Maxon missed her so much. He craved her. He couldn't stand being away for so long from his America for so long especially after they had their precious twins, Eadlyn and Ahren. Every step he took away from the palace, his home, pained him as much as it probably hurts her. He wanted to be on her arms again, their little bubble of happiness that included her, their twins and soon, Kaden with Osten following no long after.
The public saw them as the "ultimate model family". The people seemed to adore Eadlyn which meant the future of the throne is secure. Though Ahren is in France, their people loved him nonetheless; after all, he is the Prince Consort of the future queen of France.
Long after his coronation and the disastrous affair of the choosing ceremony, people still looked at him with pity and how he hated it. How their pointed gaze would pierce right through him and how their murmurs would seem like shouts to him. They would criticize him every step of the way, how they would compare him to his father or to his grandfather before him. He wanted to scream, "I am not them," he wanted to say, but alas he couldn't.
When America entered his life, everything in the world feels right again. The fire that was her hair seemed in contrast with her icy blue eyes, but together, they make the most beautiful woman alive. He provided stability for her and she in return, gave him a new perception of the world before him. It wasn't after the dissolution of the castes that people saw them, the royal couple as the new hope. The spark that ignites the flame of nationalism in his people.
Eadlyn and Ahren came more as a shock to America and Maxon. Maxon, who thought he could never conceive a child, was beyond ecstatic when he heard the news. A child! Let alone twins! And when they arrived, he promised, to himself and to his babies that he will be a better father than his father was to him.
He showered the twins with gifts, much to America's dismay. "You'll spoil them before they can even walk or talk!" she'd scold him and though he promised to himself he would not have favorites, he favored Eadlyn over Ahren. Perhaps it was because she reminded him of his late mother, Queen Amberly, but it was more of how she has the exact copy of her mother's personality though people would say she is much more like her father. She had her mother's stubbornness and her father's hard-working attitude. She was his little queen and Eadlyn had her father wrapped around her chubby little fingers.
Mischief runs quite well in the family, inheriting from their dear mother America, who passed it on to their youngest son, Osten, whose pranks were quite disastrous at times but liked nonetheless. Osten was by far the most mischievous of the bunch, often the receiving end of Eadlyn's wrath. He would hide her drawing materials and leave her important documents around the place. America would scold him of course but with a sly wink, he knew that this was America's boy through and through. Osten was like a male version of his mother, from the fiery red hair the both had down to their near similar personalities. Osten is his own kind of person, often the odd one out in their family. While the siblings had the resemblance more on the Schreave side if the family, Osten took after the Singer side of the family. He was most like America, from his looks to his equally fiery personality that mirrors his mother's perfectly.
The heart attack that sent their family into a scrambling mess. Eadlyn didn't know what to do, with her mother's life in balance as well as the selection. Maxon didn't quite know what to do. He wanted to dote on his wife every second of the day, begging to see a glimpse of her beautiful blue eyes. It was in that moment that Maxon realized that home is not where a family resides but rather where the heart is. And when America finally opens her eyes, that when he realized that his home is wherever she is.