The Story of A Queen
Chapter 11- Broken Hearts Can Be Mended
Author's Note: I was happy with the response that the last two chapter received. Sorry to all of you that are mad that I killed off Nicholas. Trust me, I know what I'm doing with this. This story isn't all tragedy and sadness. There will be more happiness to come. So, enjoy this chapter and please RandR.
One morning, about a month later, Joe comes in the suite and finds Clarisse.
"How is she?" he asks quietly seeing as how Clarisse is sitting in the chair across from the sleeping Mia.
"She is taking it hard. I know how awful this is to go through, trust me it is no picnic," Clarisse says quietly.
"I wouldn't think it would be easy. She loved him so much, and him her," Joe replies softly.
"I don't know what is going to happen. She is going to have a hard time raising these two children alone. We will need to help her as best we can," Clarisse says caringly.
"Yes, well, she will never truly be alone, we will always be here to help her," Joe says quietly. Mia wakes up at the sound of their voices.
"Hey," Mia says tiredly as she looks over at them.
"Good morning, Mia," Joe says as he leans over and kisses her forehead. Mia stays silent and sits up slowly.
"Well, I am going to leave you two ladies for awhile. I will see you later," Joe says as he gets up and leaves. The room is quiet for a few minutes.
"Mia, talk to me please," Clarisse says breaking the silence.
"Grandma, what is there to talk about?" Mia says as she stands up and walks over to the window seat.
"Mia, you can't keep this bottled up forever. You've hardly ate anything, or spoken for the past month," Clarisse says in reply. Tears start falling down Mia's face as she looks out to the garden, where she sees the fountain that Nicholas and she had fallen into so long ago, when they first fell in love. Clarisse sees her wipe her face and walks over to her. She embraces her.
"Mia, darling," Clarisse begins.
"Please…don't call me that," Mia says through her tears. Mia breaks down in her grandmother's arms.
"Oh Mia," Clarisse says comfortingly.
"He's really gone, grandma. There's nothing I can do about it. He's gone," Mia says suddenly coming to terms with everything.
"Mia, shhh I know, I know," Clarisse says as she continues comforting her.
"I just wish that I would wake up and this whole thing would be a dream," Mia says as she continues to cry. Charlotte walks in the room and sees them. Clarisse and Mia notice her and Mia tries to wipe away her tears.
"I'm sorry for interrupting your majesty, but I needed to find out if you want me to cancel all of your meetings for this week too," Charlotte says having a difficult time keeping her composure. It was painful to see Mia hurting this much.
"Yes, please, Charlotte," Clarisse answers for her.
"I will go immediately and do that," Charlotte leaves the room and Mia goes and leans back on the edge of the bed.
"Grandma, I can't do this anymore," Mia says sadly, "I just can't. I can't be queen any longer."
"Mia, please think about this," Clarisse replies. Mia looks over at the nightstand where Nicholas kept a picture of them and Trevor out in the country. She turns her gaze over toward his side of the bed and looks down at her round stomach and rubs her hand over it.
"Nicholas would be so angry at me for saying those things," Mia says as tears fill her eyes.
"Once he realized what a magnificent queen you would be, he never wanted to take that away from you. Or let anyone else take that away for that matter," Clarisse replies softly.
"Grandma, I miss him so much. Everything in this castle reminds me of him. I can't sleep because he isn't next to me, and I can't go into the throne room where I usually go when I need to vent because, when I walk in, I always see his empty throne, seated next to mine. I can't go out into the garden, because there are memories of him everywhere. And now, here I am 8 months pregnant with a child that will always remind me of him," Mia says through her tears.
"Mia, I know. I know how it feels. I never would wish that kind of pain on anyone, especially not my granddaughter," Clarisse says caringly.
"Does it ever stop hurting?" Mia asks trying to wipe away the tears from her face.
