Chapter Forty-Two

Aly was now almost six months along in her pregnancy and was heading to the infirmary to have Duke Baird see to it that she and the baby were both healthy and there were no complications. Her stomach had become quite round and had for about a month been unable to be covered by clothing. Not that it mattered, really. The entire palace seemed to know the new Duchess of Naxen was already with child. Both she and Gareth had heard rumors that she was farther along than the six months that they had been married and was just hiding it under clothes for as long as she could. Rather than focusing on that, Aly focused on what had been Thom and Lianne's reactions. Lianne had been overjoyed and very excited, from what Gareth said. Thom has simply offered his congratulations. Aly had written Alanna, and received a letter of congratulations from her about a month ago.

When she arrived, she saw Duke Baird sitting at his desk. "Good morning, Baird."

Duke Baird looked up and when he saw Aly, stood up. "Good morning, Alianne," Baird said with a smile, "How are you feeling?"

"I feel great," Aly said, "Gareth has been pampering me as much as possible, not wanting me to work myself too hard. He seems to have forgotten that I am not a fragile glass vase."

"You may not be fragile, but seeing as the last time you were in child labor, you nearly died, your condition is a fragile one." Baird said, "Now, how about we put your husband's mind to ease by being able to tell him you came here and were in perfect health?"

Aly nodded and allowed Baird to lead her over to an examination table. His hand glowed green, and he laid it on her abdomen, letting his magic look through every part of her body and her baby.

As he examined her, Aly made light conversation. "Word around the palace is that congratulations are in order for you and your wife. I hear she is pregnant with another child." Aly laughed, "Although the same people are saying I have been pregnant for probably about a year now, so I don't know how reliable they are."

Baird smiled, "Yes, we are expecting another one, sometime in August or September."

"Right around the time I am supposed to deliver."

"That's right." Baird said, "She's convinced we are going to have another son…she's was so convinced that she handed me a list of possible names for our child and asked me to help her pick one."

"What name did you two agree on?" Aly asked curiously.

"Nealan," Baird said as he pulled his hand away from Aly's abdomen, he smiled. "You are both perfectly fine." he assured her.

Aly breathed a sigh of relief. After almost dying when she had been in labor with Alanna and Thom, she was afraid something would go wrong with this pregnancy.

She carefully got off the examination table and smiled at Baird. "Pass my congratulations on to your wife about Nealan."

"I will," Baird said. "As long as you continue to be careful with your condition…my wife has also decided that our children will be best friends. She sternly told me that you aren't allowed to do anything to endanger the baby, and I am not allowed to let anything go wrong during the delivery."

After leaving the infirmary, Aly went to visit Lianne and spend a few hours with her. Since Thom had destroyed the wax figure of Lianne that Roger had made, Lianne had good days and bad days with the sickness that refused to move. One look at Lianne told Aly this was a bad day. Roald was, as was usual on a bad day, sitting right by Lianne's side. He moved to let Aly take his seat and pulled over a second chair to sit down in.

"Lianne, how are you?" Aly asked.

"I've been better, and I've been worse." Lianne said softly. "What about you? How are you feeling? How's the baby?"

"Both of us are fine." Aly said.

"Have you settled on names yet?"

"No, we haven't," Aly said, "I think it's going to end up being a matter of whatever name we think fits when we see the child. We were thinking of Stephan after your and Gareth's father for a boy, and either Elspeth or Jennaya after our mothers for girls, but we then decided that that was so traditional and common."

"When are you due again?" Roald asked.

"Early or mid September." Aly responded.

"Will Alanna be back before the baby is born?"

"I would love it if she was," Aly said, "But I don't know. I haven't gotten any word from her since she left. All I know is that she is with the Bazhir in the Great Southern Desert."

"Well, you'll have Gareth, and your new step-son, and Thom, and Jonathan. You'll also have Roald and me, even if I can't come to you in person."

Aly smiled, "I know."

The three ended up sitting and talking for a long time. Aly began thinking that Gareth would worry about her not being at the suites resting, so Roald had a servant bring Gareth to join the conversation.

It wasn't long after that that a herald announced Prince Jonathan.

"Jonathan!" Lianne said, looking much better at the sight of her son. "Welcome home."

"Thank you, mother." Jonathan said, bowing to her and his father. Aly noticed he looked like he was not happy.

"So?" Lianne asked, "You told your father and I you intended to propose to Sir Alanna while you were in the desert."

"You proposed!" Aly asked, excited. "Jonathan that's great!"

"So?" Lianne asked, "When do you want to begin wedding plans? Did you bring her with you? I wish to congratulate her."

Jon had a dark glint in his eyes when Lianne mentioned the proposal. "There won't be any need for wedding plans because there isn't going to be a wedding, mother."

The entire room was silent.

"Alanna said no?" Aly asked, shocked. From talks with Alanna, she knew that she loved Jonathan. Why on earth would she say no?

