The Royal Scandal | Prince William |

Second Guessing

August 6, 2012

Slowly the bliss of the announcement faded.

The peace secrecy brought them didn't last long. Days after Jaclyn told him her symptoms skyrocketed. Her morning sickness spread throughout the day, she couldn't eat anything, and fatigue paralyzed her. The internet became William's best friend, he needed some kind of confirmation that things were normal, that everything was okay. As far as he could tell it was, but it didn't stop his worrying. It didn't stop hers either.

He sees it now, sitting beside her in the drawing room of KP. She's curled up on the other side of the cream couch, Sense and Sensibility in her hands, but he can tell her mind isn't processing the words. She can't see them with how she keeps glancing down, or over the top of the book to where he left her a bowl of rice.

They both know she needs to eat it, but the twitch of her nose tells him she's going to push it off even more, and when she does manage to get it to go down it won't be there for long.

"I can ask the cook to make something else," he says, reaching for the bowl, but she stops him, eyes stuck to the page she can't see. "Please don't, I don't want her to have to go through the work for nothing."

"It's not nothing," he argues, but Jaclyn's far off. Not with him in the room. It was frustrating, he wasn't upset with her, not when her body was fighting her so ferociously, but subconsciously he let the blame fall on himself. He was supposed to be looking after them, Jac and the baby, but over the past week he just felt helpless.

"I think it's time we go to the doctor," he blurts. Before him Jaclyn freezes like a still frame photo, but slowly she sets the worn and frayed book down to turn to him. "We won't be able to hide it from the press if we do, and the palace won't want to make an announcement until I'm past twelve weeks. We haven't even been able to tell our families yet."

There's her worry again. Worry that every choice is wrong, worry that people will tell her she's overreacting, worry that she's somehow failing when he knows she's trying her best. But she's losing weight rapidly, and he needs to do something.

He couldn't do anything for...

No, his mind snaps, don't go there.

He glances down to the tabloids that are still spread across the coffee table, the same ones their private secretary Jamie was consulting them on after they decided to reschedule another one of her events.

Do Nothing Duchess

Flakie Jackie Cancels AGAIN

What's Up With Jac? The World Speculates

They didn't mean anything, but these were also her first negative headlines since their wedding, and of all the things they could talk about it had to be that. The one thing she wanted to be remembered for more than anything else was her work ethic.

The thing is she won't say they bother her. She'll sit quietly and take it because that's what's expected. He just wishes she would tell him.

She catches him eyeing the tabloids warily, and sits up straighter with a soft smile. It's the most alive she's looked for a while, the veil of malnourishment and exhaustion lifting, that familiar brightness in her eyes easing his nerves, but his stomach turns guiltily knowing she's only doing it for him. "You know," she starts, picking up one of the papers to point at him, "I would've gone to both of these events if it weren't for you."

"You were napping on the bathroom floor after getting sick for the seventh time that day. You weren't going to watch cycling with Camilla."

She made a cute hmph noise, nose dramatically stuck in the air, but her eyes dance mischievously back to him. "I still resent you for making me miss it."