Pregnant with His Royal Twins

by Louisa Heaton

  He leaned against her locker, straightening when he heard her coming down the corridor, chatting to Mona. He hoped to end this stalemate between them—to get them talking again. Ask her how she was…if she needed anything.

  He saw her notice him. Watched as she debated whether to avoid using her locker after all. But then she seemed to overcome that hesitation and came over to him.

  ‘Excuse me, I need to get inside.’

  He stepped back, giving her space. ‘Could we talk for a moment?’

  She looked up at him hesitantly. ‘About what?’

  ‘About us.’

  ‘There is no “us”.’ She glanced over at their colleagues, afraid of being overheard. But no one appeared to be listening.

  She shoved her bag into her locker and hung up her coat. Then she did the hair thing that he loved and clipped her ID badge to her uniform.

  ‘Can you tell me if you’re feeling okay? If there’s anything I can do?’

  ‘I’m feeling fine. A bit sick, but eating often seems to help.’

  He could see in her face that she was still closed off from him. Unwilling to share. He understood that, and he was willing to wait.

  ‘Well, if there’s anything I can do for you then please let me know.’

  She nodded and bit her lip.

  ‘Can I get you a tea? A coffee?’

  She glanced over at their friends by the kettle and the sink. ‘No, but thank you.’

  ‘Have you told anyone?’

  Her eyes darkened. ‘No. Not yet. Have you?’

  He shook his head. ‘No.’

  ‘Right. What will happen when you do?’

  He imagined the reaction of his family. They would be insistent upon marriage. They would be insistent about him coming home and building his life as a father and future King of Majidar.

  ‘They’ll be delighted.’

  Her eyes narrowed, as if she were trying to assess him for the truth. ‘Right.’

  ‘Oh, I brought you these.’ From behind his back he drew out a brown paper bag filled with grapes. ‘As promised.’

  A small smile almost broke out across her face, but she checked it and instead frowned. ‘I’m not sick.’

  ‘No, I know.’

  ‘You don’t have to do this…’ she whispered.

  He nodded and whispered back, ‘I do. So if you need anything—anything—I hope you will ask me.’

  And he left her at her locker to go and grab himself a drink.

  Little inroads…small kindnesses. That was what she needed. He needed to build her trust. He needed to show her that he could be relied upon to look out for her and keep her safe. She needed to see that he was everything that the man who’d attacked her was not. That he believed in kindness and respect and love. That he believed in honour and duty and that he would shirk neither.

  Baby steps.

  *

  The next shift they had together Freya nodded her head towards him, as if to say good morning. The one after that she actually said hello.

  Jamie gave her more space and time.

  One night shift she came in and straight away headed for the staff toilet, emerging fifteen minutes later looking a little green. He presented her with ginger tea—something that his mother had sworn by. Another time when she looked queasy and was meant to check on a patient in Postnatal, he offered to answer the call bell instead.

  Where he could, he took the time to try and lighten her load. To make it easier for her whilst she was going through this difficult time.

  Their colleagues had begun to suspect that something was up, and Mona had been the one to ask Freya during a night shift.

  ‘Are you pregnant?’

  Clearly Freya had realised it was pointless to try and deny it. Not when the signs were so obvious and she was surrounded by people who specialised in pregnancy and babies.

  The team had been delighted! Hugging her and congratulating her.

  ‘Who’s the father?’

  Freya had baulked at answering, but she had looked at him, as if to give him permission to answer.

  He’d stepped forward. ‘I am.’

  Well, that had sent the gossip mill into high speed!

  He had seen that Freya wasn’t overly happy about being the centre of attention, but she’d seemed to cope with it—probably because these were her friends and people she trusted.

  After that everyone had tried their best to help Freya out whilst the morning sickness was so devastating. She really was suffering, poor thing.

  ‘Are you guys, like, together?’ Mona had asked him.

  Jamie had longed to say Not yet, but had felt that would be pushing too far, before Freya was ready. This was not a world in which two people could be forced into marriage. It was not something that had been arranged since they were children. It was not a unification of two countries solidifying a pact by marrying off a prince and princess.

  This was real life. Freya was a commoner. A woman from the west. She had different expectations from life and a whole lot of baggage that she needed to sift through before she realised he was a good guy.

  ‘Your first scan should be soon,’ he said as he brought her another cup of ginger tea one day.

  ‘It is.’

  ‘I was wondering…only if you feel right about it…if I might come with you?’

  She looked at him carefully, almost as if she were appraising him. She’d been giving him this look a lot just lately.

  ‘Okay.’

  His heart almost burst with joy. ‘Okay?’

  ‘Sure. It’s your baby too.’

  ‘Thank you, Freya!’

  He almost imploded with excitement, but managed to contain himself. Strong emotions, sudden reactions, were not the kind of thing that would make Freya feel safe. She needed to see that he was stable, even if his insides were fizzing with glee and he wanted to jump about and yell for all the world to hear.

  *

  They sat together, waiting for the ultrasound technician to call Freya’s name.

