Mi Princesa

Part One - Chapter Thirteen: Engagement Announcement

Vanessa took a deep breath as she smoothed out her deep pink knee-length off-the-shoulder bowknot dress before she looked at Fernando who was dressed in his suit.

The palace had officially announced their engagement that morning and now they were getting ready to greet the press for the first time.

“Relax… you look beautiful,” Fernando said wrapping his arms around his fiancée, he kissed her softly knowing that she was nervous right now about speaking to the press about them.

Fernando had called Olalla to make sure that Nora was okay, he was nervous about how the press were going to react and he didn’t want them going after his daughter.

Fernando resisted the urge to brush his fingers through Vanessa’s hair, it had been styled in an elegant up-do and he knew the hairdresser would kill him if he messed this up.

“It’ll be fine,” Fernando said kissing Vanessa again, she looked beautiful and he didn’t think anyone could look as beautiful as her right now.

Vanessa chewed on her lip, she rested her head against his knowing that he was right; she just wasn’t any good at speaking with the press, it always made her so nervous.

“I don’t know what I would do without you,” Vanessa mused smiling up at Fernando, he looked handsome in his suit and she was amazed that he was willing to go through all of this for her.

Fernando chuckled staring at his fiancée, he was here because there was nowhere else that he would rather be; he was hoping that everything worked out well for them.

Anoushka cleared her throat as she stepped into the room, it was time and the couple couldn’t be late; they had a lot of people waiting to speak with them about their engagement.

***

Sitting in one of the many rooms that laid within Bruckstone Palace, Vanessa and Fernando sat across from the man that was doing their engagement interview; it had been a very long day for the both of them.

“People are obviously very curious about you, so let's start with the obvious. Fernando, where did you propose, when, how. And Vanessa, what did you say?” Diego Mendez asked looking across at the couple, it had been an honour to be select to interview the future Queen and her fiancé.

It was the highlight of his career and Diego was sure that he would never have a chance to do anything like this again.

“It was about two weeks ago after we had returned to London, I had been planning to ask Vanessa for a long time and she found the ring before I got a chance to ask her,” Fernando mused smiling, he didn’t regret how things had happened between them and he never would.

Vanessa laughed and nodded her head, she smiled knowing that everyone was expecting something different but she wasn’t ashamed of how they had gotten engaged.

“I got down on one knee and she said yes,” Fernando said taking Vanessa’s hand, he smiled not caring that they were being filmed for television; he was at ease and he doubted that anything could phase him right now.

Vanessa nodded her head, she had no idea what she would have done if she had to do this alone, and she was so used to just smiling and nodding at what was being said.

“You’ve been together for three years now… did you talk much about marriage in the lead up?” Diego asked turning to look at Vanessa, she had been quiet so far and he wanted to hear from her; he wanted to cover every inch of his questions.

“It was something we talked about, we’ve always known that we wanted to take this step,” Vanessa said, they weren’t going to mention that Fernando hadn’t known that she was a pregnancy until a few weeks ago.

Fernando nodded his head, he couldn’t help but play with her fingers knowing that this was happening; he was happy and nothing was going to take this away from him.

“People are bound to ask you know. It's a bit of an obvious question but, children, do you want lots of children? You know see what comes?” Diego asked it was a big part of Vanessa and Fernando getting married, they would be expected to have at least two children; an heir and a spare to take over from their mother as the future king or queen of Andorra.

Fernando grinned, they weren’t going to announce Vanessa’s pregnancy yet and he knew that it would be a while before they would dos so.

“Of course we want children, we’ve always said that having two or three would be wonderful,” Vanessa said smiling, she peeked at Fernando and shared a secretive look with him; she was only seven weeks along right now and they weren’t ready to share that secret yet.

Diego nodded his head, the entire country would be putting money on what would happen for the couple and when they would be expecting their first child.

“What did your respective parents say when you told them of your engagement?” Diego asked staring down at his notes, he had so many questions to get through and so little time; they would have to hurry along if he wanted to ask some of the big questions.

Fernando smiled, he couldn’t forget about how his parents had reacted when he had broken the news that Vanessa had agreed to marry him; they had been so happy for him.

“My parents were obviously thrilled… they adore Vanessa and already think of her as one of the family,” Fernando said smiling, he looked at Vanessa there was no way that they couldn’t have been happy for him.

“My padre already knew that Fernando was going to propose since he’d asked for his blessing when we were last here, he’s happy for the both of us,” Vanessa said hoping that the journalist didn’t bring her mother into this; she hardly spoke to her and didn’t want her tainting her happiness.

Diego nodded his head, he eyed the next question on his list and hoped that he wouldn’t get into too much trouble for asking; it was a question on everyone’s lips right now.

“And what of your madre, the Countess of Pal… how did you break the news to her?” Diego asked curiously looking up at Vanessa, it was common knowledge that none of the royal children spoke to their mother anymore; she wasn’t a part of their lives.

Fernando took a deep breath, he knew all about his future mother-in-law and he had heard about how she had turned her back on her children when she divorced their father for her lover.

“I have yet to speak with her,” Vanessa said trying to be diplomatic, she wasn’t going to fall into a trap of saying something against her mother only for it to come and bite her on the ass.

Fernando closed his eyes for a moment, he wasn’t sure how Vanessa managed to sound so calm when it came to her mother; he admired her for being able to cope with questions like that.

Diego nodded his head and looked away from the couple, he hoped that this wouldn’t be the last chance he would get to do something like this.

“Have you started to plan the wedding?” Diego asked looking back, everyone in Andorra knew that it would be a national holiday and wanted to know when to look forward to the wedding of the year.

Vanessa and Fernando shared a look and nodded their heads, they were getting married in June and they had already started to look at possible locations for their wedding.

Diego looked between them it was too much to ask for them to share the details now.