Princess In Training (Book 1)

Chapter 3

The next morning my birthday passed without fuss. My parents weren't at the celebration which leads me to think that maybe they were arrested last night. Grammy, Tia and Belle were cleaning up from the festivities when I hear my phone ring.

"Hello." I say once I answer the call, not really looking to see who is calling.

"Hello, is this Samantha Williams?" The voice on the other end asks.

"Speaking, and who is this?" I ask.

"This is officer Joyce with the D.C. police. I am calling to inform you that your parents will be charged for their crimes and there will be a trial. During which time your parent must be present. Do you have a way to contact your father?" He asks.

"Um, yes I do. He will be here. When is the trial?" I ask.

"February 1st." He says.

"We will be there." I say and hang up. Grammy walks over a few minutes later.

"Ok dearie, the place is all cleaned up. So we are going to go home and change then head to the Genovian Embassy to meet your grandmother." She says, I nod my head as she begins pushing me out of the bowling alley. We get back to the house and Grammy pushes me into my room. I look inside my closet for something that would be acceptable to meet a former queen in and I find a tan skirt, a black sweater with a white collar, and my nude flats. I quickly change outfits and slip the flat on to my good foot before wheeling myself into the living room with my purse on my lap. Moments later Grammy comes out of her room and picks up her keys. "Are you ready?" She asks and I silently nod my head. "Are you alright dearie? You have been really quiet since the end of your party." She asks as we make our way out to the car.

"I got a phone call while you all were cleaning up." I tell her as she helps me into the car.

"Oh, what was the call about?" She asks once she climbs into her seat.
"It was an officer saying my parents will be charged with child abuse." I tell her.

"Well that is good news." She says.

"My real dad has to fly in from Genovia to be here for the trial otherwise I can't testify." I tell her.

"Oh, now I am understanding." She says. "We will explain it to the former queen, everything is going to be ok." She says. We sit in silence the rest of the ride to the embassy. It is about 5pm when we get there and the sun is just beginning to set.

Grammy pulls the car up right in front of the doors and two gentlemen in expensive looking suites step forward to help us. One of them pulls my wheelchair out of the car the other one helps Grammy out and says he will move the car once I am out. The gentleman helps me into the wheel chair and makes sure I am comfortable in it before he starts pushing me inside the embassy. We get to the grand foyer and just kind of awkwardly stay there until the former queen walks in.

"Good evening." She says as she walks over to us.

"Good evening Elizabeth. How are you?" Grammy says walking over to her and hugging Elizabeth.

"I am doing well. How are you Allison?" Elizabeth asks.

"I am well. I would like you to meet our grand daughter. This is Samantha." Grammy says and I smile up at my grandmothers.

"This is her?" Elizabeth says looking at me.

"This is her." Grammy says.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." I say awkwardly bowing to her.

"Oh darling, you are family. You don't have to curtsy or bow to me." She says pulling me into an awkward hug. "It is so nice to finally meet you." She says as we pull apart.

"It's really nice to meet you too, your majesty." I say looking down at my hands.

"Dearie, you do not have to address me by a royal title either. You can call me Gram. Well, let us go out to the gardens for dinner." Elizabeth says as she leads us towards the garden. Grammy and I follow behind her. We sit down in the court yard inside the garden and our dinner is served, we are given pasta and salad with water to drink. We make small talk through out our dinner, and at the end Gram clears her throat to get our attention. "Samantha, I hope you do not mind me asking but, what happened to you?" She asks and I take a deep breath.

"Well you see...." And I dive into the story of my parents and then finding out about her son. "And now this leads to a really awkward question because I have only just met you and I have not even met my father, but he needs to be here for the trial otherwise I can't testify." I say in one long breath.

"Well that is an easy fix my dear. How about we go inside and give him a call? I am sure he would love to hear from you." She says. One of the, I guess they are butlers, comes up behind me and pushes me into an office where he seats me at the computer. I follow the instructions and log on to my grandmothers skype and once we are logged on Gram picks up the phone and calls my dad putting him on speaker.

"Hello?" I hear someone say on the other side of the phone.
"Mathew, can you get on the chat thing. I need to talk to you." She says getting straight to the point.
"Of course, I'll ring you in a moment." He says hanging up.

"We will be in the parlor if you need us." Gram says and she and Grammy both hurry out of the room. Before I really even have a change to realize what is happening I hear the computer ringing, I look at the screen and see the words Mathew Deveroux.

I take a shaky deep breath and answer the call. It takes a minute to connect and once it does, I finally see him for the first time. My dad, my real dad. When the call connects he is not looking at the screen, he's looking down at some paper work on his desk.

"Hello mom. Did you speak to Samantha?" He asks after a moment of silence and then looks up at the screen.

"Hi, dad." I say shyly smiling at the camera.

"You're all grown up." He says smiling back at me.

"Not quite, I'm still only 16." I say with a small laugh.

"I cannot believe after all this time I am finally meeting you." He says. "Wait are you in a wheel chair?" He asks.
"Yea, it's kind of a long story." I say looking down at my hands.
"Well I have all the time in the world to listen to you." He says and I smile, I take a deep breath and begin the story all over again.

"So I need you to fly to the states." I say and look down at my nails and begin playing with my fingers all over again.

"I'll be there before you fall asleep tomorrow night." He says and my head snaps up to look at the screen.

"Really?" I say.

"Of course. You are my daughter and you need me right now." He says. "I'll head to the airport and get on the plane and be there in about 12 hours." Hey continues with a smile on his face. "Is your grandmother still living in the same house?" He asks.

"No she moved to a different house a few years ago, when this all escaladed." I say and he nods his head.

"Alright, well type the address in the chat box, and I will stop by before coming to the embassy tomorrow." He says and I nod my head sending him the address. "It was very nice seeing you Samantha, I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow." He says and I nod my head.
"I love you, dad." I say and he smiles even wider.

"I love you too." He says before ending the call. I wheel myself into the parlor to see both my grandmothers talking.

"So what did your dad have to say?" Elizabeth asks.

"He is getting on a plane and he will be here in 12 hours." I say.

"Wow, that's sooner than I thought." Grammy says andthey both laugh. I wheel myself over to the both of them and we just sit thereand talk for a few hours before Grammy and I decide to head home. Once there Iwheel into my room and just move into my bed. I don't bother changing, I'm tootired for anything. This has been the longest 24 hours of my life.