Along Came A Prince (12 page)

“Not everyone’s as
lucky as you are, Clay. You’ve said your parents have always treated you
great.”

“I know, and I’m
not complaining. But Sam, for the first time in my life, I’ve met a woman whom
I could fall in love with very easily. If I had my wish, I’d have a very simple
life with her next to me.”

“Within the
confines of SwissDen, right?”

“In a perfect
world, yes.” Clay stood up and walked to the window and looked out into the
night. He stuck his hands in his pockets.

“Do you see anything
written in the stars out there?”

Clay laughed. “You
mean about my destiny?”

“You already know
what your destiny is. It was planned for you before your birth. Unfortunately,
you have no brothers to take over the role of king. It’s solely up to you.”

Clay turned toward
Sam, a frown crossing his face. “So what do I do?”

“For now, nothing.
You’re only getting acquainted with Stacia. Enjoy yourself. She has her own
fame and fortune, she’s not after yours. Besides, it takes two to make a love
affair.” Sam grinned. “Maybe she’s not even interested in you, did you ever
think of that?”

He hadn’t told Sam
about Stacia’s and his talk. Today was a new day, and he now had a new plan. “If
that’s the case,” Clay said, “I may just have to change her mind.”

♥♥

Early the next
morning, Stacia called down to the desk and asked if someone would please bring
her a newspaper. It arrived via a bellhop minutes later. Her hands shaking, she
opened it up to the front page.

PRINCE AND SCREEN
STAR FIND LOVE NEST IN LONDON AFFAIR, the headline blared out. Underneath it, a
photo of Clay and her leaving the back door of her hotel proved the point.
There she was, brunette wig, glasses, almost unrecognizable – yet they knew. Beside
her was the prince in his Green Bay Packers’ cap and sunglasses.

And the prince was
also rapping on her door. She checked the peephole and let him in.

“Today’s is worse
than yesterday,” she said as she handed him the newspaper. “We sure look
guilty.”

“I know,” he
replied. “I already saw it.”

“And...”

“I’ll take care of
that shortly. I have more important things to take care of first,” he said as
he gathered her in his arms. He kissed her softly, than as she responded, his
kiss became stronger, and she felt his desire fill her senses.

Her heart stampeded.
She could only think of
more, more, more!
She was glad her arms were
wrapped around his neck, because her knees felt too weak to support her.

He pulled away
from her slightly, still holding onto her waist. “Pack your things, Stacia. I’m
taking you home to meet my mother and father.”

…Several months
later, Lily was lying in bed. Victoria sat next to her and stroked her forehead.
Dr. Fulton stood at her other side. Clearly, death was standing in the room
with them.

“Remember our
holiday, Lily? Remember how much fun we had swimming and playing beach ball
games?” Victoria’s eyes were tear-stained, but her courage was evident.

“I won...most
of them, didn’t I?” Lily’s speech was slow and labored. Pain caused her face to
grimace with each word. It was a struggle to even breathe. “You should...see
her...Dr. Fulton...She’s terrible at...beach ball...games.” A tiny smile crossed
her face.

“But she’s a
good big sister, isn’t she?”

“The best…”
Lily’s voice grew weaker. “Will...you...take care...of her...for me, Doctor?”

“You’re not
going anywhere, sweetheart.” Victoria’s tears denied her attempt to be strong. “Close
your eyes now and rest.” She bent over and kissed her sister on the cheek.

“Bye,
Victoria,” the little girl said in one last brave attempt.

“Good night,
Lily,” Victoria answered and kissed her again.

Dr. Fulton
injected a hypo into Lily’s arm. Soon, she was resting peacefully. The doctor
turned to Victoria. “Let’s go get some coffee. She’ll sleep for a while now.”

They left the
room together for a small cafeteria close by. Victoria sat down, and the doctor
filled two cups with steaming coffee. He returned to the table. “How long has
it been since you’ve eaten?”

“Oh, I don’t
know. This morning, yesterday. It really doesn’t matter.”

“You’re talking
to a doctor, remember? You need to keep your strength up.”

“I don’t care
if I have any strength left when she leaves me. I’ll want to give up then. I
don’t want to live without her. She means everything to me. How can life be so
unfair as to take a child so young? She hasn’t even begun to live.”

“You can’t play
guessing games, or God, about what destiny decides for everyone. We need to
keep her comfortable now and give her our love. What we can’t do is stop the
inevitable from happening.”

“You said, ‘our
love.’ I don’t understand. Doctors are supposed to be detached. How can you
love her?”

“It’s easy to
love Lily. Maybe that’s why God needs her more than you do.”

Victoria grew
angry, shook her head and the tears began again. “No, He doesn’t. He can have
anyone else in the world. He has my parents and my brother. Why does He need
Lily too?” She put her face in her hands and wept.