  She felt uncomfortable. Not just because she’d had to drink a huge amount of water beforehand, and hold it in, but also because she was back in what she considered the ‘normal’ world. Daylight hours. Where there were too many people about. People who, she noticed, kept glancing at her, trying to work out what was different about her. Noticing her face…

  Part of her wanted to stare back at them. Challenge them with a single raised eyebrow as if to ask, What are you looking at? But she wasn’t brave enough or rude enough.

  Freya had been raised to show respect to people. To be polite and to treat others the way she wished to be treated herself. She couldn’t do that to strangers. They didn’t deserve it. They were just being curious. It was human nature to take a second look at something that didn’t quite fit.

  She wondered how many of them were wondering how on earth she could be sitting there with this gorgeous man next to her.

  Jamie clearly had no idea of his allure. Ink-dark hair, midnight eyes that penetrated the soul, and a bearing that screamed royalty—due, no doubt, to a childhood that had consisted of years of being told to sit up straight, shoulders back. Not to slouch. To meet people’s eyes. Assess the situation. Listen. Look commanding.

  She felt tiny next to him. Inconsequential. He was so tall, proud and strong, and she was small, scarred and nauseous.

  How much of her feeling sick was due to the pregnancy, though? Her stress levels were high. She dreaded to think what her blood pressure was. But she had to admit she wouldn’t have got through these last few weeks of her first trimester without Jamie’s help.

  He had been instrumental in getting her through it, and she’d quickly come to realise that she had begun to rely on him being close. Always there with a hot, steaming mug of ginger tea, or some peppermints, or one of the strawberry milkshakes which she had begun craving. Whatever she’d needed—a rest, a moment to herself, someone to take care of her patients whilst she clutched the toilet bowl—he’
d provided it. Her friends, too, yes. But Jamie had been the most considerate and for that she was grateful.

  And scared.

  He was getting under her skin. She was beginning to like him. Once she’d come on shift and, when she’d realised that he wasn’t rostered on with her, a huge sense of disappointment and loss had hit her like a brick.

  How had that happened?

  She never wanted to rely on a man again.

  And yet here she was. Not only was she tied to this man but he was also a prince, he had a duty, and she was refusing to accept that. She knew she must somehow be tearing him in two. He had a duty to his country. To his people.

  I’m hurting him and yet he doesn’t complain.

  They didn’t look right together—no wonder people were staring. She was just a girl. A scarred, damaged girl. And he… Well, Jamie was something else entirely, and he deserved a beautiful princess to stand by his side and make pretty babies with him.

  ‘Freya MacFadden?’

  She straightened, rising to her feet. Behind her, she felt Jamie stand and follow her into the darkened room.

  They went through the preliminaries with the technician. Date of last period, how many weeks pregnant she was, whether she felt well.

  Frightened, she lay down, not sure what was scaring her more—the prospect of seeing her baby on screen, at last, or the fact that she wanted Jamie at her side. She’d anticipated doing this alone. Not telling him. Sneaking in to the appointment after everyone on the night shift had gone and having this moment all to herself. Knowing she would cry. Knowing she would get emotional because finally, finally this day had come. The day she would see irrefutable proof that she was pregnant. With a baby she’d thought she would never have.

  The technician squirted the gel and applied the probe to Freya’s abdomen.

  Freya bit her lip. She might have got this all wrong. Perhaps she wasn’t even pregnant at all? A false positive? A molar pregnancy? Then everyone could go back to their normal lives. Jamie could leave and go on to another post, or back to his country, and she could remain unchanged on the night shift, revelling in the joy of other people’s babies and just imagining what it might feel like to hold her own baby…

  The technician was smiling. ‘Everything looks wonderful here.’

  Freya let out a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding. ‘Really?’

  ‘Any history of multiples in either family?’

  What?

  The technician turned the screen so that Freya and Jamie could see. There, in black and white, was her womb. Filled with not one but two babies, separated by a very fine line which meant…

  ‘Twins? Nonidentical twins?’ Jamie stared at the screen, laughing with shock and delight.

  Freya had to remind herself to breathe. She couldn’t quite believe it! Twins? Her grandmother had been one of a pair of twins, but she’d never imagined that this would happen to her. ‘Oh, my God…’

  ‘Freya, can you believe it?’ Jamie scooped up her hand in his and kissed it, his dark eyes sparkling with unshed tears in the shadows of the room.

  She stared at him, seeing his joy, his beaming face, his eyes twinkling in the semi-darkness of the room.

  She felt her body flooding with adrenaline. Twins. Nonidentical twins.

  This was crazy. Unbelievable! It was…

  She stared at the screen once again. Counted again. Two babies. Growing inside her.

  Two.

  ‘I don’t believe it.’

  The technician continued to make her checks. Measuring the babies, the length of their femurs, checking the Nuchal fold at the backs of their necks.

  ‘Your babies look beautiful. Perfectly healthy and a good size. It probably accounts for all that morning sickness you’ve been having. You’ll get more scans and check-ups due to this being a twin pregnancy, so if you have any problems don’t hesitate to shout.’ She smiled at them both. ‘You ought to go and celebrate.’

  Perhaps. But Freya didn’t foresee having a party. She liked the idea of keeping it quiet. Just telling family and the people at work. They were the only people she knew anyway.

