"I don't know what to paint!" I hear Anne exclaim from inside the kids' playroom and I hide my laugh, not wanting to reveal myself for them. The little girl is so much like her mother when she was a child, dramatizing about everything around the castle's hallways, voicing her opinions about everything and everyone out loud, not leaving a single Lord or servant unaware about her opinion about them.
"Papa will love anything you give him. Just think about something he likes and paint." I hear James reply to his sister, his patience never ending. It has always amazed me how he has been so patient with his little sister since she was born, when he was three. Anne always looked up to her brother and James always made sure to help her in everything she needed, protecting her 'with his own life', as he had said once to me when he was only five.
"I'm painting the sky with the moon and full of stars!" I hear Jane exclaim and I laugh at her enthusiasm, her rambling also inherited from Mary. I can also hear their governess laugh and I start to wonder what and why are they painting something for me. One of the guards motions to open the door for me, but before I can move, I hear my wife.
"Francis?" I hear her and I turn around to stare at my beautiful Queen. She smiles to me as she walks with little Aylee in her arms and Andrew holding her other hand, two nursemaids walking behind her. Every day I wonder how she manages to do everything she does. Feed five kids, play with them, teach them, rule two countries and take care of me. We never liked having the help of too much nursemaids, which increased the work we have with our children, the kids sleeping in our bedchamber when they were younger, till they were feed by her milk and Mary always making sure of being in their bedchamber to give a kiss of goodnight in each of their heads. These small actions made us closer to our children than both Mary and I ever were from our parents and I was grateful for giving them an example different from the ones we had.
"Papa!" Andrew yells and runs from her, throwing himself in my arms as I bent down at his level. His blonde hair like mine splashes in my face, wet and cold, but I still laugh, kissing his head.
"Were you having fun with Maman?" I ask him as I get up and Mary is already close to me, Aylee's head is leaning in her shoulder as she seems to be close to sleep. The nursemaids enter the bedchamber where the others kids are, leaving us alone with the guards, who carefully walk a little away from the door to give us some privacy. With the years the servants got used with us, the type of Queen and King that France hadn't seen in a years. Of course my mother was always caring with me and my siblings, but now it was different. We were a real family and everyone now knew how we enjoyed being together, just us.
"I was building a snowman!" Andrew exclaims and both me and Mary laugh, as I caress Aylee's cheeks.
"That's really nice, young man." I smile to my tiny copy and then turn to my other copy in Mary's arms, the little blonde blue-eyed girl that Mary gave birth to about a year ago. "I see someone is asleep." I whisper to her and Aylee smiles, closing her blue eyes.
"She helped me build a snowman but then she got tired and decided to play with the snow and then she threw snow in Grandmère and then Grandmère ran after her in the garden and then they played and she got tired." Andrew says in an only sentence, making Mary and I laugh. Despite being my physical copy, he talks just like her when she was younger. Rambling, without breathing between the words or making pauses.
"You threw snow at Grandemère?" I raise my eyebrows at Aylee and she gives me a shy smile, opening her eyes, and Mary laughs.
"You should see her face." My wife finally speaks. "I bet that if it was anyone else, the person would be beheaded." I shake my head, laughing, and lean to press a kiss in Aylee's forehead. "But not them." Mary shakes her head and I smile, agreeing with her. If there was someone who could break the walls around Catherine De'Medici's heart, it was these five kids. My five kids. "What were you doing before I arrived?" Mary asks me and I fell Andrew lean his head into my shoulder.
"I heard the kids talking and I wanted to see what they were doing." I explain to her, kissing Andrew's wet hair and I notice she is struggling with something, biting her lower lip as she always does when she's thinking. "Mary?" I stare at her and she walks to the door of the playroom behind me. The guards are quicker and they run to open the door for her.
"Could you please take Andrew and Aylee to their bedchambers for a nap? They are extremely tired and I must speak with my husband." Mary says to who I assume is the nursemaid and my guess is right as the two responsible for the youngest walk out of the room. Suddenly there's no more noise coming from inside the chamber and I wonder why the sudden stop. "And please, don't forget to change them from their wet clothes." Mary warns the nursemaids as they grab each of the kids from our arms and walk down the hallway till their chambers. Mary quickly closes the door behind me, before the guards can even think, and locks her arm in mine's, starting to walk down the hallway to the opposite direction Andrew and Aylee had gone.
"They are planning a surprise for you." Mary explains to me as we were turning the corner to another hallway. Ever since she gave birth to James we moved to the East Wing of the castle, where there was plenty of rooms for us and the children to come and was close to the garden, where she so much loved to be and take the kids. "Since you had a meeting with some generals, I thought they could work freely this afternoon, without you finding out." She smiles to me and I smile back, kissing her forehead that was leaning in my shoulder. I love moments like these, just walking and talking with Mary about our kids. It seemed like the whole burden of being the King of France and Scotland disappeared in a blink of an eye and as she had said to me fifteen years before, we were just Mary and just Francis, discussing family matters.
"Don't worry." I shake my head as we stop by in the open hallway, watching the snow fall in the patio. "I swear I didn't hear a thing." She laughs and turns to stare at me, leaning to give me a sweet kiss on my lips. Even after fifteen years together, every kiss is like a new one, a new felling emerging inside of me as I have to control myself near her. The desire for her body and her heat grows bigger every day, as if as much as we stay together, more we need each other. We break the kiss and she puts her hands in each side of her swollen belly, smiling. "Hello there." I say, putting my hands on top of hers and she laughs, caressing it on the spot where we both can feel the baby move.
