Mi Princesa

Part Two - Chapter One: Taking a Break

“Gracias,” Vanessa Bellcroft murmured smiling weakly at her husband, she didn’t know what she would have done without him especially after her father had passed away only a week before.

It had been hard and Vanessa was glad for the small break that they had been afforded, they had gone to the Sorteny estate that was located in the Sorteny Nature Park; it meant that the royal family could grieve for the loss in peace.

Fernando Torres shook his head, it had been a rough week and he was glad to have a small break with his wife; they had enough to deal with without people wanting to see them every moment while they grieved.

Wrapping his arms around Vanessa, Fernando held his wife close and closed his eyes; he could only imagine the trouble that their children were giving the nanny right now.

Fernando’s six year old daughter from his last relationship, Nora Torres Domínguez, was still unsure about what had happened and the couple had done the best to explain what had happened but it wasn’t easy.

Then there was the couple’s six month old son, Bojan Torres Bellcroft, he was far too young to understand what was going on and Vanessa was sort of thankful for that.

“How are you feeling?” Fernando asked looking at his wife, he knew that she was now technically the Queen of Andorra since her father had passed away but they had barely had to do anything.

It had been a long week and no one was able to forget what had happened, the family were in pieces and it would take them time to recover.

“I’m fine,” Vanessa whispered resting her head on Fernando’s shoulder, she closed her hazel eyes wanting to relax for a bit before someone came to bother them.

***

“I can’t believe he is gone,” Charlotte Bellcroft whispered sitting down next to her older sister and smiling a little watching Vanessa fuss over her son; it had all happened so quickly and they knew that their get-away wasn’t going to last.

Vanessa nodded her head, peeking over at their grandmother knowing that Elizabeth Bellcroft was never going to recover from what happened; she had already announced her decision to step down as the Queen Mother and become the Duchess of Ordino again.

Charlotte rested her head against Vanessa’s shoulder and smiled at her nephew, Bojan was so cute and she knew that his cheeky smile could cheer anyone up.

“He’s so adorable,” Charlotte cooed moving to give Bojan a kiss, she adored her nephew and she was glad that their father had been able to see him before he had passed away.

Vanessa nodded her head cuddling her son, she had no idea what was going to happen now but she knew that things had changed; she had no one to ask for advice right now and it scared her since she had a country to run.

“Have you seen Joseph today?” Vanessa asked wondering where their younger brother had gotten to, she fussed over Bojan glad that he was such a quiet baby; she didn’t know what she would have done if he had been a fussy baby.

“I think he went to see Grace Millbrook,” Charlotte replied smiling, she was happy that Joseph had found someone and she knew that with Vanessa now married to Fernando and herself engaged to Henri that things were starting to settle down.

Vanessa laughed softly, she wasn’t even surprised that Joseph had gone to see Grace; she had heard little things about the two and it was a good sign.

“I wonder if she’ll be the one,” Vanessa mused softly, she wanted her brother to settle down and she hoped that he wasn’t going to do anything stupid; he was always going to be a Prince of Andorra.

Charlotte shrugged moving to cuddle Bojan, she gently took him from Vanessa and grinned at him; she had no idea what was going on but they had to stick together.

All of the siblings knew who would want to talk to them now that George had passed away, it was the one person that they wanted nothing to do with; she wouldn’t wait around for long before contacting them.

“When do you think we will hear from madre?” Charlotte whispered sitting Bojan on her lap, she feared what would happen when their mother got a hold of them.

Maria Delmore had made it clear that she had hated her former husband and now that he had passed away, she would only be interested in getting her claws into her children to make sure that she stayed in the lime-light.

Maria was the Countess of Pal and only a minor royal now that she had remarried but she had loved the spotlight when she had been married to George; she had only given it up because she had fell in love with her current husband.

“I don’t know… but it’ll be soon,” Vanessa sighed brushing some hair from her face, she could only imagine what their mother would do to make George’s funeral all about her.

It wasn’t going to be easy and Vanessa wasn’t going to let Maria anywhere near her children, the woman was poisonous and she could only think about how much damage would be done if Maria was accepted back into the main family.

***

Fernando ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath, his entire life was changing again and he knew that he was going to have to deal with it; he was King Consort now and he had responsibilities.

Vanessa was going to need him and he had no idea how much things would change, they wouldn’t be able to just turn off and ignore everything; they had an entire country that was going to need him.

“Are you okay?” Vanessa asked walking into the bedroom, she had just settled Bojan down to bed and she had checked on Nora who was happily playing with her dolls.

Fernando had been so supportive since she had lost her father and Vanessa was worried that all of this might be too much; she had no idea what she would do if Fernando couldn’t cope with what was going to happen.

“I’m fine amor… just thinking,” Fernando replied turning to look at his wife, she looked beautiful and he was glad they had taken a break from the main city; he had seen people were laying flowers outside of Bruckstone Palace, the entire country was grieving right now.

Vanessa sighed walking over to Fernando and wrapping her arms around him, she closed her eyes and hugged him wishing that she could make this better; she didn’t want him shutting himself off from her.

Fernando hugged his wife, he knew she had a lot on her plate and he wasn’t going to weigh her down; he would cope with everything and keep his head high for her sake.

“I love you so much,” Fernando whispered pressing a kiss to the top of Vanessa’s head, he wasn’t going to let anything upset her more right now; he had no idea what to do but he was willing to step up and lead while she grieved.

Vanessa swallowed thickly and held her husband, she didn’t want to cry again not when everything was starting to piece itself together; they had been through enough and they needed to be stronger.

“I love you too,” Vanessa croaked wanting nothing more than to put all of this behind her, she was frightened that she wouldn’t be a good Queen to her country.