Beta: RandomatGedz
Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer
Living Royal
Chapter Thirty Seven
Previously on 'Living Royal'
"Yeah. It must be the nerves. The last twenty four hours haven't exactly been easy, you know."
"Um, Bella? When exactly did you get your last period?" Alice asked slowly, as though afraid to spook Bella.
Bella froze and all the color she'd gained that morning faded back again.
She palmed her stomach softly.
Oh, God.
-L-R-
Bella could not believe what was happening.
This couldn't be true, could it?
"No, this can't be true." Bella voiced her thoughts.
"Why not? You have been having sex, haven't you?" Alice glanced dubiously at her.
Bella scoffed, "Of course we have, we can barely keep our hands off each other, but I've been taking my birth control and…"
"Bella, birth control isn't hundred percent effective." Alice shrugged nonchalantly.
"Wait, where is Edward?" Bella asked suddenly.
"He's right outside the door." Alice giggled. "Jasper tried to lure him away for a bit until I talked to you, but he wouldn't leave."
Bella smiled at how protective her man was.
Her man.
Her husband, and soon-to-be the father of her child.
Her smile turned into a worried frown. Were they ready for this? Sure, they tried to act mature about everything and they'd been handling what was happening so far fairly well, but they were still eighteen year olds! Were they ready to be parents?
Bella imagined what her life would be a year from now and all she could see was her and Edward lounging in their cottage, playing with a bronze haired green eyed little baby. Her heart warmed. This was Edward's baby inside of her, a part of him.
She knew that as long as they stayed together, they could face anything.
But, first things first.
"Alice," Bella said as she got up from the bed and put on a robe that was laid over the edge of the bed. "Can you call the reception for me? Ask them to send up the resident physician."
"Okay." Alice chirped and bounced over to the phone on the bedside table.
While Alice was on the phone, Bella headed for the bathroom and splashed some water on her face to wipe away the last remnants of sleep.
The physician came about fifteen minutes later. He was a middle-aged, portly, friendly looking man. He spoke English pretty well. Bella told him exactly what she suspected and he immediately got to work on examining her.
All the while, Alice's phone wouldn't stop beeping.
"Jasper's having a hard time restraining Edward from barging in here. He's been going crazy since he saw the doctor coming in." Alice explained.
"You should probably let him in, your highness. You'll want to share the good news." The doctor said as he gathered his equipment.
Bella stilled, "Good news?"
"Yes, you are indeed with child as you had suspected. Congratulations!" The physician grinned.
Bella stared off into space in a daze as Alice thanked him and led him out.
"You're going to have a baby!" She squealed as she came back.
"Edward," Bella whispered faintly.
"What?" Alice asked.
Bella cleared her throat. "Edward, I need Edward."
"Oh! He's going to be so happy! I'm going to call him in. I'll see you in a bit; you'll probably want to celebrate in private." She winked as she stalked towards the door.
A few moments later Edward walked in and quickly came to Bella's side.
"Hey, are you okay?" He frantically looked her over. "Just tell me what's wrong, Bella. I'm going out of my mind, here."
"I'm okay," Bella quickly reassured him. "I'm fine I promise. I just…needed to be sure of something." She explained.
"Needed to be sure of what?" Edward frowned in confusion.
"For the past few days I've been feeling a bit sick and emotional, which I thought was due to what we've been going through at first, but then Alice pointed something out and I just wanted to be sure of it before telling you." Bella rambled in one breath.
"Bella, just tell me what's going on, you're making me nervous here." Edward rubbed his hands up and down Bella's shoulders.
Bella's slowly reached for one of Edward's hands and brought it down to her stomach where she flattened it against it. Edward followed her movement downwards with his eyes.
"I'm pregnant." She spoke softly. "We're going to have a baby."
Edward froze, which was the reaction Bella was expecting. But she wasn't expecting him to be quiet for so long.
"Edward?" She shook his shoulder gently. "Edward? Are you okay?"
He blinked slowly, and then the widest smile spread across his face. Bella couldn't help but smile in response.
"We're having a baby?" He asked.
Bella nodded.
"Wow, we're going to be parents." He yelled, right before he swept Bella into his arms and squeezed her tightly. "God, I can't believe it!"
"So, you're happy?" Bella asked.
Edward pulled back a bit. "Of course I'm happy! I have a beautiful wife whom I love and we're going to have a child together!"
"I just thought that maybe you'd think it's too soon. We were going to wait until things settled down before trying to have children."
"Well, yes. Maybe it is a bit sooner than we had planned, but still there's no reason why we shouldn't be ecstatic about this. There's a little piece of you and me, right here."
Then he did the most amazing thing Bella had ever seen, almost bringing tears to her eyes.
He bent down and kissed her stomach lightly, and then spoke softly to the baby.
"Hey there little guy, I'm your daddy." He said.
Bella giggled, her husband was so adorable.
Edward bent back up and kissed her fervently.
"I love you." He whispered against her lips.
"Love you too." She grinned.
"We should call our parents." Edward suggested suddenly. "They're going to be so excited!"
"Oh, I had forgotten about that." Bella groaned. "Your father is going to freak out."
Edward laughed, "This is the one time I actually know what my father's reaction is going to be and I know for a fact that he's going to be over the moon when I tell him he'll soon be a grandfather."
Bella glanced at him dubiously, "Really?"
Edward grinned, "Yes, really. My father might be a hard ass but he's going to love being a grandfather, just wait and see."
