Artur greeted the two like they were old friends, and Amy saw once more how his talents really did lie in entertaining people. Though—was this really entertainment, or was it just genuine kindness? She tended to think it was mostly the latter. The anti-royalist press had made him out to be a cynical playboy who tore through resorts and countries like his own personal playgrounds, but that’s not who Artur was.
By the time they’d had a chance to snap pictures with the Prince and Inga, who laughed the whole time and looked utterly charming even from this distance, a woman with a baby in her arms had also approached.
That was when Amy knew it was no act.
Artur gestured her forward by himself, and all his attention seemed to lock on the baby. She couldn’t hear what he was saying, but he looked delighted. The mother shyly offered the infant to him, and Artur took the little bundle with an ease that made Amy’s heart twist. How did he know how to hold babies? No, that was absurd. Of course he knew how to hold babies. They probably had a training course for all the royals. Even Inga leaned in, cooing over the infant.
The press pool ate it up. They snapped picture after picture, getting every angle. The young mother’s face glowed with pride. Artur beckoned the woman to stand in a photo with him and Inga. Amy’s stomach tightened at the sight. There, leaning over the baby together and grinning at the camera, it was impossible to deny: Artur and Inga made a gorgeous couple.
It didn’t matter, in that moment, that Artur had said he wasn’t interested in any of these dates. She thought back to the conversation they’d had before the trip, when he’d told her he didn’t love her. Maybe she was entertainment for him. Hot sex did not a stable relationship make.
That was what she was thinking of when the moment broke up. Artur waved off the cameras, said something to Inga, and turned away, back toward Amy.
She felt herself straighten as he came closer, and the look on his face…oh, it made her pulse race.
“You look beautiful,” Artur said. “In the sun like this—I never want to forget the sight.”
“Oh, that’s—that’s kind.” Amy found herself blushing. She might as well be naked in front of him, for all she could hide the way she felt.
“Would you do me a great honor?” Artur held out his arm.
“What’s that?” She took his arm, laughing.
“Ride the Ferris wheel with me.”
It was a giant thing, towering over the rest of the fair, and Amy hesitated.
“I’ve been assured that the safety is top-notch,” coaxed Artur. And it would be nice, wouldn’t it, to soar over everything with the breeze in her hair?
“It would be my pleasure.”
Within minutes, they were in a car headed toward the top of the wheel. From here, the fair looked tiny and quaint beneath them, the red and white flags flying above the attractions, fluttering in the wind.
“This is what I wanted out of today.” Artur said the words softly into her ear, his arm around her shoulders.
That was when she felt it.
A kick.
And a sturdy one, not the gentle flutter of a bubble popping, not something that could easily be mistaken for something else. A real kick.
“I just felt the baby,” she said, her breath short. “I mean—I really felt her.”
“You did?” Artur’s eyes were bright. “Can I?”
Amy took his hand and guided it to her belly. “Here. Just—just wait.”
They were both totally still as the car crested the top of the wheel and started its descent.
Another kick.
Artur gasped. They were almost to the ground, and he didn’t move his hand. His face was the picture of awe and fatherly delight. “Oh my god,” he said, his voice full of emotion
. “That’s incredible. That’s just—” There was another kick. Amy laughed.
“She’s a strong one,” she said. For some reason, the moment had her eyes brimming with tears. She flicked them away.
That was how they spent the rest of the ride. Every kick brought more and more joy to Artur’s face until they were both laughing, unable to catch their breaths.