Dr. Fulton stood
up and took Victoria in his arms. He held her and tried to soothe her. “I
promise you what I told you the first day in my office will come true,” he said
softly. “You will get your happiness.”

She raised her
head off his chest and managed to smile up at him, her eyes big and round. “You
don’t have to take care of me like Lily asked. She didn’t know what she was
saying.”

The doctor cupped
Victoria’s chin in his hand and gazed into her eyes. “It’s too late. I already
promised her in my heart that I would look after you.” He grinned. “Now do I seem
like a guy who breaks his promises?” He let go of Victoria. “Come on. Let’s go
back in and see Lily...”

♥♥

Why am I doing
this?
Stacia asked herself on the way to the London airport. She could have
made any number of other decisions. She could have holed up in her hotel, flew
back to Hollywood, or even gone home to Wisconsin and hid until it was time to
start filming. But she knew the answer to why she was escaping to Switzerland,
and he was sitting next to her. She wanted to explore their relationship more
because although they hadn’t had much time together, they did have a lot of fun
and were comfortable with each other. And every time he kissed her, it seemed
that the volatile TNT had been lit and could explode at any time.

The king’s private
jet was waiting for them when they arrived at the airport. The sunlight
accented the slick, gleaming white plane. A cameo of snow-capped mountains
amidst the clouds adorned its tail. The word,
SwissDen
, was painted a
powder-blue next to the mountain scene.

Clay ushered her
inside.
Opulence personified!
was what first came into Stacia’s thoughts
– designed with a king in mind. The sunlight streaming through the windows
intensified the golden glow of the plane’s tasteful interior decorating.

When they were
seated, the flight attendant asked if they would like anything to snack on or
drink. They both declined and settled into the conversation pattern that had
become a staple of their friendship.

“This plane is
gorgeous,” Stacia said. “I was wondering where the name SwissDen comes from? I
know it’s the name of a bank, but I heard your mother use it yesterday, and I
saw it on the plane when we were boarding.”

“The story of its
origin is one of my mother’s favorites. She’s been known to use it as dinner
conversation because it’s about her ‘precocious young son,’ as she always calls
me when she talks about my youthful days.” He grinned and continued. “When I
was little, my mother wasn’t too impressed, I learned later, with some of my
father’s activities. For one, she was against leaving her home country, even
though my father knew the rebels against him had gained enough strength to
overthrow the throne. Going into exile in another country, where his family
would be safe and he could regroup his power, seemed to be his best option.
They argued a lot about this, and my father, being the king, would naturally
rule on the final outcome. One day, in utter frustration, my mother shouted out
to him, ‘Well, talk about moving into a
den
of inequity!’ When you get
to know my mother, you’ll learn she doesn’t raise her voice, so this gives you
an idea how upset she was. She normally manages to get her message across
without getting angry.

“I was playing in
the room when she used the word,
den
, and whenever my father would leave
for Switzerland – it took a lot of trips to build his palace – I would ask,
‘Father, are you going to the den? Will there be animals there?’ The word,
inequity
,
was too confusing a word for me, and I thought I’d be living in a den with wild
animals. When my parents tried to name our new home, one of them came up with
SwissDen, and it stuck. Funny thing though, when they talked about moving to
Switzerland after that, my mother no longer argued with my father. A smile
would come over her face, and the word, SwissDen, would be used. When I was
older and my mother would tell me this story, she’d add she’d learned the
important thing was not where you lived, but who you lived with, and as long as
she had my father and me, she’d be happy. And as far as I know, she’s happy to
this day.”

“What a lovely
story. Your mother must be very nice and very wise.”

“I’m glad to hear
you say that after hearing her on the phone yesterday. I thought maybe you’d
think she was a snob.”

Stacia smiled at
him. “She was just protecting her son.”

“She needs to
learn I no longer need protection, but in a way I do, because I’m running home
to my safe harbor with a woman I’m falling in love with just to
protect
her from the paparazzi.”

Stacia wondered if
the altitude had affected her hearing.
Did he just say ‘falling in love?’ That
wasn’t supposed to happen.
She looked at him, and his gaze locked on hers.
“I think maybe I’m just going to forget your last statement, or put it
temporarily aside and pretend you didn’t say it.”

“Are you afraid,
Stacia?” He lifted her face to his for a few moments, allowing his eyes to
remain fixed on hers. Then he put his hands on his lap. “My mother seems to
think every woman wants to marry her prince son – for his money, of course. Evidently
she believes I won’t make it on my personality and charm alone. She’ll be glad
to know there’s one woman who doesn’t want to marry me.”

“I don’t want to
marry anyone right now. I told you before that when the right time comes, I
want to devote my life to the man I marry, and for now, I want to devote my
life to my career. You’re messing up our agreement.” She stood up and
stretched.

Clay laughed. “How
will you know when the right time is? Do you think you can dictate to your
emotions and Cupid’s arrows to act on a schedule of the
right
time? Sometimes
things don’t work out no matter how much planning you do.”

