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“Will you please put on your shoes and socks for your Aunt Alex? When you’re done playing, you can come inside, and I’ll make you a hot cocoa.”
“You want to give them sugar?” Alex asked, causing Bexley to laugh.
Minutes later, Bexley was lying down on the sofa with Tor sleeping on her chest. Julia was asleep in the playpen, and Alex was outside with the boys. An hour after that, they had hot cocoa, and thankfully, before the sugar could sink in, the nanny returned from her day off to take them home to bathe them and put them to sleep. After that, Alex and Bexley took the twins upstairs, needing to lie down themselves. They placed the kids between them on the bed and rubbed their little bellies as they cooed.
“So, four is a lot,” Bexley stated. After Alex laughed and nodded in response, Bexley added, “I’m thinking you’re getting one, and we’ll see how that goes.”
Alex sobered and said, “I like when you do that.”
“Do what?”
“Talk about those things like they’re inevitable,” Alex replied.
“I love you,” Bexley said, shrugging.
“Bex, are you sure? You haven’t been exposed to it all yet.”
“Am I sure that I love you?”
“No, are you sure you want everything I come with? It’s not just this. I know what I said in Wales; we will have these moments. But whether we confirm our relationship right away or someone figures it out and the gossip starts, soon the cameras will be everywhere. That won’t ever stop. If I’m lucky enough and you agree to marry me one day, they’ll get worse. Your ex-girlfriends will come out of the woodwork, probably, because they’ll be offered a lot of money for stories about you. Maybe you made a comment ten years ago that you don’t understand why the world still has monarchies or that you don’t like British food.” Alex smiled lovingly at Julia, who pulled on her finger. “People will say bad things about you. They’ll wonder why I can’t find someone British or someone from the aristocracy to love.‘Why can’t the Princess just marry a Brit?’That’ll be on the front page of newspapers. Our wedding day will be a worldwide event. After that, the baby watch starts. People are going to wonder how we’ll do it, who the father is since we can’t just do it the old-fashioned way, and they’ll want proof that the baby is biologically mine. It’s awful, but it’ll happen. If we’re blessed with a child, the cameras will get worse again. When they go to school for the first time, when they do something silly or scowl at one of us, a camera will be there to capture the moment. It will always be this way. One day, when my father passes, I’ll be Queen, and our child will have the same pressure I’ve had on my shoulders since my grandfather died thrust upon them. The day they become King or Queen will be the dayIdie. It–”
“Don’t talk about that,” Bexley said seriously. “Don’t.”
“Sweetheart, it’s how this all works.”
“Doesn’t matter. I don’t want to talk about that,” Bexley told her, looking toward the ceiling.
“I love you,” Alex said. “From the first moment I laid my eyes on your beautiful blue ones, I knew you were the one for me. I waited, Bex. I hoped, never thinking it would actually happen. Now, you’re here, and we’re talking about a future together. As much as it would kill me if you said no, I also can’t be selfish. You’ll be going back home soon, and if we don’t tell people about us yet, you’ll be able to stay anonymous and return to your normal life. There’s a chance you’ll rethink all of this; that you might want that anonymity, which just isn’t something I can give you, even though I would give you the world if I could.”
“Alex,” Bexley uttered her name. “Baby, I love you. I know I haven’t been in this as long as you have, but when we started spending time together, I wasn’t thinking of my life back home. I wasn’t thinking about Holly or the center or even my grandma, which makes me a bad person.” She shook her head. “I was thinking about you all the time. I didn’t think you…” Bexley swallowed. “You were a Princess, and I was just me.”
“I still remember when you tugged on my shirt, Bex.”
“What?” Bexley asked.
“When the babies were born,” Alex explained, looking down at the twins between them. “You got spit up on, and we went running out of the room because of the baby diarrhea. You were behind me, and you–”
“Pulled on your shirt,” Bexley recalled, laughing softly. “I remember.”
“You grazed my skin a little, and I got goosebumps all over.”
“You did not,” Bexley said.
Alex nodded and said, “Yes, I did. Bex, I’ve practically stalked you online since the moment we met. I’ve watched your Cologne speech at least three times. There’s this moment about six minutes in where you tuck your hair behind your ear, and I always wanted to reach out and do that for you.”
Bexley smiled and pulled a little of her hair, placing it in front of her ear.
“Now’s your chance,” she said.
Alex removed her finger from the baby’s grasp and moved the hair gently behind Bexley’s ear.
“Grape job,” Bexley teased.
Alex moved enough to kiss Bexley on the forehead before she moved back into place so as not to move the babies.
“Bex, are you sure?” she checked again a moment later.
“I want you toalwaysbe the one who tucks my hair behind my ear,” Bexley replied, hoping that summed up her feelings.