"Sadly, it never completely goes away, but it does get easier. After Rupert died, I was miserable. In fact, I handled it a lot like you are, but the one difference was that I didn't have my grandmother there. I had to do it alone, but you will never have to go through this alone Mia," Clarisse says as she kisses Mia's forehead.
"Mia, I need to go and take care of a few things. Will you be okay for a little while?" Clarisse asks caringly.
"Yeah," Mia replies. Clarisse leaves and goes into her suite.
"How is she?" Joe asks caringly.
"She is hurting so much, and there is nothing I can do about it," Clarisse says with tears in her eyes.
"I know. We just have to be strong for her," Joe says as he embraces Clarisse.
Later that day, Clarisse goes back over to Mia's suite. She finds her sitting on the floor against the bed with her head in her hands. She is crying.
She looks up and tries to wipe her face when she hears Clarisse enter the room.
"Mia, let's get you some things together. We need to get away from here for a few days," Clarisse says gently as she gets down beside Mia.
"Ok, grandma. You're right. I can't stand being in this castle for much longer," Mia says as she wipes off her face and they both get up from the floor. She walks over to her drawer and opens it. She stops when she sees some of Nicholas' things in it. She places her hand gently on one of his ties. "I got this for him to wear to our engagement ball. I remember the look on his face when he opened it up. He was so happy," Mia says reminiscing on the past, she is trying to hold back the tears. Clarisse shuts the drawer gently.
"I will have your lady's maids get your things together, let's go down and eat something. You need to eat, Mia," Clarisse says trying to get her mind off of things. Mia agrees and they go down into the kitchen. She sits down at the table and begins to look around the kitchen.
"I remember, sometimes at night, before Trevor came, Nick and I would come down here and he would make me different french cuisines and deserts for a midnight snack," Mia says with a smile, "Once he was putting whipped cream on something and the can started spraying whipped cream everywhere, we got into a huge whipped cream fight. He and I both were covered in it." Mia and Clarisse both started laughing.
"Did anyone see you?" Clarisse asks with a smile.
"No, we cleaned it up and then snuck back upstairs. It took me three days to get all the whipped cream out of my ears," Mia says through her laughter. Clarisse continues to laugh with her.
"Nicholas made me so happy. He always wanted me to be the best queen, and the best person I could be," Mia says softly as tears well up in her eyes again. They sit in silence for a few seconds.
"Mia, let me ask you something," Clarisse says breaking the silence. Mia nods her head signaling for her grandmother to proceed.
"Do you love the people of Genovia and this country?" Clarisse asks seriously.
"Yes. Of course, I wouldn't have agreed to an arranged marriage with Andrew if I didn't. I wouldn't have left the place that I called home, and my family if I didn't. I wouldn't have done everything in my power…….to make sure I had a chance to rule this country," Mia replies, suddenly realizing why Clarisse asked her this question.
"It seems to me that you have sacrificed an awful lot to throw it away," Clarisse replies caringly.
"You're right grandma. I can't become another victim to the assassinators that killed my husband. By giving up the throne, that's exactly what I'm doing," Mia replies realizing all of these things, "That's what they wanted." Clarisse smiles at her. She had finally realized the importance of her keeping her place as a queen.
"I'm happy that you have come to this conclusion Mia. I'm so proud of you," Clarisse replies as she hugs her.
"Thanks grandma," Mia says, "Now, why don't we get out of this place and go somewhere that you've never taken me before."
"There is a lovely beach house on the shores of Danieu Beach. I think it is the perfect place for us to go. It is a kind of healing atmosphere there. I went right after I lost Rupert," Clarisse explains.
"It sounds lovely. Is Joe coming with us?" Mia asks curiously.
"No, it will be just the two of us, unless you want Trevor to come along as well," Clarisse says caringly.
"I haven't spent nearly enough time with Trevor lately. He has been with his grandparents for what seems like forever. He probably misses me. I know I miss him incredibly. Let's take him, I think he'll help make it happier," Mia says as she wipes a tear from her face.
"Yes, well, there is nothing like a child's joy. We all could use it right now," Clarisse says with a smile.
