Winning the Queen's Heart: Contemporary Christian Romance (The Brides of Belles Montagnes Book 2) (19 page)

“Reports from the palace seem to indicate the queen is doing well and the baby is doing fine. However, the queen’s schedule remains clear for the rest of the week. All of her appointments for next week have been warned they may need to reschedule.

“Prince Alexander has been seen filling in for the queen on several occasions in the last few days. When asked about the queen, he said a few words.”

Alexander’s face filled the screen, exceptionally larger than life.

“Ouch,” he whispered next to her. “Maybe I didn’t think this through.”

“Queen Christiana is resting comfortably. She and the baby are doing fine. The doctors are acting out of an abundance of caution, so she will remain on bed rest for at least the next few days. After that, we’ll leave it up to the experts to decide. She does miss being at events like this and thanks the good people of Ravenzario for understanding. The queen is slowly working her way through all of the cards and letters that have been sent. She hopes to get to the emails, too, but those are a bit trickier on bed rest.” He winked at the camera. “I’ve got a plan to help her with that, too, though. She sends her deep, heartfelt thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers the last few weeks.”

The Alexander sitting on the bed next to her turned the television off. “If you have any questions about how it works and I’m not around, ask Diana.” He kissed the side of her head again and rolled off the bed. “I have a meeting in a few minutes. Do you need anything before I go?”

She shook her head. “No. I think I have everything I need, but could you ask Diana to come in?”

“Sure. I’ll be back later.”

Christiana watched him walk out admiring the cut of his shirt across his shoulders and his pants...She shook herself out of it then grinned.
2 Cool 4 School
marathon, coming right up.

Chapter 20

Yvette sat on the front pew of the chapel and tapped her foot impatiently. She wanted to get this over with and get back to Mevendia. To home and homework. Was it really “palace work” when one lived in a palace? At least she wasn’t off at boarding school like Christiana had been.

Her father had talked about it, with her being the only girl and it being more important to have her in a secure facility at all times or something, but her mother had put her foot down and refused to send her baby away.

Thank goodness.

She had a few friends she was pretty sure she could trust completely, but she was never certain. Yvette had never had that “I can tell this person anything” friend. Too many risks. She knew she would be pressured to name her maid of honor in this meeting, and she didn’t want to. Not even a little bit. Christiana had used representatives of her people. Ana and Addie had stood up for each other. Yvette had been Jessabelle’s the year before but that had been a weird fluke, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to ask her half-sister/sister-in-law to stand up with her anyway.

As long as she wasn’t asked to pick the best man.

“There you are, darling.” Her mother’s heels clicked up the aisle. Other voices could be identified as the rest of her little entourage waited. “I wondered where you ran off to.”

“I didn’t run anywhere.” She’d walked. Away from the discussion of pictures and cakes and everything else that pointed to this being a real wedding.

“We could not find you,” her mother reproved gently.

“Sorry.”
Not really
. The closer the wedding came, the more her heart ached. The more she wanted to find Nicklaus at the other end of the aisle. Or her idealized version of Nicklaus anyway. If he were alive, he would have been king since he was three. He could be an ogre and egomaniac. Or maybe he’d be the sweet, kind man Yvette had always imagined herself with.

Alexander took a seat about halfway up the stairs leading to the platform. “All right. Nearly everything is in place. You have another fitting this week right, Yvette?”

Yvette nodded. She loved her dress and hated she likely wouldn’t get to wear it for her actual wedding. What man would want her to wear the same dress she wore to a non-wedding with a dead man?

She only half listened as he went through the rest of the vendors and discussed the guest list. She’d worked on it for days, though she didn’t know most of the people invited. The invitations would need to be mailed out in the next week. Calligraphers had already done most of them.

“One more thing we need to know, Yvette.” Alexander gave her a kind smile. “Who is going to stand up with you?”

“I haven’t asked anyone yet,” she told him, hoping to buy some more time.

“You need to.” Her father’s voice came from behind her.

“I know.” She didn’t want to.

And then it hit her. Like a bolt of lightning. Who she wanted to stand with her.

“You need to pick someone, sweetheart.” Her mother.

Yvette could feel her eyes light up. “I know who I want it to be.” One person who had never let her down. Ever.

“Well, who?” her mother demanded.

“Nana Yvette. I want Nana to be my matron of honor.” It was fitting in so many ways. If only they would let her.

But her announcement was met with several long seconds of silence. Then...

Her father’s voice, thick with emotion. “I think she would love that, Yvette.”

Good.

Everything was set.

Except the groom.

* * *

Alexander waved to the gathered crowd as he walked out of the hospital. It wasn’t the biggest crowd of his still-brief career as prince consort, not even close, but he wanted to make sure to greet some of them. Shake some hands. He walked over to the rope line, smiling. The first person he reached was a little girl. He squatted down next to her. “Good afternoon. How are you?”

She bit her lip. “Good.” She held out a card and a flower. “This is for the queen.”

He took them from her. “Well, thank you. I will be sure to give them to her as soon as I see her. What’s your name?”

She ducked her head shyly. “Lily.”

“Thank you so much, Lily. I know the queen will appreciate it.”

“I hope she feels better. We pray for her before bed.”

“She does feel much better already.” He stood and shook hands with the woman who must be Lily’s mother. “Thank you.”

She rested her hands on Lily’s shoulders. “We are all so happy for both of you.”

Lily tugged on his pants. “Is it a boy or a girl?”

