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Sophia nodded.
‘Big, isn’t it?’
Sophia nodded again.
‘It’ll be better in the morning when we can see it properly. You want to sleep with me tonight?’
A more vigorous nod.
‘I can tell you a story before we go to sleep.’
‘A story about a princess trapped in a castle and a dragon who comes to save her?’ Sophia asked.
‘Sure.’ They both knew that particular story well. Where were their pyjamas? She hadn’t packed winter ones. Why hadn’t she packed winter clothes for them?
‘Can there be a donkey and a dying king?’
‘Yes,’ Ana said, still rifling through their suitcases. She knew that story too.
‘That man—Cas—he said his father was dying.’
‘Yes.’
‘And then he kissed you.’
Yes. That. Her daughter wasn’t used to sharing and Ana had no explanation whatsoever for the kiss. ‘Okay, we’ll add a dying king and a prince—who is a donkey—to the story.’
‘Is he really my father?’ Sophia asked abruptly, and there was a world of hurt in her voice and no little accusation.
‘Yes.’
‘You said he was dead.’
‘I know. I thought—’ I thought it better to tell you that than the truth. ‘I thought wrong.’
‘What does he want?’ Sophia asked next.
‘Right now he wants to protect us.’ Give the devil his due. ‘And then I think he wants to get to know you.’
‘You’re not leaving me here and going home, are you?’ Fierce golden eyes were even more breathtaking when they were vulnerable.
‘No. I will never do that.’
‘Promise?’
‘I promise. What else do you want in this story?’
‘No frogs.’
‘Got it. No frogs.’
‘And no kisses,’ Sophia said fiercely.
‘Not even a mother’s goodnight kiss for the princess?’
Sophia hesitated. ‘Am I a princess?’
Pyjamas! Finally. ‘Here. Get changed and jump into bed and then there will be storytelling. As for whether you’re a princess or not… I don’t know. Your father’s a prince. He’s about to become a king. But he and I aren’t married, and that complicates things. It’s something else to ask when we see him next.’
Mothers were wise, and it was their duty to make chewable that which was complex. Or, in this case, to avoid talking about Casimir altogether.
‘So. Let me tell you a story about a castle and a dragon and a princess. You want to hear it in Russian or in French?’
* * *
An hour later, Sophia was asleep and Ana was in the other room, castle phone in hand and too afraid to use it. She needed advice and with that came confession. For seven years she’d shut her parents out as far as the identity of Sophia’s father was concerned. They’d helped her get back on her feet after Sophia had been born. With their financial help she’d been able to continue her studies and find childcare for her baby. They hadn’t let her fall. They’d supported her.
But they’d never, ever understood her choices.
She barely understood them herself.
She made the call and started pacing the moment she heard her mother’s voice.
‘I don’t want you to worry,’ she said to begin with, and knew it for an opening that would guarantee exactly the opposite result.
‘I’m in Byzenmaach with Sophia…and Sophia’s father,’ she said next, and, yeah, she truly failed at giving reassurances. ‘Let me start again.’
‘Anastasia, breathe,’ her mother said, so she did.
‘Now, start from the beginning.’
‘Oh, you really don’t want me to do that.’
‘I really do,’ her mother said gently. ‘If this is about Sophia’s father, I really do want you to start from the beginning.’
She couldn’t do it.
‘Let me start for you,’ her mother said next. Still calm. No judgement. ‘You were nineteen and I’d just sent you away from me for the very first time. A new country for you. A bright future. I knew you were precocious, passionate, full of life and I wanted new experiences for you. New people to meet and worlds to explore. I thought I’d prepared you.’
