My stomach jolted and I surged forward to retch again into my new best friend.
Nico groaned sympathetically and pulled my hair back, one hand still moving along my spine. “I am so sorry, cuore mio,” he murmured.
I wiped my mouth, licked my dry lips, and glanced back at the gloriously handsome man who did this to me.
He smiled, and even in my current state of awfulness, that smile did things to me. For a second, I thought that thing was going to be another round of stomach emptying, but it was just the usual stomach flutters brought on by Nico’s smiles.
He reached out and pushed a damp section of my hair off of my brow, then stroked my cheek. “You are pale and shaking. Are you sure this isn’t something else?”
I managed a weak smile. “I’m pretty sure this is all baby, baby.”
His smile crinkled the corners of his perfect eyes and he cupped the cheek he stroked. “Baby… I still can’t believe it.”
I grimaced and leaned against the toilet with a sigh. “I can. This is awful.”
He chuckled and sat back, his hand resting on my leg. “I do feel as though I ought to be suffering something. It’s hardly fair.”
My stomach rolled a little and I exhaled slowly. “You are. You are seeing me at my absolute and very worse, and that’s tainting your perfect image of me, and you’ll always remember me like this when you think of me, and maybe you should have married someone who could do this gracefully. And guess what? It’s probably only going to get worse. What are you going to do when I am massive and cranky?”
He tilted his head in my direction with a knowing look. “Kat, this falls under that whole “for better or worse” thing, and nothing could possibly taint my image of you, especially not you being pregnant with my baby. I don’t care if it gets worse, because I love you and you’re perfect no matter what. And if you get massive and cranky, I will love you and hold you and tell you how beautiful you are, and right now all I’m thinking of is carrying you to bed and waiting on you hand and foot because I don’t know what else to do.”
I dropped my head against the porcelain. “Bed sounds lovely. Pretty sure I’d have to leave it again soon, though. Or have a bucket nearby.”
“You can’t possibly have anything else in your stomach.”
“I’m not sure that matters at this point.”
He sighed and squeezed my leg. “I think we had better tell my family, love. And your staff. At the very least, Giacomo should know.”
I swallowed with difficulty, my mouth feeling like cotton. “It’s been a full week of me being tired and clammy and throwing up at the drop of a hat. I’m surprised they don’t already…”
“Sweet mother of Abraham Lincoln, you’re knocked up!” Lemon exclaimed as she suddenly appeared in the doorway, feet skidding on the tile.
“…know,” I finished lamely.
Nico winced a little and smiled up at her. “Surprise?”
Lemon narrowed her eyes at him, then took in our positions. Despite the massive bathroom, we were huddled together just around the toilet, and me practically hugging it like it was my husband instead of the gorgeous King of Monterra there on the floor with me.
“Oh, sugar,” Lemon said with a click of her tongue.
I glared up at her. “Why aren’t you doing this?”
Lemon tossed her blond hair with a sniff. “Me and the commode have an understanding. I visit him once in a while so he doesn’t get lonely, and he lets me wonder if I need to visit him the rest of the time. Now, let’s get you cleaned up so you can go and tell the family, then we’ll get you into bed with some crackers and ginger ale.”
I swallowed again, my stomach cringing at the thought of eating anything at all. “Does that really work?”
Lemon nodded and flicked fingers at Nico. “Go away, Nico, we’ve got official business. See you in twenty.”
He chuckled and got to his feet, then pulled me up, brushing his lips across my brow in a way that made me shiver. He whispered something in Italian against my skin, and as I didn’t know enough Italian yet to translate, except the usual words he used for me, I had no idea what he said. Not that it mattered, the effect was the same.
I smiled like an idiot, nearly swooned into him, and stumbled a little when he left.
Lemon marched into the room and grabbed my hands, tugging me out.
