Living Royal

Epilogue

Royal congratulations and expensive gifts had been flown in from all over the world ever since Andrew's birth two months ago. Although their new house was large, Bella was having a hard time maneuvering through it with all those presents lying around until they could find a place for it.

"Let's donate them." She suggested to Edward one night when they were getting ready for bed, right after bathing and feeding Andrew and laying him down in his crib in the nursery.

"That's actually a good idea; I mean what in the world is Andrew going to do with a pacifier made of pure gold?" Edward joked as he got into bed and moved the covers back for Bella.

Bella chuckled.

"The Princess of Sweden just gave birth, as well, to a baby girl. She joked about our children marrying some day." Edward said.

Bella tensed, "Is that possible?"

"No," Edward rubbed her shoulder to calm her down. "Little Princess Estelle is in line for her own throne, there's no way her and Andrew can get married."

"Good. I don't want my son having an arranged marriage, no matter what the reason is."

Edward chuckled, "It's kind of early to think about him getting married, isn't it?"

"Maybe," Bella conceded. "But children these days grow up so fast! I'm just afraid that we'll blink and then Andrew will be all grown up and we'll have missed all of it."

"No, we won't miss a thing, I promise you."

"You can't promise me that, Edward." Bella pouted.

"Yes, I can." Edward grinned cockily. "I have just the perfect solution for your worries."

"What is it?"

Edward rolled playfully so that his body was half on top of his wife, making her giggle.

"How about we start practicing for baby number two?" He whispered teasingly.

"I knew there was a good reason why I married you." Bella replied before Edward leaned forward to kiss her.

"Wait," Edward broke off their kiss suddenly. "You're alright to do this, right? I mean, the doctor said we should wait a few weeks before doing anything intimate."

"The doctor also said that only I can judge when I'm ready, and I'm ready." She grinned teasingly.

Edward smiled widely and went back to his previous ministrations.

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The next morning, Edward insisted on taking his family out for the day, despite incessant warnings from their security team.

Yes, they had a security team now. Ever since the threats made against Bella's life, and despite the fact that they turned out to be false, their security detail had been noticeably increased, more so after Andrew's arrival.

Despite all of that, Edward and Bella insisted on not being cooped up in their house like fugitives. They wanted their son to have a normal childhood. As normal a childhood as possible, considering he's going to spend his entire life being groomed to take over the throne after his father and grandfather.

Edward took his little family to the place where he'd taken Bella before while she was pregnant. The meadow.

They strolled for a while and then lay down by the shade of the trees and had some lunch. Their security detail, ever vigilant, stayed close but at the same time far enough so they would not be intruding on the little family.

Bella was feeding little Andrew with his bottle while Edward sat close, watching them adoringly.

"What?" Bella asked when she noticed him gazing at them.

"Nothing, I'm just…happy." He replied simply.

"Me too." Bella smiled back.

Bella had almost had an anxiety attack when Andrew first came into this world. She came to the realization that despite the large amount of books she read about children, none of them really prepared her for the real thing. Fortunately, her mother flew in and stayed with her for the first few days. Also, Esme stopped by almost every day, which helped a lot in getting Bella prepared to be left alone with the baby.

The first day that happened was nerve wracking, she was terrified of doing anything wrong that would hurt or harm her son in any way.

Edward, to his credit, tried to help as much as he could, but Bella wanted to be able to do it all on her own.

It all came to a head the day Edward came home from a meeting with his father and the Prime Minister to find his wife in tears.

"Bella, sweetheart? What's wrong? Did something happen? Is Andrew alright?" Edward asked frantically, expecting the worst.

"Yes, he's fine. I'm just…It's fine, don't worry about it." She replied between sobs.

"Hey, hey," Edward held her close trying to calm her down. "What's going on, Bella? Just tell me otherwise I'll only imagine the worst."

"I'm just so…scared and I'm…tired. I don't know what I'm doing!"

"Shh, it's okay sweetheart. It's alright. I'm here; everything's going to be okay now." Edward murmured to his distraught wife.

"No, it's not! I'm a terrible mother."

"Hey, listen to me." Edward pulled away to look Bella in the eye. "You are an amazing mother, and having some difficulties is not the end of the world, Bella. We can make this work, together."

"I'm sorry I pushed you away. I just wanted to prove that I could do it all on my own."

"I know you can, baby. But there's nothing wrong with needing a little help. Now, come on, get up."

