Page 51 of Falling for the Queen Mother

"Thank you, ma'am." The two assistants left the office.

The smile stayed on her face. Snuggling a baby for a large portion of her evening sounded like a little bit of heaven. She suspected Nathaniel would think the same thing.

She sent a text to him so that he would know the plans. She probably should have talked to him first, but it had been a long time since she'd needed to check with someone if she didn't already have plans of some kind.

Nathaniel simply hearted the message, which she took as a good sign.

With that to look forward to, the rest of her day went by quickly. The message from Emilia gave the details of what they would need to do that evening, but nothing about what plans she might have. Not that it mattered. Alaina would be happy to watch that sweet baby for just about any reason.

She went back to her apartment a little earlier than she would have expected. After changing into comfortable jeans and a shirt she didn't care about getting baby spit up on, Alaina decided to just eat a little bit of the leftover pasta for dinner. As she finished, Nathaniel entered the apartment. He came into the kitchen and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"How did we get lucky enough to watch Alice tonight?"

"I volunteered when I was talking with her mum yesterday and she asked today. I should have talked to you first, but it's been so long since I needed to check in with anyone." She rinsed her dish out.

"Hey. I'm always happy to babysit." He opened the fridge to get something out for himself to eat.

Alaina shot him a look. "I have dibs on baby snuggles."

He gave an exaggerated sigh. "Fine. As long as I get a few minutes."

"You get the crying." Alaina hoped he knew she wasn't entirely serious.

"I'll take it."

About ten minutes before they needed to be at Emilia's quarters, they left her apartment. Nathaniel offered to navigate the way there using the app. He said it was because he needed more practice, but at the same time, Alaina wasn't certain exactly where they were going. She knew the general area, but not the exact apartment.

They did get some odd looks as they walked through the staff quarters. Likely they wondered why the Queen Mother and her new husband were wandering around in a place they normally didn't visit.

Alaina knocked on the door they stopped in front of. She could hear a crying baby on the other side.

Emilia opened the door, holding the baby, and looked much more frazzled than she had earlier in the day. "Hi." She curtsied again, but didn't move out of the way. "She's incredibly cranky. I don't think I'm going to go tonight. I couldn't leave her with you like this."

As much as she wanted to roll her eyes, Alaina stopped herself and held out her arms. "Let me try. I've got experience."

She hesitated for a second, but Emilia opened the door a little wider so they could come in. "Are you sure?"

"We are." Nathaniel answered for both of them. "I've got experience with crying babies too."

A look of relief crossed Emilia's face. "Thank you."

Alaina took the crying baby from her. "Why don't you do whatever you need to do to get ready for your event tonight? We've got this."

Emilia nodded. "Thank you." She ran her hand over the top of the baby's hair then turned and went toward the back of the apartment.

Holding the baby with her head on Alaina's shoulder, she patted her on the back and made shushing noises. "It's okay. I've got you. Your mama needs a bit of a break and she'll feel a lot better if you're not crying when she leaves."

Without even realizing it, Alaina found herself doing the mom sway-bounce that every mom did.

Nathaniel looked around awkwardly until he finally took a seat and picked up a book that was sitting on the side table. He held it up. "Is this one you've read?"

Alaina took a closer look at it. "I think so? Bethany Turner? I know I've read several of hers, but I read them on my ereader so I don't always recognize the covers. I'm horrible with titles. I love them, though. They're always laugh-out-loud funny."

He read the back of the book. "It sounds fun, but probably not something I would read."

"It's a rom-com." Alaina kept her voice low as the crying had slowed to snuffles.

"How did you do that?" Emilia walked out of the hallway.