“I’m finding that
out with you,” she said and pointed at him to emphasize her point. “But so far,
I’ve gotten everything I’ve wanted with my life, my career, and even more.” However,
in complete honesty, along came a prince, and she had to admit to herself that
Clay had made her doubt her aspirations of the right time. She wasn’t as sure
as she’d been even a few days ago that she could usher love into her life at
her demand. Somehow this man had entered her life way ahead of schedule.

“I wish you luck
on your goal and for my part in your life, I promise I won’t mention marriage
again. It’s friends forever from now on between us, except for a stray kiss now
and then. Agreed?” He put out his hand to shake hers.

She did, and when
she leaned over to accept his hand, he pulled her close to him. “One last kiss
to seal our agreement,” he said.

His lips met hers
one more time as they floated over the Swiss Alps. For the moment at least,
Stacia’s life schedule was the farthest thing from her mind.

♥♥

“There it is.
There’s SwissDen,” Clay said, pointing out the window to what seemed like an
oasis in the mountains. Even from this height in the air, the palace was
humongous. All brownstone-colored and outlined with its turrets and transparent
domes acting as its rooftop, the palace created a dark contrast against the
stark whiteness of the snow-packed mountains. The only other color Stacia saw
was a long black strip which she assumed was where they’d land.

The plane
instituted a curve, and the pilot engineered it smoothly to the landing field.
When they were ready to descend the steps, Stacia saw a black limousine waiting
at the bottom.

“Good afternoon,
Prince Clayton,” the uniformed driver said as he opened the door for them. “I trust
you both had a good flight?”

“Yes, Jonathan, we
did.”

The limo sped the
distance of the landing field quickly and headed for a bridge leading to the palace
with a moat built under it. She noticed guards stationed at the top, almost
hidden except for long, slotted windows running around the width of the
building.

“You wanted
privacy, Stacia. You’ll get it here. I guarantee you there’ll be no more gossip
about us as long as we’re at SwissDen. My father has this down to a science.
The people who are invited here have one thing in common – they’re rich and
they guard their privacy ferociously. My father makes sure no one’s
disappointed in that respect.”

She was convinced
already. Armed sentries stood at the beginning and end of the bridge. The
guards opened the gates and once inside, she saw immediately where the prince’s
creative talents originated from – the genes of his father. The king had
designed a paradise – almost too exotic and grandiose to even be believed.
Surely, the Garden of Eden had not contained more lush trees, fragrant flowers,
birds chirping and rushing waterfalls than this heavenly kingdom. Everything
was climate-controlled, there was no sign of snow anywhere, except for the
mountain peaks visible through the individual domes. The limo followed a
winding path, which led to what appeared to be another castle nestled amid a
manicured jungle.

“Welcome to my
home,” Clay said.

“You say that as
if you live in some simple cottage. How can anything impress you after living
here? My mind can’t even consume all this beauty. It’s like how I feel when I
see your ice sculptures. Everything is so...overwhelming...yet...welcoming, I
guess is the word.”

“That’s my
mother’s touch. She wants her guests to feel welcome here.” He stepped out of
the limo, reached back in and took her hand to help her out. “Come on, let’s go
meet my parents.”

They entered the
castle through a gold-studded door. The butler told Clay the king and queen
were waiting for them in the atrium. Once again, Stacia could not believe the
resplendent beauty. Even the main entry hall glistened as if burnished in gold.
White carpeting led upstairs on stairs wide enough for six people to walk up side-by-side.

They walked
through a huge doorway leading to the atrium. “This is where we welcome our
guests. It’s another of my mother’s ideas. She thinks Mother Nature has made
every forest a welcoming sight, a place of tranquility. She tried to bring the
same ambience in here.”

“Well, she
certainly succeeded,” Stacia said, her eyes trying to scan the mixture of
outside and inside consolidated together as one in this peaceful room. White
wrought-iron sofas with thick, red velvet pillows were spaced around the paths.
Tables with red-cushioned chairs were nestled into specially-designed
hollowed-out areas among the greenery. Regal flower arrangements decorated each
table. Exotic plants and trees, many with fragrant blossoms, were intricately
placed to allow privacy at each sofa.

“Hello,” Clay said
as they neared where his parents were sitting together on one of the sofas.
“This is Stacia.”

“Welcome to our
home,” his mother said, as simply as Clay had when they’d arrived at SwissDen.
She gave Stacia a warm smile.

And the genes
for his charm must come from his mother
, Stacia thought. “I’m pleased to
meet you, Your Majesty.” She restrained her almost uncontrollable urge to bow
to this woman whose very presence radiated royalty and commanded reverence to
the blueblood circulating in her veins. Stacia dropped her eyes out of respect
and mumbled humbly, “You have a magnificent home.”