Violetta had cried herself to sleep in the carriage. She cried softly so she wouldn't disturb anything. Her mother couldn't comfort her, as she was holding onto Heath. When her father was communicating with the doctor as they headed back to the house, the doctor had Amistad checking various things on Heath. It would be fine to take him home. The doctor would meet them there.
…
…
Violetta woke in the room with Heath. She was in his same bed. And he was looking at her. She was holding onto his uninjured hand. He smiled at her. "You have drool."
Violetta sat up blushed and wiped her face full of embarrassment. There was no drool. She glared at him with a look that said, 'I would hit you right now if I could!'
He laughed at her face. She glowered even more at him, and he laughed harder. "Go check down the hall. Your parents just walked the Doctor out." He knew she wanted to know what was going on.
"Your mom…" she hesitated.
"Just go check first, and then come talk to me," he said quickly beginning to push her off the bed.
…
…
In the hallway listening in to a conversation taking place in the study, stood a very sneaky Violetta.
"Alright Amistad," Laura said. "Everyone is out of the house now. It's just you me and the kids. Explain!"
Amistad sighed defeated. He knew he had to tell her something, so he decided it would be best to say some truth. He could not say everything. If they were ever caught, Laura would be better off being ignorant. That was what he had decided in the carriage. Looking at this beautiful and enraged woman before him he knew he had better say something quickly.
"I told you Meiri is my sister," Amistad began. Laura practically held her breath. She knew they were not related, and his closeness to the woman had been a reason for contention in their marriage.
"You know we are not blood related," He continued. "But we grew up alongside each other like siblings. I was closer to her than I was with my own blood brother."
"Your brother?" Amistad had never, not once mentioned a brother.
"He raped her, Laura." Amistad had an aggrieved expression on his face. Now was the time to mix in lies and truth. "He tried to kill me in the orphanage when I was younger. So I ran away not knowing how she was living. He has connections in the medical field. If he finds us, he will kill me, and he will take Heath away to raise him to be like himself."
Laura was bombed by the information flowing out of her husband. This was his secret? This was Meiri's secret. No wonder he said Heath was his nephew and registered him at the school. Heath is his real nephew.
"Who's your brother?" Laura said.
"It's better if you don't know." Amistad said. Seeing that his wife was about to argue, he added. "He's not a good man. And he's not someone who runs in our circle. I'm safe hiding in plain sight from him. Heath is safer with me too. But even if Violetta gets injured, we cannot let her go to the hospital. She must be treated at home. If they test her DNA, they will know I'm her father. Then her uncle will come for her. I don't know if he'll kill her or just take her. Either way we will never see her again."
Laura sat down. She needed to process this. Her husband grew up in an orphanage with Meiri. Meiri was like his sister, she had taken care of him. He had a brother the entire time and didn't mention him? Why didn't he mention his brother? Meiri seemed used to doing maids work, like she had done it all her life. Amistad had attracted Laura because of his proud stature. He looked proud in everything he did. When she introduced him to her father as a potential candidate to be her husband, her father noted that Amistad was more like a noble than a lot of other young men her age.
If Amistad and Meiri had truly grown up together, then wouldn't the two of them be more similar? Amistad was supposed to be the younger brother to Meiri, but he was proud, and she seemed servile toward him. It didn't add up. Amistad was still lying to her.
She hated this. He knew everything about her. Every secret she had ever had was laid out in front of him long ago. She had treated him like her other half and trusted him completely. But he never trusted her. She had her suspicions, yes. But she had waited patiently for him to tell her. She knew some things might be painful for him to share, so she waited. She waited for him to speak to her about how he arrived at the orphanage. He never told her. He still after 11 years of marriage didn't trust her with the truth. Had she not proven her love to him? She just didn't know anymore.
…
…
Violetta heard her father and knew he was still trying to protect her mother from the truth. She didn't understand why her mother couldn't know. Amistad's brother was the current king. He had changed a lot of rules during his reign. There was so much that was now monitored by the government that never was in the past. She wouldn't be surprised if the monitoring of the people grew more outrageous as time went on. After all, the king was on a private manhunt.
…
…
Violetta didn't want to get caught spying on her parents, so she went back to talk to Heath about what she had witnessed. However once she got into the room, she saw Araminty with her head bowed, sitting at a sleeping Heath's bedside.
"Minty," Violetta asked, "Are you okay?" Violetta patted Araminty on the shoulder.
Araminty nodded. "I scanned him. He's not okay. He's broken. Violetta, can you repair him?"
Violetta looked at Araminty sadly and sighed, "I can't fix people."
Araminty looked at Violetta with her frozen facial expression it was difficult to tell what Araminty was feeling. She should fix that. "I can't fix him, but he is able to fix himself. The human body heals itself really well."
"But he could get an infection, or blood poisoning, and then his limbs will have to be cut off, then he will have to get retrofitted with a new one that is mechanical. Or if it's bad enough they might need to replace his blood with new blood. And if they can't find a match he could die." Araminy went to the extremes with worry. She had never had to worry before, so she had searched all the worst things or freak incidents that could happen.
"That's a very, very slim chance of that happening, and Heath is already on medication to keep that from happening," Violetta explained. "If he did have to go through a blood transfusion there is always me or my father. I'm sure with us being related we might match."
"But you don't share any DNA," Araminty argued back.
"What? No Minty, Heath and I are cousins," Violetta explained. My father and Heath's father have the same dad, but different moms."
"That's not what my blood analysis said. You aren't related by blood. Maybe Heath's father isn't your dad's brother."
Violetta had a lot to think about. Heath was so sure of his parentage. Tarragon Arbutus Echinops Majus was the current king. And Heath looked just like the current king, who shared some characteristics with her father. That led her mother to suspect the worst. How could he not be the current king's son? There was no way. Right?
Had her father lied to her too? But what about Heath's mom? She had told him the same thing. She looked at Heath. Had his mother lied to him and her father?
But then why did Heath share some physical traits with her father and the king? Heath was definitely the current king's son. It was glaringly obvious to people who studied him. She had even wondered how no one had pointed it out yet. Her father and the current king shared quite a few physical traits as well. So they had to be related.
Then she thought about it. She didn't look like her dad. Was she not her father's daughter. She had to make sure.
"Minty," she said. "Don't tell anyone about this just yet. Not even Heath. This will be a secret between us for a while. Ok?"
"Okay," Minty liked having a secret with Violetta. She didn't know why, but she had the sudden urge to tell someone she had a secret. What was this feeling? A secret was not to be disclosed to anyone but the party sharing the secret. This needed to be analyzed.
"I also need another favor," Violetta bit her lip as she looked at Araminty.
"What is it?"
"Help me to analyze my father's blood against mine and Heath's."