Wanted: Royal Wife and Mother

Fourth kiss? It was the best, she decided. It was the best by a country mile. It was a kiss of release of terror. It was a kiss of love. It was a kiss of promise.

‘You know we can’t go further,’ he said, his voice laced with passion as finally he let her go. Only an inch, mind, but release her he did. ‘I’m so full of drugs…’

‘And you need to sleep.’

‘Sleep be damned,’ he said. ‘Kelly, will you marry me?’

‘Yes.’

‘Just like that?’

‘Just like that.’

‘It’s putting you in the royal goldfish bowl again,’ he said, holding her close.

‘But I’ll be in it with you,’ she whispered. ‘And with Matty. If it’s a goldfish bowl with you guys or a big wide world without, it’s a no-brainer.’

‘I’m your second prince.’

‘Kass was no prince,’ she said scornfully. ‘He might have been born royal but he never earned the title. You, however…You’re prince through and through.’

‘I’m a toy-maker.’

‘And an equestrian,’ she said, snuggling against him. He was wearing pyjamas. Self striped, flannel pyjamas. They’d have to go, she thought. Maybe not right now, though. A girl should show some restraint in the face of an injured hero.

He’d asked her to marry him!

‘I guess riding again wasn’t so bad,’ he admitted.

‘Your father loved it.’

‘My father would have loved you.’

‘My son loves you already.’

‘Kelly,’ he murmured and the strength had left his voice again. He had been heavily sedated to put his shoulder back in, she knew. He should be asleep.

‘Yes, my love?’

‘We can be a family?’

‘Yes.’

‘A royal family?’

‘I’ll even wear a tiara,’ she teased and the hand around her waist tightened.

‘Kelly?’

‘Mmm.’

‘I’m probably not capable of anything at all…’

‘No, but…’

‘No, but I can try,’ he said. ‘You know I asked you to marry me?’

‘Yes.’

‘And if a thing’s promised then it’s as good as done-right?’

‘I guess,’ she said dubiously, not sure where this was going.

‘Then I have a wife,’ he said in sleepy satisfaction. ‘I have a princess. And, as a princess, as a wife, there are certain duties you’ll be expected to face.’

‘I…I guess.’

‘Then we might as well start now,’ he said, resigned.

‘Um…right.’ She thought about it. She twisted and pushed herself up so she was looking down into his beloved face. He was smiling. He was even laughing! And the look in his eyes…

It was a very royal look. It was a look of complete seduction.

‘I only have one good arm,’ he whispered as he tugged her down to him. ‘Kelly, my love, my princess, my wife, I need help right now.’

‘To do…to do what?’

‘To take off these pyjamas!’

As coronations went it was magnificent.

Crater, as Secretary of State of Alp de Ciel, had been to the coronations in each of the Alp countries. He’d watched with wonder and with outright envy as the new generation of royals had taken their places as leaders in their countries, leading the way to prosperity for all.

They were here now. Prince Raoul of Alp d’Azuri was here, with the Princess Jessica, with their little son Edouard and with their twin daughters, Nicky and Lisle. Prince Maxsim of Alp d’Estella was in the next pew, with his Pippa and Marc and Sophie and Claire and bump. Prince Nikolai of Alp de Montez, with his beloved Princess Rose, with no bump as yet, were free to be best man and matron of honour. There might be no bump, but by the way they were looking at each other Crater knew the succession of Alp d’Estella was assured.

As it was assured here in Alp de Ciel. For this coronation was also a wedding.

‘I’m damned if we’re dragging all these dignitaries here twice,’ Rafael had decreed. ‘You say the coronation has to take place almost immediately. That’s how Kelly and I feel about our wedding. Besides, Anna will kill me if I drag her away from New York twice in a month, and I’m tired of her yelling at us. So we combine.’

So combine they did. The vast and ancient cathedral in Alp de Ciel’s capital was full to bursting. Every dignitary worthy of the name was crammed in, plus representatives of all walks of life in Alp de Ciel. The staff from the diggings in Australia sent representatives, beaming with approval at this happy ending for a loved staff member. Pete, as senior representative, was giving the bride away. Even Rafael’s work team from Manhattan was here-his disabled staff-as many as could fly over. Rafael was planning a local workforce with the same background. It was an outward sign of the changes that were already sweeping the country.

‘For this government is of the people, for the people, by the people, starting now,’ Rafael and Kelly had decreed, and Crater agreed entirely. Their attitude meant a motley guest list, but so what? Royalty was changing for the better, in ways Crater could only wonder at.

Everywhere Crater looked there was approval-and no more so than at the end of the aisle where one small page-boy was holding a ring, waiting impatiently for Kelly and Rafael to need it.

Matty had reacted with joy to the news of Rafael and Kelly’s engagement, whooping and bouncing with an excitement that made him seem less of a Crown Prince and more of a little boy with the world at his feet. From the time of the landslip the castle seemed to be tumbling with new life and new puppies and a kid who’d been released from his royal imperatives.

His lessons from Crater had been quartered. ‘For there’s all the time in the world for Matty to learn his royal obligations,’ Kelly had decreed. ‘For the next twenty years, those obligations are the responsibility of his parents.’

His parents…

For Matty had parents now and he approved entirely. Rafael would be his father as well as Prince Regent. Matty thought that was the neatest thing in the whole world. In the mornings he bounced into bed with Kelly, hugging her tight, claiming to the world that he had a mother he loved.

His Aunt Laura was in the front pew, weeping into a still inevitably paint-spattered handkerchief. Matty couldn’t figure that one out. Why was she crying? He was watching this wedding with joy and love and anticipation of a very good party.

If they’d just get on with it.

And so they did.

‘With this ring I thee wed…’

Rafael took the ring from Matty and he placed it on his bride’s finger. His bride…Kelly, who’d embraced the royal wedding with enthusiasm and love. Her dress was truly wondrous. She looked like an Elizabethan bride, a true royal princess. Her dragon train swept out behind her, the golden embroidery shimmering in the sunlight streaming through the ancient stained glass windows. She looked truly regal.

But she also looked like a woman in love. She smiled mistily up at her bridegroom and the whole cathedral seemed to dissolve.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, Crater thought, wiping away a surreptitious tear himself. And then, as he thought of what approached-the formal joining of these four nations to become one mighty Federation, he