“No, no, the bathroom is my safe place,” I moaned, resisting and trying to go back. One of the perks of marrying into royalty was that every room, even the bathrooms, were amazing. I could have lived in the bathroom. It was bigger than any of the apartments I had ever called home and I really enjoyed the fancy toilet that I had come to know so well. “Just give me a futon and I can live in there.”
Lemon tugged harder, completely ignoring me. “Okay, Kat, sweats off, skinny jeans on because those won’t fit for long, striped shirt, chunky necklace, boat shoes.”
I yawned, gagged, swallowed, and sank onto my very large, very comfy, very “come hither and never leave me” bed, more than half tempted to curl up into a ball and moan for the rest of the day. “Why?” I asked, half-yawning again. “It’s only the family.”
“Big news, Your Majesty. You only get to make this announcement once, and this time we’re doing it right.”
I didn’t have to ask what she meant. She was still pretty bitter over having to announce her pregnancy to the family under a shroud of guilt, and had said time and time again that she wished she could do it over. Funny thing was, no one else knew about the guilt and the apologies, and certainly nobody knew that there had ever been any tears shed. That was between me and Nico.
And we got over that pretty quickly.
Obviously.
Apparently all that we had needed was a bit of competition, because that test I took two days later was totally positive. Stupid false positive first test. Now I was the one with my head in a toilet and peeing on a stick and finally seeing two pink lines. We figured I was about five weeks behind Lemon, but that was kind of hard to tell. And I didn’t really care at this moment.
It was just so much fun. So much.
A striped shirt hit me in the face and I looked over at Lemon, going through my wardrobe. She raised a brow at me, and I tried to smile back, but my whole face hurt, and my throat was raw, and everything tasted like vomit.
“Oh, lord,” Lemon groaned. “You’re never gonna make it.” She went to the door and opened it, whistling down the hall.
Normally people didn’t whistle at the staff, and it wasn’t exactly a polite thing to do in Monterra. But Lemon was Lemon, and everybody loved her just as she was.
She always said she was a whistling kind of girl, whether it was at dogs, kids, old people, or taxis. And, as Serafina had pointed out, better whistling than shouting.
Which was true. Who shouts in palaces?
Lemon stuck her head out of the door, carefully not letting me see who it was she was talking to. “I’m gonna need some Unisom and B6. Keep it quiet, okay?” She nodded and closed the door, smiling at me.
“What?” I asked, finally stripping off my shirt and putting on the one she picked.
Her smile grew and she leaned back against the door. “You’re having a baby.”
I smiled back as I shoved my arms into the sleeves. “Yeah, I am.”
“And I’m having a baby.”
I laughed and grinned. “Yeah, you are!”
She shook her head and dashed over to the bed, throwing her arms around me. “Congratulations, Mama!”
I hugged her tight and held her close, and forgot, just for a second, that I was miserable and puking and tired and all sorts of awfulness.
Because I was having a baby.
And that was really amazing.
Telling the family was easy. They were so excited, lots of squealing and jumping and twirling me around, which led to the room spinning and my face going totally white and Rafe making fun of me. Dante was a little bit nicer, considering his wife was only a little bit further al
ong than I was, and Nico never let me get outside of touching distance. Violetta, who had somehow become overly concerned with my welfare since coming back from rehab, started spouting off everything she knew about royalty during pregnancy and what was trendy and not. Chiara offered to paint my nails and find me the most flattering maternity outfits ever. Serafina begged Lemon and I to have girls so she could dress up the princess babies.
It was a riot. Dominic and Aria grinned and offered what support and felicitations they could. Aria gave me a look that told me we would talk later, and I was so grateful for that. My mom and I had patched things up and I had no doubt I would call her and talk eventually, but she wasn’t exactly on my speed dial for pregnancy and baby-related things.
Rafe sat on the couch and looked between Lemon and I with interest. “So how are we going to handle the Battle of the Babies?”
The room went completely silent and Lemon stared at her husband’s twin in stunned bewilderment.
Dante glared at him, put his arm around Lemon, and looked ready to say a few very choice words.
