“One of you knew about him and I need to know who.” Aramis looked at everyone in the room. Everyone except for me. He knew I didn’t know. “His mother has been receiving money from me for years.”
“And you didn’t know he existed?” Adeline gasped, setting a hand over her pregnant belly. “My God.”
“Did you know?” Aramis looked at Elias, who shook his head.
“Of course not. I wouldn’t keep that from you.”
We all looked at the Queen Mother. She’d been the only one to have no reaction to the news. She flattened her lips as she looked at Aramis.
“Someone had to get rid of the scandal.”
I felt my mouth drop and looked at Pilar and Adeline to see theirs had also met the same fate.
“How could you keep this from me?” Aramis asked. “A son. Are you kidding me?”
“Why would you do that?” Elias asked.
“We could not handle another scandal. Our family has already been through enough. Our name has been dragged through the mud. Do you think a child would help matters?”
“So we should all pay for our father’s sins?” Aramis’s voice boomed throughout the room. “It’s one thing to keep the public out of our business. It’s an entirely different thing to keep us in the dark about children we’ve fathered!”
“I’m going to be sick.” Adeline pressed the hand not on her stomach over her mouth.
“I haven’t fathered any children,” Elias said, setting a hand on her shoulder.
“How would you know?” Her eyes widened. “Aramis just found out about this.”
“Addie. You know me. You know how careful I am. I have not fathered any children.” Elias’s compassion shined as he looked at his wife, pleading that she believe him.
“I can’t believe you did this.” Aramis shook his head. “How could you hide a child from me?”
“When was I to tell you? When you were jumping from bed to bed or after you’d done too much cocaine to even show up at events you were supposed to be in?” the Queen Mother asked. “Please enlighten me. The best thing that happened to that child was his mother.” She pointed toward the door. “That woman is a saint. I knew it the day I met her, and you would have ruined their lives if you’d decided to be part of it.”
Aramis didn’t speak. You could hear a pin drop in that room and it terrified me. Was she insinuating that she’d been in contact with Esmée and her grandson all along? Had she visited them? One look at Aramis and I knew he was thinking the same thing. We all were. Elias was the one who cleared his throat and asked.
“Do you have a relationship with the boy?”
“Not a relationship, but I have visited.”
“Jesus.” Aramis shut his eyes and shook his head. When he opened them again the fight had worn out of him. He looked sad. “Here I was willing to sacrifice my social life for you. Going over a list of women to settle down with and all along you were hiding this? You disgust me.” He spoke to his mother directly. I held my breath.
“I was doing the right thing for our family.” The Queen Mother’s voice broke.
“Don’t do me any more favors,” Aramis spat out as he made his way to the door, leaving and shutting it so loudly behind him that the glass sconces on either side rattled.
“I can’t believe you did that,” Pilar whispered.
“I did it—”
“For the family, yes, you’ve said, but that doesn’t make it right.” Pilar shook her head. “Aramis has been through a lot. He doesn’t deserve this.”
“Where’s the boy now?” Adeline asked.
“Outside with Ben. And Aramis now, I’m sure. His grandfather dropped him off,” I said. “His mother is in the hospital and the grandfather didn’t have anyone else to turn to.”
“I want to meet him.” Elias began walking toward the doors.
“Maybe you should let them have their moment, love,” Adeline said, walking quickly toward him and setting a hand on his arm.
“But he’s my nephew.” Elias frowned.
“And he’s your brother’s son. Don’t you think they need some time?”
“I think he’d like to meet you,” I said, nodding at Adeline when she looked at me. She let go of his arm and Elias left the room, shutting the door much quieter than his brother had.
“He’s going to hate me.” The Queen Mother sat down, bringing a hand over her mouth.
“With good reason,” Pilar said, shaking her head and leaving the room. She didn’t bother closing the door.
Adeline and I looked at each other. We were the only ones left with the enemy and I wasn’t sure how she felt, but I wasn’t comfortable staying, so I began to walk toward the door. Adeline followed. We also left the door open behind us as we made our way out.
“Where are they?” she asked.
“I have no idea. They were here when I went inside.”
“What’s he like? The boy? What’s his name?”
“Oscar. He’s adorable. Around six or seven. He seems well-mannered.”
“I can’t believe Aramis has a son,” she whispered.
“Me neither.”
“How do you feel about it?”
“Me?” I frowned, slowing my steps as we neared the hall of mirrors, where the men and boy were laughing.
“Yes, you.” Adeline shot me a pointed look.
“I don’t feel any kind of way. I guess I’m just hoping this doesn’t make him spiral out of control.”
“Please, Joss. I know you better than anyone. I’ve seen the look on your face every time their mother asks you to find a match for Aramis.”
“You mean the look of terror because I know that no woman will ever put up with him?”
“I mean the look of jealousy because you like him.” She pursed her lips as we stopped by the open door, looking inside.
They were playing with a football. Who knows where they’d gotten it from, but I could think of thirty things that could go wrong with a football in this room. None of them seemed to care though. Elias, the King, was the one heading the game, after all. Aramis and his son were side by side and Ben was next to Elias, who had the ball at his feet. Pilar was taking her heels off, seemingly ready to join the match.
“They look so happy,” Adeline said, and I could hear the smile in her voice.
They did look happy. They’d met Oscar not even ten minutes ago and had fully accepted him as theirs. It was how they were. Even Aramis, as much of a pain in the ass as he was. As I stood there watching him smile at his son with a kind of wonderous look in his eyes I’d never seen before, I felt my heart break a little more.
Chapter Seven
A lot had happened in the four days following Oscar’s arrival. My things were moved to Aramis’s three-bedroom cottage, where each of us had our own room, but shared the common area of the small kitchen and living room. Aramis and Oscar were gone most of the time, father-son bonding that neither one of them had experienced before. It was nice to see him so comfortable in his new role and paying attention to something other than droves of women. I’d been busy helping Adeline with Christmas decorations and things for the nursery here—a room the baby wouldn’t be using often, as they didn’t live in Versailles, and was completely unnecessary, but who was going to say no to the King? Not me. Elias wanted the baby to have a room in each of their homes, regardless of how often they visited.