Summary: How will the Beaumont Brothers react to the news they have a sister?
“Maxwell, get down here this instant. I will not keep the producers waiting.”
Maxwell came bounding down the stairs. “Relax Bertrand, I’m ready. It just takes time to look this good.”
Bertand rolled his eyes. Being Maxwell Beaumont’s brother was exhausting to say the least. “I see you’ve used enough hair product to sustain half of Cordonia, but I suppose you look presentable.”
“I wonder why the producers of Queen of My Heart want to meet with us. Maybe they are looking for a young, hip, dashingly handsome host for the show. I bet they’ve seen my break dancing videos on YouTube.”
“Calm down Maxwell. They said they have found an eligible woman to represent House Beaumont in vying for Prince Liam’s hand in marriage. I’m not sure where they found her. I am well versed in the Beaumont lineage and don’t know of any young, single females. It must be an extremely distant relative. I will need to make sure I approve of this woman representing our house on international television. I wouldn’t want anything tarnishing the Beaumont name.”
Maxwell peaked out the window. “Oh, they just pulled up in a limo. Let’s go!”
Bertrand stepped outside and greeted the two woman as they exited the limo. “Welcome to House Beaumont. I’m Bertrand, the Duke of Ramsford, and this is my brother Lord Maxwell.”
A petite, assertive looking woman shook Bertrand’s hand with an authoritative grip. “I’m Josephine Burke, the executive producer. You can call me Jo. And this is my associate producer Kat Feinberg.” Kat was slightly taller than Jo and had a softer demeanor. The 4 of them exchanged greetings. “We don’t have a lot of time, so we can talk more on the way to the airport.
They headed off to the airport. Jo and Kat kept them going with small talk for a while, but Bertrand started to grow anxious.
“Can you tell me who we are meeting? I have searched the family tree, and cannot figure out who it could possibly be. I suppose it is some very distant relative.”
“I wouldn’t exactly say distant. Not genetically speaking at least. Kat, why don’t you explain,” Jo instructed.
Kat turned to to Maxwell and Bertrand. “Jo always gives me the dirty work”.
Dirty work? What does that mean? Betrand was starting to grow concerned. Maxwell seemed oblivious to the connotation of Kat’s words.
The reason you didn’t see her on the family tree, is because she was intentionally left off,” Kat continued. “Hopefully you see this more as good news than bad news, but you two have a younger sister. Her name is Riley, she is 26, and she is from New York.”
“No, that is not possible.” There was an edge to Betrand’s voice. “This is preposterous. I’m sorry but this woman is clearly lying. Do you just take the word of any crazy woman who claims to be from a noble family to get on your show?”
“Bertrand, we have done our research. We are the ones who found her. There is a DNA test that proves your father, Barthelemy Beaumont, is also Riley’s biological father. We wouldn’t put her on the show if we weren’t certain.” Kat placed her hand gently on Betrand’s.
Betrand flicked her hand away. “Don’t touch me!. DNA tests can be altered. There is no way the late Duke of Ramsford would have had a child out of wedlock and then abandoned her.”
“I’m sorry Bertand. I know this is a lot to take in. We have records of child support payments from your father to her mother.”
“I need to get out of here. Pull over and stop the car right now!” Betrand yelled and banged on the glass to get the driver’s attention.
“Betrand, we are on the freeway. We can’t pull over now. Please calm down before you cause the driver to crash the car,” Jo chimed in.
“Calm down? How am I supposed to be calm when you ambushed me like this? Maxwell, why are you just sitting there? Do you have nothing to say?”
“I have a sister?” Maxwell’s expression was unreadable for a moment and then a look of pure joy spread across his face. “I have a sister! I always wanted a little sister!”
“Oh God.” Realization was starting to sink in that maybe Bertrand’s father was not the man he thought he was. Bertrand rested his elbows on his knees and kept his head in his hands for the for the short, silent remainder of the drive.
“Okay, we are here. Are you two ready to meet your sister?” Kat asked hopefully.
“Why don’t you two give us a minute? Maxwell requested. “We’ll be right out.” As soon as the woman exited, Maxwell spoke up again. “Bertrand, I know its hard to see it right now, but this can be a good thing. We get a chance to know our sister. She’s done nothing wrong. We should give her a chance.”
Bertrand was silent for a minute before speaking. “I just…I looked up to father my whole life. Knowing he had an affair is bad enough, although not totally out of character for a Cordonian noble…but to think that he could just toss her aside and think that throwing money her way was enough. She was his child and he didn’t even care to know her. He’s not the father I thought he was.”
Maxwell looked down at the floor. “I wish I could say I was as surprised as you are, but I’m not.” Barthelemy had been hard on both of them, but was especially critical of Maxwell. Bertrand was clearly the favorite and set to follow in his father’s footsteps. Maxwell never had the same kind of connection and was much closer to their mother. “But that’s in the past, and right now our sister is about to get off plane to meet us. What do you say? Can you give her a chance?”
