter where she had grown up, that could not be denied. He wasn’t sure how Annie would feel about it. She was hard to predict at times, and could be stubborn too. He didn’t know if she’d be angry or only shocked, and it was shocking, even to him. It was hard to believe that his wife could do such a thing, and had gotten away with it, but she had. For almost twenty-one years.

They were still talking about it when Annie came in with a breakfast tray for both of them, and her stepfather stared at her as though seeing her for the first time. Suddenly her natural grace and elegance made sense, as did her skill as a rider, even her passion for horses, which the royal family was famous for. She was heavily influenced by her bloodline. He was looking at her intently, thinking of what they would all have to face when the truth surfaced, and Annie stared back at him, confused.

“What? Do I seem weird or something? You’re looking at me as if I have two heads.”

“Not that I’m aware of.” He smiled. She left the room then and he glanced at his wife. “Do you want to tell her?” But Lucy shook her head. She knew she had to, or thought she should, but she was exhausted and didn’t feel up