Beta: The Amazing super-fast beta RandomatGedz!
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, but I do own British Princeward! :D
Living Royal
Chapter Thirty Eight
"Do you want it to be a boy or a girl?" Bella whispered softly.
Bella and Edward were cuddled together in their bed back at Buckingham Palace with Edward's hand lying protectively on Bella's stomach. They had returned the day before from their honeymoon and after being greeted with warm hugs and congratulations from Carlisle and Esme, they retreated back to their room and decided to have their very own celebration.
"I want a healthy baby." Edward confessed.
"That's what everyone says." Bella replied. "I want a straight answer. not a diplomatic one."
"Well, I wouldn't mind a little girl with your eyes and hair."
"Really? You don't want a boy first? I'm sure your parents would love for us to provide them with the next heir to the throne."
"To hell with that, any child with you as its mother would be more than fine with me." He kissed her shoulder tenderly.
"Of course it would be me, who else would want to have your babies?" Bella teased him.
"You really want me to answer that?" He smirked.
Bella rolled her eyes, "Guess not." She muttered.
Edward chuckled as he lifted Bella's face to his and kissed her whilst resting on his elbow.
"Umm, we have to get up or we'll be late for your mother's party." Bella said a few minutes later.
Esme had prepared a small celebration for them, since they wouldn't be announcing it to the public just yet; she still believed they should get a chance to celebrate the news with their families. Bella's parents had already been told and were being flown over in a couple of hours.
"We can afford to be a little late." Edward groaned as he nuzzled his face against Bella's neck while peppering it with kisses.
"No, we can't." Bella moaned. "We're the guests of honor."
"Exactly my point. We're required by etiquette to be fashionably late."
Bella giggled, "Good point."
And they resumed kissing.
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Bella applied the last touches of her makeup while Edward finished getting dressed and put on his suit jacket. Bella was constantly distracted by how incredibly hot he looked in the black Armani suit he had on. He looked gorgeous; movie star gorgeous, which was nothing new for Edward, she had to admit. He always looked dazzling, no matter what he wore; she just had a soft spot for him in a suit.
Bella was so lost in thought that she didn't notice Edward walking up to her until he had his arms wrapped around her middle pulling her back against his firm chest.
"You look breathtaking, my Princess." Edward whispered next to her ear as he looked into her eyes through the mirror.
He'd taken to calling her his princess lately, and Bella did not mind one bit. They may belong to the entire country when they're in public, but when it was just the two of them, he was just hers and she was his. It was as simple as that.
"You're not half bad yourself." She turned in his arms and adjusted his neck-tie. "I'd never allow you out of this room if I knew there would be any other women at this party other than your mother and mine."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that, I think your mother has a crush on me." Edward grinned playfully.
Bella smacked him on the chest as she laughed.
"Are you cold? Do you need a jacket or a wrap?" Edward asked suddenly as he glanced at her bare arms.
"No, I don't need anything."
"Are you sure?" He persisted. "It gets cold at night down there."
"Down there? You mean the dining room? It's not the arctic, Edward." Bella giggled.
"I know," He pouted. "I just worry about you, baby. Besides, you're carrying precious cargo right now."
"I know you do," She kissed him softly. "I promise to tell you if I need anything."
"Really?" Edward asked, looking like a kid on Christmas morning.
"Really." She concedes. "Now, hurry up before your parents send the National Guards to look for us."
Bella wound her arm around Edward's as they descended the stairs.
Esme greeted them as soon as they entered the dining room, or rather she greeted Bella.
"Bella, my dear, you look absolutely wonderful. Come sit down, you must not exhaust yourself at all." She motioned for Bella to take a seat at one of the chairs which was padded with a huge fluffy pillow.
They were treating her like an invalid.
"Nice to see you too, mother. Glad to know I'm not forgotten at all." Edward joked trying to break the tension that had permeated the air as Bella glared at the offending chair.
"Oh, Edward, you know very well that any man has to be demoted the moment his wife becomes with child." Esme teased him.
"Yes, especially if that child is the King of England's first grandchild." Carlisle stepped forward and joined the merriment.
