by Bella Grant
“You should. You’re still married to Mom.” Jason smirked.
King Jaimie looked at the glass door separating them from any intrusion and wet his lips. “I’m not talking about your mother. Things are always complicated when you’re royalty, aren’t they?”
“Dad, what are you talking about?”
“I wasn’t always in love with your mother. As a matter of fact, the marriage was mostly an arrangement.”
“What?” Jason asked incredulously. “I didn’t know that.”
“No, and you don’t need to be concerned about it. I grew to love her, but before we were thrust together by decree and royal statutes, I fell in love with a local girl.”
“Talk about coincidence,” Jason muttered, and his father chuckled in response. “Now I get why you are so soft on the Elena issue.”
“That’s exactly why. I wanted to be with that girl because she made me come alive in ways I couldn’t explain. Love isn’t about where you come from, or what you are, or how much money you have. I’ve been around a long time, and I’ve never seen one instance of money buying happiness. If anything, it makes people more miserable. Look what we forced you into doing so we could stay on top. It’s a cruel game, and if the one good thing that comes out of this is that you fell in love, then I don’t want you to make the same mistake I made.”
Jason was quiet for a moment. “You regret marrying Mom?”
“No,” King Jaimie replied without hesitation. “That’s not what I’m saying.” He placed his hands on Jason’s shoulders and looked him square in the eye. “Do you want this girl?”
Jason had doubts before, but standing in front of his father, he couldn’t deny it any longer. “I think I do.”
“Well, go after her. Don’t make the same mistakes I made. For years, I battled with myself, wondering if I had done the right thing by ‘doing the right thing.’ It wasn’t until after I learned she had married a farm boy that I let it go. Son, it’s not the best feeling in the world. If you find love, don’t let it go, no matter who she is. You have my support.”
“Only yours?” Jason asked as a smile crept onto his face.
King Jaimie looked at the glass door. “I’ll talk to your mother. She’ll come around. Now go!”
Jason’s smile turned into a grin, and his spirit was instantly lifted. “Thanks, Dad.”
King Jaimie clapped him on the shoulder as he began to walk away, and Jason ran to his room and grabbed his phone, excited like he was going to his first carnival.
“Where are you off to?” his mother called after him when she saw him speeding out of the house like he was being chased.
Jason paused long enough to wink at her as he dashed outside. He would have run the entire distance if not for the fact that he ran into Rick as soon as he reached the foyer.
“Hey, Rick, could you give me a ride to the village? Thanks,” he said before the man could answer and made a beeline for the car.
He was jittery the entire distance, and his hands shook uncontrollably. He hadn’t seen Elena in months, but he knew he loved her, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer—not from her, and not from the villagers.
He got into town and was directing Rick to the farm when someone stepped in front of the car. It screeched to a stop as the other villagers immediately surrounded them.
“What the…” Rick began, temporarily oblivious to the prince still within earshot.
Jason opened the door and emerged in the middle of a tight group.
“Where are you going?” someone shouted. “You don’t need to be here.”
“I have to be here,” Jason pleaded. Forcing his way through was not going to work. They were a tight-knit group, more than he had thought at first, and he understood that if he gained their favor, they might help him win Elena. She was one of their own, after all.
“No, you don’t,” Emma stepped forward and declared. “She is fine without you.”
“Emma, please,” Jason continued to plead. “I have to see her. Look, I know you all are looking out for her, but I am not going to hurt her.”
“You mean like you forced her to sleep with you and then left her alone?”
Jason fell back against the car, his strength temporarily failing him. “Forced her? I never did that. Did she say I did that?”
“Not really,” Emma said plainly, and someone nudged her on her elbow. “What? She didn’t.”
“I love her, and I want to be with her. I’ve been trying to get her to realize she loves me too. I left because I thought she wanted some space, but…I don’t want to do this anymore, okay?” He was turning into mush, and he didn’t care. Anything to get them to move.
They looked at each other and started murmuring and whispering.
“What about us? Can we get some medicine or something?” a woman shouted from the back.
“Sure. Anything,” Jason said without hesitation.
“You sure you’re not just saying that?” the woman followed up.
“I mean it. I know my family has been negligent, but that will change. I see the way things are now a lot clearer than before.”
There was a hushed silence and the crowd started to part.
“Thank you,” Jason said as he breathed a sigh of relief.
He got back into the car, and his heart drummed as the wheels crunched on the asphalt and he inched closer to Elena’s farm.
Elena
Elena didn’t want her parents to think she couldn’t manage work on the farm, so she dragged herself stubbornly from the bed that morning. She had noticed her mother’s curious stares and faked a smile even though the bacon frying in the pan made her queasy. But she couldn’t let on that she wasn’t feeling well. The last thing she needed was her trekking to the castle and making a scene. She didn’t need the unnecessary attention. Besides, she could take care of the baby on her own. What she would tell the child as he or she grew older and asked? She decided she would handle it if it ever came up, but she had some time before that would happen.
