Chapter 32: Your Majesty

“Can we talk?” I asked, standing in the door to the stateroom she was sharing with Fleur.

“Get out! Alex. She doesn’t want to see you,” Fleur said viciously.

“But, I just want to talk,” I whined.

“Give me a minute,” Jeanne said sleepily. She looked like hell, with red eyes and mussed up hair. “I need to use the bathroom.”

I heard the shower running as I stood there in the doorway with Fleur looking daggers at me. “Don’t you dare hurt her any more than you already have, asshole!”

I just nodded. I wasn’t about to get into it with Fleur or anyone else. Finally, I took a seat on the stairs to wait. Jeanne came out wearing her dancing shoes and carrying her iPhone and speaker.

“Since you woke me up so early, we might as well get in some practice,” she said. Then she led me out to the cockpit and started moving the deck furniture out of the way. I helped her without a word, looking for an opening. But she continued to say nothing as she set up her iPhone to play the music.

“Why don’t we start with the Viennese Waltz?” she said, not really asking a question.

“Jeanne? Can we talk first?” I asked. “At least, can I talk to you?”

“What do you want, Alex?” she said exasperatedly.

“I want to apologize for hurting you and to throw myself at your feet and grovel,” I told her. “But I don’t think that would do any good unless I told you the WHOLE story.”

“The whole story?” she asked.

“Yeah. You see, I once fell for this princess. Not just a beautiful girl, but this real-live, honest-to-god, royal princess. Only she didn’t know she was a princess. I found out before she did, so when she wanted to get closer to me, I pushed her away because I was scared of getting hurt. I knew that one day soon, she would have to leave to go and save her people and become their queen. And it tore my heart out that I knew she would leave me, so I subconsciously tried to push her away. But the truth is, I still love her.”

“How awful, Alex,” she said softly. “I didn’t know.”

“I know. I should have told you. But I was afraid. Afraid to let my heart be ripped out like that. But I was talking to Monique and she asked me if I was that girl, would I want to know that a boy loved me, even if just for a short time?”

Jeanne looked at me strangely, as if several pieces of a larger puzzle were finally falling into place.

“I decided that I would, even if it was just for one day,” I told her and then drew a big breath. “Jeanne Mauresmo, I love you and I have almost from the moment we met.”

“Wait! What?” she stammered. “What are you saying, Alex?”

“I said, I Love You!” I repeated. “I know that one day soon, you’ll have to leave me to go be the queen, but I’ll take whatever time we have. Even if it’s just five minutes.”

“Me? A queen?” she asked, incredulously. “What do you mean? Who told you this?”

“Jeanne, do you remember where your mother was from?” I asked.

“Some island in the Caribbean. Why.”

“She’s from an island in the Southern Caribbean, not too far from Martinique. It is very old with almost two thousand inhabitants. It has no government as such. It is purely a Matriarchal Monarchy, where the women are revered and the land passes from mother to daughter. It was able to avoid the early Spanish explorers and most of the invaders since then by the simple expedient of the island disappearing when necessary. It is said the queen has the power to make this happen and has passed that trait on to her female children for almost five hundred years.

“The problem is that the queen’s health is failing. It’s been failing for over a decade. She had a daughter but unfortunately, her daughter decided to leave the island twenty years ago. She wanted to be a professional tennis player. She ended up pregnant so she married the father, but after the baby was born, she spent a year getting her figure and her game back in shape, then deserted father and baby for life on the tennis circuit,” I told her. “As of a few months ago, she was quoted as saying she would never go back to the island.”

“According to Cynthiana’s sources on the island, the queen is desperate. I do not know if she is aware of you, so we have been waiting. Waiting for the opportunity to introduce the queen to her granddaughter.”

“And I’m this granddaughter? This Princess?” she asked.

I just nodded my head.

She suddenly felt her knees go weak and sank to the deck. I knelt beside her and hugged her to me. “I’m sorry to tell you like this, and I’m sorry for being so afraid. I hope you’ll be able to forgive me someday.”

“What’s the name of the island?” she asked.

“Céleste,” I said softly. “It is the French word for ... Heaven.”

“How long?” she asked. “How long have you known?”

“Since the first night after I met you. Cynthiana told me. She has been aware for some time. That’s why she bought out your dad and brought him to France. So she could keep you safe until you were ready to be told, or you were needed,” I told her. “It didn’t stop me from falling for you, but it made me afraid to get too close to you. Then when we danced at the ball, and then you kissed me in the limo, I was a goner. I cried that night on the way home because I realized there was no way of keeping my heart from breaking when you leave.”

She was quiet for a long time.