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Alyssa shook her head wildly. ?
?This is crazy! Why would my mother have lied? Why would Aloysius?”
“Your mother was very young. When her parents learned of the affair, they told her she could never see Aloysius again.” Felix paused. “Then she learned she was pregnant.”
Alyssa drew a shaky breath. “Pregnant? Do you mean…with me?”
“Yes, child. Her parents forbade her to see Aloysius or tell him of the pregnancy. They said she would have to give you up when you were born but when the time came, she could not do it.”
Alyssa sagged against Lucas, who drew her closer.
“She ran away with you and worked her way through the southwest as a waitress. Meanwhile, Aloysius had heard rumors of her pregnancy. He searched for her and searched for her and when he finally found her, he asked her to marry him.”
“Aloysius,” Alyssa whispered. “My real father?”
“By then, you were a precocious four-year-old. You’d asked about your father and your mother had told you he was dead.”
“But Aloysius found us! Why didn’t he tell me who he was?”
“Your mother wouldn’t permit it. She said it would be too much for a child to bear, though he always thought that perhaps, just perhaps, she felt he was not really good enough to be revealed as your true father. At any rate, she would only marry him if he agreed never to tell you the truth.”
“And he went along with that?”
Disbelief roughened Alyssa’s voice. Felix sighed and shook his head.
“What choice did he have, child? Abandon you both—or have you in his life, even if he had to live a lie.”
A sob caught in Alyssa’s throat. “And all the time,” she whispered, “all those years…”
“He treated you coolly because he was always afraid he would break down and tell you what he had vowed to keep secret. As for the land…he’d bought it piece by piece, worked it as best he could but there were droughts and fires, and then your mother’s illness took the last money that he had.”
“He should have told me,” Alyssa said. Tears ran down her cheeks. “He should have told me!”
“Si. I agree. But he was afraid you would hate him for living such a lie.”
“But why did he sell you the ranch? He knew I loved it. He knew what it meant to me.”
“He also knew you would not be able to keep it. And that pained him, that the bank would take the only legacy he could leave you, his flesh and blood daughter.”
“So you offered to buy the ranch,” Lucas said.
“Si. It was the perfect solution. I would buy it, the money I paid would loose the bank’s hold. And then, mi hijo, and then the two of us realized we could do more.”
“That stipulation.”
“Of course. I wished you to have the right wife. Aloysius wished Alyssa to have the right man, one who would cherish her and the land she loved.” Felix threw out his hands. “And here was the perfect solution.”
Silence settled over the room, broken only by the electronic pings of the machines. After a moment, Lucas sighed.
“The two of you thought to play God,” he said quietly.
Felix nodded. “I suppose you could say that, yes.”
“You suppose?” Alyssa’s voice shook. “Playing God is exactly what you did, Your Highness. First Aloysius took it upon himself to keep the truth of my birth a secret. Then you toyed with two lives. If that isn’t playing God—”
“Alyssa,” Lucas said softly. “Amada, please, don’t weep.”
“I’m not weeping,” she said, while tears rolled down her cheeks.
