Chapter 29

Victoria caught up with her mail by writing letters to her sister Feodora and her cousin Maria, Queen of Portugal, giving an account of the events of the last weeks.

William was in the nursery again, a number of times he couldn't possibly tell, and watched Alice sleeping peacefully in the bassinet covered by translucent white curtains. He liked to stay there alone, in silence, just watching her.

Victoria peeked from the door. It was easy to know where he was when he wasn't in the study. There was the elegant silhouette on his back! In pants, shirt, vest and riding boots. He hadn't even taken off his shoes after returning from the horseback ride!

She walked over to him and hugged him leaning her face against the satin back of his vest. She took a deep breath, breathing him in. She would have his scent on her forever... Then she moved to his right side as he put his arm around her shoulders.

They were both holding each other in silence looking at Alice.

The christening of newborns should take place with just a few days of life, but in the upper classes, for the mother to be able to attend the ceremony, they waited between six weeks and two or three months. The baby's christening would take place on the day of William and Victoria's first wedding anniversary, on 8th February.

"We need to finalize the choice of godfathers" Said William.

"So... we have already agreed on your brothers, Emily and Frederick, my Uncle Sussex and my Aunt Adelaide."

"And your mother, Victoria!" He added in a tone of slight rebuke, for her attempt to have the Duchess of Kent off the list.

"Yes, and my mother…"

He sighed, looked at her and explained:

"I understand your anguish with the past, but I think you should promote a different relationship with her in the present and in the future. As far as possible, Victoria... I don't expect you to become best friends."

Victoria nodded.

"And I think there's someone else you should invite." He said.

"Who?"

"Your Uncle Leopold..."

Victoria freed herself from William, looked surprised, and asked:

"The king of the Belgians? It even seems that you don't know what his stand was on our marriage, and how he left London angrily the last time he was here because I didn't abide to his will and married his favorite nephew..."

"You don't know, but he went to my house before we got married..." William said.

She was puzzled when she asked:

"My uncle went to your house? And you never told me? What did he want?"

"To ask me to give up and not marry you."

"And what did you do?"

"I married you!" He said smiling.

Victoria laughed bewildered. He always managed to bring the boiling down when her nerves began to rise!

"That I know, William! But what arguments did he use and how did you respond to him?"

He sighed. At that time he hadn't had the courage to repeat that conversation with Victoria, but now it had been a long time already. He moved away from the bassinet to keep the conversation from waking Alice and explained:

"He told me that I should think hard about what I was doing because I was too old, and that it wouldn't be good for you. If I loved you I shouldn't bring you the inconvenience of age and... of solitude... In addition, he also said that you were very young and therefore voluble in your feelings. That you were probably just charmed by me and that it could pass quickly..."

William couldn't tell Victoria that Leopold had even insinuated that she could betray him, which would make her furious.

"How could he say those things to you?" Victoria asked in shock.

"I told him that I wouldn't give up because I believed in your feelings, and wanted to share as much as I could of living with you." William finished.

"And after that you still want me to invite him to be Alice's godfather?" She asked indignantly.

"Deep down, he likes you! You know that's true. What he was doing was because he cares for you, even though that was blinding him... And he never forgot Charlotte..."

Victoria looked at William surprised.

He continued:

"You and Albert were the embodiment of his dream of ruling England together with Princess Charlotte."

"How do you know that?" She asked in amazement.

"Because we talked about that."

"I see that your conversation with my uncle was profound..."

"It was. That's why I'm telling you: invite him to be Alice's godfather, and you'll see that he will accept. By this time he already realized that the pressure he made was exaggerated, the tantrum because of Albert has passed and he needs a way to resume his relationship with the niece he loves."

Victoria was thoughtful. She said:

"I liked him. For years he was the only closest figure to a father that I had. We wrote each other regularly. He followed my life and was a good adviser. But the marriage matter separated us... He had always wanted me to marry Albert..."

"It's good that you reconcile with him, because one day he may be necessary for political or family reasons. And I don't want you to have a broken relationship with your uncle because of me..."

"It's not because of you, William! It was because of me! And because of his incomprehension..."

"You're right, but you understand what I mean. The worst that can happen is that he refuses... But in that case, the fault of your relationship still being deteriorated is not yours..."

