The Royals of Monterra: Royal Delivery (Kindle Worlds)

by Rebecca Connolly

  “Except Dante,” Dominic pointed out. “He was as bald as they come.”

  Dante huffed a little and turned Eva in his hold so she was facing the rest of us. “I can’t help it, Rafe pulled all of my hair out before our grand entrance.”

  Rafe snorted and leaned over to kiss my cheeks. “Buon Natale, Kat. Congratulations.”

  I hugged him and let him support me a little. “Thanks, Rafe.”

  Luca yawned a massive yawn that had everybody smiling.

  Nico’s grandmother and aunts and uncles and cousins crowded around us, all cooing at our sleeping boy and congratulating us. I was hugged and kissed by everyone, then sat down on Nico’s lap in a chair and was handed a plate of food, which was much appreciated.

  Not even Monterran hospitals have great food, even if you’re royalty.

  Nico’s grandmother prodded him with her cane, a new acquisition of hers that she almost never used for walking, and rambled off something in Italian, her accent and speed of speech too much for me.

  Nico smiled and everyone else chuckled.

  “What did she say?” I asked on a yawn as I ate another piece of some really amazing fruit bread, the specifics of which escaped me.

  “She says she was right about your hips, but she didn’t expect a baby so pretty,” Dante said, still laughing as he handed Eva to his wife.

  I looked at Grandma with a regal tilt of my chin. “Grazie,” I said, smiling.

  She inclined her head back, which I took to be a demonstration of “You’re not so bad for an American.”

  She looked over at Luca and smiled rather indulgently, then asked, still looking at him, “What is his name?” in very heavily accented English.

  Nico and I looked at each other. “You tell them,” I murmured.

  He shook his head at once. “You. It was your idea.”

  Suddenly, I was really embarrassed about it. I looked over at Lemon, who was the only other one that knew, and she smiled, already teary-eyed as she bounced Eva.

  I looked directly at Dominic and Aria and said, “We have decided to name him Luca.”

  The entire room went silent, family and servants and all.

  Aria went wide-eyed, and instantly her eyes swam, which made me cry, which made Nico get choked up, which made everyone else emotional, and it was one big family ball of feelings.

  “Thank you,” Aria said, reaching over to squeeze Dominic’s hand tightly.

  “Yes, thank you,” Dominic echoed hoarsely, smiling at us.

  I nodded, beyond words, and clung to Nico, who replied, “We’re honored to do it.”

  Luca squawked a little in protest, which made us laugh.

  “Little man isn’t getting enough attention,” Dante chuckled, coming over to his mother. “Better let his favorite uncle take over.”

  “Then I should take him,” Rafe mused.

  Nico and I both smiled at that.

  Everyone was still a little misty eyed at his name choice, and I was hugged and squeezed by every single relative again for such a thoughtful tribute. Then I was fussed over and spoiled and fed (very, very fed), and eventually we were all banished to our bedroom, so Luca and I could sleep for as long as we wanted.

  Nico napped with me for a little bit, then had to go visit the children at the hospital, kissing my brow before he left.

  I was disappointed to miss that, as it was one of my favorite traditions, but he promised that the children would forgive me.

  Sure enough, when he returned hours later with Violetta, Dante, Lemon, and baby Eva, he brought with him the well wishes of the staff and several cards for me from the children.

  Later that night, Nico and I adhered to Christmas tradition by snuggling on the couch by the massive Christmas tree in front of the fire and Yule Log. Luca was in one of his basinets nearby, and various family members wandered by to look at him occasionally.

  We didn’t mind. We finally had our family, and recovery would take a bit, but real life would pick up soon enough. And it was Christmas.

  “Happy anniversary, cuore mio,” Nico whispered, kissing my neck.

  I pulled his arms more tightly around me. “Happy anniversary, babe.”

  “Do you know how much I love you?” he asked, nuzzling against me and sighing. “How much this last year has meant to me?”

  I nodded against him, smiling to myself. “I know,” I assured him. “It’s been perfect.”

  He squeezed me tightly, as if he could actually bring me inside of him. “I couldn’t have done this without you. I couldn’t do any of it without you.”

  “You don’t have to. I’m yours. Forever.”

  He turned me to face him and took my face tenderly in his hands. “And I’m yours, Katerina.” He shook his head in wonder. “Ti amo tantissimo,” he whispered, stroking my cheek.

  I arched up to kiss him, and he responded as I always wanted him to, with the full intensity and depth he was capable of, and so very, very good at.

  “I love you,” I whispered against his lips, wrapping one of my legs around his. “I love you.”

  He smiled against me. “I know.”

  Luca fussed, and we stilled, waiting.

  Then he let loose with a wail, and I laughed, shoving Nico gently aside as I got up, stiffly. “And that is how the rest of our lives is going to go.”

  Nico grabbed my hips and pulled me back to sit against him. “I can’t wait,” he teased, kissing my shoulder through the too-big t-shirt of his I had pulled on.

