The Beautiful Thief

Chapter Twenty Six

     "What'd you mean, deathly kind of sick?"

     "The only kind there is Addie. I'm gonna die and there is nothing anyone can do about it."

     "Have you talked to the doctors here about it?"

     "I've gotten so many opinions that if I hear one more, I'm gonna kill myself."

     "So it's a sure thing then?" She nods and I groan, laying down beside her. "Well, we'll make you as comfortable as possible and get all our affairs in order. No more working for you, only relaxation."

     "I couldn't do that, what about my kids, how would I support them?"

     "You leave that to me and Caleb, you're family." A knock comes from the door, "Come in," I say.

      "Princess Adelaide, Queen Penelope has requested you in her room."

       "Thank you Gregory, I'll be out in a minute." He nods and leaves the room, shutting the door after himself. "I'll be right back, you eat some of this breakfast. That's an order." I smile at her and grab my robe off the bed post.

        I roll over on my side, my belly to big to just sit up. "How far along are you again?" Mary asks.

        "19 weeks, almost to 20." I sit up and pull my long robe over my night dress. "I'll be back as soon as possible." Gregory escorts me to Penelope's room, all the while, making small talk. "Thank you again Gregory."

       I knock on the door and Penelope shouts for me to come in. When I walk in, Caleb is sitting on her bed and Penelope is standing in front of him. "Hi honey," Caleb says. He gets up and helps me sit in a chair.

       "Thanks." He stands beside me, one hand on my shoulder. "What's going on?"

       "Well, we are having that important dinner tonight, and I wanted to make sure that you were feeling well Adelaide."

       "I'm doing great. I stopped throwing up all the time about a week ago. Except for this whole balance thing, I'm not used to having this on me." I pat my stomach for emphasis.

      "Well, in a few months, you'll be back to normal," Penelope says smiling. "Anyway, the dinner tonight is important, because we're talking legalities. And tomorrow, we're having a broadcast to announce your pregnancy to the kingdom."

       "I thought everybody knew already," I say.

      "Well, they suspect, but aren't a hundred percent on it. The same goes for the council." I nod and lean back in my chair. "I think Mary already picked out a dress for you, so you don't have to worry about that. Caleb, you're going to wear your uniform."

       "Speaking of Mary, I have something to tell you both." They turn to me and move around in th chair. "She's dying. I relieved her of her job so she can just relax in her final months."

        "Oh dear," Penelope says. "What will happen to her children?"

        "I was hoping that we could adopt them, just so they're cared for as they should be." I turn to Caleb and he nods. "Mary doesn't have any other family, and we talked about it before. I just didn't think it would actually need to be done."

          Out of nowhere, tears spring to my eyes and I'm sobbing uncontrollably. I was trying to hold myself together, but that just went out the window. Caleb wraps his arms around me and walks me to the small sitting sofa in Penelope's room.

       "It'll be okay Adds, she has people who love her looking after her, and we'll make her as comfortable as possible."

        "Her poor children, they're so young. And they've already lost their father, Caleb." He pulls me to him even tighter and I sob into his chest. After crying for some time, I start to calm down a bit, and sit up on my own.

         Penelope has left the room and it's just me and Caleb. "We'll figure it out Addie. Don't worry about the legalities. Just focus on making sure that Mary is comfortable." I nod and he embraces me, planting a kiss on my lips.

        I loop my arms around the back of his neck and deepen the kiss. We lean back a little so my head rests on the arm of the sofa and Caleb pushes his hand into my hair. He pulls back and looks around the room. "I can't do this in my mother's room." We stand up and walk as fast as possible to our room.

        Mary is gone and the breakfast is cleared out of the room. Caleb locks the door and we climb onto the bed. We start where we left off, and pull Caleb's suit jacket off, tossing it off to the side. In turn, Caleb pulls the tie on my robe and I slip my arms out of it.

        A knock sounds at the door and I groan. "You've got to be kidding me." Caleb stands to his feet and retrieves his jacket from the floor, while I pull my robe back on. He unlocks the door and opens it just a crack.

        "Prince Caleb, you have a summons from your father. Would you like an escort to his office?"

        "That won't be necessary, thank you." He shuts the door and turns to me with a smile on his face. "I'm sorry baby, I have to go. Want to walk me out?"

       "Let me get dressed." I walk over to the closet and pull out a red floor length dress. After I pull it on, I put my hair up and slip on some sandals. "I have to get to my classroom anyway." We loop arms and walk out of the room. 

       I rub my hands over my protruding belly and sigh. "What is it?"

       "I just want them out so I can hold them." Caleb smiles and stops us at the top of the stairs.

       "Well I don't want them out just yet. They aren't grown quite enough for that." He leans down and whispers to my belly, "You need to hurry up and grow, your mommy wants you out." He kisses my belly and stands back up. "I think they got the message."

        "You are such a dork. But I love you for it."

        "Love you too. Do you need help down the stairs?" I nod and we slowly make our way down. "Have a good class, see you at lunch. Love you all."

         "We love you too. Good luck."