"You're right. It might be a good idea. I'll write to him." Victoria agreed, smiling.

That other day in the middle of the afternoon Victoria was taking a bath. The tub in the middle of the room and she was inside it, with her back to the door. She wore a long shirt of fine fabric, which preserved her full nakedness, but which exposed her shoulders, and she rested with closed eyes in a moment of evasion.

Sitting on a bench behind her, Skerrett brushed her wet hair with a comb...

William, just in his pants and shirt, came quietly inside.

The dresser sensed someone coming in and looked back.

He smiled at her and signaled with his head for her to leave.

She got up and he held out his hand for her to give him the comb.

Skerrett handed him the comb - as he smiled back in thankfulness - and left the room. She couldn't help but smile to herself.

William took the place of the dresser and began to brush Victoria's hair with the comb.

She noticed that Skerrett had stopped, and that the force that was exerted on her hair after had changed. It was gentle, but more vigorous.

But before she could make a remark, William said:

"You must arrange for a larger bathtub, my love."

She opened her eyes and immediately turned her body sideways and the head back smiling at him:

"William!"

"Victoria..." He said quietly with an expression of adoration.

"Why do I have to arrange for a bigger tub?" She asked curiously.

He looked at her lips. He longed to disarray the perfect design of those lips with the heat of his kisses.

"Because both of us don't fit in this one together…" He replied, seemingly undisturbed.

She smiled amused and moved, sitting in the bathtub facing him, legs bent underneath her body.

He looked at her wet torso, visible through the damp cloth that clung to the flesh and made it visible. The volume of the prominent and evident breasts beneath the cloth...

"Did you want to bathe with me?" She asked provocatively.

He nodded and she saw the look of desire that he sent her, and that burned her senses. Even now, wet and inside the water.

"Then I'll provide a tub big enough for us both..." Victoria suggested.

He was still motionless observing her with the same burning gaze.

"But if you cannot get in, I can get out." She concluded as she stood in the tub intending to get out.

He got up suddenly, following her movement and grabbed her impetuously, to which she corresponded in the same way. They hugged and kissed uncontrollably! His mouth on hers was unexpected and hot!

Some of the tub water jumped out over the bedroom tapestry.

Her hair and body dripping water to his body, soaking his shirt and pants inflamed his desire even more. As he continued to kiss her, he rolled the soaked fabric of her shirt up, running his hands over her wet thighs, from which droplets of water fell, in an urgent urge to melt into her.

William grabbed Victoria by the waist and lifted her in the air, pulling her out of the tub and landing her on the floor as she held his face in both hands and they kissed.

More water was spilled on the tapestry.

That unpredictability and all that eagerness of his left her ecstatic.

He led her backwards to the bed, kissing her and touching every part of her body at his mercy.

Feeling his hands on her thighs and buttocks was something sublime!

"I missed you so much..." Victoria confessed in a voice that vanished.

William dragged the bedspread down with his right hand, exposing the sheets, and made her lie down on the diagonal.

She was so delicious like that! Totally wet! A new sensation! He ran his hands over her body and kissed parts of her skin completely exposed and other parts through the wet fabric glued to the flesh. He didn't know which the best sensation was. He wanted to possess her in either way, with or without the shirt! He pulled the shoulders of her shirt down violently, exposing her breasts so he could plunge his face into them. Inevitably from the force exerted the cloth ripped.

Victoria was burning with desire for that ecstatic man! Now she was free, she had her body back to herself. She felt that she loved their daughter, but the last few months had been a discomfort and her body was demanding William! She abandoned herself to the madness of loving him so much!

The soles of his boots, which he hadn't been able to take off, left traces of dirt and dust on the white sheets.

He lifted his body, knelt, and stripped off his shirt.

She got up on the bed and unbuttoned his pants.

He crawled off the bed to take off his shoes and the rest of his clothes. Then he lay back down on her, enjoying her breasts with his mouth. He pushed her shirt up to the lower abdomen. Now he had the best of both worlds! The direct contact with her skin on her breasts, shoulders, legs and buttocks, and the wet cloth on her belly and arms. She smelled like a spring morning, when the sun wakes up after the rain has fallen on a field of flowers! He lifted his body and put his right hand in the middle of her legs. He wasn't gentle in the approach. He pressed it sharply, pushing her a few inches upward along the bed.

