ROYAL SECRETS

CH 3

DIMITRI

I'll text you later tonight after she goes to bed. R

I'll be waiting.D

"Are you ok?"

"No, I'm not ok. I just found out I have a daughter."

"Are you sure she's yours?" I just glared at him.

"Ok, ok sorry." He put his hands up.

"I'm just trying to say you need to be sure she's really yours because this revelation is going to change everything."

"I know it is and I don't need a DNA test to prove she is mine." I sat down on the bench and put my head in my hands.

" I don't know what I'm going to do. We fly back to Russia on Sunday and I don't want to go. I want to stay here, where my daughter is."

"As your best friend and right hand man, you can't stay here. You have to be home before the baby gets here. I know what you are going to say. He's not yours, I know that, but as far as the people of Baia are concerned he is the heir to the throne."

"He's not, my daughter is."

"I know she is, but as of right now you are married to Tasha and her baby is. We have to leave on Sunday."

"Though I wouldn't mind staying for that hunky uncle of hers."

"Ivan, seriously my life has been completely turned upside down and you're talking about a cute guy."

"What? I can't help it, he's cute. I'm just trying to lighten the mood."

"I know you are and he is your type. But that's not what we need to worry about right now. I have to figure out what I'm going to do. Rose is going to text me later so we can talk about Demi."

"Her name is Demi? She named her after you?"

"Honestly I don't know, but it sounds like it." My phone buzzed and it was Rose. She sent me a picture of Demi waving. It looked like she had just taken the picture.

She wanted me to make sure you were really as happy as you said you were. R

Don't worry I didn't tell her who you were. R

I did something I never do. I took a selfie of myself waving back at her.

Tell her I really am happy.D

"Ugh D what's going on here? Did you just take a selfie?"

"I did." He looked at me funny, so I showed him the picture Rose sent to me.

"Wow the more I really look at her she looks just like your sisters and your nieces. There really is no denying she's your daughter."

"I know. I want to do the right thing. I know what it's like having a shit father and I don't want that for her. I also don't want that for my son. If she even knows Tasha won't tell me who the father is and I don't want him to grow up without one. There is no easy answer is there?"

"I'm sorry to tell you, but no there isn't."

ROSE

I forgot how much Demi looked like her father. Yes I named her Demi after him because he gave me such a perfect gift. Her full name was Demi Marie Mazer. I changed my last name after I had met my father. I no longer wanted my mothers last name of Hathaway. My father loved being a Dede, he said he was making up for the time he didn't have with me. Again that's another story for another time.

Demi had asked about Dimitri on our walk home. I told her that he was just a friend and she looked at me suspiciously. She was too smart for her own good sometimes. I was hoping I would only have to wait a day till I could sit her down and tell her who he really was. I wasn't sure why he was in town or even how long he would be here.

"He looks even better in person."

"Dimitri?"

"Ew no, his friend Ivan. I can't believe I didn't recognize them at first."

"Good thing you didn't. You have a terrible poker face. But seriously Adrian what am I going to do?"

"You're going to tell her the truth. And speaking of her I can hear her coming our way." Bouncing down the halls like always she came our way.

"Hey honey, it's time for a bath."

"Ok mommy."

We've had this routine since she was a baby and was my favorite part of my day. Now that she was older and in preschool she had so much she wanted to talk about. I had a feeling I knew what it was going to be today, the sad man she met at the park.

"Mommy, who was that man at the park?"

"A friend of mommy's."

"Do you know why he was sad?"

"I don't, sweetheart."

"I told him what you told me about being sad."

"Did you make him happy?"

"I did. You know what we did today in school?"

"What did you do honey?"

"Miss Karp read us a story about an old lady who swallowed a fly."

"That sounds gross."

"No, it was funny. Can we read a new story tonight?"

"Sure." Just like that she was done talking about the sad man. To be four and have her attention span. My mind couldn't get off Dimitri. After I got her out of the bath and into her Pjs it was Adrains turn to put her to bed. I kissed her goodnight before he started to read her a story.

Uncle Adrian, one of Demi's favorite people in the world. After our failed dating attempt we became very close. He was the one who stayed by my side through my whole pregnancy. He treated Demi like his own daughter and I was so thankful. He was put on her birth certificate only because if something happened to me I wanted her to be taken care of and not go into the system. My father would have stepped in, but we decided this would be the safest. Plus at the time Adrian was still in the closet and didn't want to come out to his father. His father was the one that set us up in the first place. When he found out I was pregnant he just assumed it was his. He now knows the truth, but is still a surrogate papa to Demi.

