Catharine & Edward (10 page)

“You think they’re behind this?” Genevieve asked. “We’ve been dealing with them for as long as Gabriel’s been in power. Though they’ve never been friendly, I confess, I never thought them capable of this.”

“They’ve gotten more extreme in recent years,” Marcello interjected. “The point we’re trying to make is that it may not be the whole group involved. It doesn’t strike me as the way they’d do business. They don’t want us around, true. However, I don’t think that obsessing over us, like a sick asshole might, is the way they’d go. It could be that a small subset of them, with more extremist views, have splintered off from the larger organization.”

“Any connection to Gerald here?” Nate asked. “I know he’s locked up in prison, but he could have accomplices on the outside.”

Marcello shook his head. “Nothing yet. Gerald’s kept secluded, but I’ve got some agents reviewing security footage to see if he’s been contacted, and to determine if he’s been smuggling messages out.

“We also picked up Vinnie. I mentioned we questioned him about his safe, but now we’re digging deeper about the blackmail threat he received. He’s still not talking, but we’ll break him. Meanwhile, Sacheverelle has been released. We’re hoping either Muffy or the man in charge may reach out to him, so we’ve got him under twenty-four-hour surveillance.

“There are a lot of angles here, and we’re doing our best to sort through them as quickly as possible.”

“So what’s next? What do I do?” Catharine asked, her voice sounding terrified and small.

The Catharine that Edward knew wasn’t small. She was larger than life, her presence invading any room she entered, brightening it with laughter and ease.

She wasn’t at ease now.

Yup; he was going to rip the fucker’s face off.

Marcello touched the screens again, clearing away the images and bringing up a set of everyone’s schedules. “We’ve got a plan. Since it’s becoming clear the threat is centered around Cat, we’re going to let everyone go about business as usual. Everyone will have extra security, just in case, but we don’t want anyone to figure out what we know.”

Marcello paused and looked directly at his elder sister. “Cat, I’m sorry, but we’ve arranged for you to go to a safe house later today. You have one scheduled appearance, which we arranged for you to keep.”

Alex’s eyes flashed. “I don’t think it’s safe for her to be out right now. Any lunatic could find her.”

Marcello’s lips thinned. “We’ll have her covered, Alex. Believe me, I’m not going to leave my sister a sitting duck. Her visit is set to last an hour at a local charity luncheon. An hour in and out, then she’s off to the safe house.”

Alex pursed his lips, but nodded.

“The objective for maintaining the appearance is to show status quo,” Marcello continued. “We need to show whoever’s behind this that we won’t be bullied. More than that, the news agencies reported our heightened threat level at the palace, so we need to show our faces in public and assure them that everything’s all right.”

“Those luncheons never last an hour,” Genevieve muttered. “They always go long.”

“That’s why she’s not going in until after the lunch part is over. She’ll come in while they’re serving tea and dessert, make her remarks, and go.”

“What remarks? What’s the charity? I don’t recall this event.” Catharine asked.

“Tavin’s working that all out for you with your chief of staff,” Marcello said. “They’ll have the remarks and information you need before you leave.”

“I’ll need to go to my room and prepare. Where is this safe house? What should I pack? Who else will be there?”

Edward exchanged a look with Marcello, who shook his head. So, it was going to be a surprise for her; Edward wasn’t sure she’d like it.

“Pack for comfort and pack as little as possible, My Lady. We’ll give you the location after we’re on our way there,” Edward said and Cat’s eyes swung to him. “The area is quite secure, I assure you.”

Worry creased her brow, but she nodded her consent. “Okay. I can do that. I guess I’d better get started.” When she stood, so did the rest of the family and they gave her hugs and kisses goodbye.

Edward knew she might not see her family again until the threat was over. For someone as social as his Catharine, this would be difficult for her. It’s why Edward had convinced Marcello to use Edward’s personal safe house in the country; his team and others were already there waiting for them.

“I’m so sorry,” Catharine told Rebecca after their hug.

“What for?” Rebecca asked.

“This is mucking up your wedding preparations.”

Rebecca squeezed her hand. “It doesn’t matter. Keeping you safe is more important. There’s still plenty of time.”

Catharine smiled. “As soon as I’m back, we’ll finish things up.”

Rebecca gave her a small smile and hugged her again. She whispered something, Catharine tentatively nodded, then they pulled away with troubled frowns. Edward glanced at Alexander from the corner of his eye; he, too, was troubled.