"So, have you thought about names?" She asks me, smiling, and I Iead her to one of the chaises near the wall, where she can sit and rest for a little bit. She is pregnant of our sixth child and I can't be happier as our family grows. Now it seems like a lifetime ago when we struggled to conceive a child.
"Not yet." I say and I put her in my embrace, wrapping my arm around her waist and bringing her body into mine. "Have you thought about any?" I ask, kissing her forehead that now rests in my chest.
"Well, I was thinking." She says, rubbing her bump and I also put my hand there, waiting for her to continue."It would be nice to have a little Catherine running around the castle and terrorizing every single French." She says as she looks to the snow falling outside, laughing a little and I take a deep breath, recovering from my shock.
"Catherine?" I raise my eyebrows and she looks up at me, with those brown eyes that made me lose myself in it. "Are you sure?"
"If there's any other woman who loves you and the kids as deeply as I do is your mother. Yes, we had our differences years ago, but now they do not bother me. She loves our children, her grandchildren, and I am extremely thankful for the time she dedicates to them. She is the only grandparent they will ever meet and I am glad that it's her." I smile to her, cupping her cheek. Her mother had passed away years ago, James was already born but she never had the interest on coming to France to meet her grandson.
"I am sure she will love the honor of naming her granddaughter." I smile and she caresses my cheek. "But what about if we have a boy? I don't think Catherine suits for a little boy." She laughs, shaking her head.
"I have a feeling." She says, looking down at her belly and I know better than to fight against her intuition. In neither of her five previously pregnancies she had guessed wrong the gender of our baby, earning a few comments around the castle that her guesses were even better than Nostradamus'. "But, in case I am wrong." She looks up to look into my eyes. "I think it's time for a new Francis." I smile a smile that reaches my ears and I cannot help but bring her to me, my lips crushing hers and my tongue quickly going to explore her mouth. I forget we are in public, in the hallway where anyone can see us as I put one hand in her leg, caressing it, and the other one in her back, bringing her the closest her bump allows. I feel her hands lost in my hair, a shiver running down my spine as she scratches my scalp in a way only she knows. We are lost in our own world till we hear someone clearing a throat behind me.
"Well, as you can see the King and the Queen are perfectly fine." I hear my mother say to a guard beside her, who stares down to the floor after catching us in such a private moment. Mary's cheek turns into a shade of red as she rearranges her crown in her head and I hide my laugh at the situation. It is not the first time that my mother, a guard, a servant or a noble catches us kissing around the castle, but each time she looks like a teenage girl, embarrassed for doing something like that. As she had once said to me, 'not behaving as a Queen should behave'. I do not agree with her. Despite not wanting any other man knowing the un-Queen things she does in the bedchamber with me, I also do not want her to become a cold and hard Queen, as she almost become years before and I thankfully was able to take her back to the girl she was and the girl I felt in love with. "But perhaps we should put someone after them twenty four hours a day, since they have this special liking of disappear in the middle of the day." My mother continues and I can't help but laugh, getting up and helping Mary to get on her feet.
"We did not disappear, mother. We were just talking." I explain and she smiles to me, not really mad at us.
"Come on, dear." She extends her hand to Mary. "Greer has arrived to help us." Mary smiles.
"Help with what?" I ask, not understanding what they mean. My mother quickly looks at Mary, whose eyes get big.
"She's helping with the layette." Mary smiles, quickly replying to me and starts walking away with my mother.
"Oh, Leith came with her." My mother turns around to look at me. "The kids are already playing together; go speak with your friend." She and Mary smile and disappear in the corner of the hallway, the guard following them and leaving me speechless as I can feel they are hiding something. For a moment I wonder if I am ready to have another Catherine in my life. Perhaps Mary should be wrong just this time. I don't know if I can handle another woman in my life.
~0~
I walk inside mine's and Mary's bedchamber barefoot, wearing only my sleeping breeches as I leave the bath room. Its winter, but the warmth of the fireplace is enough to make our room warm and cozy. The last three weeks have been crazy, full of meetings and visits to different villages around France, but I could see that something was going off around the castle. Mary was trying to make me stay out of it most of the day, encouraging on my visits and hunting trips with Sebastian and Leith and every night I returned, I could hear whispering going around. But I always returned too tired to inquire anyone about it, choosing to enjoy the little free time I had with my wife and my kids.
"Is there some special occasion I wasn't invited to?" I raise my eyebrow to Mary as she is sitting in an armchair near the fireplace, reading a book. She is dressed in a gorgeous black gown that defines the curves of her swollen belly and enriches her breasts, bigger and if it is possible, even more beautiful because of the pregnancy. The mixture of black lace and golden details that covers her arms and neck but leaves her cleavage exposed makes me feel proud of having a woman like her by my side and mostly proud because I know it's my child she's carrying inside of her womb.
"Well." She closes her book and smiles warmly to me, holding her fluffy black skirt with one hand and her belly in another one so she can stands up. The midwifes says that she is supposed to be due in a few weeks, and even if she feels huge and swollen, she looks even more beautiful to me. "I was invited to a feast being thrown in the honor of a King. Weren't you?" She asks playfully to me as she caresses my naked chest and I laugh, grabbing her hands and kissing it.
"I guess this King was smart and invited only Queens." I raise my eyebrow and she laughs, shaking her head.
"Well, poor of him. He won't have any fun with me swollen like this." I shake my head and bring her closer by her waist, the closest possible because of her bump.
