"Grand Duchess Olga De Vilbis!" said Rachel, as they headed back to Dublin, "I know that name! The last time Cecile came back to Bay City, she had some plot to marry Maggie off to one of the De Vilbis family - then presumably the two of them would have split the girl's trust fund. Only Maggie wouldn't go for it."

"So Cecile had her kidnapped instead." said Carl, "Is there nothing that woman won't do for money?"

"I don't think she'd actually KILL for it." said Rachel, "At least, I hope not."

"That was several years ago." said Carl, "I wonder if my - if the Grand Duchess is still alive."

"Fate couldn't be that cruel," said Rachel, "To have you find out the truth when it was too late."

Carl's people worked fast; within hours, they told him that she was alive, and living in the south of France, along with her great-nephew, Grand Duke Maximilian, and a mountain of debts.

"So, Riviera, here we come!" said Rachel.

"Yes." said Carl, "Perhaps we could come back to Ireland for a longer stay, another time. Meanwhile, I bought you a small souvenir. It's a claddagh brooch. The two halves fit together to make a whole - like our two hearts."

"And our two children. Thank you, Darling."

***

Meanwhile, back in Bay City, Cindy and David had taken up residence in Grant's old suite - the one thing Cindy had to show for her marriage .

" Carl picked a great time to do a vanishing act! I don't even know why I'm hanging around here!" Cindy said, "I don't have any friends in Bay City - I betrayed them all! And it's not like I think Carl is going to be HAPPY about being my father!"

"Would you rather just go back to Omaha and forget about it?" said David.

"No!"

***

"So near and yet so far!" said Carl, gazing towards Grand Duchess Olga's chateau ."Now that we're here, I'm not certain how to proceed."

"I can see where it would be a little awkward.' said Rachel.''You can't just walk up to a complete stranger and say : 'Hi, I'm your long-lost son.'."

"It's quite likely that my mother won't WANT to acknowledge me." said Carl, "What am I, but a dirty secret she had kept hidden for over half a century? Perhaps we should just go home."

"The only way to find our how she feels about you is to ask her." said Rachel.

In the end, Carl simply put the photograph Aoife had left him into an envelope, along with a note: "If you wish to meet, I'm staying at the Hotel Excelsior. Carl Hutchins." and had it delivered to the Grand Duchess.

She immediately sent back an invitation to the chateau. "Shall I come with you?" asked Rachel.

"No, Darling, this is something I have to do alone."

***

"Mon Dieu but you look like your father!" were Grand Duchess Olga's first words to her son.

"People often say so." said Carl, "Well, Madame - I don't quite know how to address you - Your Highness - Mother -"

"I lost the right to be called 'Mother' when I gave you up." she said. "Do you hate me for it?'

"To be honest, I don't know how I feel." said Carl, "I was told you had died many years ago."

"I hope you can understand that I really had no choice." she said, "These days, films stars have a baby with one man while living with another, while married to a third, and no one thinks anything of it. In my day, I would have been RUINED if anyone found out that I had a child out of wedlock."

"As I understand the story, my father had his sister Aoife go into retreat in an Irish convent, pretending to be you, while you were - where?"

"In a cottage in the country, away from the bombs." she said, "I called myself Mrs Helena Hutchins."

"Why 'Helena'?"

"Andrew didn't like the name Olga. He said it didn't suit me. There was poem he used to quote: 'Helen, thy beauty is to me-' "

"I know it well," said Carl, "It's by Edgar Allen Poe. So, you hid out in the country until I was born, and then you got on with your life."

"Yes. What else could I do? I only held you in my arms once. It was I who named you Carl Andreivitch."

"In English, Carl Andrew." said Carl. "I must admit, I always wondered about that. I mean, 'Carl' is an unusual name for an Irish child at the best of times, but particularly for one born during World War Two. Most of my contemporaries were being named 'Winston'."

"I never thought of that." said his mother. "I named you after my favorite brother."

"And, do I have any brothers or sisters?"

"No, you were my only child."

"Well, if you would like to meet your daughter-in-law, and your grandchildren, come to tea at my hotel. Until then, I bid you good day."

Rather to Carl's surprise, Grand Duchess Olga did show up at teatime , with her great-nephew Maximilian by her side.

"How do you do?" said Rachel, shaking his hand, "Rachel Cory Hutchins. We never met, but I do know your name. A few years ago, there was some talk of you marrying my grand-daughter, Maggie Cory."

"The lovely Marguerite!" said Max "I hope she is well?"

"So do I." said Rachel, "She's married now, and last time I heard from her, she was living in Barcelona."

Debra brought the Hutchins children in.

" These are yours?" said the Grand Duchess, "I had expected them to be older - Max's age."

"We got started rather late." said Carl.

'Women in my family stay fertile until late in life." said Rachel, "My mother was older than me when she had my sister Nancy."

"Elizabeth, Cory - meet Granny." said Carl, Kissing them.

"I can see that you are a good father." said Grand Duchess Olga. "They will have what you did not - the home, the family. I am sorry for everything. If you wish to be - well, it is late to be a family, but if you wish to be friends, so do I."

"Thank you." said Carl, "Now, I'm not going to insult your intelligence by pretending not to realize that you know I have money, so let's talk finances. I am willing to give my mother an allowance; I'll even compound with her creditors; but I'm damned if I'm going to support the whole family in idleness. You , Max - you're young and healthy. Are you going to be a Eurotrash gigolo all your life, or are you willing to go to work?"

"I am willing to work." Max replied, "But I have no job skills. My only talent is for growing roses."

"Roses, is it?"

"I have won many prizes for them."

"I have heard it said that if you can grow roses, you can grow anything. One of my holdings is a drug company in Zurich. I can give you a job in their Botanical Research Division."

"Thank you, Uncle. I ask for nothing more." said Grand Duke Maximilian.

***

"Have we really only been away a few days?" said Rachel, looking around the familiar living room of the Cory Mansion, "It seems like ages! "

"A great deal has happened in a short time.' said Carl, "It's good to be home."

The doorbell rang.

"Who could that be, at this hour?" Rachel wondered.

"Probably another long-lost relative!" said Carl, heading for the door. "Why, Cindy!"

"Hello, Carl."

And that is where our story ends, because you can guess the rest: Cindy tells Carl he's her father, and he either believes her at once, or demands a DNA test. Either way, once he gets over the shock, he's delighted. I want to thank Meloira, for giving me the idea of Cindy being Carl's daughter. The possibility had never occurred to me, but it makes sense: Cindy inherited her brains, her sneakiness, and her libido from Dear Old Dad!

Notes: 1.) I don't know if such a things as a claddagh brooch exists, but Carl had already given Rachel an engagement ring with a diamond the size of a doorknob, a wedding ring, and a ring with the birthstones of themselves and the children. She's running out of fingers!

2.) I know Grand Duke Maximilian was supposed to be GDO's Nephew, but for a woman of 80-something to have a nephew in his 20's is a bit improbable. So I made him a Grand-nephew.