Page 28 of Forbidden Noble
This picture meant it was true.
Wow.
Her hair stood on end like she’d been shocked to her core. Astorre said, “The staff said your mother chose to stay till the end but you were sent to America, and supposed to be reunited with your mother’s sister and her family. When they found Francesca, she hadn’t known where you were and they feared something had happened to you.”
Astorre was full of information today. If she’d known this, maybe, just maybe she’d be more confident. She stood. “I wonder why that didn’t happen?”
They opened another drawer that held neatly arranged rock and roll tapes. Happy rock, metal, and all sorts of 1980s hair bands were lined up alphabetically. He said, “Your mother’s sister is quite notorious. I don’t need to ask about Francesca to explain her character.”
“Really?” Her cells were so awake and alive right now because she wasn’t a no one anymore. She closed the drawer and headed toward the small bookshelf.
Astorre took a book off the shelf and opened it.
Her breath caught in her throat. It was a photo album. Her hands trembled as she held it and brought it to the desk. He said, “Francesca was beautiful, wanted to be queen, and instead married an earl.”
“Why?” She flipped the book open.
Wedding pictures were first.
The bride had her lighter brown hair and the groom… he had dark hair and wore military blues.
She’d never imagined her father or mother with actual faces.
She’d never been able to pull apart her own looks and wonder what was what.
Now she saw that she had her father’s thin cheeks as her mother’s face was way more flushed and rosy.
Tears formed in her eyes that weren’t shed as Astorre said like the past didn’t mean anything, “The prince was in love with his wife. They're now the king and queen. Apparently your aunt didn’t bother to raise her son from the wrong side of the blanket, or her infant niece. It’s a wonder she raised her legitimate two daughters but then I suppose their father would have noticed if they disappeared in front of his eyes.”
Maybe her aunt was bad news. Maybe she wasn’t, but her own mother was beautiful in a way Clara never would be. She’d have had soft hands…she blinked until she was sure she wouldn't cry. “Hmm, perhaps being adopted was better for me then.”
Astorre pointed to a woman in the wedding photo and said, “That’s your aunt.”
“She doesn’t look horrible.” The woman looked like her mother but with sharper features as she fixed her mother’s small train.
Her mother was the goddess here, and from the story she'd just heard, the nicer sister.
“Your cousins are decent people,” Astorre said. “Chelsea is a good girl. She helped my friends, and Cassidy matched us with her computer.”
Now that she thought about it, she had the same hair color as the posh matchmaker she’d met at Rossie’s wedding. It was because they were related. That never happened to her before.
She closed the book but held it tight. “Chelsea had seemed nice, and her sister Cassidy’s program said you were the love of my life.”
He helped her stand from her father’s chair. There were more secrets to her past here that she needed to see but maybe later when she wouldn't be so overwhelmed. He said, “You can’t believe in that computer program actually working.”
The poor orphan she’d been now had a past filled with family which had once seemed impossible. So maybe Cassidy did have talent as that would be something extraordinary. They walked into a formal dining room where she saw butterfly plates on display. “Part of me doesn’t take the program seriously.”
“But?” he prodded like he needed to hear the rest.
Had she been born in this house? She pivoted to get away from the dishes and find the stairs. “But part of me wonders if it’s true--because you do make me happy.”
He followed behind her as she opened another velvet red rope and headed to the main staircase. “I make you happy?”
She turned around as she climbed onto the first step. “Absolutely.”
They rushed up them and she turned toward the first bedroom she saw, jumping the threshold to go into the actual room as he said, “I should tell you the truth.”
She opened a closet door. “What’s that? There's more?”