"I'm the only one allowed to have this kind of fun with you." I caress her cheek and she smiles, closing her eyes. "Especially because you look extremely gorgeous carrying my child inside of you." I whisper as I kiss the spot behind her ear, putting her long hair to the other side of her shoulder carefully to not let her crown fall. My hands descend from her waist to her butt, squeezing it through the millions of skirts. I hear her laugh and the warmth of her breath in my neck as she puts her hands on my chest and gently pushes me away.
"Put your best clothes. I will see if the kids are ready and then I will come for you." Mary says as she tries to walk to the door, but I'm quicker, grabbing her hand before she can really move.
"What is going on?" I ask, frowning and she stares at me for a few seconds. I don't say a thing, waiting for her reply and suddenly, she bursts out in laugh.
"Francis, are you being serious?" She walks closer to me again.
"Serious about what?" I raise my eyebrow at her and she shakes her head.
"Haven't you thought why the kids were planning a surprise for you? Or why there is a feast being thrown tonight?" I shake my head and she laughs, caressing my cheek. "Your birthday is tomorrow, silly. I can't believe you forgot." I can't help but laugh. Yes, I have forgotten my own birthday. There are so many things going on my mind these days that I ended up forgetting my own birthday, not that I always liked the date.
"I think I have so much on my mind lately that I didn't even think about it." I shake my head. I actually never enjoyed my birthday, not really liking the attention and the adulation of the day. It was enough dealing with that on the rest of the year, being the King of France and Scotland, so I always took the day off so I could spend the day with Mary and the kids.
"Well, I must admit I am partially guilty about keeping you busy in the past weeks." I laugh, now having sure that I was not being paranoid. "But you will see it was worth it. Get dressed. I will come for you in a few minutes." I smile and she gives me a sweet kiss on the lips, walking out of our chambers. I change my breeches, putting some presentable ones and a shirt and a jacket Mary had left ready for me. I grab my boots from under her comber and I notice that she had also left my crown ready for me. I put the piece of gold over my head and I hear a knock on the door, Mary's head appearing on the small vain she opened.
"The kids are ready." She smiles and I walk over her, grabbing her hand and kissing it. She smiles and I hold her hand as if I am leading her down the hallway but she is the one who is truly leading me to somewhere I assume is the throne room. The door is closed but as soon as we come closer, the guards open, revealing the well decorated room.
There are candles all over the place, making it looks like its day. I see people dressed in their best clothes, talking, laughing and eating from the endless table full of food made by the servants while one of my favorite songs are being played. Before I can say something to Mary, thank her for everything, I feel a pair of arms wrap around my body.
"Oh, darling, Happy Birthday!" I hear my mother's voice and I laugh, kissing her cheek.
"Thank you, mother." I smile as I hold Mary's hand.
"I hope you enjoy the feast." She smiles warmly to me. "Mary and I know how you hate formalities and all these noblemen parading around you on your birthday, trying to flatter you. So you will find only people you like here. But of course, some that we couldn't avoid to invite." She says the last part, rolling her eyes and I smile to her, grabbing her hand.
"Thank you, mother." She nods back and I turn to look at Mary. "Thank you to you too." She smiles warmly to me and gives a sweet and quick kiss on my lips.
"Papa!" I part my lips from Mary's hearing Jane's voice. She comes running from the back of the room, holding onto her light green gown that is clearly bothering her on her run to me.
"Oh, God, Jane, you're tousling pure silk from India." My mother rolls her eyes as she bents down at Jane's level to rearrange her skirt. Mary and I just laugh as Jane rolls her eyes just like my mother.
"Come with me, Papa!" Jane extends her small arm to me and I grab her hand as she drags me in the direction of mine's and Mary's thrones. As I pass through some people I see some smiling and laughing at the situation of the King of France and Scotland being dragged by a little girl, even if she is one of the princesses of France and Scotland. As I arrive by the thrones, I see four paintings supported in their easels, their artists proudly smiling beside them.
"We painted it for you!" Jane exclaims as I smile, tears threatening to fall from my eyes. The paintings are simple, you just have to look at them and you can see that are made by kids. But I can assure that they have more value for me than any piece of art hanging around the castle's walls. I stare at James representation of the castle, snow covering the gardens, and I smile, he letting his like for winter clear in the painting. I can recognize that Anne tried to represent the garden, place of endless afternoons playing in the sun. She's just like her mother in that aspect also, enjoying playing outside. Jane's is a blur of navy blue ink with small scribbles of yellow and I remember her talk with her sibling three weeks before when she happily exclaimed she was painting the sky full of stars. And at least but not less important, the last painting has no exactly painting at all. There are two sets of hands and two sets of foot stamped with colored ink and I smile, recognizing that those meant Andrew's and Aylee's artwork.
"Do you like it, Father?" Anne asked as she approaches me and I smile brightly, wrapping both her and Jane in my arms, not wanting to let it go.
"I loved it!" I whisper to them and they laugh, happy that I have enjoyed their gifts. Not that I wouldn't enjoy anything coming from them. "It's amazing, son." I smile to James as I walk over him and kiss his head. He keeps his head straight up, trying to maintain his dauphin face. I laugh internally; remembering how he always took too serious my mother's and Mary's many lectures of etiquette and behavior.
"Thank you, father." He replies to me and gives me a smile, which I reciprocate. Mary has joined us, smiling to me from behind the girls.
