The Royal Heir - The Valtoria Diaries 2

Would recommend anointment to a friend

*chapter contains strong language*

**

"Whose idea was it for us all to wear cream today?" Jen moaned, as she began to rub at a mark on Bella's ornate gown while she looked grumpily up at her from her car seat. "Every little mark shows up."

"It's fine," Maxwell told her. "She spits up cream coloured milk, right?"

"It still shows," Jen sighed, rubbing it vigorously with a wet wipe like a woman possessed.

He placed his hand over hers as it scrubbed, and she paused, glancing over at him. There was panic in her eyes. She's feeling out of her comfort zone again. But she's not. I'm here!

"Hey, I know family life isn't as easy as it looks on TV," he reassured her. "And we're about to be on TV as a family. But who cares?"

"Well, me, kind of.."

He winked at her. "My point is, it's gonna be alright. No matter what happens, our Bella bean will be the super-official Crown Princess after today. We get the chance to show the whole world how awesome and adorable she is, and it's gonna be fun! And I get the chance to gawp at you in all those sexy regal garbs and trappings you're wearing..." He couldn't resist tugging flirtatiously on one of the cords on Jen's ceremonial cloak. Hell-llo.

Her expression changed in an instant, she dropped the wet wipe and reached her hand towards him. "You don't scrub up so badly yourself, Your Grace," she murmured. "In fact, you look kinda princely with all those buttons..." She dotted her finger down them, and now he wished she was undoing them and Bella wasn't currently inbetween them and they weren't on their way to a very important ceremony....

He sat back in his seat with a contented sigh. "Huh, it's like a whole AU where I was the Prince instead of Rick," he chuckled. "And you became my queen."

"I have to say, the squid medallion in Beaumont blue is a nice little touch," she pointed out, straightening it carefully, as their car turned onto the palace approach.

"Oh, well, talking of nice little touches," he said with a raise of his eyebrows, and the look he got back as he reached out to play with a lock of Jen's curly hair turned him into mush.

"Save those for later," she sighed, and woo, that could be arranged. Not that life with Bella hadn't been amazing before, but now that they'd picked things back up in the ol' how's your father department, life was amazing to the power of three.

"Hey," he protested, although it was a fair cop. "Get your mind out of the gutter. I was talking about this nice little touch." He reached into his manly diaper bag and produced a tiny little crown, which he popped onto Bella's head. Bella cooed in response.

"Oh, baby," Jen said, fussing over their daughter. "Look at you. All ready to meet your people."

"And not a moment too soon," Maxwell pointed out as the car, now closer to the palace, began to pass through crowds lining the streets. "Better wave, Bella!" He figured he'd better start doing that on her behalf, as he couldn't lift her out of the car seat. "Ooh, lots of Bella banners!"

"They're throwing flowers at the car too," giggled Jen. "I love it when that happens!"

"Don't think there'll be any more teddy bear juggling today, little bean, but it's still going to be fun!" he told his daughter, who looked extremely unimpressed. "Just remember, don't touch the pointy shiny bridge, and it'll all be okay."