My eyes flit between her and her mom. She’s ready to leave… because she doesn’t know who I am. She doesn’t know this isn’t just my castle. It’s our castle. Because this is where she belongs. Where they both belong. Here with me.
“Actually, my love, there’s something we need to talk to you about.” Natalie glances up at me. “Maybe… we should go sit somewhere.” She glances over at Stephanie and my mom, uncomfortable with having an audience. My mom raises her brows, silently demanding an introduction.
“Before we do, I’d like you both to meet my mom, Helena Christianson. This is Jasmine and Natalie…” And then it hits me, I don’t know their last name.
“Zapata,” Natalie finishes for me.
“We already met,” Jasmine says.
“We did,” Mom agrees, standing, “but it’s nice to meet you.” She extends her hand and they shake. This is all very informal and nothing like what would be happening if they met in public. I have no idea at this point where I’m going and how to handle any of this.
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Natalie says with tightness in her voice. She’s nervous. She’s meeting royalty and the grandmother of her daughter at the same time. This can’t be easy for her.
Stephanie clears her throat. “I’m Stephanie,” she says, introducing herself. “William’s assistant, advisor, and much more.” When she emphasizes the much more, Natalie flinches but quickly schools her features.
“Much more meaning friends since we were in diapers,” I explain, refusing to allow Stephanie to insinuate anything else. She might want there to be more between us, but I’ve never gone there and I have no intention of ever doing so.
I ignore the hard glare Stephanie is shooting my way. “Mom, Natalie and I need to speak to Jasmine, but once we’re done, I would like to speak to you as well.”
My mom nods in understanding, then excuses herself, dragging Stephanie along when she doesn’t get the hint that we want to speak to Jasmine alone.
“Mommy, is everything okay?” Jasmine asks, her gaze bouncing between us.
“Everything is perfect,” Natalie says, her voice upbeat.
“Let’s go to the sitting room,” I suggest. Once the three of us are inside, I close the door for privacy and then join them on the sofa.
“Remember what I’ve told you about your daddy?” Natalie says to Jasmine, who nods.
“Yes, that you loved him very much, but you didn’t get his phone number, so you couldn’t find him. But if he knew about me, he would love me.”
My breath catches at her words. She loved me and spoke fondly of me even though she assumed I left her all those years ago without a goodbye.
“That’s right,” Natalie tells her. “Well, I have some good news. Liam...” She stops and looks at me and raises a single brow. “Liam or William?”
“To you, Liam… To everyone else, it’s William.” I can’t imagine her calling me anything other than Liam. Liam is the carefree man in Las Vegas, the man who didn’t have the weight of an entire country perched on his shoulders.
“Liam is your daddy,” she says with a small smile.
Jasmine’s eyes comically widen, and her attention turns to me. “You’re my daddy?” She looks at her mom. “He’s the one in the picture?”
“I am,” I tell her, then hold my breath, waiting for her response.
She’s quiet, her top teeth gnawing on her bottom lip, just like her mom does. I would give anything to know what she’s thinking, but I wait, not so patiently, for her to wrap her head around what she’s just learned. She’s only five and needs time to process.
Finally, after several long moments, the most beautiful smile spreads across her face. “If you’re my daddy and the king, that makes me…” Her eyes light up. “That makes me a princess!” She looks at her mom. “Right? I’m a princess.”
Natalie snorts, and I release the breath I was holding. “Yes, that makes you a princess,” Natalie tells her.
“Wow,” Jasmine breathes. “My fairy-tale story came true.” Then she frowns. “Does that make you a queen?”
Natalie shakes her head. “No, my love, it doesn’t, but that’s okay because we found your daddy.”
I want to argue and tell her if I have it my way, she’ll become my queen, but it’s probably too soon to be making declarations like that. Right now, our attention needs to be on our daughter, but once things settle down, I have every intention of figuring out how to make Natalie my queen.
Jasmine jumps off the couch and pulls her backpack off her shoulders. She digs through it and pulls out a book. “Look,” she says, walking over and situating herself next to me. “It’s my fairy-tale book.”
She reads the title then opens it, reading the first page. Page after page she reads me the story about the princess who has to fight her way through the magical forest to get to her Prince Charming. When she finally gets to him, he professes his love and asks her to marry him. On the last page, they’re smiling and happy, having gotten their happily ever after.
“I found you like she found her Prince Charming,” Jasmine says. “But you’re my daddy not Prince Charming and you’re the king.” Jesus, my daughter is so smart. She hands the book to Natalie. “Here, Mommy, you can keep it now since your book was old and broken. I don’t need it anymore. You can have mine and read it until you meet your Prince Charming.”
Natalie smiles softly, her eyes turning glassy. “Thank you.” She pulls Jasmine into a hug and kisses her forehead.
“Can I see my room?” Jasmine asks once they separate, shocking the hell out of both Natalie and me.
“Umm…” I don’t quite know how to answer that, but luckily Natalie jumps in.
“Remember Liam didn’t know about you? So he doesn’t have a room for you yet.”
“But there are plenty of rooms to choose from,” I add. “And we can have it decorated however you want.”
Jasmine grins. “I want a pink princess room. Does this mean I’ll go to school here?” she asks, jumping from one subject to the next so fast, I damn near get whiplash.
“No,” Natalie tells her. “We still live in Florence, but we’re going to visit for a few weeks, so you can spend some time with your daddy before we go back and you start school.”
Jasmine must not like that answer because her bottom lip juts out. “But I want to live here with my daddy in the castle.” Her words, like a prickly vine, wrap around my heart and squeeze, and I know in this moment, I would do anything in my power to make sure she’s always happy. I don’t know anything about parenting, but I know I don’t like to hear that sadness in her voice.
Natalie frowns. “We live too far,” she explains. “But we can visit. How about we focus on this visit and then we can plan the next one?”
Jasmine’s face falls, but she nods in agreement, and that vine that’s wrapped around my heart tightens, creating puncture holes in the ventricles. With every sad look she gives, it feels as though my heart is slowly bleeding out. I want to tell her she can live here as long as she wants—both she and her mom can—but I doubt Natalie will be pleased with me saying that without speaking to her first. I know she’s planning to go home after their visit is over, but if I have it my way, they won’t be going anywhere.