“Perhaps, deep down in a place you won’t acknowledge, you hope to fill those rooms with family. Then again, that’s probably wishful thinking on my part.”
He had no desire to debate that theory, yet he needed to force her to understand their dire straits. “You have no idea what the implications of this pregnancy will be.”
She took another drink of water, then pushed the glass aside. “If you’re worried about losing your standing in the good old boys’ rich club, don’t. The Mehdis don’t have to know you’re my baby’s father. I, on the other hand, have to worry about possibly losing my position and telling my parents their unwed daughter is expecting their first grandchild. But I know in my heart the royal family and my family will forgive me, whatever the future holds.”
To think she would suffer the consequences of their actions troubled him, despite his anger. So did their child’s true legacy.
“Again, I will make certain you will want for nothing.”
She sat back and released a frustrated sigh. “Okay, Tarek. Toss me a few of your precious dollars every month and maybe set up a college fund for the kid, if that clears your conscience. But one day down the road, when our child grows up, he or she will begin to wonder about his or her father and why he abandoned them. I know that to be true because I wondered the same thing, even if I pretend it doesn’t bother me.”
Unbeknownst to her, he had felt the same way about his legacy. He still did, and the time had come to state the facts. “There is something you are unaware of regarding my heritage.”
Her frown heralded her confusion. “You were born to common folk like me. What else is there to know?”
“I was born to a common mother, but I cannot say the same about my father.”
“I thought you said he was a stone mason.”
“I am referring to my birth father.”
Her expression now showed her shock. “Are you saying the man you grew up with isn’t your father?”
“No, he is not. He wed my mother when she was pregnant with me after my biological father abandoned both of us and never acknowledged my existence.”
“Where is he now?”
“Dead. I might celebrate that fact, but unfortunately he took to the grave all the information I require about the circumstances that led up to my birth.”
She sent him a sympathetic look that he did not want or need. “I’m truly sorry, Tarek, but maybe it’s better you don’t know the details.”
“I demand to know the truth.”
She released a weary sigh. “Well, I would like to know the name of this mystery man who’s filled you with so much hatred.”
For the first time in his life, Tarek would unveil the identity of the tyrant responsible for his abandonment. The bastard who had ignored his own son. The royal leader who had led everyone astray. “Aadil Mehdi, your revered former king of Bajul.”
Nine
As her mind began to reel, Kira’s shock came out in an audible gasp. Any response escaped her at the moment, then suddenly reality hit home. “This baby is a Mehdi?”
“That appears to be the case,” Tarek began, “though I would prefer it not be true. Nothing good can come out of being born into a family of scheming royals who do not know the first thing about earning a living.”
Her loyalty to the royal family swiftly kicked in. “The Mehdi brothers are good men, Tarek, and their father was a strong, generous leader.”
“He was an autocrat who ignored his country’s poor.”
Kira had acknowledged long ago the former king wasn’t without faults or failures. “It’s true he didn’t make enough assistance available for them, but Rafiq, Zain and Adan have made great strides in that regard. Evidently you’re too bitter over their father’s actions to realize that.”
“We will see their true character when I inform them I am the illegitimate son of their former king.”
That definitely did not sit well with her in light of her own situation. “Every child is legitimate, Tarek. I despise that label.”
“Despise it or not, it still exists and many would see me that way.”
She had so many more unanswered questions yet didn’t quite know where to begin. “Exactly how did you discover this information?”
A hint of sorrow showed in his dark eyes, but the anger soon returned. “My presumed father told me right before he died. He forced me to swear that I would never reveal my true parentage to honor my mother’s memory. Since that day, I have worked tirelessly to prove that in spite of the fact I was shunned and denied my birthright, I am as good as any prince.”