It wasn’t his business, he reminded himself. He had one job: to keep his Catharine safe.

And he would do it or die trying.

R
ebecca sat
in the doctor’s office, fidgeting. Though her Royal Protection agents were outside the door, no one in the family knew she was there, and nobody, not one person, knew what she was there for.

Not even Alex.

Since they’d been freed from the bunker, Rebecca has used the ruse of visiting the hospital as part of her growing charity concerns. Everyone thought she was merely on an official visit.

It was a lie, a half of one, if nothing else.

She couldn’t tell anyone. Couldn’t say anything, not to Alex, not to her mother.

She was alone.

A knock came at the door and it opened. Rebecca caught a glimpse of her agents stationed outside before her doctor came in and closed the door.

Dr. Evie Safar was an African-born, Vallerian-educated doctor. She was tall, slim, and extremely elegant. Ebony fuzz covered her head and she always wore bright colors, which were vibrant against her mocha skin; today was no exception. Her wraparound dress was patterned with geometric shapes in bold, jewel tones, and complimented her gold jewelry and modest, but sexy nude heels.

Dr. Safar’s specialty was obstetrics and gynecology.

“Miss Campo, it’s lovely to see you again,” she said in her mild accent. She shook Rebecca’s hand, then walked around her desk and took a seat. “What can I do for you today?”

Rebecca cleared her throat. She could state this calmly and professionally. “I have a problem.”

Dr. Safar’s thin black eyebrows shifted up. “Oh? A medical problem?”

Rebecca nodded. “Yes, you see, I think something’s wrong with me.” She’d barely finished her sentence when she broke down. Her right hand flew to her face to cover her eyes, and she forced herself to keep her sobs quiet, if she couldn’t hold them back.

A few tissues came into view, and she attempted to dry her tears.

Dr. Safar shifted to the open seat next to her. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry,” Rebecca said through the quiet sobs.

“You don’t need to apologize for feeling. Take a minute, then we’ll talk.”

Rebecca nodded, and took several deep breaths until she calmed enough to speak through her tumbling emotions. “I’ve been feeling a lot of pain,” she started, then promptly burst out crying again.

Dr. Safar spoke softly and evenly. “You’ve been feeling pain? Menstrual pain?”

Rebecca shook her head. “I do feel pain during my period, but this isn’t just ordinary menstrual pain.” She took a shuddering breath. “This is excruciating pain.” Pain was usually the body’s way of indicating that something was wrong; she was terrified of what her body might be telling her.

“And this is only during your period?”

She took another trembling breath. “No, well, the worst of it is during my period, which is now so heavy, I’m filling up an overnight-size pad almost every hour. It’s too painful to even try using tampons. Besides that, I’m having aches and pains almost all month, not just during my period or just before it.” She started crying again. Steady streams of tears rolled down her now puffy face.

“This is all in the last few months?”

She wiped her nose with the tissue and nodded. “I’ve always had painful periods but, in the last few months, it’s become worse.”

“You skipped your last birth control shot appointment. Does that mean you and Prince Alexander have begun trying for a child?”

Rebecca blew out a breath. “Yes, and I know I can count on your discretion with that. You’d mentioned that the shot takes time to wear off, and we didn’t want to wait too long. I just didn’t want to be obviously pregnant at the wedding, but I wouldn’t have minded being a few months along. Now I’m worried it may not happen at all.”

“It’s easy to jump to worse-case scenarios, and I will go over those with you. For now, however, let’s just go through some more questions. You said you’ve been having trouble with tampons, but what about sex? Is that painful as well?”

She bit her bottom lip and nodded. She’d feigned exhaustion quite a bit recently, but she couldn’t keep that up for too much longer. Especially not after she broke down in Alex’s arms last night. He was confused by her actions and would only put up with it for so long before he demanded an answer.

“First things first. I’ll need to do an exam, would that be all right?”

“I don’t want anyone to know.”

“I can understand that, believe me, but I’ll need to do an exam, take some blood, and I’ll probably do an ultrasound, too, just to get some more information. Would you prefer to do this at the palace?”

“No,” Rebecca said quickly. “I don’t want the royal doctor knowing. He’s very nice and all, but I’d feel more comfortable discussing this with you. You were my doctor long before Alex and I got together.”

“I could speak to the royal doctor and ask permission to see you at the palace, if that would make you more comfortable.”