She was a very lucky girl that she had so many people that loved her. I had no doubt that if Dimitri knew about her he would have been there. I could tell he already loved her and they just met. The problem was he had a whole other life that didn't include us. I was waiting for the thumbs up from Adrian that she was asleep so I could text Dimitri.

She's asleep. Is it ok if I call you instead of texting? R

Yes.D

"Hey."

"Hey."

"She asked about you tonight."

"Yeah, what did she say?"

"She wanted to know who you were. I told her you were a friend of mine. She also wanted to make sure you really were happy."

"I hope you told her I was."

"I did. Are you really happy?"

"I really am. I just don't know what to do now." He paused.

"Can I be honest with you? "

"Yeah, you could always, you know. You could have told me about your fiancé when we met. I understand why you didn't tell me about the King thing. But to find out about you having a fiancé in the tabloids."

"I'm sorry about that. I was never trying to deceive you. I was just put in a bad spot. My dad, who was still king at the time, arranged my marriage. I've never loved her, she is a horrible person, who has never been faithful to me."

"Then why marry her?"

"Because in order to become King I had to be married. My father was a terrible ruler and things needed to change. The only way I could change that was to become the King. And things have changed for the better of my people, but to the detriment of myself."

"Couldn't you have married for love?"

"I wish it was that simple and that's all I ever wanted. The baby she is carrying isn't even mine. We have never been intimate together. She has slept around so much that I didn't want to expose myself to anything. You were the last person I was with intimately." Wow, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. From all the pictures in the magazines they look so happy together. I didn't know if I should be happy the baby wasn't his or sad for him.

"Truth, you were the last person I slept with as well."

"What about her Uncle? Is he a boyfriend?"

"Adrian?" I laughed.

"No, yes me and him had dated briefly, but he prefers men like your friend Ivan over women. He said and I quote "he's even cuter in person."I heard him laugh.

"What is so funny?"

"Ivan basically said the same thing." We both laughed. It felt good to hear his laugh again.

"I missed that."

"What?"

"Your laugh."

"To be honest, I don't laugh much these days."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be it's not your fault. So much goes into being the King, sometimes it can be a lot to shoulder."

"Well I hate to say it, but you have a bit more to take on."

"I know, but she isn't a burden. I don't want her to ever feel that way. I want her to know she is very loved and I want to be a part of her life."

"Then how are we going to do this?"

"I don't know the right answer, but I do know I'm not leaving without meeting her officially."

"Okay that's a start. How long are you here for?"

"I'm only here till Sunday, but I'm thinking about staying longer I'm being honored at the alumni Banquet tomorrow night."

"My friend Lissa was one of the honorees last year. It's a really nice banquet and the meal was to die for."

"Would you like to go as my guest?"

"Really you're inviting me? Won't the press have a field day with that?

"Yes I'm inviting all three of you, I have a whole table to myself. It was only going to be me, Ivan, and my security team. I would love for you to be there. I'm not worried about the press, that's why I have a security team. They were with me today."

"Seriously I never saw them, wait did you have them when we, you know?"

"I did, but they are that good, they stayed out of the way and you never saw them."

"Now I'm completely embarrassed that someone was there the night we hooked up."

"I hate the word hookup."

"What would you call it then Comrade?"

"Fine, a hookup. But it makes what we had sound so cheap."

"What did we have?"

"It's hard to put into words what I felt."

"Me too."

"You felt something?" I could hear a catch in his voice.

"I did, but you only wanted a one night stand. So I convinced myself that I didn't feel anything."

"Oh Roza I'm so sorry." The way he said my name brought tears to my eyes.

"Look, I don't want to do this right now. Right now I want to focus on Demi."

"You're right, she needs to be our focus." He sounded so sad.

"The banquet starts at seven, I will send over a car for the three of you. Once it's over we will go someplace private and tell her the news."

"Ok."

"I will call you tomorrow at around ten to discuss this more in detail."

"Ok."

"Have a good night Roza."

"You too, comrade." I pushed the end button on my phone and started sobbing. Adrian came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. He kissed the side of my head.

"You love him don't you?"

"I do."

So I had several ideas brewing about who could be the father of Tasha's baby. I even made a spinning wheel to help me decide. All of them come with a different, but good story and drama. See you next week.