Page 55 of Royally Knocked Up
A chair was brought, and Enzo sank into it. He had to admit that he was grateful to be off his feet. He was still worn out from overindulging the night before.
“So,” his father said, “why don’t you say whatever it is you wish to say, Enzo? Why don’t you tell me what you think I’m so wrong about?”
“Hailey,” Enzo said.
“You imagine I shouldn’t have sent her back home? Enzo, be realistic. She was using you for her own ends. It was the best thing for everyone to get her out of the country before the story became unmanageable. I have released to the press that the information in the tabloids was a lie, and that the two of you were colleagues at La Fantasia and nothing more. It’s possible that someone will follow up and will realize, when she gives birth in a few months, that there trulywasa baby, but we will simply deny that it had anything to do with you. We can even tell people that she tipped off the reporter in order to try to gain attention and notoriety — that she was taking advantage of the crown.”
“Father, you can’t possibly do that,” Enzo said. “Like it or not, thatismy child. I’m not going to allow you to create a production out of denying that fact.”
“You’re not going toallowme?”
“No, I’m not. If you try to release that story, I’ll release one of my own, and I will take responsibility for the pregnancy. I’m not going to leave you any way to cover it up.”
His father cursed. “You should be grateful to me, Enzo. I am trying to spare you a scandal.”
“What scandal? That I fell in love? Father, this is what I mean when I say that you’re in the wrong about a lot of things. You try to control everything, and you can’t do that.”
“She doesn’t love you. She never loved you. She was hired to keep you at La Fantasia, Enzo. Surely you understand that.”
“Yes, I understand,” Enzo said. “I understand that you hired someone to serve as my glorified babysitter, and you’re angry that it didn’t go the way you hoped it would. You should never have hired someone for that role at all.”
“You wouldn’t have stayed at La Fantasia if I hadn’t had someone watching over you.”
“That’s not the point,” Enzo told him.
“You don’t think so?”
“You should have accepted that I might not stay. You should haveaskedme to keep a low profile instead of ordering it — instead of exiling me from Luria.”
His father laughed. “Don’t ask me to believe you would have done as I asked of you, Enzo. Last night proves that you wouldn’t have. You know I want you to keep a low profile — it’s not a matter of me needing to express my wishes to you. You have chosen not to honor what I would like.”
“Well, if you were a little more open-minded and understanding, it might not be that way, Father! You learned that I had fathered a child and your response to that was to call me in here and make me feel foolish.”
“You were foolish!”
“But you still could have supported me! You could have told me that you would help me figure out what to do about the situation. You could have offered help. You could have empathized. You didn’t do any of that. You ridiculed me and sent Hailey away without so much as giving me a choice in the matter.”
“This is what it is to be royalty,” the king said. “We have to make decisions with a mind to what people are going to think, Enzo. We have to be concerned about our reputation. You’ve never understood that.”
“Of course I understand that,” Enzo said. “Of course I know reputation matters, Father. But what I don’t agree with is thisidea you seem to have about controlling everything around you. You need to manage your reputation as king, but for me to have a life that you don’t micromanage — that’s something you should learn to be comfortable with, because it’s going to happen, one way or another.”
“If you would fall in line, the way your brother has…”
“I’m not Giorgio. I know you are happy with his choices. But that isn’t because hefell in line. It’s because he happened to want things you agreed with. He fell in love with a woman you approved of. He had children. He’s a perfect reflection of everything you think a member of the royal family should be, and I’m not. But you can’t change who I am.”
“A drunken lout?”
“Stop it. I’ve acknowledged that I shouldn’t drink so much. That’s not what this is about. This is about Hailey. Father, what if she had been in love with me?”
“You truly are a fool if you think she was.”
“I’m saying what if shehadbeen? What if we had stood before you and told you that we were in love with one another and wanted to raise the baby together? What would you have said then? Could you have handled that news? Or would you still have tried to send her away because she isn’t the kind of woman you would choose for me? Because she’s American — because she’s not from a noble family — because she’s someone you hired tokeep an eye on meand you can’t stand the fact that the situation turned into something you didn’t plan for?”
“Enzo—”
“I’ll tell you something, Father — you should be thanking Hailey. She did something you never did. She made mewantto turn my life around. I regret what happened last night because I know it would disappoint her, not you. Hailey made me want a different kind of life, even if I can’t have it with her, and you should appreciate that. She’s the only person who has ever changed the way I see the world so profoundly. And now she’s gone.”
He rose from his seat. “I’ll leave you to your breakfast,” he said. “I’m going back home.”
