Prologue: About Her Secret
Charlotte has a secret. A really well kept secret. There are only three people who know about it: Her son of a bitch father, her addict of a mother and herself. Charlotte's secret was born at home with the help of two private doctors. Her secret was six pounds, three ounces and very healthy. Her secret was a little girl.
Charlotte was in her first year of med. school when she had that drunken one nightstand. She hid her secret well in school and when she came home for summer vacation she made all the plans for the adoption and her home birth. Her parents happily paid whatever amount their daughter needed to keep everything covered up. After all the Kings were a very prominent family and they did have a reputation to protect.
After the birth, the child went to her adoptive family and everything was settled. At least that's what Charlotte thought. Her father, Big Daddy, had different feelings. For a week after the birth of his granddaughter he found himself worrying. The little girl was still a King after all. No matter where she went she would always be family. And he may have not raised his own children right (he admits that perhaps he had been too hard on all of them) but he could raise this child right.
And so he found the adoptive parents or rather parent, for the baby's new parent was a single mother, and gained partial custody. Granted, he had to provide a generous allowance for the mother. In truth he found the adoptive mother unsettling. How could she be so willing to give away her custody of her child, even if it was only partial?
Within a year, he had the mother and his granddaughter who was now called Charlene Smith-King, who he fondly calls Charlie, moved to Monroeville, Alabama. Picking the name was also something he had negotiated. He named her after her mother. Not that Charlotte even knew, but he thought it was nice. Charlie was Charlotte's nickname too.
By the time Charlene reached her fifth birthday, he had full custody of her, but she still lived adoptive mother, who grew more irresponsible as the years went on. Charlene had been added to the family will even though nobody except himself and his wife knew that she was a real King. Oh, and he got rid of the Smith part of her last name when Charlene had to call him to pick her up from school for the third time that week because her mother had forgotten about her. He had money and power and he would do whatever it took to protect his little Charlie.
He gave Charlene the best of everything. He took her to plays, musicals and museums. He sent her to the best private school where she excelled and skipped two grades just like her mother. Charlene King grew to be more and more like her mother every day. Beautiful, smart and oh, so curious about everything. She had her mother's green eyes, silky blonde hair and little upturned nose. It seemed that she had also inherited Charlotte's small stature.
But whatever Charlene was, he adored her. He knew that his time was running up. It was cancer and he needed to be sure that Charlene had someone to take care of her. It seemed only natural that it be Charlotte. So in his will you'll find that full custody has been transferred to a Dr. Charlotte L. King.