  I laughed again and managed to free myself from him before picking up our son from the bassinet, and sitting back down on the couch, just the three of us.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Recovering from giving birth is almost as bad as pregnancy and birth itself, mostly because you are tired beyond all comprehension, in body and in mind, and you have a baby that doesn’t coordinate sleeping schedules with you. The first few days were really rough, what with learning how to feed Luca and Luca actually eating and being sore and aching and all sorts of exciting after-effects that nobody really talks about that made my life pretty darn miserable.

  But after all of that, and at the end of the day, I had a really cute baby who was fun to snuggle with.

  And his daddy was obsessed with him.

  Nico was the most doting father I had ever seen. If I wasn’t feeding Luca, chances were that Nico had him. Aria had actually voiced a complaint that she wasn’t getting enough grandmother time, and Nico had eventually been coerced into letting his mother take him. If we weren’t careful, Luca was going to be the most spoiled child on the planet.

  As if being a royal prince first in line for the throne of Monterra wasn’t going to spoil him already.

  His aunts and uncles adored him, his only cousin was a smiley girl who wasn’t old enough to do anything with him, and the press was so hungry for news and pictures of him that Lemon’s people had to put out a pretty harsh statement for the world.

  Much to Lemon’s relief, nobody else said a word about Eva coming before Luca. No one was telling her “I told you so,” but it had certainly been a lot of stress for nothing.

  In February, we’d had a Royal Babies update for all of the major news outlets and magazines, and it had been beyond perfect. Each couple had been interviewed separately, then we’d had a pow-wow with all of us, some of which had been for television, and then Lemon and I had our parts together. That was the fun stuff where we’d dodged questions about fitness and health and sleep, since neither of us were really doing much of anything in that department. Oh, we walked every day together with the babies in prams, and that had been caught and sent out to the press, but we were hardly being fit.

  Lemon was right back down to her pre-baby weight.

  I was… not.

  I was looking pretty good, all things considered, but I was not going to be wearing anything tight fitting for a while, and there might not be any more swimsuits ever. Ever, ever. I still looked like I’d had a baby two months ago, but at least I did
n’t look like I was going to have a baby now.

  Little victories.

  I really missed labor cake and all of the goodies everyone let me have while I was pregnant, and while I was still allowed my gelato every night, which Rafe and Nico were both grateful for, everything else had been axed under Tino’s orders.

  Luca was sleeping through the night for the most part, and had been a champ in that department almost from the beginning. He was gaining weight, his hair was still thick and dark, and his eyes were starting to change, but the color wasn’t clear yet. I was on track to having a clone of my husband for a son, and I was delighted by it.

  It was a good thing we had decided against a combined christening, because the madness for one baby was quite enough, two would have been chaos. The Royal Babies weren’t twins, after all, and all of the hype for them had been combined. It was time for them to be separated by identity as much as we could, which wasn’t often, but we tried.

  Eva’s christening back in December had been a grand procession of perfection, as the event required.

  Now it was our turn.

  Prince Luca Alessandro Dominic Gabriel would be christened in just a few minutes.

  What a whirlwind the last two months had been.

  I’d given up any and all rights to planning the christening, and I had never been so grateful. My outfit was new and pristine and very chic queen, the invitations had been perfect, and all of the guests had accepted and were now sitting in the church waiting for us.

  Luca’s outfit was the same one that Nico had worn and he looked adorable. He was destined to look a lot like his uncle Luca had, and it was uncanny to see pictures side by side. But we loved it, and we had an upcoming interview about all of that so the world would know as well.

  Nico was holding him now and I adjusted my cute yellow fixator, somehow having gotten used to the bizarre headwear of royalty.

  Nerves had my fingers shaking, although I really didn’t know why. This was easy, way easier than when I had gotten married or been crowned queen, but I was nervous. All I had to do was recite after the minister and remember my part. Easy stuff.

  Except there were lots of people in that chapel, foreign heads of state, royal relatives that still intimidated me, select members of the world press…

  Typical queen stuff. Scary typical queen stuff.

  Alex and Caitlin had arrived with their children the night before, and Alex was delighted to be getting his wish of being one of Luca’s godfathers. We assured him that he could fight with Rafe for who was the most preferred, and that was apparently happening tonight after all of the fanfare and formality died down. Caitlin told me in private that Alex had been almost as excited when we’d called about the birth as he had been about the birth of his own, and his effusive attention over Luca was only indicative of his deeper feelings, and not a playful attempt to gain favoritism.

  I’d sort of already guessed that, but it was still cute to hear.

  I couldn’t even remember who else was a godparent besides Lemon. Dante was honorary, since Lemon was official, and he didn’t mind that at all. Two were Nico’s cousins, I was pretty sure, and then there were a few school friends. It was a massive group, but that was how things were done.

  And they were all there.

  Aria had calmed me this morning, running over protocols and gently explaining everything, and my mom, who had come in to officially meet Luca and attend the service, had been a rock star at keeping me from having a panic attack.

  Now that we were here, and it was time, I was surprisingly not freaking out. Nervous, but not freaking out.

  Everything was set, all of the godparents were inside, and the family was appropriately dressed in coordinated, but not matching ensembles. Even Mom, and she was getting a kick out of that.

  Now we were just waiting.

  Formality and ceremony were nothing if not punctual.

