Page 15 of The Prince's Secret Daughter
Helen and Raj both froze, looking at each other. Then Raj looked down at the little girl. “Yes, honey. Yes, I’m your father.”
Angela’s grin widened and her dark eyes sparkled with delight. “I thought so. You look like me. And my momma told me that I looked like my father.”
“That’s very perceptive of you,” Raj replied.
“Does that mean that I get to call you Daddy?”
Raj swallowed and Helen felt his shock. And his delight. She noticed the way he was fighting back the powerful emotions and wanted to hug him.
“Yes. I would be thrilled if you would call me Daddy.”
Angela, bless her heart, took both of her parents hands and pulled them into the living room, explaining the games that the babysitter had brought, describing the games she knew howto play as well as the ones she didn’t understand, but cautioned that she was a very smart person and would learn them quickly.
The sitter was a blond woman in her mid-twenties who immediately handed Helen a resume. “I’ll let you and your husband review my qualifications. If you’d like to request someone else through the hotel, I won’t be offended at all.”
Helen gasped when she saw the gorgeous table overflowing with eggs, bacon, sausage, muffins, fruit, orange juice, and fresh coffee. There were other covered dishes, but Helen was too overwhelmed to take it all in. Usually, she was rushing around, trying to finish getting dressed, check her tote bag, make Angela’s breakfast, make her a lunch along with several types of healthy snacks, trying to remember what was on the agenda at her daughter’s day care in case permission slips or a special outfit or…whatever might be needed.
It felt odd to just…sit down and eat food that someone else had prepared.
Nice, but odd.
“My guards have already done a background check on Emily, in case you are worried about her qualifications,” Raj said, pouring a cup with herbal tea for her.
“And she’s okay? This…Emily person…she checks out okay?”
“Definitely okay,” he vowed, taking a muffin and breaking it in half. “Plus, she’ll be watched by my men. They understand the significance of today.”
“What’s a ‘signicans’?” Angela asked, stuffing a forkful of scrambled eggs into her mouth. “Does it have to do with my new daddy?”
Helen smiled, charmed by her daughter’s intelligence. “No, sweetie,” she explained. “Significance means that something is important.”
Angela turned serious eyes to Raj. “I think you’re significans, Daddy.”
Helen smothered a smile as she saw Raj’s entranced expression. He looked down at the open muffin, as if wondering what he was doing.
He swallowed and nodded. “I think you’re significans too,ya asal.”
Her eyes narrowed with that last word. “What’s that?”
He grinned and the charming man was back. “That’s a term of endearment in my country.”
This seriously intrigued their young daughter and she shifted onto her knees. “Tell me what it means!”
For the next five minutes, Raj taught her words in Arabic and Angela repeated them. Helen remembered her college French teacher explaining that the muscles in one’s throat develop early in youth. Exposing children to different languages early in childhood helped them learn to mimic accents with those throat muscles.
Helen had no idea if that was true or not, but she smiled behind her cup of tea as Angela stumbled over the newvocabulary words. It took a couple attempts, but eventually Angela pronounced them all perfectly.
When she glanced at Raj, Helen could see the pride glowing in his eyes. Their daughter was brilliant! Of course, every parent thought that about their offspring, but in their case, Angela truly was a treasure.
When breakfast was over, Angela jumped down from her chair, then ran over to Raj, lifting her arms up in the universal signal that she wanted to be picked up.
Chapter 9
Raj grinned down at the tiny creature with huge, brown eyes, stunned by her immediate acceptance. As she wiggled her fingers impatiently, he lifted his daughter into his arms and she wrapped her own around his neck and hugged him.
“I’m glad you found me, Daddy!” she whispered, her tiny arms tightening around his neck. Then she gave him a kiss on his cheek and wiggled down from his lap.
The tyke did the same to Helen, then rushed around the table, waving to the butler and the wait staff, who were standing sentry against the wall.