She had done most of her morning chores, fetched the eggs, cleaned the sty, fed the horses, so she headed back to the barn to refill the hay. It was running low again, and she needed to tell her dad to order more. But money was also running low, and they needed an alternate source of funding other than selling crops from the farm. She was actively thinking about giving riding lessons or renting out the horses when a wave of nausea overcame her.
She staggered and rested against a stall inside the barn, closing her eyes as she waited for the feeling to pass. She did some deep breathing and placed her hands on her stomach.
“Easy, little one,” she whispered. “Take it easy on Mommy.”
After a few seconds, the rippling movements in her stomach stopped, and she started to feel semi normal again, under the circumstances.
“Elena!” Nathan called from outside.
She mustered the strength to answer. “Hey, Nate.”
“What are you doing?” he asked as he charged into the barn and crashed into her.
“Ow!” she cried, and he stopped dead in his tracks with a perplexed look on his face. “Oh, it’s okay.” She grinned and ruffled his hair. His original smile slowly returned. “I was about to feed the horses some lumps of sugar. You want to do it?”
“Yeah!” he cried excitedly.
She took his hand and led him to the bag. “Okay, here we go.” She handed him a few lumps and pointed him to the first stall with the most docile mare. The animal whinnied and came to the front of the stall as soon as it spotted Elena. Or smelled the sugar, was a better guess.
Nathan laughed when the animal’s tongue tickled his palm as it licked the sugar from him. Elena did the same, forgetting the discomfort she had felt only moments ago. By the time they were through, she felt flushed again. Sweat beads popped up on her forehead and on her nose, and she felt exceedingly hot. She started fanning her face with her hand, but that didn’t soothe her.
“Are you hot?” Nathan cocked his
head to the side and asked her. “I could get you some water.”
“Oh, that would be great, Nate,” she said dotingly. “I’d love that.”
He smiled broadly and dashed from the barn. He was barely out of sight before Elena tumbled over to the bale of hay where she and Jason had made love. She wasn’t in any state to reminisce as she tried to block the sickly feelings that swarmed her. She leaned back and held her head upwards, breathing hard and praying for relief. None came.
Nathan returned shortly with the water, and she gulped it down like it was her first in days. She wiped her hand across her mouth and set the glass on the ground. Nathan walked around the barn, kicking loose hay on the floor and teasing the horses. He distracted her for a few minutes, but she couldn’t sit there for the remainder of the day. It would be better if she did something. Maybe that would make the bad feelings go away for good.
She struggled to stand and wobbled as she walked. “Come on, Nate. You need to go back inside. I’m going to round up the chicks.”
“Can I help?”
“You never help.” She laughed. “You end up scaring them so much they run all over the place and make it harder for me.”
“Pleaaseee!” he begged and gave her his most innocent and angelic face.
“I’m sorry, but I really can’t handle that today. Sorry.” She pouted to match his and ruffled his hair. “Maybe when this baby isn’t being such a troublemaker I’ll let you help me. How about that?”
He hung his head and his shoulders drooped. “Okay,” he mumbled, after which he turned his face upwards and looked directly into her eyes. “Promise to let me do it after the baby is born?”
“I promise,” Elena replied and held her promissory fingers in the air.
Nathan was walking away when he stopped like he had remembered something and looked back. “When will the baby be born?”
“In a couple of months,” she told him.
“I hope it’s a boy,” he said and ran to the house.
Elena was moved by his innocent request. She hadn’t given any thought to what gender she preferred. She had assumed originally that Jason would love a son, as all men did. She had flirted with the idea of a little girl who would look like a miniature version of herself. But those were merely flirtations and daydreaming. She didn’t really care, nor had she thought for too long about anything other than the fact that she would be raising this child, boy or girl, alone.
After Nathan had disappeared inside the house, she returned to the barn. For some unknown, strange reason, she loved being there. It was her safe haven, much like the oak tree, so she returned there to center herself.
Inside the house, she would encounter her parents, who would either fuss too much, ask too many questions, or glower at her like she was stupid and being irrational about her pregnancy. Maybe she was, but whatever mistakes she made were hers to make. She was beginning to get upset the longer she thought about it, and she tried to get to the bale of hay to relax herself. She was only halfway there when the horses, as if sensing something was wrong, started whinnying and thumping the ground with their hooves. One of them reared its head and lifted its body into the air, its front hooves landing on the top of the stall door.
“What’s wrong with you?” Elena asked as she looked around in wonderment.
She had barely asked the question when her head felt like it was ballooning, and she clamped her palms against her temples. She was dizzy, and she staggered and bumped into one of the stalls. The animals were in a frenzy, neighing and kicking the stalls as she spun and tried to make her way to the door. Maybe if she could get outside, someone would see her. She didn’t know what was happening and she was frightened.
She closed her eyes against the sickening feeling swelling inside her, and when she opened them again, everything was a blur. Panic swelled in her as she held her arms in front of her, feeling her way outside. She felt like every step she took was taking her nowhere, and her heart thundered in her chest and roared in her ears. She clawed at air and continued to move, but the fog that had descended upon her thickened and she felt like she was suffocating. She lost her footing, and with nothing to hold onto, she collapsed to the ground. Hard. She felt her body jerk, like it didn’t belong to her, and felt a searing pain rip along her right side. She opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. Her head swam, and she pawed at the loose hay on the ground before her eyes grew heavy and darkness surrounded her.