"Andrew and Aylee were too tired to come. But they sent their kisses." I smile to her and whisper a thank you. A thank you that doesn't mean only a thank you for tonight, but for the past fifteen years of marriage. For her stubbornness on making me fall in love for her when she came back to court from the convent, for her support in all of the obstacles we had to face and a thank you for the endless adventures around the castle when were just as old as our children. She smiles and mouths me back an 'I love you'.
The energy of the party couldn't be better. I have my closest friends and family around me. We talk, dance and laugh and I'm grateful for everyone around me. I have my arms wrapped around Mary's waist, my hands under her belly as she rests herself on me. We're talking with Leith and Greer as they keep the same position as us, his arms around the waist of the woman he tried to forget over the years, but wasn't able to. After Greer became a widower, Lord Castleroy victim of a terrible accident in the woods, Leith tried to keep his promise to forget her. But, as I tried years before when Mary almost married my brother, he wasn't able to. Bash and Kenna join us a little after, laughing as their oldest son, Philip, chases Anne around the room. I look at them, running between the people and I see my mother looking at them, trying to keep her posture, but not being able hide her smile.
"Someone will stumble on them and I'll be the first one to laugh." Bash says and we all laugh, Kenna hitting his arm lightly.
"I guess I will first laugh of Catherine's face." Greer comments and I shake my head, laughing again. I hear someone yelling for me, even with the loud music playing, and I turn around to see Jane running to us, holding her gown as my mother had warned her not to. Mary turns at her direction too, smiling to our daughter.
"Maman, Papa, Louise said that." She starts yelling, mentioning Greer and Leith's daughter, but before she can finish her sentence, she falls on her butt right beside Mary.
"Oh, darling." Mary's voice comes out like a whisper, her mother instinct coming out. She motions to bent down to help Jane, but I stop her, knowing that she cannot do that at such an advanced level of pregnancy.
"I got her." I whisper at Mary's ear and bent down to help Jane, James already by her side, helping her. The whole party has stopped, including the music. Servants, noblemen and generals are all around the little princess of France and Scotland, some trying to help her, other just to know what happened. "Are you alright, princess?" I help Jane to stand on her feet again, rearranging her skirt and checking if she didn't get hurt.
"I am." She whispers, still a little shocked with her fall. Anne is behind her, also rearranging her skirt, when she looks funny at me.
"The floor is all wet!" She raises her hand to me and I see that Jane's dress, where her hand was, is all wet. I look at the floor and there's a transparent liquid under them, probably the reason why Jane felt.
"Don't worry, I'll ask for someone to clean it." I smile and push them to the side, not wanting my girls to stay on the wet place. I hear my mother say something to a servant behind her and then I know she has already asked, so I turn to Jane again. "Why don't you go change you dress? So you don't stay all wet." She nods to me and my mother grabs her shoulder to take her to her chamber. But before I can get up from my spot on the floor, I feel a hand on my shoulder.
"Francis." I hear Mary whisper, but not a common whisper. I feel her scared, shocked, worried, without even looking at her eyes. My mother stops in her tracks, worry in her face.
"Love?" I hold Mary's hand and get up to see her holding her belly and looking at the floor.
"The liquid." She says and then looks at me. "It's coming from me." I take a deep breath. Just like when Anne and Andrew were born.
"It's alright." I whisper to her, one hand on her face and the other one on her belly. I can see in her face she is worried, the baby is not due for a few weeks, but I try to remain calm for her, knowing that worry won't help on the pain she's about to face. "Can you walk?" She nods to me and I hear everyone around us whispering, some yelling for a physician for the Queen.
"I will take the kids to their chambers." I hear my mother saying and I nod to her as I stare to my three children in front of me. Worry is all over their faces and I can see Anne is about to cry.
"Maman is going to be fine, alright?" Mary gives them a smile, reassuring them. "The baby just decided to come a little early." The three little heads nods and they follow my mother and their nurses out of the room.
"Get the midwife." I turn to Greer and she quickly walks out of the room, followed by Kenna. "Tell the musicians to continue with the music, I don't want all of those people hovering around us." Leith nods to me and walks back to where the musicians are and I feel Bash at the other side of Mary.
"Breath and walk, your Grace. You don't want to have the next heir to the throne of France and Scotland in the middle of all of these old men and gossipy women of court." Bash says and both Mary and I laugh. We leave the room and walk down the hallway, turning left and then right, finally reaching the birth chamber. Bash nods to me as he stays outside of it as I enter with Mary. Surprisingly, or not, the midwife is already inside of it accompanied by the four nurses that had also been with us since James' birth, delivering all of our children.
"Has the pain already started?" The midwife, Margot, asks as we enter the chamber. The bed is already arranged, white sheets extended to Mary to lay, the nurses carrying clean sheets and bowls of clean water.
"Not yet." I reply as I take Mary near the bed and I feel someone behind us.
"We need to take her dress off." Greer says to me and I nod, taking my arm off of Mary's waist but continuing near her, her hand resting on my shoulder.
"Francis." Mary whispers and I can see the pain is starting.
"Don't worry." I shake my head. "You've done this before. Everything is going to be alright."
"The kids." She says to me and she closes her eyes, tightening her grip on shoulder.
"The pain has started." I turn to one of the nurses and she nods, dipping a white cloth into the water. She comes closer to Mary and slides it through her forehead.
"Francis." Mary repeats and I look deep into her eyes. "Go talk to the kids. They are scared." Her sentences are short and spoken through clenched teeth. As much as I don't want to leave her side, I watched all of children's birth, I know she's right. Neither of them had ever witnessed her entering into labor or felling any kind of pain because of a pregnancy, we were blessed with healthy and peaceful pregnancies, and my heart aches for them.
