The Mysterious Case of the Royal Baby

By Harry Katzan Jr.

An American joins a prince in a royal wedding. An heir is expected, but the bride doesn’t want to get pregnant. An international solution involving privilege and wealth saves the day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jun 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781532077364

Harry Katzan Jr.

Harry Katzan, Jr. is a professor who has written books and papers on computer science and service science, in addition to few novels. He has been an AI consultant and has developed systems in LISP, Prolog, and Mathematica. He and his wife have lived in Switzerland where he was a banking consultant and a visiting professor of artificial intelligence. He holds bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees.

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Copyright © 2019 Harry Katzan, Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-5320-7732-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-7733-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-7736-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019908085

iUniverse rev. date:  08/22/2019

Contents

Prologue

One First Day Of Class

Two At The Library

Three The Play And Golf Lessons

Four Grandfather And The Masters

Five Matt’s Story And Ashley’s Background

Six Graduation

Seven Ashley’s Career

Eight The Bon Chic

Nine Show Business

Ten Social Connections

Eleven Another Graduation

Twelve The Problem Emerges

Thirteen Ashley Recognizes The Problem

Fourteen Ashley Contacts Matt

Fifteen Ashley Initiates The Solution

Sixteen August And Pamela Meet The Americans

Seventeen Breaktime In The Math Building

Eighteen Meeting With The General

Nineteen The Trip Home

Twenty Preparation For The Near Future

Twenty-One The Wedding And The Baby

Twenty-Two Back In The States

Twenty-Three Planning For The Baby Shower

Twenty-Four The Hotel

Twenty-Five The Baby Shower

Twenty-Six The Royal Baby

Twenty-Seven The Finale

About The Book

About The Author

Once again, for my wife Margaret

PROLOGUE

A private Gulfstream 650 in route to London prepared for landing at an unused military airport just north of the city. It was a direct flight from a private airport in the United States. The arrival was planned in advance. The plane joined the overhead traffic pattern and the landing was executed as smoothly as possible for the moderately large business jet. The captain taxied to a vacant area of the airport and waited. The cabin lights were not turned on.

A few minutes later, the aircraft was approached by a large dark SUV. Two men in blue fatigues exited the SUV and stood at attention. The passenger door of the aircraft opened and the automatic stairs were lowered. The men entered the plane and transferred a young woman and a small carrier to the SUV. The vehicle sped off in the direction of London.

A fuel truck approached the Gulfstream that waited for a refueling operation to be completed and then departed in a hurry.

This story describes the events preceding and following the scenario described above.

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ONE

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FIRST DAY OF CLASS

T wo students trudged up the three flights of stairs to the spacious apartment at 54 Nassau Street, the dwelling of Mme Marguerite Purgoine, a professor of creative writing at the university. She was an internationally accredited prize-winning author who commanded the respect of the authorities in charge, whoever they were. Marguerite, called Anna for unknown reasons, was a sweet woman of questionable years. To the older full professors, she was young. To the students, she was old. She was the only faculty member allowed to teach from her home, and the only faculty member having to climb up the terrible three flights of stairs.

The students were strangers. The boy initiated the conversation, Hi, my name is Matthew Miller, but most people call me Matt. Are you going to make it? The girl pleased that he broke the ice replied, Well, I think so. I’m not so athletic. My mom wanted to be a soccer mom, and now I hate running and exercise of all kinds. My name is Ashley Wilson. The couple ploughed upward until they reached the apartment. The door was open wide to a very large studio with enormous bookshelves and thousands of books scattered practically everywhere. A few students were already there seated in chairs placed in a semi-circle. The professor was a small gray haired aristocratic-looking lady who welcomed the newcomers with a Welcome to creative writing. The latest couple grabbed the two vacant chairs and the teacher was ready to begin with the course.

Welcome to the most worthwhile course you are going to take at this prestigious university. My name is Marguerite Purgoine and I will be your teacher. In the class, and with email and messaging, I would prefer that you call me Anna – heaven only knows where that name came from – but on the street or campus, please call me Professor Purgoine or Dr. Purgoine. I want you to enjoy the course, because happy writers are good writers. I am well aware of grade inflation throughout the country and especially on this campus, so just do your job and I will take care of you. You probably already know where the phrase ‘just do your job’ comes from. In case you don’t, it comes from the grand old game of football. When a player tries to gain favor with the coach asking what he should do better, they frequently get the reply, ‘just do your job’. In your case, just do your job and turn in your writing assignments on time. Matt smiled at Ashley and she smiled back.

The professor continued forthwith. We are required to provide a syllabus to each student so there is one for each of you over there on the table. I will personally tell about each and every writing assignment, so just come to class and do your job. Please keep in mind that I will assign a lengthy project about the middle of the course. How long? I think a good story is at least seventeen pages of 8½ by 11-sized paper with approximately 250 words per page. Where did the magic number of seventeen come from? Agatha Christie. I counted them in one of her publications, in my early days of teaching.

A student piped up with, How many pages is too long?

How did I know someone would ask? commented the professor. That is a question I don’t want to answer. I’m sure you can work that out during the course of writing. Let’s take a five-minute break. There’s coffee in that monster of a pot over there by the syllabi. I would like to talk to a couple of you.

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TWO

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AT THE LIBRARY

M att had found himself a nice quiet spot in the reading room of the university library. Each department had its own library, but it was nice to be alone when doing math problems. His professor, straight out of Harvard, advised his students to copy their notes and do the assigned problem set as soon after class as possible. He was doing just that, when, out of the blue, Ashley appeared. "I thought