Chapter 1
Liane LeBlanc called an emergency sister meeting as she texted both her sisters, “Code red”. Her younger sisters rushed into her room and sat on her bed.
“What's wrong?” both Francesca; the middle sister, and Macee, the youngest, asked.
Liane sighed as she turned to her siblings. “So you remember how I am to marry Prince Louis and how he will be coming here next month?” Liane said.
“No, we don't,” Macee said sarcastically.
“Well, of course. Mother hasn’t stopped talking about it since the arrangements were made,” Francesca said, as she ignored Macee.
“Yes, well, the thing is…there’s a problem. I’m pregnant,” Liane said.
“What?!” Both her sisters shouted at the same time.
“Yes.”
“Oh my life, Liane! You were to be the queen of Monaco! How do you end up carrying another man's seed?” Francesca asked.
“Technically, you cheated on the prince,” Macee joked.
“Mace, this is a serious matter.”
“And I am serious too. That is how his family will see it.”
“What should I do?” Liane asked.
“Who is the father?”
“Jean Pierre.”
“What?” Her sisters both said at the same time. Macee got up and started pacing up and down the room. The situation was bad, really bad. Not only was her sister pregnant when she was the Crown Prince's fiancée, but the father of the baby was his cousin.
“When?” Francesca asked Liane. This news was troubling and scary.
“Last month, at the party at the country club. We were drunk. One thing led to another and well...” Liane nervously played with her hands.
“Annie, this is crazy. How do we hide this?” Macee asked. When she was little, she called her sister Annie because she could not say Liane. They all thought it was cute and the nickname stuck.
“I do not know.”
“Will you keep it?” Francesca asked
“Of course,” Macee and Liane both snapped at her.
“Okay, but we can't say who the father is,” Francesca threw her hands in the air in surrender.
“Have you told him yet?” Macee said.
“No. I haven’t figured out how to tell him,” Liane said.
“Well, congratulations.”
Liane and Francesca looked at her as Macee smiled and shrugged her shoulders. While the timing couldn’t be worse and the father was unexpected, a baby was still a blessing. The sisters sat and planned what they were going to do. They had to hide the pregnancy from the prince.
His family could not know, at least for now, they were not going to take this lightly. Luckily, it was the twenty-first century and not the eighteenth, otherwise Liane would have been hung for it and her father exiled from office. Liane felt lucky to have her sisters to help her.
“It isn’t as if I had feelings for the prince,” Liane attempted to joke. The marriage had been arranged while they were still children. The pressure placed on her at a young age meant that her behaviour had to be continually exemplary and dating was out of the question as she was spoken for. Every week, she attended her princess lessons without fail. She studied history and learned etiquette, three new languages, calligraphy and ballroom dancing.
Days later, when she could no longer keep it a secret, Liane broke the news to her parents over dinner. The palace had sent a messenger that the prince was arriving earlier than anticipated and her mother was ecstatic, as she rushed around issuing final instructions to the staff.
When Liane blurted the news out, her mother almost fell out of her chair. “Come again, young lady?” Maybe she had not heard right. Her father had dropped his fork and stared at his daughter in disbelief.
“I am with child,” Liane said.
“How? Did the prince come for you and we did not know? Because there cannot be another father.” Liane looked down and shook her head.
“LIANE!” her mother shouted as Liane jumped out of her thoughts and quickly apologised. She had no excuse.
“Mother, please remain calm. Shouting will not help,” Macee jumped to her sister's defence.
“So, you knew?”
“We all did,” Francesca said. All the while, their father was still sitting there silently in shock, trying to process the situation.
“This is something Macee would do. You're a bad influence on your sister!” their mother said. Macee shook her head. It was not new to her that her mother would have such negative feelings toward her. Her mother continually reprimanded her for her unladylike behaviour. While her sisters participated in the etiquette training and additional lessons, Macee refused. She did not want to be known as the Colonel’s daughter or the sister of the queen. She simply wanted to be Macee.