Royalty Overnight

30: Acceptance

Days went by in a blur; they both sat down at the table two times a day, eating breakfast and dinner with the children, during lunch they separated themselves to eat.

At night, they slept in the same room, same bed, but no closer than that.

She started avoiding him at all costs; she refused to look at him, and light touches visibly repulsed her.

Maalik eventually just stopped touching her, and she never asked why.

They stopped talking about anything other than questions directed to their children. Their twins, Edwina and Damir had noticed the tension, and asked what was wrong. The grand duke and duchess were stunned and decided to behave civilly at least in front of the children.

They were back to square one.

It had been going for nearly three months now, and Nakita felt empty, but what could she do? Wasn't it what she wanted? To be left alone?

But she knew why she felt so upset by Maalik's absence.

Nakita stared out the window, it was snowing. Her hand absentmindedly touched her stomach. She was feeling the little bump already.

She was pregnant.

Nakita knew of this information about 3 weeks in. She had been pregnant before; she knew all the signs and went to the private doctor for a check up just in case.

And her suspicion was correct; she was indeed pregnant. She wasn't even surprised when she found out she was pregnant from the doctor, after the amount of times they had sex, it should be expected. They were just moments of weakness, that's what she called it.

But guilt enveloped her heart.

She was hiding the pregnancy from him.

However, he was getting suspicious; that man knew when something was wrong, she couldn't hide this forever. She was already three months in. The only reason he hadn't noticed yet was because he hadn't touched her and he never attempted to see her naked despite they were sleeping in the same room. He avoided her as much as he could, so he missed all the signs. Almost.

All except for one.

Her obsession with coconut dipped in hot chocolate. It was one of her cravings during her previous pregnancies. And when he pointed it out, she knew he was suspicious.

It became worse from there; Maalik started noticing more of her behaviour and tendencies that she had when she was pregnant before. This went on for a week until he had had enough and called out on her actions, and the more she denied, the more present he was in her every day routine. It went as far as she consciously avoided certain food and controlled her mood swings; it was getting harder each day.

Until one day, everything changed.

Maalik informed her that he had booked an appointment a while ago with their doctor to see what was wrong with her. He had become concerned and insisted on them going to hospital. After some back and forth, with Nakita being hyper defensive and Maalik being an assertive man by nature, they later went to the hospital.

They were on the way there. She looked out the window at the snowy view, she couldn't see anything but she rather see nothing than look at her husband. Guilt was eating her alive, gnawing on her flesh as a constant reminder of what she had done.

Eventually the hospital came into view and they stepped out of the vehicle and headed inside.

Their doctor greeted them once they entered her office. "Good afternoon, please sit." When they had taken a seat, the doctor beamed at them. "I see you came for the pregnancy check up. Congratulations again."

"Pregnancy check up...? What?"

Maalik's head turned to Nakita who was facing away from him, avoiding his eyes as usual.

He then turned to the doctor. "We want some time alone." He offered her a polite smile.

Once alone, Maalik and Nakita stayed silent for a while. She still refused to look at him.

"How far are you?" His voice was low and soft. She wasn't sure he used that to make her lower her guard or not.

"Three months in..."

"And when did you find out?"

Nakita stayed silent, looking down at the floor.

"Answer me, Nakita. When did you figure out that you were pregnant?"

She hesitated for just a few seconds before speaking. "I was three weeks pregnant when I found out."

A dark chuckle came out of Maalik, he was in complete disbelief. "So, you knew for over 2 months, and you said nothing to me. Nakita, what did I do that was so wrong that you didn't tell me this? I had to find out that my own wife is pregnant from another person."

She couldn't say a word, what could she say to ease things out?

Throughout the appointment, Nakita barely said a thing, just one-word sentences. Maalik was the one asking the usual questions. They did the ultrasound and heard the heartbeat; steady, loud, and strong. Unshed tears erupted in her eyes as she stared at the screen. Shame almost swallowed her. How could she be so selfish to hide the pregnancy from him when he didn't deserve it?

Nakita took a glance at him to see his reaction. He looked expressionless at first, but the longer she stared the more she realised it wasn't the case. His eyes softened as they were fixated on the screen, his lips had a faint smile on them. He already loved the child long before it came to this world. She knew he was an amazing father... even an amazing husband, but she kept resisting to see it. Why? Perhaps fear, her constant fear of seeing the good man he was and letting him in again. Into her heart again. To wholeheartedly trust him again.

Could things change?

Or maybe it was already too late.

After that ultrasound, Maalik just refused to look at her.

It was like something in him died or at least dimmed; and it was the will and determination to save their marriage. What grew more in his heart was the acceptance that their relationship couldn't be fixed. Ever.