"I'll be right back. I promise you." She nods and I notice that Greer and Kenna are already untying her dress. One of the nurses takes my place as her supporter and I leave the birth chamber, not before noticing my mother already there.
"The kids are waiting for you at the playroom; they decided to sleep together tonight." I nod at her and open my mouth to speak, but she is faster than me. "I know." She nods. "I will take care of her. And if anything happens, I will ask for you." I smile and kiss her forehead, having even more sure that if we do have a little girl, she deserves to be named Catherine. I open the door and walk down the hallway, turning left and reaching the playroom at the end of the hallway.
"Papa." Anne's voice is a whisper as I enter the room. There's a nursemaid next to the crib and I suppose Aylee is in there sleeping. Andrew is in one of the chaises, covered by his favorite blanket, a gift by my mother, and the oldest are sitting on the floor, in a circle, as their nursemaids sits by the window, giving them privacy but keeping an eye on them.
"Hello." I smile and sit by James on the floor. Jane crawls and sits on my lap as both James and Anne come closer to me, each one of each of my sides.
"Is Maman alright?" Anne asks me and I smile at her, kissing her forehead.
"Yes, she is, my beautiful daughter. The baby just decided to come a little earlier than we all expected. You and Andrew also decided to come a little earlier. Not like that, but earlier too." She nods and puts her head in my chest, my arm over her shoulder.
"Maman seemed in pain, Papa." It's James turn. "I have never seem her like that. Is it always like this?" I nod at him.
"Unfortunately it is, son." I give him a small smile but he's not happy with my answer. "Putting a child into the world is a beautiful thing but very painful to all woman. And unfortunately we cannot change that."
"You just have to stop having children, it's simple." James eyes are big and he's quick in his answer. He idolizes Mary and I see in his eyes the worry.
"Well, but if we stopped having children you wouldn't have any of your siblings to play with." I answer him. "And the love that your mother feels for each one of you is bigger than any pain. I can assure you that she does not regret the physical pain of having each of you because her love for you beats it." James takes a deep breath and leans into me as Anne. I wait a few minutes, not wanting to let them go, not so fast, but I need to be there for Mary, to hold her hand as I had done five times before. "Now, you three need to sleep. Soon in the morning, you will have a new baby brother or baby sister to meet."
"Are going to be with Maman?" Jane raises her head to look at me.
"Yes, I need to be there for her." James is the first to get up, followed by Anne. I get up with Jane in my arms and put her on the chaise to sleep, covering her with her fluffy pink blanket. "I love you." I whisper and she smiles, kissing my cheek and closing her eyes. I do the same with Anne and James, but I hold a special request for my oldest. "Can you please keep an eye on your siblings? Neither of you had ever seen this and I know you're scared but I need you to take care of them." He stares at me, with his big brown eyes that remind me so much of Mary, and nods, without thinking twice. He's so caring and protective over his siblings that I can right now imagine the type of King he will be one day. A better King than I ever imagined he would be.
"And can you please keep an eye on Mother? I know that childbirths are dangerous." I smile to my too mature eleven year old son and kiss his forehead.
"I will." I nod at him and he closes his eyes, satisfied with the promise. I walk to Andrew's sleeping figure and cover him again, him having the habit of throw away his covers even on winter. I come closer to the crib that holds Aylee but do not have the courage to disturb her peaceful sleep, so I just lightly caress her cheek, making her smile, and I don't know if she's dreaming or enjoying the fondness.
"We will stay with them for the whole evening, Your Grace. Lady Catherine has already instructed us." Genevieve, the oldest of the nursemaids that has been with us since James was a baby smiles to me and I smile back.
"Thank you, Genevieve." She nods to me and I leave the room, gently closing the door behind me. I take a deep breath, the fact that my wife, my Queen, is in the same moment giving birth to our sixth child finally sinks in and I can't help the smile that plasters in my face. Years ago Mary and I once wondered if we would ever be blessed with a child and now we find ourselves parenting six children. And each child we have makes our love grow and get stronger, those kids representing our love for each other that could not fit only on us anymore. I finally reach the birth room and find Leith, Bash and three other noblemen talking outside of it.
"Your Grace. We have stopped the feast and the nobility is just waiting for words about the Queen." I nod at the Duke of Albret, knowing that he represents the gossipy part of the court, just waiting to go straight to his wife to tell everything so she can spread rumors all over France.
"You will know about the Queen as soon as it is appropriate." He nods to me and I notice Bash rolling his eyes.
"The midwives are going to let us know as soon as the baby is born. Scotland is enthusiastic to know about the next prince." Mary's uncle is the one who speaks now and I just smile to him.
"Prince or princess, the only thing we hope it that he or she is healthy." He also nods to me. "Well then, you can all wait here." I hit Bash's back and he does the same with me, encouraging me for the next hours ahead.
"Are you going inside?" The Duke of Elbeuf asks me and I shake my head.
"As I did for the last five times." Leith and Bash both hide their laughs and I enter the birth room, leaving the Duke astonished outside. Mary is lying on the bed; legs wide open as the midwife checks her. Greer is working on her hair, taking it out of her face as Kenna slides a wet cloth on her face.
"It's not time yet, Your Grace." I hear the midwife say and Mary lets out a grunt, throwing her head back at the pillow.
"I don't think it will be easy this time, despite the talks that it gets easier at each baby." I notice my mother standing beside me. "She's is pain but there's no space enough for the baby to come out." I take a deep breath at the same time Mary yells, the pain probably reaching its peak. I walk to the side of bed where Kenna is knelling down beside Mary and I can see a nurse watching all my steps.
