Playing Dirty(143)
“What’s wrong?” Andrew asked, squeezing my hand.
“I like your mother,” I said truthfully. “But she…she has certain expectations for you. She isn’t looking to have a commoner as a daughter-in-law and mother of her grandchild.”
“Well, it’s damn well happening whether we tell her or not. And don’t call yourself a commoner.”
I shook my head. “All those things she said to Princess Alexandra about God and decency—how’s she’s going to feel about her grandchild being illegitimate? And as for Michael…I can just imagine him referring to the baby as ‘the bastard’ for all eternity.”
He grinned. “Well, our baby’s father is a big old bastard too,” he said, winking and indicating himself.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” I said, shaking my head despite the smile that was quirking my lips up.
Andrew shrugged. “There’s a great tradition of illegitimate children in the royal family. Look at Ewan the Great.”
“I think some things have changed in the last thousand years.”
Andrew snorted. “Not in my family they haven’t. Look, the fact is, my mother likes you.”
“She’s had enough bad headlines in the press over the last year, she’s trying to hold the dignity of the royal family together with both hands, and whichever way you cut it, her son’s affair with a maid ending in the heir to throne being conceived out of wedlock isn’t going to help.”
Andrew smiled patiently. “Keira, what exactly do you want to do?”
Put on the spot, I was silent. He was right, of course; it didn’t matter when we told the Queen. The situation was what it was, and waiting for it to change wasn’t going to help. And yet I still felt that now wasn’t the right time, and that a right time might yet present itself. I knew the belief wasn’t logical, but it was there nonetheless.
I suppose I could blame the pregnancy hormones for my irrational moments for now…
“Let’s wait just a little bit longer. We’ve still got time before I start to show, and if nothing changes, then we’ll speak to her and take the consequences.”
Andrew kissed me. “Your wish is my command.”
***
It was the following day that Andrew came to me, just as my shift was finishing, and asked me to go with him.
“You’re not going to try and change my mind again, are you? About speaking to your mother.”
“No,” he said. “I just…you know what? Wait and see.”
“Should I be blindfolded?”
“Probably, but there’s a lot of steps to climb so I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Andrew led the way through the Castle’s familiar corridors to an oak door with a huge iron fastening that looked to be as old as the castle itself. He got an impressive sized key out of his pocket.
“You’ve never been through here before, have you?”
“No.”
“You’re already excited, right?”
I shrugged. “Eh….maybe.”
Andrew grinned, and I knew he could see straight through my feigned disinterest. There were a few doors like this one in the castle, usually leading high up or deep down to areas no longer in everyday use. They were off limits to all but the upper echelons of the staff, so how could anyone not be thrilled at the prospect of what lay behind such sealed doors? It was hard not to imagine treasure, secret passages or skeletons hanging from the walls, although I was willing to admit that it was more likely to be old carpets and unwanted wedding presents. Still, the potential possibilities retained their power to excite, and my heart beat faster as I waited to see what lay behind the door.
The key grated uncomfortably in the lock, scraping off years of rust as it turned.
“Ready?” Andrew asked, flashing me a cheeky grin.
“You’re determined to make a meal of this, aren’t you?”
He grinned again and pushed open the door, revealing a cramped spiral staircase. A wash of cold and damp blew in from the open doorway, I shivered.
“Spine-tingling isn’t it?” Andrew said. “Makes you think.”
“About pneumonia, mostly,” I replied, still determined not to seem as excited as she felt.
He smirked. “Come on.”
“Aren’t there lights?”
“Oddly, no,” he said as he led the way. “I can’t believe the Tudors didn’t think to install them.”
“Ha. You’re hilarious,” I said, playfully jabbing him.
For a while we walked up in comparative darkness, until an arrow slit in the wall allowed daylight through.
“We’re above the level of the castle roof now,” Andrew said.