Marilyn Of Ville

Chapter 10 - Switched At Birth?

Within Arielle Lecroix' womb lay a second baby yet to be born, an 'oops’ twin because no one knew! Arielle recalled seeing her firstborn placed in a makeshift cart, because the extravagantly decorated royal warming tray was still in delivery room A, along with the gold identification bracelet that had been designed and engraved over a period of months by a world renowned jeweler.  

What further complicated matters was when a train accident victim, a pregnant commoner by the name of Veronique Duvalle, was rushed to delivery room A. Doctor Pascal was busy trying to save Madame Duvalle's life and that of her unborn baby. Via emergency Caesarian section, baby boy Duvalle was born minutes after Arielle’s second baby was delivered by nurse Angelique. The two nurses were swamped, cleaning the babies before nurse Angelique went off duty. Afraid for her job, nurse Lily asked no one for help in deciding which baby boy was which. She randomly placed the special royal identification bracelet on one of the babies and simply wrote ‘Baby Boy Lecroix’ and ‘Baby Boy Duvalle’ on two standard issue I.D. bracelets. She attached them to the two other babies, another opportunity for identity mix up! One of the royal babies could even have been switched with the commoner baby! There was also a rumor about webbed toes and a tracheotomy. And for thirty years, no one has known what became of the commoner mother and her baby! 

If Pierre has royal blood flowing through his veins but his ‘fraternal’ twin’s genes do not measure up, the search for Pierre’s real biological twin could take forever! No one even knows what baby boy Duvalle's first name is! It was never recorded in Ville. Perhaps nowhere! Veronique Duvalle could have taken her baby to another country!

Now, with Marcel's untimely death and no son to be the heir to the throne, the problem is an urgent one! Arielle’s first born son, Pierre or Xavier, or whoever he really is, has been preordained by his birth right to be the next reigning prince. The mystery surrounding the royal twins’ birth order must now be solved legally and conclusively. But legalities take time. How much time do you have, Lucy? Years?                    

When Marcel was alive there was virtually no chance that Pierre could never become reigning Prince, because he was recorded as the second born twin. But now, Lucy, with the twin confusion, marry him and you could become the next reigning Princess of Ville! You have a fifty-fifty chance! Pretty good odds if you ask me! Princess options are rare, so you must consider the gravity of your situation! If he is truly the first born, Pierre would need a son, an heir to the throne. Are you willing to get pregnant time and again, until you conceive a son? And don't you think you owe a debt to society, to help Pierre make things right with the citizens of Ville, from whom he took their Princess Marilyn so prematurely in that car accident? I have to go now. Call me!” 

Lucy was pondering whether she could pull off becoming Pierre's princess and spending her entire life in the royal limelight when the door bell rang. She opened the front door to find an exact replica of herself in the company of two other ladies, one in her mid-sixties, and one in her forties. Lucy became faint and the trio helped her into Marie’s arm chair. In an unusually thick but charming French accent, Lucy heard, "I am Cece Matthieu, simply 'Cece,' out of respect for my belated mother, Cecelia. This my daughter Laure Charbonneau and her daughter Aimee. We are pleased to finally meet you, Lucy! We were sorry to hear of your Grandfather Edouard’s passing. I can see that we have caught you totally by surprise!”  

The Lafites approached from the kitchen and greeted their guests. Lucy sat frozen, still staring at the youngest, her absolute duplicate. Marie asked, "How long has it been since we last saw you three, Laure?”  

“Too long! Aimee just celebrated her twentieth birthday. What about the book you wrote, Mother?” 

Cece replied, “Yes, my manuscript. I could leave it for Lucy to peruse at her leisure. Lucy, I started writing the book long before your Grandfather Edouard passed. But I waited until he had passed to finish it."

The four adults left the girls to chat while they took tea in the dining room. When the heavy wooden double doors slid closed behind them, Aimee began. “Lucy, I have had time to get accustomed to the likenesses in our appearances in photos of you that Marie and Franc have sent to us over the years. Isn't it a bizarre coincidence?”

“Yes! You are me, but  with a French accent! Have people told you that you remind them of a 1960’s American movie starlet? Classic film buffs seem to think I do, especially when I go to the south of France.”

“No, I do not get that reaction where we live in Rouen, to the north." Aimee lowered her voice and Lucy leaned forward to hear, “It is a small world, and about to get much smaller for you, Lucy, when you look at Cece’s book. Read to me each generation on the family tree listed here in the front of Cece's book.”  

“What is this? Is my Grandpa Edward’s name written beside your Great Grandmother Cecelia’s name? Aimee, please tell me there is another ‘Edouard’ Andrews and that it is just a peculiar coincidence! How could this be?" 

“Lucy, it is not a random occurrence. They are one and the same man. While he was away on the battle fields of Italy, he was unaware that his sixteen year old French war bride, my great grandmother Cecelia, bore him a daughter. Baby Cece survived, but his wife died in child birth. When the war was over, he returned to the United States alone, never to return to France. He married your Grandmother Julia. The bottom line is that you and I are both grand daughters of Edouard Andrews. I am actually his great grand daughter.   

The wealth originated when great, great, great grandmama, Yvette Bouchard, was born into French aristocracy in Paris. You will be an heiress to Cece's family fortune when you turn twenty-one! In the meantime, you will receive a monthly allotment and a tidy lump sum in arrears, thousands of U.S. dollars! Now that Edouard has passed away, the story can be told to you. Cece will hand-deliver a check to you tomorrow and we will go to the bank. Lucy, didn’t you say you have some valuable jewelry you want to place in a safe deposit box in the bank vault---?"