Page 110 of Royal Caleva: Luis

It was useful to have young people around. They focused on the necessities of life.

Luis leaned back in his desk chair and closed his eyes. His speech was complete. Grace’s shorter speech was ready for her approval. Bruno had set up the press conference, and Mikel was organizing security for the royal family’s appearance on the balcony.

Now that events were well under way, exhaustion dragged at every inch of his body, and he longed to collapse on the soft, comfortable couch beckoning to him from just across the room.

Someone knocked on the door. Luis forced his eyes open and sat up straight. “Come in.”

His brother came through the door. “Luis, hermano, I just heard that you were here.” Lorenzo stopped in front of the desk while he scanned Luis. “You don’t look well. Why are you not still in the hospital?”

“Because I felt recovered enough to be bored.” Luis tried to brush off his brother’s concern with levity, but he was touched nonetheless. “And I couldn’t take the chance that the media would find out where I was.”

“Ay, imbécil! You are going to end up back there, only worse,” his brother said, glaring at him. “At least go lie down in your habitación.”

“I can’t,” Luis said, not bothering to try to keep the fatigue out of his voice. “I have run out of time and must announce my daughter’s existence to Caleva. That’s why I’ve called the whole family to the palace tonight. The announcement will be made tomorrow.”

Lorenzo sat. “At least it is a happy occasion that drags you out of bed. But what about your poisoner?”

“I want that kept quiet for now. Such ugliness should not cast a shadow on the joy of Grace’s presence.” Luis let his head rest against the chair’s back. “Mikel has brought the perpetrator back here and has questioned him. I expect his report soon.”

“I want to be present to hear why this madman tried to murder you.” Lorenzo’s voice held anger.

“You are welcome to join the briefing.” Luis would have put it off himself until he had the energy to muster some of the same fury, but Mikel’s hard work deserved a prompt hearing.

“Have you eaten?” Lorenzo asked, his gaze on the plate of tapas sitting on Luis’s desk.

“My stomach still feels like it got kicked by a mule,” Luis admitted.

Lorenzo winced in sympathy.

There was a knock before the door opened to admit Raul and Mikel.

“Señores.” Mikel’s bow acknowledged both Luis and his brother.

“Pater, Tío.” Raul lowered his head in a respectful greeting before he took the chair next to Lorenzo’s. He waited a beat and asked, “Shouldn’t Grace and Eve be here?”

Luis had considered that. “They have enough on their plate preparing for the announcement tomorrow. Once that is over, we will bring them into the loop.” With a carefully edited version of the facts, if necessary. Eve was already worried enough about Grace’s safety.

Mikel remained standing, a laptop and a folder tucked under his arm.

“What have you found out?” Luis asked him.

Mikel placed the folder on the desk. “If I may summarize?”

Luis nodded.

“Felipe Camacho’s twenty-two-year-old daughter began dating a U.S. sailor from the military base. She became pregnant, and the two decided to marry. Camacho is very conservative. He found it shameful that his daughter was pregnant without being married.”

“Ah, that’s why he felt the need for a return to decency and morality,” Luis said, the man’s words coming back to him.

Mikel continued. “He blamed the sailor for seducing her and refused to allow the young man in his home. At the same time, he attempted to confine his daughter to the house so she could not see her lover and so that no one would know she was pregnant.”

“That’s not conservative,” Raul muttered. “That’s medieval.”

Luis thought of Grace. Never would he treat her in such a cruel way.

“Not surprisingly,” Mikel continued, “the sailor assisted Camacho’s daughter in escaping, they married, and the daughter moved to the United States to be near the sailor’s family, where the baby was born. She has refused to let her father visit his grandson.”

“Who can blame her?” Lorenzo said.

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