  Giacomo appeared then and barely avoided smiling as Luca cooed. Really, Giacomo was going to have to watch it or he would be sucked in with everyone else in the world in love with my son. “It is time, Your Majesties.”

  Nico nodded our thanks then came to me and handed Luca to me. He kissed me softly and rubbed my arms. “Are you ready, cuore mio?”

  I looked up at him, then down at our son. Luca offered me one of his new smiles, which cinched my heart just as much as it had the first time he’d done it. I swallowed hard, and looked up at Nico with a smile. “Yeah,” I said. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

  And I wasn’t talking about the christening.

  I was ready.

  We were.

  The future looked bright. I loved my husband, I loved my son, and I loved my country.

  I was ready.

  Finally.

  Epilogue

  One Year Later

  Birthday parties for kids had never really been something that I thought should be a big deal.

  Luca and Eva changed all of that completely. We couldn’t do enough, and we knew it was ridiculous, but didn’t really care that much.

  Eva was the girl version of Dante. It was hysterical to see. She had mastered his glare, his smirk, his penchant for trouble, and his easy smile. But, as Lemon pointed out, she had her mother’s tenacity, which we all refuted, as Dante was as stubborn as they came. We did allow that Eva had Lemon’s sweetness, and her laugh, and Dante was just as weak with his daughter as he was with his wife.

  Rafe called him a walking cliché, but since Rafe had been known to sneak her gelato, nobody took that seriously.

  True to what was apparently going to be Fiorelli form, Luca was the spitting image of Nico. Except for his eyes.

  He had my hazel eyes.

  This was apparently going to make him an absolutely gorgeous man someday, but I refused to even think about that.

  His temperament was a fun combination of the two of us, which apparently made him more like his namesake than his grandparents could believe. So many stories about the older Luca had come out since he was born, and we loved hearing every single one. We’d commissioned an artist to paint a portrait of that Luca to hang in the nursery of ours as a reminder of the guardian angel who would watch over our son.

  The press loved Luca and Eva, and every now and then we gave them a little taste of our lives. Not too often, but special occasions were enough. Charity events for children now involved the Royal Toddlers, as they were coined, and family weddings and birthdays were also popular sightings.

  Nico and I were as busy as ever, picking up right where we left off with our charities and civic duties. We’d each managed to make progress in the last year, despite the chaos of new parenthood, and we were now considered to be “in high demand” by most of the world.

  We’d taken a trip back to the States over the summer, and the Americans had gone bonkers over Luca. He received more USA paraphernalia than seemed possible, and several mothers with baby girls had offered to arrange marriages between them.

  Yikes.

  Still, Luca had loved seeing his grandmother in the States, and Mom had loved him as well. She spoiled him just as much as Aria did, and I had a sneaking suspicion that the two of them spoke a lot more often than I thought to get him the best of everything. Then there was Sue Ellen, who was the third grandmother in the mix, refusing to accept that we were not blood related, and sent more stuff for Luca than we had nursery room for.

  I hoped she would never know how many of the things she had sent had gone to our charities instead of our son.

  Now my baby was a year old, and I couldn’t believe it. How could he be so old?

  Christmas Eve was a busy day, but we were rearranging tradition to establish a new one. With the formal dinner tonight and the mass after that, and Christmas luncheon and hospital trip tomorrow, and the winter carnival coming… There was a lot to think about and plan.

  But for now, it was Luca’s birthday.

  We were having a party at luncheon with the family and some friends, including Alex and Caitlin an
d their children, who would fly back to London shortly after the party to enjoy the rest of the holiday with their family.

  We told them that was nuts, but Alex refused to miss the party for his godson.

  He was obsessed with being Luca’s godfather and was just as bad as the grandmothers. Except he was a guy, so it was cars and polo stuff and naming horses after him and then betting on them… Alex was ridiculous.

  But they were all here to celebrate his first birthday.

  Assuming I could bear to let Luca and I leave the nursery.

  “Mama,” he jabbered doing his adorable fast crawl across the floor. He could walk, but since crawling was faster for him these days, he chose that option when he wanted speed.

  I grinned at him and got down on my hands and knees, crawling towards him, and making him squeal in delight. Then I reached him and turned him onto his back, tickling and squeezing him until he shrieked with laughter. He had the most infectious laugh in the world, and I wasn’t just saying that because I was his mom and everything he did was perfect.

  In fact, Luca was a little bit of a troublemaker, which I attributed to too much time with his uncles, but they swore it was Nico.

  It was probably both.

  I let Luca up and he got to his feet, waddling over to his toys, scattered on one side of the nursery.

  I looked at each of them, my heart cinching tighter and tighter as I could almost see the progression my baby had taken to get to the toddler he was today. There was the rattle that he had first started playing with at about three months, and it had never gotten old. There was the rubber ducky that he’d learned how to squeeze to get the silly noise, which had gotten really annoying during teething when he’d gnawed on it endlessly. There was the remote control that Luca had become obsessed with before he could crawl, which was what actually prompted him to crawl, and we’d taken the batteries out so he could play without disrupting the TV.

  Stuffed animals.

  Trucks and cars.

  A small representation of Noah’s ark with jungle animals.