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I nodded and dumped the eggs into the pan. “Give me ten minutes and you’ll have full plates in front of you.”
Kane’s cry came from the baby monitor Royal had brought down with her.
Marco pressed a kiss to Royal’s forehead. “I got him, amore mio. I’ll get him changed and then bring him down for breakfast.”
He jogged from the kitchen and called to Kane that Daddy was on the way.
“I never thought I would see that side of Marco,” I chuckled. The hard, stoic mafia man was replaced with a sweet, caring dad.
Royal sighed. “He’s such a good guy. I really hit the jackpot with him.”
I gently stirred the eggs in the pan and glanced at Royal. “Uh, you need to take some medicine? Is everything okay after having Kane?”
Royal closed her eyes. “Uh, not really, but it will be.” She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. “I’ve got a bit of that postpartum depression going on. I think I’m driving Marco crazy with my mood swings. Last week, Dr. Hamm prescribed something that will help.”
“That’s good, right?” I grabbed the loaf of bread and popped four pieces into the toaster. “There’s no reason why you need to suffer when there is a little pill that can help you feel normal again.”
“I know,” Royal sighed. “I just kind of feel like a failure since I can’t seem to get my moods under control on my own.”
“You are far from a failure, Royal. You’ve been through a hell of a lot, and if you need a little help to make it through, there isn’t any shame in that.” I reached out and squeezed her hand. “You’re amazing, and you are being an amazing mommy to Kane.”
Royal burst out crying. “That was so nice,” she cried.
Oh, no. This was not my intention. I had hoped that Royal would be happy to hear that I thought she was amazing, and I had not anticipated she would burst out crying.
Royal sniffled and waved her hand in front of her face. “Ugh, I thought my crazy hormones would go away once I had Kane. It’s like they’ve gotten worse and now I have postpartum depression on top of everything. Having a baby is amazing, but there are so many things that people don’t tell you.”
“But you’re handling everything amazingly.”
“Let’s just stop talking about it. I have to deal with so much in my head, so I don’t want to have to waste my time talking about it.”
“That’s fine, but if you need to talk, you know I’m always in the kitchen.”
Royal laughed. “That is the truth, and you have no idea how much I appreciate that. I need to appreciate that you’re here to make things easier for me and not to make me feel bad.”
“You can always help me,” I suggested. “If you want to grab the plates and figure out what you guys want to drink, that would be a huge help.” I could delegate small things for Royal to do if she wanted to feel more helpful.
Royal smiled sincerely. “And that is your way of getting my mind off of everything.” She squeezed my arm. “Thank you, Bristol.”
She worked on setting the table and filling coffee cups for herself and Marco. By the time I was spooning the eggs onto the plate, he came down with Kane in his arms.
“There’s Mommy,” he cooed to Kane.
Kane’s face lit up at the sight of Royal.
That sweet baby was the thing that pasted a huge smile on Royal’s face and made her forget about worrying about all of the small things.
Things had changed pretty quickly for Royal, and then, she also had a baby. She would have been Superwoman if none of this hadn’t affected her.
Kidnapped, her brother murdered, whisked away to this mammoth house, falling in love with Marco, and then having a sweet baby to top it all off. Definitely whirlwind.
Marco insisted on holding Kane while they ate, and Royal tried to argue with him. I cleared my throat and gave her a knowing glance.
“Fine,” she sighed. “But if he gets fussy and wants to eat, you’re handing him over.”
“Agreed,” Marco smiled. “I need the ketchup.”
Royal plopped down on her stool and wrinkled her nose. “I’m not getting that because ketchup does not belong on eggs.”
