Page 65 of Wicked Queen

“So you two made up?”

“Mostly,” I confirmed. I’d caught Belle up on the major happenings on our way to my appointment. She’d been in Scotland over the weekend and missed most of the drama.

As usual, she latched on to the detail I thought least important. “So, why isn’t Alexander here with you?”

“Don’t start.” I couldn’t handle one more abrasive woman in my life. My mother had been calling all morning, Sarah hadn’t graced us with her presence, but her outrage could be felt through the whole house, and Georgia had barely spoken in the car. She was sitting in the waiting room with a homicidal look on her face. “I need soft, gentle Belle right now.”

“She disappeared when the heartburn showed up,” she informed me. Sighing at the downturn of my mouth, she shifted gears. “Okay, no judgement, but if you two made up, then I think you should tell him.”

“I tried, but I wanted to enjoy some time with him before he…’

“Lost his shit?” she guessed.

I nodded. “And I did tell him about this appointment. He wanted to come, but he has to meet with the Prime Minister.”

“King and Country always coming before those fragile females,” she muttered.

“How are you feeling?” I asked pointedly.

“Fine.” But the answer was short and her smile tight.

I was about to press her on the matter, sure she was keeping something from me, when Doctor Ball came in, followed by another man, the specialist I’d seen a few weeks ago.

“Not much longer to go,” Doctor Ball said with the forced cheerfulness of a man about to ruin someone’s day. “You remember Doctor Rolland.”

I nodded in greeting, wondering if his presence meant they’d found something else.

“About five weeks.” Not that I was counting the days. The last few weeks of this pregnancy had flown by. I was both anxious to meet my child and on edge about what came next.

“In two weeks I’ll begin seeing you weekly,” he reminded me. “I will arrange to come to the palace to make it more discreet. We will need to do a full examination today as a baseline, although I don’t expect we need to worry about dilation. The baby seems to be sitting quite high.”

I appreciated the consideration. Unlike many women in Britain, I’d chosen to have our first child in a hospital, which had turned out to be a wise choice. This time I had to go into hospital, and the press would be camped out as soon as I arrived. I didn’t fancy them following me to all my appointments, but they would note the increased frequency and then the media speculation would become unbearable considering what I was already dealing with.

“That’s why I’d like to do a quick scan,” said Doctor Rolland. “We’ll need to do one more when we get closer to the actual due date, but we should make some decisions now.”

“Now?” I repeated, keenly aware that my husband wasn’t here. We were running out of time and now it was on me to make the call on the baby’s care.

I’d prepared for a scan by wearing a blouse, but a full examination meant getting a little more exposed than I’d planned. The doctors excused themselves to the hall and I began to undress. Belle, who’d kept up a stream of chatter to distract me, fell silent when I slipped off my skirt.

“What?” I asked, turning to her in alarm.

“Nothing.” She averted her eyes, picking up a magazine with feigned interest.

“Belle,” I said, then slowly I realized what had caught her attention. I’d left that part out of the story. “It’s not what it looks like—”

“It looks like you’ve been a naughty girl.” She bit back a smile.

“Okay, then it is what it looks like.” I strained to try to get a glimpse of my backside. “Is it bad? I don’t want the doctor to think…”

“You’ll be fine,” she assured me. “He’ll be wrist deep in your treasure, he won’t even notice.”

I grimaced at the visual she painted. “Thanks, I think.”

Shimmying onto the paper-lined exam table, I did my best to keep my rear pressed to its surface as I covered my lap with a sheet. The doctors came back in, and Belle held my hand as Doctor Rolland squeezed ultrasound jelly onto my abdomen.

“There’s your baby,” he said, angling the screen so we could both see. “Did you find out the gender?”

I shook my head. “I think it’s a boy.”