Victoria contracted her pelvic muscles in exaltation.

He wondered if all the moisture he felt in his hand was from the bath water or from her. He realized it was a mix of both. He wanted to squeeze himself whole inside her, make her scream under him!

Her legs were open and bent. Her mouth opened in a wordless plea, as he touched and kissed her entire body.

William grabbed Victoria's hips, lifted them a little from the mattress, and in one abrupt movement buried himself in her. Now she was free and he could use her without reservation!

Victoria let out a low, muffled scream from the sudden entrance, which made her feel every inch opening in seconds in a somewhat jerked way. But she would take it all, she wanted him to fuck her memorably. Her body accepted him!

The fervor of the kisses!

"You are so good!" She exclaimed.

He emitted a snort in her ear whose exciting vibration Victoria felt in the skin of her ear.

"Oh, it's so big!" Victoria whispered in his ear.

"Do you like it? Hmm? Are you enjoying it?" He asked as he moved inside her. The voice hoarse with desire.

"I love it! It's so thick... I'm so dilated..."

He loved to feel her around him, she tasted so good! And it was terribly exciting that she told him in his ear what she felt by the pleasure he gave her.

"And what else do you feel?" He asked as he hit her again.

She was feeling it whole! Now in a softer way. Filling her! Her body in rejoice in a sweet agony...

"And it's long... all of it inside me... there, in that spot..."

He hit her again, penetrating her to the limit.

"Where?"

"At the top! The deepest spot inside me... Where it's better to feel you..."

"Here? Is it here?" He asked entering her fully again with every new impulse of his hips.

"Oh! Please! More, more, more..." She begged.

"You want more?" He asked, piercing her violently.

Increasingly faster! Growing stronger! The impetuosity, the passion with which William always devoured her body...

William thought he couldn't empty himself inside her! He couldn't!

Victoria dropped her left hand open on the pillow next to her head.

He entwined his right hand in hers squeezing it.

She kissed his left shoulder. She knew he would get out of her before the end.

His forceful charge on her and the energy propagated between them grew. It was so carnal, so raw!

No, at this moment she didn't want him to get out! It was not the same thing! It was not complete! It was not a fair exchange nor a total surrender! And she wanted to feel his vibration inside her at that final moment! And the warm balm that flooded her and that would drain from her...

She noticed it was coming, slow and gradual, and that when it arrived it would be strong!

"It's coming, William... I'm getting there!" She warned, smiling with her eyes closed.

"Cum, my love..." He encouraged her. "For me... just for me..." He asked again.

"Finish inside me! Please!" She asked.

Inside her? In fact, William's sensations were disordered and the thoughts chaotic at that moment. That would be so welcomed!

He unleashed the body and especially the mind.

Victoria felt herself reach the top of the elevation and run on the plateau!

"Oh God! William!" She shouted spectacularly, squeezing his left shoulder tightly and pinching his flesh.

William felt her tighten around him, sucking him, bringing him to an intense climax that made him lose sense of himself, lost in her, exhausting him.

It was stellar!

She squeezed his body with her legs, locked him inside her and shivered in aftershocks...

His face was filled with satisfaction. In hers there was gratitude!

Moments later she moved her legs apart releasing him.

He remained over her for a while to catch his breath. Head resting on the pillow, leaning against the left side of her face.

With William's body in the middle of her bent legs, she was delighted by the touch and warmth of his skin along her body. Even in the parts where the fabric of the shirt still stood between them. The familiar, intoxicating scent of sweat... She kissed his sweaty neck and placed her right hand on his head, stroking it tenderly. She loved to pamper him after he possessed her. She loved him even more at the end of each session in which he left her completely satiated. How could she not love him even more after this?

He loved that she did that. That simple gesture had an inexplicable comforting effect on him.

She thought this was a kind of first time again. A renewal, a restart.

After a few moments he got out from inside her and lay on his back on the bed by her left side.

"I'm sorry..." He asked when he could speak.

"For what, my love?" She asked raising her body and placing herself sideways, leaning on her elbow to look at him.

"If I was too abrupt... I didn't think of you..."

