Royal Duchess | BRF Story

Time

"It was very good you came in today, Your Royal Highness. We can make an appointment for your exams today, for the following week if you are available. And I can already give you some vitamins and supplements you should have before conceiving." 

The Duchess simply nods. 

It had been a while since she last had a pre-pregnancy checkup, three years actually, and since the birth of her last daughter Amelia didn't imagine herself having another one ever. But here she was, and she was actually happy. 

Although at first she was reluctant on having another child after a lot of deep thinking she understood why her husband wanted more children and also why it would be good for her kids to have another sibling. Vicky and Jamie were three years apart, while Jamie and May were only two, so Amelia knew she could handle the age difference. While at the same time she also believed that now was a perfect time, since her youngest daughter already understood a little more of the world and wasn't as attached to her mother as she had been a few years back. 

So when she remembered the talk she and her husband had a few months after their wedding, she couldn't help but consider the possibility. Deep down the Duchess knew that she had more than five children she wouldn't be able to give her full attention to any of them (and she also knew they would be hugely criticised for having an enormous family) so she settled on the number five at first, and after some more thinking she decided she would be happy with four. It was an even and beautiful number, and, even though she couldn't possibly know what she would be having, she also thought that having two girls and two boys a charming idea. 

After she left her doctors office Amelia decided to stop at a cafe, fave tea and some type of sweet before having to finish the businesses of the day. 

The idea of adding another child to their family made Amelia beam, her chest filled with happiness and her stomach filling with butterflies for what was to come. 

- - - 

George had been kept in the dark when it came to his wife's pre-pregnancy exams, with the only information he had been given being that she was fine and these were normal exams every future mother should have. 

It didn't help on his nerves.

The Duke of Clarence had been hard at work the whole month of May, and he barely noticed as the days went by without news of the exams and his wife keeping him at arms length. He believed that by the time the Chelsea Flower Show came around his wife would have told him something. That didn't happen. 

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, but I am only following the doctors advice." 

He agreed and the conversation ended there. Trooping the Colour came around and he finally got the answers he needed. Everything was fine and they could start trying; George felt a huge relief knowing that everything was the way it should be and his family was going to be getting bigger after all. 

- - -

It was late. It had been a long day, with two of her children falling sick midday from what seemed to be out of nowhere, and the only thing in Amelia's mind was finishing her nightly routine and getting into bed as fast as she possibly could. 

"Do you think we'll have more time when we go to Norfolk?"

"What?" 

Her husband was seated at his side of the bed while Amelia looked at him through her vanity's mirror. 

"We have had barely time for each other these past few weeks, Bee."

"I know, sweetheart, but we've had a lot of events."

"So do you think we'll have?" 

The Duchess lets out a laugh while she finishes putting her creams on and turns to her husband, who seemed to be anxiously waiting for her response. 

"Georgie, if you think now we don't have time for each other if we have another child that time is only going to get slimmer. And we have time for each other. Aren't we talking right now?"

"Bee."

"I know, I know. But I'm sorry, Georgie, I don't think we'll have more spare time in Norfolk, on the contrary, the children will be needing extra attention." 

"I guess you're right." The Duke sighted and returned to whatever it was that he was doing before bed.

- - - 

Amelia closes the bathroom door behind her, feeling the small lump on her throat only growing. What was happening to her? She had been fine five minutes ago, playing with the children and chatting with the teachers, and now she had to be rushed to the teachers room, to use the toilet in a way that was definitely not Duchess-like. 

"Ma'am? Are you O.K.? Do you need anything?"

Josie was an attentive private secretary, and she was the first one to notice Amelia going pale out of nowhere. And Josie also knew something was off, she just couldn't quite put her finger on it yet. 

Amelia nodded, to no one since she was alone in the bathroom. So she cleaned herself and tried to straighten her dress and hair back to what it had been before she met the teacher's toilet, but her appearance was something only makeup could fix at the moment. 

"Are you O.K.? Do we need a doctor?" 

"No, no. I'm fine, Josie. Just give me five minutes, a mint, and some makeup, will you? And some coffee if possible."

"Ma'am, I don't think..."

"I am fine, Josie, truly. Now, I want to go back and finish my engagement on a high note, and for that to happen I need you to help me. So, mint, makeup, coffee."