Rebecca shook her head. “It would raise suspicion. I’m working on some projects here at the hospital, and I’ll be coming and going for the next few weeks. It would be less obvious to be seen here.”

Dr. Safar nodded. “Understood. You should know that, once you and Prince Alexander became engaged, myself and my whole staff – from nurses to night janitorial staff – all signed very strict confidentiality agreements, not to mention the strict laws that already exist to govern medical information. This is a safe place for you.”

“Thank you.”

Dr. Safar nodded. “Good. I’ve got an exam room just next door. Give me a minute to set it up and leave a gown for you, and then we’ll see what’s what.”

When Rebecca nodded, Dr. Safar stood up and whirled toward her door and disappeared.

About fifteen minutes later, Rebecca was laying back on a padded exam table, her feet in stirrups and her legs spread wide. Rebecca winced during the exam, her hands clenching tight.

She wondered once again what the pain in her body was telling her.

“All right, you can sit up.”

Rebecca scooted back up the table, and covered herself with the feeble paper gown.

After the doctor tossed her gloves and washed her hands, she took a seat in the only chair in the exam room. “Have you tried any over-the-counter medications to help with the pain?”

Rebecca nodded and listed them all. “None of those work anymore. I can barely move during my period, and I get so dizzy and feel completely out of it. I’m practically bedridden the first few days of my period, which is not conducive when you have an amorous fiancé and royal duties to see to.”

Dr. Safar nodded, her brows furrowed. “Then I’m going to write you a prescription for some pain medication, just to last you until we figure it out.”

“Do you have anything in the office? I’d rather avoid a prescription with my name on it.”

“I see. Let me look when we’re done here, and we’ll go from there.”

“What do you think this is?”

“I think it could be any number of things. From something more complicated like endometriosis, or fibroids or ovarian cysts, but it could also be something simpler like a hormone imbalance. I’m going to take some blood, and schedule you for a transvaginal ultrasound. I’ll do an external ultrasound as well.”

She nodded and took a deep breath, bracing herself to ask her fear. “Do you think this could affect my fertility?” Rebecca was so afraid, so completely and utterly terrified that she wouldn’t be able to have a child.

What would that mean for her and Alex?

And Valleria?

And her future?

And her body?

Terrified. Unbelievably fucking terrified.

“I know it’ll be difficult, but don’t think about that, okay? Let’s wait until we get some more information, then we’ll know how to proceed. My advice? Take a deep breath, and let someone else in, if you haven’t already. You don’t have to suffer through this alone.”

She fleetingly thought about telling Alex for the umpteenth time, then shook her head, deciding against it. “I can’t. Not yet.”

“Then take your own advice.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re not telling anyone because, in part, you don’t want to torture them with worry, am I right? Then don’t torture yourself with ‘what-ifs’ until you know more, either. Whatever happens, I’ll be here to guide you through, and so will your family and the man who very clearly adores you and worships the ground upon which you walk.”

Rebecca’s lips curved into a wobbly smile. Alex did love her. Her smile dimmed, however, when her mind wandered to those ‘what-ifs’.

What if Cat or the other royal siblings weren’t comfortable raising an heir? Would Alex then be forced to choose between marrying her and marrying a woman who could give him a child? What if he chose his duty to crown and country over her? She understood duty and, even though she could understand why he’d make that choice in her head, she knew her heart would never recover from the loss of him.

“No negative thoughts,” Dr. Safar warned. “None. You need to stay as relaxed as possible and as positive as you can be.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Good, then let’s take some blood and schedule you for the ultrasounds.”

Later that evening, Rebecca didn’t have to feign exhaustion. Crying always took a lot out of her; for once, she was glad of it. If she could fall into a dreamless sleep because of it, she might try it again tomorrow.

Though she had a feeling she wouldn’t need to try very hard to cry at this situation.

Alex worried over her. Though her puffy face had returned to normal, Alex could tell whenever Rebecca had been crying.

He could always tell everything when it came to her.

Well, everything except the reason for her tears.

So, she lied to her love again and told him that everything was fine. It was just wedding stress and Cat’s situation, that was all.

She still cuddled into him at night, and he still enveloped her in his broad, toned arms.

If she couldn’t conceive, and he did decide to let her go, she was going to cherish the time they had left.

Positive thoughts
, she reminded herself, and fell asleep dreaming of her and Alex at eighty years old, with grandchildren running all around them.

She only hoped it would be more than just a dream.