"Where are we going?" She asked as Edward led her up stairs.

"You're going to take a hot bath and then you're going straight to bed." He told her.

"Bu Andrew…"

"I'll take care of him for today, while you can get some much needed rest."

Bella only smiled and allowed herself to be led by her angel of a husband.

Things got much easier after that point. It was as though admitting the truth lifted a huge weight off of Bella's shoulders. It was not exactly a cake walk but at least it was much easier than before now that she allowed her husband to help.

Now, sitting together in their meadow, things couldn't have been better.

But the couple's happy bubble could only last so long. After a while an annoying clicking sound began, it took them a minute to identify what it was.

Cameras.

Paparazzi cameras.

They found their hiding place.

The three security guards that were with Edward and Bella quickly gathered around them to prevent any photos from being taken and tried to usher the couple safely back to their car.

"Damn it! How the hell did they find us?" Edward yelled as they finally got into their car and drove off. Andrew was startled by his father's voice and started to wail.

Edward regretted his outburst immediately and tried to calm down. Bella held his hand in hers in comfort while holding Andrew with the other and trying to calm him down.

"They must've followed us from the house." Bella replied quietly.

"We apologize for what happened, your Highness." Felix, Edward's trusted bodyguard spoke from the passenger seat of the car. "It won't happen again, you have my word."

"It's alright Felix. I know for a fact that this will happen again, and there's nothing you nor I can do about it." Edward groused.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence until they reached the house. Thankfully, the paparazzi had not followed them back, probably satisfied with the few shots they had of the family out together.

Edward stormed into the house after Bella and Andrew.

"Edward, please, calm down. It's not worth it and you're scaring Andrew." Bella pleaded with her husband as she took a seat in the living room and settled Andrew on her lap.

"I'm sorry, I just feel like such a failure. I can't even take my family out for the day without it turning into an utter disaster."

"None of this is your fault, Edward; we actually should have expected it. It's happened before and it will happen again, we should be used to it by now."

"I know, Bella, but now it's different. We have Andrew to think of and I don't want him exposed to any of that."

"Neither do I, Edward. But we don't really have a choice. I think that instead of shielding him from all of it, we should help him get used to it, treat it like an every day occurrence without it getting to his head."

"When did you get so smart?" Edward smiled crookedly at his wife as he ran his hand over his son's forehead reverently.

"Hey! I've always been smart. How do you think I got you to marry me?" She teased him.

"And here I thought you married me because you loved me." Edward pretended to pout.

"See? Smart." Bella said as she tapped her index finger against her temple.

It took a few hours for Edward to finally let go of what had happened. When it was time for bed that night Bella finally decided on a plan to get him to loosen up.

While sex usually worked in situations such as this, Bella decided on something different this time.

"Andy wants to sleep next to his daddy." She announced as she walked into their room carrying their son who was half asleep already. His beautiful green eyes were already drooping.

She laid him down carefully in the middle of the bed.

"Who can say no to that face?" Edward actually baby-talked. Bella found him adorable whenever he did it.

Bella settled in on Andrew's other side and put her hand over Edward's where it lay against their son's back.

She was fairly exhausted mentally and physically from the day's events, so her eyes were closing the minute her head hit the pillow.

"Bella?" Edward called out to her before she fell asleep.

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

Bella opened her eyes and smiled softly at her husband.

"I love you too."

Bella's last thought before she drifted off to sleep was that she knew they'd be more than okay as long as they stayed together.

Her, Edward and Andrew.

Forever.

The End.

(A/N): First of all let me quote my awesome beta RandomatGedz (Yeah, she demanded it :D And I'm gonna need a beta in the future so :D):

'Readers; get ye pitchforks, we're gonna mob the writer for more chapters…cos we're awesome like that!'

Second, HUGE THANK YOU to each and every one of you ! Hugs and kisses all around! Thanks for every single review and alert that helped make this story a success. I honestly appreciate it so much!

One last favor, I want a review from each one of you guys telling me what you thought of the ending :)

Also, a lot of oyu have been asking for a sequel and I'm seriously considering writing one, but I'm going to need help with some great ideas from my awesome reader :D

I also have plans for a new story soon so make sure you add me to your Author Alerts so you'll know as soon as I post it :)

In the meantime we've got our Facebook group to chat about anything and everything so until next time…I'll miss you all!