Lemon beat him to it. “You… are… ” she said slowly, her eyes flashing.
Rafe winced and leaned back against the couch further.
“…absolutely brilliant, Rafe,” she suddenly gushed, breaking out into a beaming grin that Rafe had never received, being in the doghouse with Lemon for almost a year now.
He looked as shocked as we all felt. “I am?”
She looked suddenly mischievous, and grabbed Dante’s hand on her shoulder, holding it tightly. “Brilliant. I am officially not mad at you anymore.”
“Yes,” he whispered loudly, pumping a fist and making us laugh.
“What are you thinking, Limone?” Dante asked, still confused, but smiling.
She looked up at him with a wicked grin. “Battle of the Babies. We haven’t announced our bun in the oven, and now we don’t have to tell anybody that we got a little too eager and jumped the gun.”
Dante flushed a little and glanced in our direction briefly.
Lemon patted his cheeks and winked. “Aww, he still gets embarrassed about that. You’ll have to get over it, baby. We’re onto something now.”
She turned to face the rest of the family and started plotting the whole thing out.
Nico and I would make our grand announcement in a few weeks, and during that announcement, we would also let Dante and Lemon make theirs. The media would have a field day with guessing the due dates, but we wouldn’t tell them anything. We’d do everything to encourage the Royal Baby Watch, and let them make comparisons between the two of us. Joint interviews, photo sessions, attending the same events and outings, and on and on. Lemon was on a roll and in her element.
And once she explained it all, it really was brilliant.
Nobody else was going to tell Rafe that, though.
The real question would be what we would do when her baby came before mine.
“Oh, that’s easy,” she said with a wave of her hand. “I’ll just deliver late, and we’ll call it early. Nobody’s gonna blame me for being ‘premature’.” She used finger quotes and grinned brightly. “Then Kat can go early, and it’ll be fine. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll just spread the word through the grapevine that nobody talks about it and we’ll be good.”
I wasn’t so sure, but Lemon was our PR rep, so she knew best.
There was the little detail of approximately five weeks of difference between our babies. Some leeway could be given, but I doubted we could combine our efforts and get that close.
But what did I know? It was both of our first babies, and I hadn’t even seen a doctor to confirm any sort of due date.
Lemon was rattling things off to everyone and starting to get the staff involved, and I was blown away that she had energy. I was practically shaking where I stood, queasy and wanting a very long nap.
I swayed into Nico a little and that was enough. He put his arm around me and kissed my brow. “Are you done, cuore mio?”
I nodded against him, my eyelids feeling heavy.
He kissed me again, and turned to the rest. “Right, we can start on all of that later. Kat needs to rest now.”
Lemon looked at me and wrinkled her nose up. “Yuck. Okay, I’ll work all of this up with my people, but it’s gonna be tough to do stuff until Kat’s feeling better.”
“Why aren’t you miserable?” I mumbled as Nico rubbed my back again.
She smiled at me and shrugged. “Well, you don’t see me tap dancing, do you? You can be miserable. We just need you functional.”
“That sounds hard.”
Aria rose from her chair with more grace than I could manage in a lifetime and came over to me, putting a hand on my arm. “You’ll find the energy eventually. But for now, rest and let us help you.”
I nodded, trying for a smile.
She waved a hand and the rest of the family trickled out of the room. When only Lemon, Dante, and Dominic remained, Nico swept me up into his arms.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not that weak,” I protested with a half-hearted wiggle.
“Humor me,” he growled with a warning look.
I nestled in against him and sighed. “If I must.”
Within minutes, I was back in our room, tucked in my bed, and Lemon lay next to me. Nico and Dante had business to attend to, and honestly, I needed space from him. Loved him, worshipped him, but I wasn’t the sort of girl who liked being fawned over and pampered, and having him around constantly was making me feel more miserable.
Lemon was different.
“I thought that cocktail of stuff you gave me was supposed to help,” I grumbled to her as I curled up, fighting a wave of nausea.
