The Prince's Love-Child (The Royal House of Cacciatore 2) - Page 46
‘He never cried, you know,’ he said suddenly. ‘Not once.’
Feeling that if she heard any more then her heart would break, Lucy stared down at Nicole. A fierce need to make things right filled her with a new kind of determination. She didn’t need the fairytale love-story—for how many people ever got that?—but if she could make her daughter happy, then surely she could make Guido happy, too. But how? Well, she could start by agreeing to move to New York! That was no hardship, really, was it?
She stared at the King, seeing him begin to wilt a little, and as if summoned by an invisible command the nurse reappeared. Lucy got to her feet. ‘Thank you for seeing me today, your Serene Highness,’ she said quietly.
‘It has been my pleasure.’ He pointed to his forehead, and, immensely moved, she bent to kiss it, then held the baby forward for him to do the same to her.
She was about to move away when his next words halted her.
‘Do you ever sing to her?’ he asked.
Lucy blinked. ‘Occasionally. Why?’
‘There is a lullaby, a French lullaby—“Bonne Nuit Cher Enfant”—do you know it?’
Lucy shook her head.
‘Then learn it, and sing it to her some time.’ He smiled conspiratorially. ‘Our little secret.’
Their eyes met and Lucy realised that he did not have long to live. For why else would have said such an extraordinary thing? Abandoning Court formality to suggest she learnt a lullaby!
But she had learned so much else during her unconventional conversation with the King, and she was lost in thought as she made her way back from his apartments.
When she arrived in her own suite of rooms it was to find a message from Guido, telling her that he had unexpectedly had to go to the other side of the island, and he would be back the following day.
Her heart sank. She had been bursting to tell him her news, and now he wasn’t around to hear it! And it wasn’t the kind of thing that she wanted to tell him over the phone…she wanted to see his face.
Well, she had waited this long to come to her senses. A little longer wouldn’t hurt her.
After lunch, she took Nicole for a walk, and happened to see Nico in the Palace gardens. He was wearing shorts and a singlet and was dripping with sweat. He had obviously been out running. Lucy smiled. It was times like this that really emphasised the fact that this was a family home as well as a Palace.
Well, maybe not for her. Not any more.
Yet, strangely enough, the idea now gave her no disquiet. She could live here for as long as she wanted to—but what was the point if Guido was unhappy? Inevitably, he would do what he had done once before—start taking more and more frequent trips to New York. Only with a baby she would not find it so easy to follow him…
‘Hello, Nico,’ she said.
‘Hi!’ he panted, and stopped to peer into the pram. ‘How is she?’
‘Gorgeous.’ She looked at him. ‘Nico?’
‘Mmm?’ His dark eyes crinkled at the corners.
‘Do you know a lullaby called “Bonne Nuit…” something?’
“‘Bonne Nuit Cher Enfant”?’
‘That’s the one!’
‘Yeah, I know it.’ He raised his eyebrows. ‘Why?’
‘Well, I wondered if you…’ This was very important—she didn’t know how, or why—she just knew that it was. ‘Nico, will you teach it to me?’
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
DUSK was falling on the Palace by the time Guido returned, and he stretched and yawned as he walked along the long marble corridor leading to their apartments.
It had been years since he had visited the western side of the island, and he had been impressed to see the result of his brother’s hard work. Nico was slowly helping to build up the infrastructure on Mardivino—to improve the roads and access to more remote parts of the island—but without destroying any of the natural and stunningly beautiful habitat. Indeed, the small fishing village of Lejana was as picturesque as any place he had visited. But maybe he had been viewing it with new eyes…
Source: readsnovelonline.net