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Makin’s jaw hardened as he swallowed, but his expression softened the moment he glanced down at Emmeline. “I’m sorry,” he apologized, smoothing her hair back from her damp face. “I hate seeing you in pain.”
“I’m okay.”
“Not okay,” he corrected, leaning over to kiss her. “You’re amazing.”
“All right, Your Highness,” the nurse said, watching the contractions build on another machine. “It’s time to meet your little one. Take a deep breath and push. Give me everything you can.”
With Hannah squeezing one hand, and Makin holding the other, Emmeline focused all her energy on bringing her baby safely into the world.
“That’s it,” the nurse exclaimed. “You did it. Your daughter is here.”
And then the baby cried, a loud piercing cry.
“Oh, Emmie, she’s gorgeous!” Hannah exclaimed, leaning over to kiss her sister’s cheek. “Congratulations!”
A girl, a daughter, Emmeline silently repeated as she glanced from the nurse who held the squalling infant, to her husband, Makin, who only had eyes for the newborn.
“May I hold her?” he asked the nurse gruffly.
“Do you want to wait until I clean her up?”
“No. I’ve been waiting forever to meet my daughter.”
Emmeline’s eyes filled with tears as the nurse handed the slippery, shrieking baby to Makin. He held her close to his chest, his big arms cradling her securely, as if that’s what his arms were made to do. “Jacqueline Yvette,” he said softly, and the baby stopped kicking and crying.
“What do you think of the name?” he asked Emmeline, carrying the tiny infant around the foot of the bed and over to meet her mother for the first time.
Emmeline gazed down at her naked baby daughter nestled in Makin’s powerful arms. She was a red-faced little thing with a thatch of dark hair and a big strong kick. “It’s perfect,” she said huskily.
Makin leaned over to kiss her. “Just like her mother.”
Blinking back tears, Queen Hannah Jacqueline Patek quietly slipped out of the room to go tell her husband that the next generation of beautiful royal princesses had just been born.