"Did it sound to you like I was bothered?"

"No..." He answered, taking with his left hand a strand of her hair and wrapping it around his index finger.

"So... And if I was uncomfortable, I would have said so, right?"

"Of course. But it was a thought that struck me now, suddenly. It's the first time we do it after the birth... But I was crazy with desire to have you again..."

"And I was crazy to feel you in me again. I just thought this could happen later at night..."

He smiled.

She continued:

"But like this it was much more surprising... and exciting..."

They kissed.

"It was..." He said. "And I couldn't wait until later... But I didn't expect you to want... everything..."

"It's more rewarding like this! And my menses haven't come back yet, so I shouldn't be able to conceive again yet..."

William understood the underlying logic, though he wasn't sure she was right...

Victoria continued:

"There is nothing more beautiful than this! Nothing more beautiful than you!"

"And there never was a woman I could love and desire more than you, Victoria!"

Caressing his face with her right hand and peering carefully at the beauty of every crease in his face, she said:

"There's nothing better than when you touch me inside..."

They kissed again.

"I'll have to call Skerrett, my hair must be a disaster, it has to be untangled, and it has already begun to dry..." Victoria said coming back to the reality of the situation.

"You look beautiful! As always…"

"And there's a wet mess to dry in this room..." She added with a smile.

Leopold's answer was positive as if nothing had happened in the past. William was right!

A few days later Leopold arrived!

Victoria waited for him alone in her quarters to make things more intimate and easier to manage. Receiving him in the throne room would be too formal and awkward. She had done that when he had come to London to say barbarities about her marriage, but at that time she had needed the majesty that the throne gave her to impose over her uncle's will. A throne that William had so lovingly replaced because that of her old Uncle William IV was too tall for her!

Leopold was announced and came in smiling, although it was notorious that he did it to disguise the nervousness.

He went to Victoria saying:

"My niece!"

While he kissed Victoria in the face she returned:

"Uncle Leopold."

"Congratulations to the young mother! You cannot imagine how happy I was when I received your letter and... the invitation..."

"Thank you! I am glad that you have accepted."

"I would very much love to meet your daughter, who is my niece too, and I imagine she is a lovely baby..."

"She is!"

They were silent for a few seconds. So to break the moment Victoria asked, pointing to a settee:

"Would you like to sit down?"

The King of Belgium nodded.

Victoria sat down and he imitated her movement.

Leopold thought he could no longer avoid this conversation. He began:

"Victoria, my dear, you know I always wanted the best for you..."

"I know Uncle." She answered with sincerity in her voice.

"So... You know... I was reluctant to support your marriage to... Lord Melbourne. There were only adversities, which you also know... But today I have already overcome this fact and I think I may have exaggerated... Well, I wanted to apologize..."

"You know, you are only here because my husband asked me to invite you…" Victoria clarified, stressing the expression "my husband".

Leopold slightly opened his mouth in surprise.

She continued:

"If it were only me, I would not have remembered to invite you. But because William is a good man, sensible and more forgiving than I, he talked to me about you and showed me how the most noble and Christian gesture would be for me to do something so that we could resume our relationship."

Leopold was speechless. After all the idea of the invitation hadn't come from his niece, and besides, he still had to bear the fact that it had been Melbourne's idea.

Victoria finished:

"However, I thought that he was right, and I also felt in myself that will, that we could resume our suspended relationship. After all, it has been a long time... And before the wedding matter, we were very close..."

Leopold felt calmer. And he had to say something nice, with which he even felt that he agreed at that moment:

"Your husband seems to be a really good man!"

Victoria smiled.

Leopold returned, grabbing her hands.

They both noticed that he had just recognized qualities in William.

"Well, now I would like to see Alice." Leopold asked to finish the conversation, and as he got up he added, "And also Lord Melbourne..."

Victoria got up from the settee and informed him:

"Alice is in the nursery, I will show you, and William must be in the garden..."

William was in fact in the garden. At the moment standing by the lake watching the swans. He had left the palace, for besides wanting to leave Victoria alone to reconcile with her uncle, he also thought that if Leopold wanted to talk to him he had to look for him. He was not going to make it easy for him to meet casually in any corridor of the palace.