“I will certainly try my best.”
~~~~~
Riley grabbed her carry-on from the overhead bin and prepared to deboard the plane. She felt and intense mix of nerves and excitement; her hands were shaking slightly. “Deep Breaths,” she quietly utter to herself. She searched the crowd for Kat, and there she stood with who Riley assumed must be Jo, Betrand, and Maxwell. Kat spotted Riley and waved, getting the attention of the other three.
When Maxwell saw Riley, a big smile lit up his face. He ran towards her, wrapped her up in a bear hug, and spun her around. “Riley! I’m so happy you are here!”
Maxwell set her back on the ground. She was overcome with emotion and her eyes welled up with tears. She had barely laid eyes on her brothers and she already felt a connection to family she hadn’t felt since her mom died. She wiped the tears away. “You must be Maxwell. Nice to meet you!”
“How did you know? They must have told you I was the good looking brother.”
Riley laughed and caught Bertrand glaring at Maxwell. “Hi, I’m Bertrand, the Duke of Ramsford, but you can just call me Betrand. He tentatively extended a hand hand Riley. Maxwell was taller than Bertrand and clearly looked younger. Bertrand seemed serious with a stern expression, like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Riley grabbed Bertand’s hand, pulled him in quickly, and threw her arms around him. “Sorry Bertand, I’m a hugger. You will have to get used to it.”
Bertrand lightly patted Riley on the back and pulled away. “Well, ahem, shall we head to to palace and get you settled in for the night.”
“Oh, I assumed I was staying at your place.”
“It is customary for all of the women to stay at the palace during the social season. But Prince Liam and his family have been kind enough to extend an invitation for Maxwell and myself to stay at the palace as well.”
“Also,” Jo interjected, “We need all the women in the same place for filming purposes.”
At that moment, Riley noticed a camera person not too far away with a camera pointed at them. “Speaking of filming, I thought that didn’t start until tomorrow. Was he filming the whole time?”
“Yes, that’s kind of why Kat and I are both here. We needed footage of you meeting your brothers for the first time to build the emotional impact of your story. You are the underdog, the long lost sister finally reunited with your family. People are going to love you, we will make sure of it.”
“Well it probably doesn’t matter what people think if Liam doesn’t love me or I don’t love him,” Riley replied.
“I’m predicting you will be top three at least. There’s something about you. And if Liam doesn’t see it on his own, we’ll make him see. Kat and I can be quite persuasive.”
“I’ve heard that reality shows aren’t really ‘real’ but I guess I’m seeing that first hand now.”
“Oh Riley dear, this is nothing. If you and Liam end up happy in the end, it doesn’t really matter how we get there, does it?”
“I’ll try and take your word for it, Jo. You are the expert.”
They traveled by limo back to the palace. It was nearly midnight by the time they arrived. They were greeted by a tall man with dark hair and a neatly trimmed beard and moustache wearing a suit.
“Welcome, I’m Bastien, head of the kings guard. I assume you are Lady Riley as I’m already acquainted woth everyone else. Good to see you again Your Grace and Lord Maxwell.”
“Oh come on Bastien, you’ve known us since we were kids.” Maxwell clapped him on the shoulder. “No need to be so formal.”
“Just following protocol Maxwell. Mostly everyone is asleep. Ms. Burke and Ms. Feinberg, I assume you know the way to your rooms. The three of you can come with me.”
Riley was dropped off at her room and said goodnight to her brothers. There was a long day of preparation ahead and they all needed rest.
There room was large with an elaborate 4-poster bed and decor to match. There was a fully stocked mini bar in one corner. Riley could get used to this.
Riley laid down and tried to sleep. Except as worn out as she was, she was still on NY time, and it was a few hours before her typical bedtime. As she waited for sleep to come, she heard some voices outside.
Riley walked over to the window and looked outside. Her room overlooked a well-lit courtyard and she saw two male figures kicking a soccer ball. Well, since she was in Europe now, she supposed she should call it a football. As she focused her eyes, she could see that one of them was Prince Liam! She had no idea who the other guy was, but from what she could tell, he was about Liam’s age and equally attractive. She was really liking what she saw of Cordonian men so far. Even Bastien was hot for an older guy. She opened the window to eavesdrop on their conversation. She knew Liam was the only guy that mattered with the show and all, but something about this other guy intrigued her.
“I hope you are enjoying you last day of freedom Liam. I guess it’s mine as well too…for awhile.
“You act like it’s the end of the world,” Liam replied.
“We won’t be able to hang out like this as much…”
Before the other man could finish his thought. Riley’s phone rang at full volume and Liam and the man both looked up towards her window. “Shit!” Riley exclaimed as she had ducked down to the floor and scrambled to silence her phone. It was her aunt Susan, probably checking to see if she made it safely. Riley would call her back as soon as she was done embarrassing herself.