"Alright, enough with the jokes now, Bella needs to sit down and relax. A woman with child should never stand up for so long." Esme announced as she ushered Bella to her chair.
"Really, Esme, this is not necessary at all. I feel perfectly fine." Bella tried to protest, but was quickly hushed up by her hovering mother-in-law.
"Of course you do, you're in a very delicate condition now, Bella. You need to be more careful than usual, at the very least. And I'm sure you mother will agree with me as well."
"Oh, where is my mother?" Bella asked as she gave in and sat down on the damn chair. Let it not be said that Bella refused to be pampered. Besides, she could tell it made Edward happy by the beaming smile that suddenly appeared on his face as he took a seat next to her. He took her hand in his and squeezed it affectionately.
Esme and Carlisle had already taken their seats when Esme answered, "Your parents are just getting ready, and they should be down in a few minutes. I told them to take as long as they wanted since they're probably exhausted from the journey."
Bella thought that that was very kind of Esme, especially since the journey from Forks to London only took about an hour by plane.
Renee and Charlie arrived ten minutes later and Bella found herself engulfed in a group hug with both of her parents. That certainly surprised her since she knew for a fact that her father hated any public display of affection.
"Ooh, my baby's having a baby." Renee squealed, right in Bella's ear.
"Mum," Bella protested, as her face flushed red. Charlie was shaking hands with Edward.
"What? Don't tell me that you're embarrassed! This is something to celebrate, not hide." Renee replied.
Carlisle cleared his thought, "Unfortunately, we do have to hide it for at least another month, from the public that is."
Again, the tense silence prevailed.
"And why is that….Your Majesty?" Charlie asked.
Uh-oh. It was never a good idea to get Charlie angry. He was usually very laid back and in complete control of his emotions but once something made him angry, he would literally blew up. It was never easy to make him angry, unless it was something that could possibly harm either Bella or Renee. That was why they both stilled in anticipation of what was about to happen.
"I just think that it would be a good idea for us to wait before announcing the pregnancy. We wouldn't want anyone to think that the child was conceived out of wedlock." Charlie confidently announced.
"I keep hearing 'we', but don't you think that this decision is up to Bella and Edward?" Charlie countered.
"Well, of course it is. I'm just giving them some advice. They wouldn't want to deal with the backlash of such an announcement so soon, believe me." Carlisle answered.
"Thank you, father. We'll think about it." Edward cut in before things could get out of hand.
Bella sent a pleading look towards her father, as if to tell him to not say anything else. He nodded, and Bella sighed in relief.
The rest of dinner passed normally. They avoided speaking of the same topic again and instead chose to discuss baby names, and old memories from Bella and Edward's childhoods. Of course, most of those memories caused undue embarrassment to the couple in question.
"You should have seen her." Renee said mid-laugh. "She was running around in our front yard completely naked because she refused to put on her diaper."
By then everyone was laughing and Bella hid her flaming face in Edward's shoulder.
"Don't worry, Bella. Edward has plenty of embarrassing stories of his own." Esme said.
"Mum, please don't." Edward tried to stop her but to no avail.
"Oh, no you don't." Bella cut in with a grin. "I want to hear this."
"When Edward was about eight years old he decided he didn't want to wait to become king." Esme began. "So he went into Carlisle's study sat in his chair and started signing political documents with his own name, HRH Edward Cullen."
Bella gasped and looked at Edward in shock, "No, you didn't."
Edward ran his hand through his hair, "Yes, I'm afraid I did. It would've caused an international dilemma if those papers had been sent to France without being revised too."
Bella laughed harder than she did in quite some time.
"Alright, enough merriment at our expense for tonight." Edward exclaimed.
"Yes, you two need to rest for today." Esme said as the servants removed the last course. "Because tomorrow we're all going out to show you your gift!"
"Gift? What gift?" Edward asked.
"We, along with Renee and Charlie have decided on the perfect gift to give you two. Something that you will definitely need when the baby comes along, and even before that."
"Can you tell us what it is?" Bella asked, wondering what it could possibly be.
