Page 52 of Falling for the Queen Mother

"Grandmum's secret." Alaina winked at her. "She just needed a bit of a change. You were likely a bit stressed and babies pick up on that."

"I am," she admitted. "It's the first time I've left her, except at the daycare. I couldn't ask for a better first childminder, but are you really sure?"

Alaina continued the mom bounce as she shooed Emilia toward the door. "We've got this. Go on."

After another second of hesitation, she picked up her bag and then kissed Alice's head. "Thank you." Then she whispered, "I love you."

Once the door closed behind her, Alaina turned to Nathaniel. "We've got this, you know."

"I know."

The look he was giving her caught her a bit off-guard. "What?"

He shook his head. "Just wishing I'd had the chance to see you as a mum to babies. I bet you were amazing."

Alaina rolled her eyes. "I think I did well. I'm just happy to be much closer to the grandmother stage of life than the new mum stage."

His face grew serious. "You wouldn't want more children?"

The wide-eyed look of shock on Alaina's face surprised Nate.

"Hold up." He backtracked. "I didn't mean that quite as seriously as it sounded. I don't think either of us would want more children. Not when ours are all grown up and we're in our grandparent era or pretty close anyway."

She gave a quick shrug and a grin. "We thought about one more, but decided that our family was complete."

"We did the same," he admitted. "My wife always wanted a big family, but decided that four was big enough after some complications with our youngest. Nothing too major but enough."

"It was actually the same for us. It never became public, thankfully, but I had slightly high blood pressure for my last trimester. Not bad enough to be truly worried, but enough to keep a closer eye on me than they would have otherwise." She bounced some more as Alice snuggled against her.

"Between the two of us, we definitely have plenty of children to qualify as a big family." He needed to get to know his new step-children better. Nate wasn't certain he even knew all of their names. There was King Frederick and Queen Victoria - the oldest and youngest, and not king and queen of the same country.

"Most definitely."

Alice's eyes had finally closed for good. Alaina took a seat in the rocking chair and began to push back lightly with her foot. She turned her head to rest her cheek on the baby's head. "I've missed this." Her own eyes closed and she looked more peaceful than Nate had ever seen her - except in sleep.

"You know I'm going to need a turn later." Nate stretched his feet out in front of him. "You're not the only one who misses baby snuggles."

"I know." She smiled his direction, but didn't open her eyes. "You'll get your chance. Maybe. I'll think about it."

He wondered if he would actually get a chance. Not that he would make her give up the baby - or even really ask again. Not when she looked so peaceful.

The next two hours were spent talking about a little bit of nothing and taking care of the tiny girl.

Alaina had just handed her over to Nate who patted her back to get her to burp after her bottle when her phone buzzed.

Frowning, she swiped to answer.

"Hello?"

Nate couldn't hear what was being said on the other end of the line, but he could see the look on her face change and see how she dropped onto the edge of the chair.

She uh-huhed a few times as the color continued to drain out of her cheeks.

"I'll be right there." Alaina stuck the phone in her pocket and started for the door. "I've got to go."

Nate couldn't let her go by herself. Wherever she was going.

"What's going on?" He didn't stand, not yet.