"You're doing great, my love." I kiss Mary's wet forehead and Kenna steps back, leaving space for me.
"Great?" Mary glares at me. "Does this look great for you?" I kiss her forehead again, trying to calm her down. She never had any problems delivering any of our babies and I can see she's scared. I'm too but I need to be strong for her. As she lets out a grunt, I am transported to years in the past in the birth of my first child. Lola's birth to our child had also been a tough one and deep down I'm truly worried for my wife. Of course the conditions now are different, Mary is not in a house by the mill without any kind of structure and help to deliver a baby, but the difficult that she now faces reminds me of the ones Lola faced. Difficult that cost her life and the baby's.
"Believe me that everything is going to be alright. Do you?" I say to her, reassuring it to her and more to myself because I cannot even bear to think about living without her. She smiles to me, a weak smile as she remembers the promise we made years ago. Believe in each other so we can be good rulers. And now good parents and good husband and wife.
"I do." She whispers and I smile. I feel a hand on my shoulder and Kenna hands me a glass of water.
"She needs to stay hydrated. The lack of water makes her muscles contract more." I nod and take the glass from her hand. Mary extends her arm to grab it from my hand, but a wave of pain reaches her body and she quickly grabs the sheet under her body, squeezing it and yelling.
"It's hurting." She says through clenched teeth and I look at the midwife.
"She is still not dilated enough, Your Grace." She shakes her head and I take a deep breath, taking the hair from Mary's face with my hand that does not hold the glass of water.
"Drink here." She raises her head and I put the glass on her mouth, doing the same as I am used to do with the kids.
"More." She says after finishing the glass and Kenna is already by my side, putting more water in the glass.
"Here" I do the same thing twice more, Mary emptying half of a jar of water. She closes her eyes for a moment, her chest going up and down in the reason of her deep breathes. I caress her cheek and she smiles, still not opening her eyes but enjoying the absence of pain, even for a moment.
"I'm hungry." She mumbles and I smile, letting out a laugh. My memory quickly goes back five years ago, in Jane's birth. Mary entered in labor a few hours before dawn but our baby girl was not born before she had a complete breakfast with cheese, bread, fruits and coffee, one of her favorite drinks since its arrival in Europe.
"Flavored ice." She smiles opening her eyes, a girly smile and I just shake my head. Since she was a little girl she felt in love for the recipe introduced in France by one of my mother's Italian chefs and with the years she continued with it, sneaking into the kitchens looking for the dessert.
"You heard the Queen. Go to the kitchen!" I hear my mother says and soon after the door of the chamber is opened and then closed. Mary laughs a little and I can't help but laugh together, till a new wave of pain reaches her. I feel her squeezing my hand strong and I wonder how painful that must be for her and if James was not right. It has never been so painful for her; perhaps it's time to stop.
"I know what you are thinking." Mary's voice takes me out of my thoughts as the wave of pain is over and her big brown eyes are starring deep on mine. "Stop right now. I'm having our child. I would endure any pain for that." I roll my eyes, sweetly kissing her lips that taste salt from her sweat.
"I know." I whisper in her ear and I hear the door opening. I turn around and Greer takes the bowl from the tray that one of the servants brings to the room and walks over us. Mary extends her arms and grabs the bowl from her hands, quickly taking a spoonful of the ice.
"This. Is. Delicious." She closes her eyes, delighted, and half of the room laughs, including my mother.
"I believe there's still food left from the feast, if you want." Kenna says ironically and I laugh, making Mary roll her eyes.
"Perhaps you should bring the shrimps. They looked delicious." Mary says to Kenna as she finishes her bowl and Kenna's eyes get big. "I'm joking, Kenna." It's Kenna's turn to roll her eyes as she takes the bowl from Mary's hand and gives it back to the servant. I hold Mary's hand again and she smiles, opening her mouth to speak, but a scream fills her mouth, a louder and stronger one than the others. "It hurts." She says through clenched teeth and the midwife comes closer to her once again.
"I think it's time, Your Grace." The midwife says and I turn to Mary, nodding. She nods back and takes a deep breath, just waiting for the next wave of pain. "In the next wave of pain, you push, milady." She nods and takes a deep breath, holding one hand on my hand and the other one on the sheets. It doesn't take too long for her to yell again, sweat sliding on her forehead and Greer approaches the other side of the bed, drying her forehead. Mary pushes four times more but it doesn't seem enough, the midwife starting to talk to another nurse, whispering for us not to hear.
"Francis." Mary turns to me, tears appearing on her eyes as she's scared of what might happen. I quickly glance at my mother, but she's too busy trying to hear what the midwife is saying.
"I'm not sure what is happening, Your Grace." The midwife stared at me. "At the same time the baby wants to come, he doesn't." I turn to look at Mary and she's starring at the ceiling, tears sliding through her face.
"You need a stronger support." I say to Mary and let go of her hand, her mouth opening in an O for a moment. As I get rid of my boots, pain fills her body again and she holds onto the sheets.
"There's blood." I hear the midwife saying and three nurses come closer to her. I raise Mary's upper body from the bed a little and sit behind her, my legs opened and her back supported on my chest. "You need to push as soon as you feel again, Your Grace." Mary nods and lays her head on my chest. I kiss her head and put my arms under hers, supporting her whole body. She holds my hands and a scream fills the whole chamber.