  Jamie probably had loads of people he needed to tell. His family. His staff. His advisors. What would they all tell him to do? He couldn’t walk away now, could he? She was carrying two royal children.

  If she hadn’t felt trapped before, she most definitely felt it now.

  She began to hyperventilate and felt Jamie’s fingers wrap around her own.

  ‘It’s okay, Freya. Just breathe slowly. In and out. That’s it, slow your breathing.’

  She focused on his face. On his voice. On him, her only connection to this world. She felt spaced out, as if she was adrift in a vast universe and he was the umbilical cord connecting her to reality.

  He had intensely dark eyes. Eyes she could lose herself in. She had once before and now she needed to again.

  Was she about to get swept up into a load of royal political intrigue? Be married and whisked away to live in a desert? Something like that?

  How could she continue to live the private life that she loved? Was she about to lose all control over her every decision? Because she wasn’t sure she could do that.

  This life, her babies’ lives, were too important. Jamie’s demands were not more important than her own.

  She’d lost all control once. Had all decisions taken from her. She had lived a life trapped in a hospital, in pain and afraid, with staff all around her, checking on her every hour of the day, waiting on her hand and foot. It had been unbearable. Living a half-life, staring out of windows, watching the world go by and wishing she could be in it. Wishing that the pain would go away, so she could escape…

  I won’t have that happen again.

  Slowly her breathing came back under her control. Jamie was smiling at her, with relief on his face that she was calming down. Sitting up, she pulled her hand from his. She had relied on him enough.

  ‘I’m okay. I’m all right.’

  The sonographer passed her a couple of scan pictures. ‘Twins can be a bit of a shock. It might take some time to get used to.’

  Jamie was watching her, assessing her. He offered her his hand, so she could get up off the bed, but she did it without his help.

  She couldn’t keep relying on him. He had other commitments. Other duties. No matter what he said their lives were incompatible, and no matter how much she might want something else she couldn’t have him and he couldn’t have her.

  I just need to keep telling myself that.

  *

  The rush hour traffic was building around the hospital. The car park was filling with vehicles. Staff were arriving, visitors…

  Freya pulled up the collar of her jacket and adjusted her scarf. Aware of too many pairs of eyes all around her.

  Jamie stood beside her, gazing down at the scan pictures the technician had given them.

  ‘This doesn’t change anything,’ she said, hoisting her bag strap firmly into place on her shoulder.

  ‘No?’

  ‘No.’

  He stared back at her, frowning, a small divot forming between his dark brows. ‘There must be something I can do. To make this easier for you.’

  Why did he have to have such a beautiful voice? Deep, slightly accented, smooth and delightful. He was already handsome and charming. Helpful and kind. Did he have to be sexy, too? Couldn’t the man have one single fault?

  He does. He’s royal.

  She was struggling not to cry again. Her hormones washed through her with renewed force now that she knew she was carrying twins.

  ‘You could leave. Get a contract someplace else.’

  ‘That’s never going to happen. You think I’m going to walk away from you? All three of you?’

  With eyes blurred from unshed tears, she glanced up at him and then away as she headed for her car to go home.

  ‘You’re under no obligation to be with me, Jamie. I told you that. Why can’t you just go? Pretend this
never happened? I’ll never ask anything of you.’

  She heard his footsteps as he hurried to catch up with her. Felt his hand upon her arm, turning her.

  ‘I’m never walking away from you. You need to stop asking me to do that.’

  She wasn’t sure she could do this. How had she got herself into another situation where a man was refusing to let her go? Demanding to stay in her life? It was scary. She didn’t want it. Any of it! She just wanted to be left in peace. To deal with this alone. Why couldn’t she be living her happy dream? The one where she was married and was about to have a family with the man she loved and who loved her and where everything was normal and light and easy? And not terrifying.

  ‘Jamie, I can’t be who you need me to be.’

  ‘Who do you think I need?’

  ‘A princess. A queen. A wife. Someone who can stand by your side proudly. Someone who can wave to cheering crowds. Someone who can be loved by your people.’

  ‘They’d love any woman I chose to have by my side.’

  ‘Because of their duty?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I don’t want love out of duty, Jamie. And I could never stand beside you like that. I could never live away from my family. My job. My life. My life and my babies’ lives will be here. Not in Majidar. You need to accept that.’

  She pointed her key fob at her car to unlock it and opened the door.

  ‘You will be called at some point to take your brother’s throne and be King, so leave me now, leave us now and then no one will have to get hurt.’ She got in, closed the car door shut after her and gave him one last look.

  Did he not understand how much this was hurting her? She’d dreamed of this day! She’d never imagined she would ever be blessed by one baby, never mind two, but in that dream of having babies she’d hoped to have a wonderful man by her side too. In her imagination he’d always been a tall, dark and handsome figure, his face blurred. She’d never been sure who he might be. She’d dreamt of a family. Her children, her husband.

  Mike had taken that dream away from her the second he’d thrown that acid, but now it was within her grasp again. And it was all wrong.

  She wished she could develop something with Jamie, but he had another calling, apart from midwifery.