Page 53 of The Prince's Castaway Baby

She doesn’t say anything, but she nods. I pick up my phone, and she shuffles closer to me on the sofa, close enough that I canbreathe in the scent of the same deodorant that she’s worn since I was born.

I flick to one of my most recent photos. “This little guy is a turtle baby, going home to his mom.”

“Tell me more,” she says with an honest intensity that makes my heart sing. “Tell me all about the places you’ve been.”

I swipe to another image. “Okay. Uh… here are some red woodpeckers from Mostaza, which is an island north of Puerto Rico. Here are some more turtles. These are just some nice scenery shots.”

Quickly, I bypass a few selfies of me and Jensen, but it’s not fast enough to stop me thinking about him or the joy on his face when he was on the island — or for my mother not to notice him.

“Wait a second,” she says, narrowing her eyes at me. “Isn’t that that prince? Wasn’t he washed up on… Oh, Billie, please don’t tell me it’s his.”

She looks down at my stomach, and I feel myself flushing. I laugh awkwardly, and mumble, “Well, about that…”

My mother’s mouth drops open. “Billie Ballard, I was joking! You’re telling me this is the child of a prince!”

“It was an accident, Mom. I never meant for this to happen.” I clench my fists, feeling seventeen all over again.

I wait for the yelling, but it never comes. Instead, she sighs. “Yes. I know a thing or two about accidents.”

This is something I already knew — that I wasn’t planned, and my dad was nowhere to be seen, though I’ve never known forsure what happened to him. “Yeah, Mom. You know, I never used to believe any of your stories about Dad.”

“You didn’t?”

“One time you told me he was a prince, and another time you told me he was an explorer. And one time you told me he was a TV anchor who got fired for sleeping with you!”

Her face glows pink at that. “I’m sorry I was never honest with you,” she says quietly. “The thing is, I don’t know where he is. He and I… well, the real, honest truth is that we were a fling. Holiday romance. Just like you, I suppose. Met by accident, fell in love for a few weeks. Oh, we had such a wonderful time, Billie. The two of us together… I never wanted it to end. And then we went home — and never saw each other again. And nine months later, I had a baby.”

She pauses for a breath, and I let the information sink in. Looks like fate really does have me following my mother, beat for beat through her life. The thought of it makes me want to laugh maniacally, but she’s clearly not done, so I hold it in.

“I had no idea what I was going to do with you. But I’ve always loved you. You know that, don’t you? I have always loved you.”

“I do,” I whisper. “I love you too.”

She pulls me in for a hug, and I wrap my arms around her, nestling into her chest like a baby bird.

“You still should have gone to college, though,” she says, and I finally let out a laugh. Some things are never going to change.

“I’m serious,” she says, staring me down. “You always had a brain. You should do something with it.”

“Iamdoing something with it,” I throw back, immediately jumping on the defense even though I don’t mean to. “I’m traveling the world. I’m helping.”

“Helping with what?”

“Science. Conservation.”

“Wouldn’t a college degree help with that?”

“Youknowwhy I didn’t go to college.”

I bite my lip. I don’t want to cry again, but she’s making it pretty hard to keep it together. I also don’t want this to blow up into a fight, so I hold my tongue, waiting for her to make her next move.

“You could still go,” she says.

I chuckle again. “Yeah, sure. Me and whose money?”

“You have a college fund.”

I’m sure I must have misheard, so I say, “I’ve what?”

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