After meeting Alice in the nursery, Leopold appeared alone to see William and said, somewhat embarrassed:

"Lord Melbourne..."

"Your Majesty!"

"My niece told me that I would find you here..."

"You have found me, then... I hope you had a good trip."

"Oh, yes, I did... I just came from the nursery. I offer you my congratulations, you have a lovely daughter..."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Leopold took a deep breath and then went on:

"Lord Melbourne, I think I owe you an apology… Last time we met, I got out of control, said things I should not have... But I just wanted the best for Victoria and you know, as well as I do that there were many constraints between you..."

William sighed and said:

"Although your stand made it difficult for me to marry your niece, and even though it was becoming extreme, believe me that, deep down, I understood what moved you... Today we are already married, we already have a daughter... There is no longer any reason for not being able to overcome this moment of the past."

"I do not believe so either..." Leopold agreed relieved and continued, "And... I also thank you for promoting the reconciliation between me and Victoria... She told me..."

"It is as I tell you, there is no longer a reason to keep a distance." William finished.

The painter Charles Robert Leslie had asked William if he could paint the christening. He put the matter to Victoria's decision, who agreed that the artist should do it.

Alice's christening gown was commissioned in white satin adorned with fine lace from Honiton, the same locality that had provided the lace of Victoria's wedding dress.

But the most splendid piece, purposely commissioned for the christening, was the Lily Font, a baptismal font in gilded silver, requested to the goldsmith Edward Barnard and Sons. It was structured like a cup with a foot, and at the base were three "putti" seated playing the harp, and the edge of the cup was adorned with water lilies, a symbol of purity.

The christening took place at night in the throne room. It was removed for the occasion and was replaced by a temporary altar made from a plaque that came from the Royal Chapel. The font was placed on a table of the period of George IV and chairs of the same period were distributed.

The ceremony was celebrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the water used came from the Jordan River.

The godfathers were present: Emily Palmerston and Frederick Lamb, the Duchess of Kent, the Duke of Sussex, the widowed Queen (Adelaide), and King Leopold. Also their spouses: Lord Palmerston, Alexandrina, and the Duchess of Inverness. And other guests including Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington; Frances and Robert Jocelyn; Emma Portman, the Duchess of Buccleuch, Harriet Sutherland and their husbands; and Lehzen.

Charles Leslie was admitted to the ceremony to make a sketch from which to paint the christening portrait, but the artist would have to continue to make studies of the baby, the Queen and the godparents in the months that followed.

The baby was named Alice Victoria Elizabeth. Alice was William's favorite name. Victoria was the mother's name, and it could be said that it also paid homage to her maternal grandmother. Elizabeth was the name of William's late mother, with whom he had had, unlike Victoria, a close relationship.

A dinner followed.

Later, after everyone had left, William decided to stop by the nursery to see Alice before going to sleep.

As he approached the door he had the impression that an angel was singing in German in the nursery:

„Guten Abend, gute Nacht,
mit Rosen bedacht,
mit Näglein besteckt,
schlupf 'unter die Deck!
Morgen früh, wenn Gott will,
wirst du wieder geweckt..."

("Good evening, good night,
With roses covered,
With adorned cloves,
Slip under the covers.
Tomorrow morning, if God wills,
you will wake once again...")

William smiled and didn't enter.

When Victoria came to the bedroom in her nightgown and robe, he was already tucked in bed lying on the cushions with an open book in his hand.

When he saw her coming in, he closed the book that he put on the bedside table.

She undressed the robe, which she threw on a chair, took off her slippers and threw herself into his arms laying over him.

William held her around the waist and said:

"I thought I heard an angel singing in the nursery..."

She lifted her head to look at him and asked with a smile:

"Did you hear me sing to Alice?"

He nodded.

"It's an old German folk song that Lehzen used to sing for me. And you didn't come in?"

"No, I wanted to leave you alone to revel in our daughter... I already spend a lot of time in the nursery..."

"More than I do, you mean..."

"Yes, more than you... But that is because our daughter was an impossible dream for me for many years, and I have a past of losing children that you didn't have... So I need her very much..."

Victoria kissed him tenderly and said:

"I didn't want our daughter as much as you did, I don't spend much time in the nursery, but I really love her..."

"I know, Victoria!"