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Rick
“How could it happen?” Alexandra asked.
“It’s not a hundred per cent,” I said.
Alexandra wailed, “I had sex for the first time. I waited all this time and was such a good girl. I waited and waited. And then, boom! I have married, sanctioned sex and got pregnant while trying to prevent it. I swear to God, this is unbearable!”
She was emotional. We had both been on edge trying to hide a pregnancy from everyone and living in close quarters. I suspected Astrid was aware of what was going on. She was the most street-smart one of the four of them.
“Baby, I am sorry,” I said.
“Don’t tell me you are sorry one more time, Rikard or so help me! You don’t have to do anything. Your life is made!”
I wanted to shout back that I was in the same boat as she was, I hadn’t abandoned her, and I was doing my best. However, I liked having my head and balls attached to my body and I feared her retribution. Moreover, I knew this came from a hormonal place. She was a mess and felt unsettled. It wasn’t what either of us wanted. And, tomorrow, we had to go see if this unknown being had a heartbeat. I tried not to feel anything about it.
I wanted to talk about the pregnancy. I wanted to tell her sisters. They would be an important support for her more than ever, but we were limited.
“I love you, okay? I am sorry this is so scary and so sudden. I am sorry your body has made you feel like this. But, Alexandra, I’m not going anywhere.”
She sobbed. There was a knock.
“Alex, are you okay?”
Great, now Astrid was involved.
“I’m fine,” Alexandra sobbed.
“I don’t trust you are.”
Astrid's assumption I would hurt her sister offended me, but I understood her protective inclination.
“What is going on?” Astrid opened the door before glaring at me. “Rick, what are you doing to her?”
“He’s not doing anything,” Alexandra sobbed. “My life is over. Everything is over and?—”
“Why, sweetheart?” Astrid asked.
She practically pushed me out of the way, sitting on the bed. I was no longer wanted or needed here. In a fit of rage, I knew what I had to do.
“I’m going to go take a walk, leave you ladies to talk,” I said.
No one spoke to me as I left. That was alright. I was on a mission. Alexandra would loathe what I was about to do at first, but she was already upset with me. In the long term, she would get what she wanted and needed. I stormed down the hall and demanded to speak to the Dowager Queen.
“Rikard, I do not see the point of chatting,” Celeste said as I was escorted into her cat-centric sitting room yet again.
We’d have to work hard to get the smell of cats out, I thought.
“I don’t much care,” I said. “Celeste, you must vacate these rooms. We will buy you a house for you to live with your twenty-seven cats and enjoy your golden years, but you cannot stay here.”
“We have discussed?—”
“Would you like great-grandchildren?” I asked.
“Yes,” Celeste answered. “But I hear nothing about them from Alexandra. She seems resistant. I was aware she was on medication. Staff told me. The cardinal would be very upset if he knew.”
She was oblivious to Alexandra’s struggles.
“Ah, well, about that… I am working on it.”
