Suddenly Royal

Chapter 3:

I WAVED AT Ellie who was looking out the window in astonishment then. She made a 'call me' motion with her hand and I nodded. I waved at Mom too and sat down inside the door that Giuseppe opened for me.

He closed the door and I watched him sit down in the passenger seat up front. "Umm... why...?" was all I could get out.

"Your grandmother insisted," he told me.

"Okay... where are we going?"

"Your grandmother has a reservation at a restaurant downtown," he told me.

"Okay..." I said and found my phone with ten text messages from Ellie on it.

'A freaking limo?' She asked me.

I texted her back and forth and had a massive guessing game of who in the hell my dad had been as we traveled into the city. I took a selfie of myself and sent it to her.

'OMG' she sent me back.

I nervously chatted with her as we finally pulled up to a restaurant downtown. I recognized it as the best restaurant in the city, one which had recently earned two Michelin stars. I smiled at being able to try it! I had read about the restaurant and wanted to try it, but of course Mom had laughed at me when I suggested it!

I started to open the door, but Giuseppe beat me to it and said, "Right this way Miss."

I shook my head believing it must be some sort of dream. 'My mom knows about me, and I've just ridden in a limo to meet with some long-lost grandmother who must be loaded!'

Mom did well for herself as a lawyer for a big firm, but I never considered us to be really wealthy since it was only her income coming in. Well... that and I know she got child support payments for me. We never worried for money I guess, but I wasn't like some of the kids at school that were constantly getting the latest toys and gadgets growing up. I followed Giuseppe inside and stood as he quietly talked to the Maître'D. "Right this way," he said a moment later and led us back to a private room where an older lady sat at a small table set for two.

She was older, but didn't seem old enough to really be my grandmother. Maybe early fifties at the most, and something about her radiated... power?

"Mon dieu... c'est une surprise!" she said standing up.

Mom had for some reason insisted I learn French as a kid... It had never made sense to me given all of my friends that spoke Spanish. 'Grandma and Dad are why?' I heard the door close behind me and stepped closer, "Umm... Bonjour... Je m'appelle Allie..." I told her nervously.

"Definitely not what I expected," she told me tersely in more French as she held her hand out and gave me one of those high society limp handshakes that I'd seen Mom endure before. "I'm your grandmother, Maria," she told me.

"I'm umm... I'm sorry about your son," I said a moment later awkwardly.

"Thank you dear... I know you didn't know him, but I imagine the news probably affected you as well since he was your father. Please sit," she told me.

I carefully did the best I could to sit gracefully in the chair while smoothing my dress.

"You're not new to dressing as a girl, are you?" she asked me in English, surprising me. 'Glad she speaks more than French...'

I shook my head and blushed, "No ma'am, I've been dressing as myself in secret for a couple years now."

"Giuseppe said your mother only just found out this afternoon?"