The Princess Bride

Chapter 15

The weeks passed and before long, I'd been married for six months. Still there was no hint of a baby. My body was exactly the same as it had ever been and I was really starting to worry. Alex hid it well, but I could tell he was worried too.

If not for everyone else watching us and pressuring us, we might not have even realized how long it had been with no success. I hated to think of how bad they would be if after a year, we still couldn't tell them I was pregnant.

I'd set aside all my fears about this before I agreed to marry Alex, but they were beginning to resurface now. What if I really couldn't have children? What if I only had girls? What would that mean for Alex and me? Something would have to be done since there had to be an heir, but what measures would the king be willing to take to ensure it?

My father-in-law liked me, I knew. After my first speech about the unfair laws, as well as the subsequent smaller ones, it was more than mere appreciation for my looks the way Isabelle had said, but what if he felt he had no choice?

Those awful men like Lord Houghton must be pressuring him for some sort of contingency plan if I failed to produce a son. And if he were the one giving suggestions, I was positive that they wouldn't count my feelings as any sort of a factor.

The only thing I could even imagine them believing to be a solution would be to have Alex divorce me and marry someone else, but could they really do it? Would they? There had to be some sort of protection in the laws for royal marriages, right? And Alex would never agree. But what if he didn't have a choice?

A knock at the door startled me out of my melancholy thoughts.

"Come in," I said, taking a few steps toward the door of mine and Alex's parlor.

"A visitor, Miss," the servant girl said with a curtsy before moving out of the way.

"Mother!" I said happily.

"Hello, Sweetheart." She moved into the room to hug me. "How are you?"

All I felt like doing was crying in her arms, but there wasn't anything she could do to fix this and I didn't want to spoil our time together.

"I'm alright," I lied when she pulled away to look at me.

She didn't believe me, but she didn't comment, and instead moved further into the room toward the chairs near the large window.

"Would you like some tea or lunch?" I asked as we both sat. "I can have the servants bring something."

She waved my suggestion away. "I just wanted to see you. There's never enough time to get away for visits, it seems."

That was certainly the truth.

"How are the boys?" I asked. It was strange not to have seen my brothers for so long and to miss them so much. They used to annoy me to no end the way little brothers do. All but Samuel, of course. He'd always been the sweetest and most agreeable one. But it was strange not to see them for several months at a time. I literally had no idea what was going on with them.

"They're the same as ever." Mother smiled fondly. "They're growing like weeds and they miss you. Especially Samuel."

I smiled sadly. "Maybe everyone could come and stay at the castle for a while," I suggested. "Alex said it would be alright."

"Perhaps," Mother said. "Though I'm not sure when."

I didn't understand her little smile, but she didn't let me dwell on it.

"How are you really?" She covered my hand with hers.

I'm not sure why I thought I could keep anything from her. Even without Papa knowing everything that was going on in the castle, she'd have known just by being near me. Maybe she didn't even need to be near me. She did understand the pressure to produce an heir. It just hadn't been nearly as monumental in her case.