“We don’t know yet, sweetie, but I promise, if your mom will give me your phone number, I will make sure you are one of the first ones to know.”

Lily’s eyes went wide. “Really?”

He nodded. “Yep. It might not be until after the baby is born, but you, Lily, will be one of the first to know.”

A hand tapped his shoulder, and he looked over at one of his security guys. “I think that means it’s time for me to go. It was a pleasure meeting you, Lily.”

As they walked to the car, he asked what was going on. “Sorry to interrupt, sir, but your brother called and asked to move your teleconference up an hour. He’s expecting you in about fifteen minutes.”

Ten minutes later, Alexander settled into his office chair and fiddled with his computer until the camera and settings were just right. A minute later, the computer buzzed, and he clicked the button. Time to focus on the family business for a while then go check on his wife.

* * *

Christiana typed her name and title to another email and clicked send. She needed to have Diana set up a signature on the bottom so she would not have to sign them - and she did not know how to set it up herself. The giant screen made it a lot easier to try to get work done. She had sent out emails to many of the groups she had canceled meetings with as well as responded to the well-wishes on the palace website with an official statement now found on the main page.

She looked up at the light rap on the door. Her husband stood there, a beautiful calla lily twirling between his fingers. “This is for you, Your Majesty.” The smile on his face took a bit of sting out of his formality.

“It is lovely, Alexander.”

The grin expanded as he pulled up a chair next to the bed. “I wish I could take credit for it, but a little girl gave it to me for you. Her name is Lily. I promised she would be among the first to know if this is a boy or a girl when the time comes to make the announcement.” He handed her an envelope. “Also from Lily who told me her family prays for you and the baby every night before bed.”

Christiana sniffled. “That has to be one of the sweetest things I have ever heard.”

“Christopher said the same thing.” Alexander propped his stockinged feet up on the bed, his gold toe socks wiggling with his toes. “He sends his love. So do Mom and Dad. Do you mind if I change this?” He nodded toward the screen still filled with the palace website.

“No.”

Alexander pushed a button only to see a giant picture of himself and his brother pop up. Christiana did not know if she should be embarrassed for herself or for her husband.

He tilted his head to look at the title screen from his show. “What’s that all about?”

“I decided to watch some
2 Cool 4 School
, if you must know. It has been a long time since I had the chance, and knowing you as I do now, it makes me see things a bit differently.”

Now he watched her. “How so?”

“When your character kisses his girlfriend, for instance. I know she was really dating your brother.”

“You’re only in season one if this is the episode you watched. I don’t think they kissed until season three or four.”

She shrugged. “I skipped around some. I watched the last episode already.”

Alexander clutched at his heart. “Say it ain’t so! You don’t watch a series out of order until you know it so well you can quote large chunks and place in the top ten in the annual trivia tournament.”

Christiana found that hard to believe. “Annual trivia tournament? Really?”

“Yep. Every year a group of fans get together in LA. They have costume and trivia contests and tours of the old sets that are in use as part of other shows. They try to get some of the actors and actresses to show up, and we get an invitation every year, but we’ve never gone. Usually it’s one or two of the recurring characters. They also have awards for the best fanfic stories written that year.”

She blinked rapidly. “Pardon? What is fanfic?”

“People take the characters from the show and write their own stories about them. There’s a bunch of websites online for all different shows and such, but the 2C4S.com site is where almost all of these are posted. It’s run by a lady in the Eastern U.S. who uses the initials AC. She says it has nothing to do with me and Christopher. The other gal is in the British Isles, and goes by the name
Labby
.”

“Really?”

He nodded.

“I had no idea.”

“You’d be surprised at how obsessed some fans are. It’s part of the reason why Topher and I work so hard to separate ourselves from the show. I’m sure it’ll come out eventually, but until it does, we keep it under our hats.”

“Do you ever plan to attend?”

Alexander shuddered a bit. “No. Maybe in a few years, after the furor over the show died down some more. I might have considered it, but not with being married to the queen of Ravenzario.” He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I’d much rather be here with you than in LA with a bunch of fangirls.”

A wicked grin crossed her face. “Perhaps, once it becomes common knowledge the prince consort of Ravenzario is really Alex Slate, they will move their annual convention here. Think of what a boost it would be to the tourism sector.”

He groaned. “Oh, I hope not. I mean, I know it would be, but let them keep it in LA.”

She turned serious. “If it ever does come out, would you meet with them if a group came here?”

Alexander laced their fingers together. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

A knock sounded on the closed door, interrupting the conversation.

“Come in.”

Diana walked in, a tablet in her hand. “Ma’am, Dr. McCall has just pulled through the gates. She’ll be here in a few minutes.”

Christiana closed her eyes. Another visit. Possibly another intrusive exam. Definitely another scan. Seeing the baby was always a good thing. “Thank you, Diana.”

Her assistant turned, but stopped when she saw the screen. “Oh. My. That’s a big picture of you, sir.”

Alexander grumbled and turned the projector off as Diana walked out. “What do you need to do to get ready?”

“Nothing.” For the moment. “She mentioned only planning to do a scan today.”

His grin could light up a dark night. “It’s pretty cool, isn’t it? Seeing the baby.”

She reached for his hand, holding it with her right hand while her left fingers played with his wedding band. “I am sorry for not letting you experience the first ones, Xander.”

He squeezed her hand. “It’s done. It’s in the past. I’ve seen the pictures, and I’m here from now on.”