"I can see the head." One of the nurses says and the midwife smiles, nodding. Mary throws back her head on my chest and I kiss her head.
"You're doing great, my love. You're doing amazing." I whisper in her ear and before she can answer, she screams again, squeezing my hand with the biggest strength she holds.
"Keep pushing, milady." The other nurse says and I see my mother happy face as she watches Mary giving birth to our child. Mary screams again and my mother starts crying.
"It's a girl." The midwife smiles and both Mary and I let out a breath we didn't know we were holding. I smile to Mary and kiss her forehead.
"I was right." She does not lose a second to throw this at my face and I laugh, kissing her sweaty forehead.
"Yes, you were." I smile and I realize that our baby is not crying. I look at the midwife handling the little girl to my mother, who wraps her in a white and clean sheet, as I look down at Mary, knowing she has realized the same thing.
"Why is she not crying?" I feel her squeezing my hand and I squeeze it back, showing her that I'm by her side.
"She's so tiny." My mother whispers as she turns the baby on her arms and slides her fingers down her spine. I see the baby's mouth open and her legs shake as she starts crying. Mary closes her eyes, relief filling both of our bodies and my mother comes closer to us, carrying that little crying bundle of joy. Mary extends her arms to grab her, but her arms fall back to the bed and she starts breathing in and out quickly.
"Mary?" I ask her and my mother gives a step back, trying to calm the little girl in her arms. "Mary?" I ask her again and she yells again, reaching my hands once more.
"Your Grace?" The midwife comes closer to her again and Iook at her, lost.
"I. Need. To. Push." Mary says through clenched teeth and screams again, sweating and pushing all over again.
"I can see another head." The midwife says and I look at my mother, who is clasping her hands together in her chest. The girl is now in the hands of a nurse, being cleaned.
"You're parenting twins!" She exclaims, satisfied, and I feel completely lost for a moment. Twins. Seven children. When, ever, in my life I had ever thought about that? Mary squeezing my hands brings me back to the room. She screams again and more cry fills the room.
"It's a boy." The midwife says and Mary laughs, tears of happiness sliding down her face. My mother grabs the little boy in another clean sheet and smiles to us.
"He's just as beautiful as she." Mary extends her arms to her and grabs the little boy from my mother's arms, trying to calm him down.
"Shhh. It's alright. Maman is here." She whispers to the beautiful baby in her arms and proud fills my heart. The baby quickly stops crying, Mary putting her finger in his mouth and he quickly starts sucking it. Greer approaches us with the little girl in her arms and I manage to grab her, putting her in front of Mary, beside the little boy. I smile and I have no words to describe this moment, with the babies and Mary in my arms and I can hear my mother sobbing a few steps away from us.
"It is past midnight, Your Grace." The midwife says and I look at her, Mary keeping her eyes on both of the babies. "They share your birthday." She says to me and I let out a little laugh, smiling even more, as if it is possible.
"Yes, they do." I look down and Mary raises her face to me, smiling too. Kenna and Greer approach us, taking the babies from us to be cleaned and I kiss Mary's head, raising her upper body so I can leave the bed. She sighs and closes her eyes, resting on the pillows. "Rest, my love. You will have plenty of visits in the morning." She smiles, her eyes closed and the midwife and the nurses start their movements to clean Mary and the bed. I look to the corner of the room where the babies are being cleaned and examined by a physician that I'm not even sure when entered the room. I hope after the babies were born.
"Go rest you too." My mother caresses my cheek and cannot take her eyes of the babies, as I cannot too. "I'll check on them through the night so in the morning they are ready to meet their brothers and sisters." I smile and kiss her forehead, looking once again to Mary and finding her already sleeping.
"So?" Bash quickly asks as I walk through the door, followed by Kenna and Greer.
"Two beautiful babies! A boy and a girl!" Kenna exclaims before I can and both her and Greer laugh excited. Bash and Leith come to hug me, smiling and congratulating me for my kids and I notice nor Mary's uncle nor the Dukes are here anymore.
"They got tired of waiting." Leith explains and he wraps an arm around Greer's waist, Mary's blonde friend that with the years became a member of our family leaning her head on his chest, also exhausted.
"I still believe they were actually afraid of Mary's yells." Bash comments and we all laugh. Kenna opens her mouth in a yawn and I know it is time for us all to sleep.
"I believe it's time for us to go. It won't take too long to dawn." They all nod and we exchange goodnights before going into opposite sides, their chambers in another wing of the castle.
"Francis!" Bash yells and I turn back to look at him, almost turning the corner of the hallway. "Happy birthday!" I laugh.
"Thank you." He smiles and I continue my walk to my bed chamber. But before I reach my bed, needing a good night of sleep, I stop by the playroom, checking on the kids. They all sleep soundly, including their nursemaids and I cover again Andrew and Aylee, who has a smile in her little face and I believe she's dreaming. I close the door gingerly, not wanting to disturb them, and walk to my bedchamber.
My bed is cold without Mary, the fire warming the room, but it's not the same thing. We never sleep separated; I can count the times we did it, two or three after she had our children. But the tiredness is bigger and as soon as my head reaches the pillow, my eyes close without me noticing.
~0~
"How is possible for Maman to have two babies?" Jane asks with her eyes big of surprise and I laugh.
"Well, sometimes women have more than one baby. It's completely normal. Not common, but completely normal." She continues with her eyebrows raised as she starts to talk with James. We are on our way to Mary's chamber, Aylee in one of my arms, my free hand holding Andrew's as he walks beside me and Anne's arm locked on mine holding Aylee.