Jason
Jason was anxious as he walked onto the property. Like most of the other times before, he went straight for the barn. He knew Elena wouldn’t be in the house, and rather than risk knocking and being told to leave yet again, he hurried to the place he was most likely to find her. As he walked, he checked around him and noticed she wasn’t anywhere else on the property. It was past noon, so she would have already done most of her work.
He walked into the opening of the barn and froze when he saw her lying on the ground. “Elena!” he called and ran to her. He fell to his knees, his heart in his throat as he felt for her pulse. He breathed an immense sigh of relief when he realized she was still breathing. “Elena,” he called again, and her eyes fluttered but didn’t open. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out as her head rolled back to its former position.
Jason started to panic, and he looked towards the house. He rested her once more on the ground and ran to the door. “Help!” he shouted, knowing her parents wouldn’t be far away. “Help!”
The kitchen door opened and Gregory ran out. “Prince Jason? What’s going on?” His face was a picture of worry and confusion, but he moved quickly because of the urgency in the man’s voice.
“It’s Elena,” Jason confirmed, and ran back to her. He dropped to his knees and scooped her head into his lap. He rolled her over on her back and he saw her stomach. His breath caught in his throat, and he was temporarily paralyzed.
“What happened?” Gregory asked as he got to the barn.
“I don’t know,” he muttered, his lips feeling suddenly heavy. “I came in and saw her like this.”
Gregory looked at him suspiciously. “Quick, help me get her up.”
They moved quickly to get her to the house and drew the attention of Olivia and a very scared Nathan, who stood by the kitchen door. Olivia ran out and met the men halfway to the house.
“Oh, what’s wrong with her?” she cried as she touched Elena’s face and tried to diagnose her condition.
“I don’t know,” Gregory answered abruptly. “The Prince said he found her unconscious on the floor.”
“I knew something was wrong,” Olivia echoed her previous sentiments from the day before. “Take her to the living room. I’ll get some water.”
The men carried her awkwardly into the house, placing themselves in uncomfortable positions in order to not hurt her. She was moaning, and they weren’t sure where she might be hurting. She was unaware of what was happening. They rested her on the sofa, and Olivia hurried in with a cold compress and placed it on her forehead.
“You think that will work?” Gregory asked incredulously. “The prince is here.”
Jason knitted his brows when he quickly understood their meaning. “This time? This has happened before? And how the hell is she pregnant and I didn’t know about this? This baby is mine. I know it!”
Olivia sighed. “We tried to tell her to tell you. She didn’t want to. It was her decision.”
“Goddamn it!” Jason spat and turned around the room.
“This is all your fault,” Gregory accused. “If you hadn’t forced yourself on her…”
Jason had had enough with talk about him forcing himself on Elena. “Sir, with all due respect, I made love to your daughter by her own free will. It was her choice. I’m sure you heard by now that was all a lie. I stayed away because that was what Elena wanted, but if I had known she was carrying my child, I would have been back in a heartbeat.”
“Now is not the time for this,” Olivia interjected.
“Elena is lying on the sofa and in pain. Now, one of you get a car so we can take her to a hospital, or shut the hell up so I can tend to my child!” She snarled like a mother wolf and practically bared her teeth at the men, who instantly shut up and paid attention.
“Shit!” Jason muttered and whipped his phone out. “Rick, get back to the farm asap. I have an emergency.”
“I’ll get her dressed and pack some of her things. I don’t think she’ll be coming back today,” Olivia announced and wiped her hand down her dress as she stood.
Jason nodded and stood over Elena, looking at her pale face. His eyes were drawn slowly to the rise on her stomach, and it occurred to him that she was about six months pregnant. He had been gone for as long, and he knew this baby must be his. But why didn’t she tell him? He wanted to be angry with her, but the timing was grossly inappropriate. He wiped his hand down his face and walked around the room. He looked away when Olivia returned, and she hastily changed Elena’s clothes and got her ready to leave.
“Is the car here yet?” she asked.
The phone rang as if in answer to her question. “I’m coming out,” Jason told Rick and went to Elena.
“Be careful with her,” Olivia warned. “Gregory, stay with Nathan. And please try to tell him nothing is wrong.”
“He’s not an idiot, Olivia,” Gregory answered.
“Neither are you,” she replied. “Help him lift her.”
They carried Elena out to the car, attracting the attention of a few nosy neighbors who were no doubt wondering about the car returning for the second time that day. He knew that by the time they returned, everyone would be aware of what had happened, but they were not his problem.
Rick got out of the car when he realized what was happening and adjusted the seat so she could lay flat on her back. He whipped out the extra cushions and elevated the seat to make her more comfortable as both Olivia and Jason got into the car with her.
“We need to get to the hospital, Rick,” Jason commanded. “Quick!”