"No, you will find out tomorrow." Esme insisted with a secretive smile.
Seeing that both sets of parents absolutely refused to give so mush as a hint about what the surprise was, Bella and Edward gave up and went up to their room after saying their goodnights.
"What do you think it is?" Bella asked Edward as they prepared for bed.
"Knowing my mother, it'll probably be something over the top," He admitted. "But since your parents are involved too, I really have no idea. It could be anything." He shrugged.
"Thanks for stepping in tonight." Bella got into bed and snuggled under the covers. Edward followed and pulled her close. "It could've gotten ugly between our fathers."
"You should know by now that I'd face the firing squad for you. Andb y firing squad, I mean my dad." He kissed her forehead.
"I know. I love you, Edward."
"I love you too." He replied, before they fell asleep with their arms around each other.
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Bella and Edward were woken up by a servant early the next morning. Esme wanted them downstairs in fifteen minutes so she could show them the surprise. They got ready as quickly as possible but when they arrived downstairs they were quickly ushered out the door by their parents.
A limousine was waiting for them out front and they all got in.
"Where are we going?" Bella asked.
"To see your gift." Esme beamed at them.
Bella glanced questioningly at her parents, hoping they'd give her a clue but they only smiled.
Twenty minutes later they arrived at their destination. Carlisle, Esme, Renee and Charlie got out of the car first and then Bella and Edward followed.
They found themselves standing in front of a house in a beautiful neighborhood. Well, house would be an understatement. It was more like a mansion.
'So, what do you think?" Renee asked.
"What do we think of what?" Bella asked hesitantly.
"The house, silly. This is your present." Renee replied and Bella's jaw dropped.
"Wow," Edward exclaimed. "Thank you, all of you. This is really amazing."
"Wait until you see the inside." Esme beamed and led them all inside the house.
It was a three story house with two living rooms, four bathrooms, six bedrooms, a kitchen, an indoor pool and even a library. Bella was already feeling dizzy.
Esme had even prepared a nursery!
"Of course you can change whatever you fee like changing in here, Bella. It's just that your mother and I really wanted to do this for the both of you." Esme admitted.
"No, it looks great. It's just, this is too much. I'm not sure we can accept such a huge gift."
"Of course you can." Esme and Renee said in one breath. Through all this Charlie and Carlisle hung around in the background, letting the women take charge.
"You two need a house that can accommodate both of you and a baby. The cottage is not big enough." Esme went on.
"Yes, but…six bedrooms?" Bella mumbled.
Esme and Renee gave each other a knowing look.
"Well, we were hoping that you would need those rooms soon enough. After all, we'd love to have more than one grandchild."
Edward raised his eyebrows, as if to ask Bella what she wanted to do. She could tell that he was leaving it up to her to decide. She knew he wanted more children in the future so the rooms would definitely come in handy.
"Alright," She nodded finally. "I guess we're moving in. Thank you all so much." She wound her arm around Edward's waist and he pulled her close.
"Oh, don't thank us." Esme waved her off. "We were are than happy to go furniture shopping."
"How did you do that while you were in two different cities?" Edward asked.
"Internet." Renee replied. "Esme sent me her suggestions and we skyped."
Bella giggled at the thought of Renee skyping. She knew that her mother was technologically challenged.
"Alright then, let's disperse and leave the newlyweds to have a look around on their own." Esme suggested and quickly led out the others.
Bella and Edward were left standing alone in the middle of the room.
"So, what did you think? You've been awfully quiet." Bella asked Edward.
"I think," He pulled her closer to his chest and lifted her face to look at his. "I'm going to love having my way with you in the pool downstairs." He grinned.
"Is that so?"
"Yes, it is." He kissed her lightly and then led her out of the room to explore the rest of the house.
(A/N): The only news I have at this point is that I've decided to end the story at 40 chapters. I'm going to be so sad to see it go :( I might write a couple of future-takes though.
So, let me know what you thought of this one! :)
Show of hands! Who wishes they'd gotten or would get a mansion as a wedding/baby shower present :D
See you guys next time, till then you can find e on Facebook (Dee Pattinson).