"How they look like, Papa?" Anne looks up at me, her big brown eyes that look just like Mary's, our oldest girl being the exact same copy of her mother.
"They are really beautiful, Anne. You will see." She smiles to me, excited and I laugh, kissing Aylee's forehead. She smiles back to me and her little hands go straight to the buttons of my jacket, playing with it. "We need to be really quiet, alright? They may be sleeping." I say as we reach the door of the chamber and all of them nod to me, including Aylee. One of the guards opens the door for us and we enter the room.
Mary is sitting with her back resting at the bed frame; she is smiling proudly to the baby in her arms, sucking her breasts. My mother is in the corner of the room, singing to the other baby and before I can say something Andrew is out of my grasp.
"Maman!" The little boy yells as James and I try to reach him, but he's faster, reaching Mary's bed before we can do anything. The baby in my mother' arms, the girl, as I now can notice for the pink blanket wrapped around her, starts to cry and Aylee covers her ears with her small hands and Anne laughs.
"Shhh." Mary puts a finger on her lips and I can notice Andrew paying attention on her. "You cannot yell near them, my love. They are too small and they scare too easy." The little boy nods as my mother manages to calm the baby and she smiles to me.
"Sorry, Maman." Andrew answers her and Aylee starts to stir in my arms, reaching for her mother.
"It's alright." She smiles to Andrew and the smile continues in her face as she looks at me and the kids still near the door. "Come here." She pats the empty part of the bed beside her and both Anne and Jane go straight there, circling the bed and managing to go up the bed even with their gowns. I walk to where Andrew is with James behind me and Mary manages to go to the middle of the bed, opening space for everyone. "Did you have a good night of sleep?" She asks them and all of them nod.
"Did it hurt too much for them to come out?" Jane quickly asks as she puts strands of her blonde hair behind her ear and stares hypnotized to the boy in Mary's arms. She doesn't remember when Andrew and Aylee were born so everything is new for her. Mary laughs at her comment as Aylee gets down of my lap and crawls on bed till Mary. She graciously posits herself beside her mother, her head in Mary's chest and she wraps an arm around her shoulder. Andrew stares at me and crawls to me, sitting on my lap.
"Just a little bit, sweet." She smiles to Jane. "But totally bearable." Jane nods and continues to stare at the baby. James is sitting behind me, just watching the interaction between their siblings and I turn so I can look at him.
"Don't you want to see your brother?" He stares at me with Mary's eyes and I can still see concern on them.
"Perhaps later." He whispers, but I see for the corner of my eyes that Mary is paying attention on our interaction. "Maman needs to rest and there are too much people around her."
"There's never too much of my children around me, James." Mary answers before I can. "Come here, come meet your brother." James looks at me and goes to sit in front of me, closer to Mary.
"He's beautiful." He says and Mary smiles to him.
"Yes, he is. Just like all of you." I can imagine James rolling his eyes as Mary lightly laughs at him.
"Your sister is really beautiful too." My mother approaches us and five pair of eyes looks up at her. I kiss Andrew's forehead and put him sitting beside me as I take the little girl from my mother's eyes.
"She's tiny. Really tiny." Andrew says as he looks down at the baby and I smile to him. Aylee crawls to James lap and stares at her. Her small hand goes straight to the baby's belly and she caresses it, smiling. In response, the baby does the same, her mouth slightly open and Aylee's giggles fill the room.
"She likes you, darling." My mother says and Aylee smiles up to her, still giggling.
"What are their names, Maman?" Anne asks Mary and she looks at me. I look down at the beautiful little girl in my arms and look back at Mary. I nod at her and she smiles.
"The boy's name is Francis." Mary whispers and I hear my mother gasp. I look up at her and she has tears of joy in her eyes.
"Like Papa!" Jane yells a little and Francis stirs in Mary's arms. Her eyes get big as she notices it and Anne covers her mouth stopping her younger sister to say something else.
"Yes, darling, like Papa." Mary smiles to Jane and she takes her sister's hand from her mouth.
"What about the girl?" Jane whispers this time and Mary smiles to her. She looks at me and waits for me to answer the question.
"The girl's name is Catherine." I whisper, looking down at the baby in my arms and my mother starts sobbing.
"Francis." She whispers and Jane points to her.
"Like mère!" She whispers this time and Mary smiles to her.
"Yes, like mère." Mary smiles to my mother and she leans down to kiss Catherine's forehead. As she stands up, trying to recompose herself, she looks at Mary. My wife simply smiles to her and my mother has no words.
"I'll let your brothers and sisters know about Mary's and the babies' situation." My mother says as she wipes the tears from her face and I know her well enough she needs a moment alone, not really expecting this. "I'll speak with you later." I nod at her and she walks to the door. But before she leaves the chamber, she turns back. "Oh, Francis." I look back at her. "Happy Birthday, darling." I smile at her as I feel a pair or arms behind me.
"Happy Birthday, Papa!" Anne kisses my cheek and I turn to kiss her cheek back.
"Thank you, my love." Mary extends her free arm to me and I grab her hand, squeezing it.
"Happy Birthday, Love." She whispers and I kiss her hand, keeping it for a little bit closer to my mouth.
"Thank you." I shake my head, smiling and she turns her stare to the sleeping baby in her arms, who has stopped sucking on her breasts.
"We have to hang your gifts at your bedchamber wall!" Jane smiles to me and I nod.
"Yes, we do." I smile to her and look around at the beautiful family I was blessed with. "But I think I already have the most important presents of all."