them the news.
She didn’t need to read the DNA report to realize he’d been telling her the truth. No, she wasn’t dense. But she’d read it anyway. All three pages of it, one with the Prince’s DNA graph, one with hers and the third page explaining the validation process.
It wasn’t difficult to see the similar spikes on the graph. Besides what would the Prince gain by claiming a relationship with her if there wasn’t one?
The Prince of Pasadonia was her father.
She’d rushed to Sausalito to inform her grandparents, thinking they would want to know, hoping for some sympathy and guidance in the face of Xavier’s demand to leave on Tuesday for a command introduction to her royal father.
She’d been wrong.
Not only was Grandmother not sympathetic, she was outright hostile.
“That man stole our daughter from us,” Grandmother denounced in frigid tones. “He can’t have you. Your grandfather and I have raised you as our own. You owe us your loyalty.”
“That man?” Something in the way she said the words made Amanda go very still. “Grandmother, do you know who he is? Have you known who my father is all this time and kept if from me?”
“Don’t take that tone with me, young lady.” Grandmother looked sternly down her nose at Amanda. “There was no need for you to learn anything of your father. We have provided for your every need.”
“It’s not a matter of needs. It’s a matter of identity. Of knowing who I am, of knowing what family I have and who they are.”
“You are our daughter’s child. She should be enough for you.”
“How can she be enough for me when you horde information about her like she’s gold mined from a depleted shaft? As if sharing with me diminishes her in some way?”
“She died,” Grandmother said with great vehemence. “Because of you, she died.”
“It was my fault.” Amanda’s shoulders slumped in defeat. She’d always known they blamed her for the loss of her mother and here was the confirmation. “So I didn’t deserve to know her?”
Grandmother looked away. “Such a loss is difficult to talk about.”
“Why?” Amanda pleaded. “Why was it so hard to tell me about her?”
Silence greeted her query.
“Do you hate me that much?” Amanda whispered.
“Stop being so dramatic.” Grandmother leaned forward to minutely adjust the magazine atop the coffee table. “If you must know, she shamed us. Do you have any idea how humiliating it was to have her sashaying about campus pregnant and unwed? Hunt is a small, prestigious university with traditional values. Your grandfather and I suffered censure for months.”
It was all too easy to see their reputations had meant more to them than their child’s happiness. How sad. And how familiar.
“And my father?”
“Of course we knew who he was. At first Haley refused to tell us, but when the complications developed after your birth, she told me everything.”
“But you didn’t contact him?”
“Why would we? He didn’t deserve you.” She crossed her arms over her chest, jutted her chin. “With Haley’s passing, sympathy replaced the disapproval around campus and we were able to put her indiscretion behind us. If you acknowledge Jean Claude Carrère now, the circumstances of your birth will be resurrected, and we’ll be forced to relive the mortifying scrutiny all over again.”
“What about me? What about my opportunity to know my father?” She challenged her grandmother like never before.
For Amanda it had always been about pleasing her grandparents, always seeking their approval. That ended now. The sense of betrayal, compounded by her grandmother’s lack of concern, was huge.
“Have you ever thought about what would make me happy? Have you ever put my needs before your own even once?”
“I let you go to that princess camp you carried on about.”
“Once. You refused to let me go back even though I begged.”
“Because it was a waste. And you were obsessed with all things
She didn’t need to read the DNA report to realize he’d been telling her the truth. No, she wasn’t dense. But she’d read it anyway. All three pages of it, one with the Prince’s DNA graph, one with hers and the third page explaining the validation process.
It wasn’t difficult to see the similar spikes on the graph. Besides what would the Prince gain by claiming a relationship with her if there wasn’t one?
The Prince of Pasadonia was her father.
She’d rushed to Sausalito to inform her grandparents, thinking they would want to know, hoping for some sympathy and guidance in the face of Xavier’s demand to leave on Tuesday for a command introduction to her royal father.
She’d been wrong.
Not only was Grandmother not sympathetic, she was outright hostile.
“That man stole our daughter from us,” Grandmother denounced in frigid tones. “He can’t have you. Your grandfather and I have raised you as our own. You owe us your loyalty.”
“That man?” Something in the way she said the words made Amanda go very still. “Grandmother, do you know who he is? Have you known who my father is all this time and kept if from me?”
“Don’t take that tone with me, young lady.” Grandmother looked sternly down her nose at Amanda. “There was no need for you to learn anything of your father. We have provided for your every need.”
“It’s not a matter of needs. It’s a matter of identity. Of knowing who I am, of knowing what family I have and who they are.”
“You are our daughter’s child. She should be enough for you.”
“How can she be enough for me when you horde information about her like she’s gold mined from a depleted shaft? As if sharing with me diminishes her in some way?”
“She died,” Grandmother said with great vehemence. “Because of you, she died.”
“It was my fault.” Amanda’s shoulders slumped in defeat. She’d always known they blamed her for the loss of her mother and here was the confirmation. “So I didn’t deserve to know her?”
Grandmother looked away. “Such a loss is difficult to talk about.”
“Why?” Amanda pleaded. “Why was it so hard to tell me about her?”
Silence greeted her query.
“Do you hate me that much?” Amanda whispered.
“Stop being so dramatic.” Grandmother leaned forward to minutely adjust the magazine atop the coffee table. “If you must know, she shamed us. Do you have any idea how humiliating it was to have her sashaying about campus pregnant and unwed? Hunt is a small, prestigious university with traditional values. Your grandfather and I suffered censure for months.”
It was all too easy to see their reputations had meant more to them than their child’s happiness. How sad. And how familiar.
“And my father?”
“Of course we knew who he was. At first Haley refused to tell us, but when the complications developed after your birth, she told me everything.”
“But you didn’t contact him?”
“Why would we? He didn’t deserve you.” She crossed her arms over her chest, jutted her chin. “With Haley’s passing, sympathy replaced the disapproval around campus and we were able to put her indiscretion behind us. If you acknowledge Jean Claude Carrère now, the circumstances of your birth will be resurrected, and we’ll be forced to relive the mortifying scrutiny all over again.”
“What about me? What about my opportunity to know my father?” She challenged her grandmother like never before.
For Amanda it had always been about pleasing her grandparents, always seeking their approval. That ended now. The sense of betrayal, compounded by her grandmother’s lack of concern, was huge.
“Have you ever thought about what would make me happy? Have you ever put my needs before your own even once?”
“I let you go to that princess camp you carried on about.”
“Once. You refused to let me go back even though I begged.”
“Because it was a waste. And you were obsessed with all things
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