The Beautiful Thief

Chapter Nineteen

     A knock sounds at my door and my heart leaps, hoping it's news about Caleb. The door opens and it's Queen Penelope with a grim look on her face.

     "Hello dear. How are you doing?" I shrug my shoulders and twist my engagement ring around my finger.

      "As can be expected. It's been nearly two months and we've only gotten letters and a video. And they told me that the stress isn't good for my body, it's making me more sick."

      "We'll get him back. Have you've seen your mother today?"

      "She came up earlier and sat with me for about an hour." Penelope nods and pats my knee through the covers.

       "Are you sure it's the stress that's making you sick?"

       "I'm pretty positive. It's not like I've ev-" I stop my sentence short and turn to Penelope. "Caleb and I, on the night we got engaged, did it."

        "What do you mea- ooh." She leaves the room and I sit silent on my bed. Jerry squeaks beside me and puts his feet on the cage wires.

         Penelope is back within five minutes, carrying a stick like object. "Go in the bathroom and pee on the spongey part of the stick then come back in here."

      I do as she tells me and come back out of the bathroom with the stick in my hand. "What'd we do now?" I ask.

     "Check the little window on the stick. If it has two lines you're pregnant." I flip it over and sure enough, two pink lines appear and I drop the stick.

      "He's not even here. He doesn't know." Penelope gathers me in her arms and rocks me back and forth. "Do you think we'll ever find him"

      "I do my darling, and then you can get married and have your beautiful babies. Raise them up to be good people like you and Caleb." I nod and stand to my feet. "Where are you going?"

      "I'm going to take a walk, I need the fresh air."

      "But you haven't-"

       "Been outside since they took him?" She nods. "I know. If you want to go with me, you can. I just need to get dressed."

        "I'll meet you in the garden." Penelope leaves the room and shuts the doors behind her so I can get ready. I change into a baby blue day dress and put my hair up into an up-do. Throwing on a tan shawl and a pair of tan heels.

         The house maids look at me in awe as I walk down the hall, surprised to see me out of my room. Mary is passing by with a handful of linens, Evie by her side when I walk past. She immediately drops them and Evie turns.

        "Addie," she shouts. Her legs carry her to me and she wraps her arms around me. "Mommy can I go with her?"

         "S-sure," Mary says. I give her a smile and walk with Evie down the hall to the garden. Penelope is waiting for us when we get there.

        "Let's take that walk shall we," Penelope says. Guards follow a few feet behind us, the security detail had increased due to Caleb being taken.

         "Can I go play?" Evie asks.

        "Stay where I can see you," I tell her. She nods and runs a few paces in front of us. "How have you been holding up Penelope?"

       "I've been better, I just want them to return him to us. We've delivered the money, they said they'd return him where they wanted and it would be soon. I don't know why they have given him back yet. It's been two weeks."

       "He'll be given back to us soon." I add the words I hope to the end of my sentence in my head and take a deep breath. "For right now, we have to go on and hope for the best. I don't want to, but we need to."

        "Addie!" I hear Evangeline yell. The guards respond before I do, and Penelope and I follow suit. The scene in front of me makes my knees nearly buckle and I walk on unsteady legs. The guards are calling medical, but I can't hear it.

        "Caleb," I whisper. A smile stretches across my face and tears of joy slip from my eyes. "Caleb," I yell. Running over to him, I tackle him and bury my face in his neck.

        "Hey baby," he whispers. I squeeze him tighter and he groans in pain. When I pull away, I realize that he's bloody and bruised.

        "I'm sorry," I say. He shakes his head and pulls me to him. "I have something to tell you."

        "What is it?"

        "We're gonna be parents soon." I can feel his smile and excitement radiating off of him. A team of medical nurses comes over and helps Caleb to his feet. "I'll meet you in the infirmary. And Caleb."

        "Yeah?"

        "I love you." 

        "I love you too Addie." Penelope and I wait outside the infirmary until a medical nurse comes out and calls us back. Caleb is clean and bandaged, he's been clean pants, but his shirt is off.

      "He has a broken rib and multiple cuts on his body that will mostly likely scar, but other than that, nothing else is wrong with him physically." I let Penelope talk with him privately before she leaves me with him.

      "I'm so happy you're back," I tell him once I'm beside him.

     "I'm happy I'm back too, I want to get married. Soon."

      "Whatever you want." I lay next to him on the cot and hug him gently.

      "Are you really pregnant?" I nod and tears slip from my eyes. "Hey, what's wrong?"

      "I feel like this is a dream and I'm going to wake up all alone any minute." Caleb strokes my hair and kisses my forehead.

       "I can assure you, I'm very real." We lace our fingers together and I close my eyes. When I open my eyes Caleb is still there and he's breathing.

       "Caleb, I want to get married too. Before I start showing."

       "Anything for you my beautiful fiancé."