"What about Esme?"
"Do you even have to ask?" Edward raised his eyebrows.
Bella giggled, "Guess not." She could imagine how Esme would go crazy over being a grandmother. She'd probably prepare a whole wing in Buckingham Palace just for the baby.
Bella and Edward decided to call her parents first. Renee did nothing but squeal for a few minutes until Charlie grabbed the phone from her until she managed to calm down. Charlie grumbled a bit about it being too soon, but Bella could tell that he was happy nonetheless.
"But what are you doing to do about college?" Charlie asked. "You're not thinking about dropping out, are you Bella?"
"No, dad. I think I'm more than capable of going to college and be a mother at the same time. I know it's going to be hard, but between Edward and I, I think we can manage." Bella glanced at Edward and found him smiling encouragingly at her. He reached out and held her hand in a show of support.
Next, came Esme and Carlisle.
Esme gushed immediately about how happy she was, while Carlisle gave them reserved congratulations.
"You should see how happy he is," Esme revealed to them when Carlisle was out of earshot. "He's grinning like a maniac, believe me. Oh, we're so happy for you! For us!"
"Thanks, mum." Edward grinned happily and winked at Bella.
"I can't wait to start putting the nursery together for you." Esme went on.
Edward rolled his eyes and mouthed 'I told you so' to Bella.
Esme spoke with them for a few more minutes and then Carlisle came back on the phone and asked them to come back to London so they could all celebrate together.
"Not now." Edward was adamant. "Just give us a couple more days, before we come back and have to face the music."
"You don't have to worry about that," Carlisle reassured them. "We're not going to announce it to the press just yet. We don't want them knowing the child was conceived out of wedlock."
Silence.
Edward's fists clenched and his face turned purple.
Bella realized she should've known Carlisle would say something to ruin the moment, even if it was unintentional.
Bella quickly laid her hand on Edward's to stop him from responding.
"You know what, Carlisle," She replied quickly, before Edward could say anything. "I think you're right, we should wait before announcing the news to the public for a while longer, if only so we can celebrate on our own first."
"Great, then I'll see you in a few days." Carlisle responded before they both said their goodbyes.
"Well, that was-" Bella began to say, when Edward remained fuming in quiet.
"That was my father being his usual asshole self." He sighed. "Let's not let him ruin it for us, though. We need to celebrate." He smirked, trying to alleviate the tension.
Bella laughed, glad that the anxiety was over and done with. Edward started to lean down to kiss his wife but before his lips could touch hers, they were interrupted by an insistent knock on the door.
"Bella? Can we come in yet?" Alice called out from outside.
Bella looked at Edward and they both snickered at Alice's impatience.
"Come in, Ali." Bella called out to her best friend, who immediately burst in followed closely by Jasper.
"We just came by to say congratulations and go." Alice announced. "This is still your honeymoon you guys, we know you want to be alone." She wiggled her eyebrows.
Edward left Bella's side to hug Alice, much to her surprise, "Thanks for being here, Alice. I know that Bella really needed you."
"Hey, that's what best friends are for." Alice shrugged. She walked to the bed and kissed Bella's forehead.
"Um, Ali, can I speak with you for a second before you leave?" Bella asked her.
"Sure." Alice replied.
"Jasper and I will wait outside." Edward said when he realized they wanted to speak alone. "I need to find that physician and thank him in person, too."
As soon as they left, Bella turned to Alice.
"Okay, I need some help." She told her.
"Help with what?"
"I need to do something special for Edward tonight, but I'm coming up blank here, I have no idea what to do."
Alice gasped dramatically, "Our 'modern day Cinderella' is asking little old me for romantic advice?" She joked referring to Bella's nickname given to her by the media.
Bella rolled her eyes, "Yes, I'm asking for advice, now tell me what to do!"
"Okay, okay, hold your horses. I think I might have an idea." Alice smirked deviously.
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By the time Edward came back that night, Alice and Bella had set everything up and Alice said her goodbyes to Bella and made a quick exit.
Edward walked slowly into the dark room that was only lit by a few candles strewn around it.
"Bella?" He looked around for her until he saw her standing by the bed in the sheerest white nightgown he'd ever seen. She was also wearing a mask that covered the top half of her face.
She looked beautiful; almost ethereal, like one touch could make her disappear.
"Hey," She said.
"Hey, what's going on? Not that I'm complaining or anything."
She sauntered towards him slowly, "I'm seducing you." She stated simply.
"I thought you knew by now that I don't need to be seduced.
"It's still fun, though." She shrugged.
"What about the mask?"
"Doesn't it remind you of anything?" She prompted.
"Yeah, the masked ball. One of the best nights of my life." He smiled softly.
"I thought it could be like a reminder of how far we've come." Bella whispered.
"I love it, it's very…sexy." He smirked, before leaning down and kissing her.
Although Edward loved the nightgown, he loved Bella more when she was out of it, so he helped her take it off, before quickly discarding his own clothes.
They spent the next few hours exploring each other's bodies and glorying in their newfound happiness, until they were both spent and sated.
Bella laid her head on Edward's chest as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close while they both drifted into peaceful sleep.
That was the first night Bella dreamt of her baby.
(A/N): Wow, the response I got for the last chapter was staggering! Seriously, you guys are AMAZING! :D
Thank you so much to all those who reviewed, or added me to their alerts!
So, whadya think of this one? Let me know!