“You have to push your majesty,” the doctor says, her head somewhere between my legs.
“I am pushing!” I yell to no one in particular.
“You’ve got this, baby. There’s nothing you can’t do.” Walt grips my hand even tighter, and his words of encouragement spur me on to push harder.
“That’s it, ma’am. Almost out. Almost. One more,” the doctor says. I feel this intense pressure-relieving pop-like thing since I’m the dummy who decided natural childbirth was best, and then nothing. The doctor is quiet, and Walt is still looking at me. Finally, I hear the baby’s cries, and I can breathe again. It was hell on my body getting here, but now that I am, I can’t help wanting to fill the palace with kids.
“Congratulations on your little prince, your majesties,” the doctor says, handing me the baby. He’s not been cleaned up yet, just his nose, but I wanted the baby immediately. We decided not to learn the sex of the baby, which wasn’t hard. We both just wanted the baby to be healthy, but that didn’t stop us from choosing names.
“Prince Walter Howard James Wynn, welcome to the world,” I murmur through my tears. I am so glad to be here with him in my arms finally. The pregnancy was awful. I was sick for months, and when I wasn’t ill, I was a royal bitch. I didn’t even want to be touched in the last month, not by anything, with him in my arms. It seems like all of that was just a bad dream now.
“Wynn,” Walt says, smiling. He appears to be in tears as well. I look down at baby Wynn for the longest time; then, I finally let the nurses clean him up so that I can get cleaned up as well. I feel like I got run over by a train; I don’t know how the British princesses get up the same day and walk out of the hospital looking like they didn’t just have a baby, but more power to them. I won’t be doing that. Once I am clean and settled, Wynn and brought back to me. I kiss his little head a million times and realize this is the happiest I’ve ever been. None of that crap, the crap I went through to get here matters anymore.
All that matters is that I’m in love with the man of my dreams, and we’ve started our family. I can’t wait to see what the rest of our lives has in store for us.
Hopefully, it will be full of that midnight magic and those kisses that got us here.
Epilogue
Walt
Ten Years Later
Ten years with the woman, and I’ll still never get enough. She’s never given me a moment’s hesitation with anything. I thought for sure the polyamorous pressure she was feeling from her advisors, and people would have gotten to her by now, but it hasn’t. She only wants to be with me and for that I am grateful. I could never share her. She’s the air I breathe, and I will continue to worship her until the day I die. Together, we rule Solaria. It took some getting used to, but this “no laws” thing is pretty cool. The people are happy, and tourism is booming. We are hosting a ball tonight for the women’s league, and I’m bored. We arrived fashionably late, which was only twenty minutes ago. I’m ready to go home already. We waited until we got the kids tucked into the nursery before heading out. No matter what’s going on, the kids come first. We were both adamant about that. With six kids all under ten, they have to be our priority and we hope that we make them feel that way.
I watch as Irina chats with some of the ladies from the league while I get us some champagne. The deep yet shiny purple gown she has on catches my eye every time she moves, and the light hits it. We typically just make an appearance at these functions, so I am hoping we are out of here soon.
Eventually, she wanders over to me and I hand her the glass of champagne.
“Having fun?”
“No. I’m ready to go,” she says, downing her champagne. “But I don’t want to go home.”
“Where do you want to go then?”
“Let’s hit a casino.”
“Without notice? Renault is gonna be pissed,” I reply, laughing. The man never finds it amusing when we switch things up without letting him know well in advance. When we first got married, our plans changed all the time. He went and had an actual heart attack, so we try to be more respectful of his health these days.
“Who says it’s without notice?”
“So you’ve had this up your sleeve all day then?”
“What sleeves?” she asks, dragging her fingernails over her bare arms. I chuckle.