"That's putting it lightly," Jon said darkly, "Her exact words were 'I refuse to marry you'."

"Did she give you a reason?"

"No," Jonathan said, "She just refused, which is just as well, because it would have been a disaster."

Aly looked affronted. "Well, if hearing that your daughter being the next queen would have been a disaster isn't an insult for a mother, I don't know what would be."

Jon grimaced as Lianne gave Jon a very annoyed look, "Aunt Aly, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

Aly held up a hand to silence him. "No need to defend yourself, highness." she said, coldly. "You were simply speaking your mind."

"Aunt Alianne-"

"I should go rest." Aly said, cutting Jon off again. She stood up to leave, and Gareth got up with her.

"Go ahead and stay, Gareth." Aly said. "You just arrived. Stay and talk with your sister, nephew, and brother-in-law. Like I said, I am simply going to go lie down and rest. Good-bye Your Majesties, your highness." With that, she swept out of the room. She was about halfway to her room when she heard someone running after her. "Aunt Alianne, wait!"

Aly sighed, but stopped and waited until Jonathan walked around in front of her.

"Yes, your highness?" Aly asked coldly.

"I'm sorry that I insulted you." Jonathan said. "I am still mad at Alanna."

"You are this mad because she said no? Maybe she had her mind occupied by other things. Wait until she returns and try again."

Jonathan looked at the ground. "I'd probably have to grovel at Alanna's feet, which I have no intention of doing."

"What makes you think you'd have to grovel?"

"We had a fight." Jonathan said, "A big one."

"Ah," Aly said. "Now your attitude is making sense."

Jonathan nodded. "I still am mad at Alanna, but I'll try to keep my aggression away from you."

"That would be much appreciated, Jonathan." Aly said.

"So, do you want to come back to the room? I know my mother would love to talk so more about the baby with you."

Aly shook her head. "No, I really should be resting. I had some complications with my first pregnancy, which makes this one a risky one. I should be taking it very easy."

Jonathan nodded. "Then at least allow me to escort me to your rooms, Aunt Alianne."

Aly nodded. "Once the wounds from the fight have healed, will you tell me what exactly happened?"

Jon thought for a few minutes. "I'll think about it" he said at last. Aly knew that was the best offer she would be getting.

The rest of the walk to the rooms was quiet. Jonathan turned to leave as Aly opened the door to the room.

"Jon?" she called after him. He turned to look at her. "I'm sorry." Aly said, knowing that Jonathan knew what she meant, and she didn't need to clarify that she was sorry that Alanna had rejected his proposal.

Jon nodded, "So am I."

A week later, Jonathan was introduced to the Copper Isles princess, Josiane, who had come to stay in Tortall for a visit, and after that, you could see the two of them together all of the time, but Aly had come to know Jon well enough to know he didn't love this woman. He loved that she was a woman, and that when Alanna came back to the palace, she'd hear all about the two of them. He simply wanted Alanna to be jealous. Aly told Gareth as much one night.

"He is being petty." Aly said as she drank a second tea that Baird had prescribed to her to cut down any risks. "He is acting like a spoiled child who was denied the use of one toy so he picked another one."

"And you're sure this isn't just because he is replacing Alanna with Josiane?"

"He isn't replacing her," Aly said, "He's temporarily occupying his attention with someone new."

"If he's moved on-"

"Which he hasn't." Aly snapped.

Gareth held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, but if he moved on, would it bother you so much if it hadn't been Alanna before Josaine?"

"Yes, because he is still acting like a spoiled child, no matter who the first girl was. Jonathan was never taught to handle people telling him no, and if you ask me, he is handling it quite poorly."

Review Reply

Soraya the All Speaker: Thanks for the review, and yup, a baby....that really should spice things up.

elfquire: In answer to your question: You are Myles, that is how you adopt an unorphaned adult

SeekDreamsAndFindHope: Thanks for the review.

Trisana Sarrasri: lol, yeah, I guess four children is a lot...but three are fully grown, so it's not too hard for them.

mistmage: Thanks for the review!

spazzysassyangel: Thanks!

xXthenextbookwormXx: Thanks for the review.

Blind Anonymous: Thanks

Cry of the Wolf Child: Thanks for the worries, but I was aware of them :). And no, I had no intention of making it twins.

Dom-Loves-Kel: Aly is in her late thirties, early forties at most. You'll have to wait to see how this story ends, but I was considering a sequel.

KateCayce: Thanks!

LittleMissGiggles'94': I take it you liked the chapter?

iloveredshoes: Yup, a baby....and you have to read to find out what happens with the labor.

Mistyrious One: Yup, a baby....lol, it is a little sad it took five people to be able to finally have someone tell you it was homophone.

thegypsy: Thank you!

DomLuver: Ooops! Good eyes on the typo, my beta and I both missed that. Thanks for pointing it out.