They arrive at the beach house later that day.
"Grandma this is gorgeous!" Mia exclaims when they pull up to the beach house.
"Yes it is. This is one of my favorite places in the whole world. I love standing right where we are, here on this porch overlooking the ocean. It's calming in times where everything is bustling around you," Clarisse says softly. A car pulls up into the drive. A nanny comes out of the car with Trevor in her arms. Trevor sees Mia and squeals.
"Mama!" he says loudly. Mia turns around and sees him. Clarisse looks behind her and Mia is already rushing to take him from the nanny. After a few minutes, Mia walks back out onto the porch with Trevor.
"Mama," Trevor says happily as he lays his head on Mia's shoulder. Mia smiles at him and kisses his forehead.
"Mia, it's so good to see you happy again," Clarisse says with a smile.
"Who couldn't be happy with this little boy around?" Mia says with a laugh as she starts to tickle him. He starts giggling. Mia sits down in the chair next to Clarisse and Trevor sits happily in her lap. He puts his finger on her round belly.
"Can you say baby?" Mia says with a smile. He rambles something in baby talk.
"I don't think he's mastered that one yet," Clarisse says with a laugh. He looks over at her and reaches for her.
"Come see grandma, little prince," Clarisse says as she takes him from Mia. He smiles happily at her.
"Your right grandma, this is the best I've felt in a month. This past month has felt like its been years, actually an eternity," Mia says softly as she places a hand on her stomach.
"Of course I was right. That's why I'm a grandma. It comes with title," Clarisse says playfully. Mia looks down at her stomach and back out at the ocean.
"I'm naming her Nicole Lilian Renaldi-Devereaux , by the way," Mia says as she looks down at her stomach, "I want Nicholas' legacy to continue going on even though he can't. From now on, Devereaux will be the royal blood line."
"Mia, that is a wonderful name. Lily will be ecstatic when she hears this," Clarisse says with a smile.
"If you don't mind I'm going to go lie down for awhile. Do you mind watching Trevor?" Mia says as she yawns.
"No, that's perfectly fine. Go right ahead. I love spending time with this little one," Clarisse says happily. Mia smiles and then goes back to one of the bedrooms. She lays down and is quickly asleep. A few hours later Clarisse comes in the room to wake her for dinner.
"Mia wake up," Clarisse says quietly as she places Trevor on the bed. He crawls up to her side.
"Shhh," Trevor says as he looks over at Clarisse. Mia starts to laugh quietly when he does this. Trevor starts to laugh and Mia opens her eyes.
"What are you doin' silly boy?" Mia says as she places her hand behind his back so he won't fall. Trevor crawls closer and kisses her cheek.
"Are you hungry Mia?" Clarisse asks.
"Starving," Mia replies as she plays with Trevor.
"The chef is cooking us a lovely dinner out on the patio," Clarisse replies with a smile. They all head back out to the patio and sit at the table. The food is soon served, leaving the three of them eating peacefully.
"Did you sleep well, Mia?" Clarisse asks curiously.
"Little miss soccer player didn't allow it for long, but I feel rested enough," Mia replies with a smile as she feeds Trevor.
"Mia, there is something that we need to discuss," Clarisse says changing her tone.
"What is it grandma?" Mia asks curiously.
"Mia, are you comfortable staying in the castle or would you like to move to one of the other palaces that we have in Genovia?" Clarisse asks.
"Grandma, I told you. I'm not going to change anything. I'm not becoming a victim. I love the castle that we are in now. Three hundred years of Renaldi's have ruled in that castle. I'm not about to change that tradition," Mia says reassuringly.
"Mia, you amaze me in your wisdom. You have become a better person than I will ever be. I'm so proud of you," Clarisse says as tears fill her eyes.
"Ok, no more crying grandma," Mia says as she wipes a tear forming in her eyes.
"We're women. It's what we do," Clarisse says with a laugh as she hugs Mia and kisses her forehead.