She snorted. “Honey, it’s not a magic cure. Takes a few days of it to really kick in, and even then, it just takes the edge off of the nausea.”
I yawned and kept my eyes closed. “And the sleepiness?”
I felt her shrug and she patted my head. “Not sure if that’s from the combo or just how you are. Hard to tell the difference, you know?”
“You seem to be functional.”
“Looks are deceiving, Kat. I nap every lunch break, and I can’t have dairy.”
I cracked open my eyes and peered up at her. “Really?”
She nodded and looked a little sick for a moment. “Trust me, no dairy here. It is so not pretty. And I’m bloated as all get out. Loose clothing for me from now on.” She looked down at me and smiled. “But you get used to it. At least it’s not as bad as Caitlin.”
I hadn’t thought about that. Caitlin got ridiculously sick in her pregnancies, like hospitalization sick, and while I did feel miserable, it was more like the longest flu ever than “holy frak, I’m dying.”
Time to count my blessings, I guess.
“How long until it feels normal?” I asked sleepily, closing my eyes again.
She laughed and snuggled down in the bed. “Mama says it never feels normal, Kat. You’re growing a human. That’s not normal, you just get used to it.”
“Fine,” I said on a yawn. “I’ll get used to it after I nap.”
“Me too.”
Well, if I was going to be tired and nauseous and all out of whack for a while, at least I wouldn’t be alone while I did it. That was a comfort. Except I had a feeling Lemon was going to be way more dignified about the whole thing than I was.
She should be queen.
I could see the headlines now, “Monterran Queen Can’t Handle Pregnancy”. I bit down on my lip and squeezed my eyes shut tightly.
I could do this.
I wanted this.
Right?
Six weeks. Not five, six.
That one week seemed like a huge deal, but nothing seemed to phase Lemon. She still seemed to think that we could control when the babies came, and no December 31 due date compared to her November 20 due date was going to get in the way of her plans.
My child had his or her marching orders.
Nico and I had managed
to get to a doctor without anyone outside of the palace knowing, and my anxiety was at an all-time high.
“What if I’m not pregnant?” I asked him.
He raised a brow. “And all five of your pregnancy tests lied?”
“It’s possible,” I said, nodding frantically. “They’re not that accurate, really. I could be hormonally imbalanced, something actually wrong that requires some major medication and stuff.”
He gave me a look that told me what I already knew; I was being ridiculous. “You’re pregnant, Kat.”
“What if they can’t find a heartbeat?” I asked, heart and stomach and other organs seizing up.
“I think they’ve done this once or twice before.”
“What if I get as sick as Caitlin?”
“Then we’ll do what they did, and you’ll get the best care, and be just fine.”
He had all the answers. He had been doing this for days, weeks, and it never got to him.
He probably should be having the baby, not me.
I bit my lip and my eyes started to well up. “What if I can’t do this?” I whispered.
He looked at me in surprise, then smiled softly and cupped my cheek. “You can do this, love. And I will be right beside you the entire time.” He leaned down and kissed me slowly, gently, the way that made me want to dissolve into a puddle of tears because it felt so darn tingly and swoony.
He broke off with a nuzzle against me, and I exhaled in a rush of air that made him grin.
“I love doing that to you,” he murmured, stroking my hair a little.
I fussed with his shirt a little. “You’re good at it,” I admitted.
He winked. “I know.” Then he kissed me quickly again and sat back just as the door opened and the doctor came in with a bright smile and cheerful eyes behind his glasses, an ill-advised comb-over on his brow.
“Congratulations, Your Majesties, you’re pregnant.”
Nico gave me a superior look and I rolled my eyes, but smiled.
“Based off of your information,” the doctor continued, coming around the table to my other side, “I think we can predict a due date of December 31.” He paused and looked up at me with a grin. “Perhaps you will have a Christmas baby.”
The Royals of Monterra: Royal Delivery (Kindle Worlds) Page 3