Hey guys! As always, I love hearing what you think! But I'm also having a hard time figuring out where to go from here, so future chapter ideas or suggestions of things you'd like to see at America's birthday party, just post it in the comments with your review or feel free to PM me! Enjoy!
I woke to the sound of crying. Enough, I thought. Enough with the crying. I was so tired of the crying. I flung the sheets aside, exasperated, and crossed my room.
There, looking up at me with a blotchy red face and impossibly tiny fists, was my baby girl lying in her day crib. "Hannah, can't you just sleep for 30 minutes? That's all I'm asking," I pleaded with the newborn. My words had no effect on her, except that she might have gotten even louder. I reached in and picked her up and sat with her in the plush rocking chair by her crib. She slowly began to calm down and I watched her features relax while she dozed off.
The door swung open violently as Maxon stormed in, mirroring my earlier frustration. I could tell he'd been pushing his hands through his hair because it was messy for his usual clean look. His eyes swept the room and landed on me, glaring at him, cradling our child.
He instantly softened and the tension visibly fled him. "I'm sorry for the noise," he whispered as he dropped to his knees beside us. I looked up from our miracle to train my eyes on him. It was so fascinating just watching him look at her. It was as if he was afraid that at any sudden movement she would vanish before his eyes. I never would've moved if I didn't have to.
But suddenly, the room was filled again with the sound of a baby crying. I looked back to little Hannah but she was still fast asleep. The crying stopped and I looked up to Maxon but- he was gone. The walls around me were no longer of my bedroom in the palace, but now I was in my childhood bedroom in Carolina. I heard footsteps coming towards me, getting closer and closer but never reaching me.
Just as I thought the steps might converge on me, I sat bolt upright in bed.
It was a dream. It was all a dream.
I collapsed back against the mattress with the cruelty of it all. There was a hole in my chest as if the dream had physically torn a piece out of me. Maxon was fast asleep beside me and there was no crib and no baby. I couldn't bring myself to wake my husband when he was finally getting the rest that was so rare for him and passed the night staring up at the ceiling, trying not to think about the missing piece.
"Omph," I heard someone say in response to a loud thud beneath me hours after I'd finally drifted off again.
"Shh! Don't wake her," a female voice whispered fiercely.
"We're not trying to! I'd like to see you on this ladder, princess," a third familiar voice retorted with the hint of a laugh under the remark.
Giving up on ignoring the noise for the sake of preserving my sleep, I rolled over and sat up to accuse the intruders. "What's a queen gotta do to get some sleep, huh?" I shot at them, taking in the scene around me.
Aspen, atop a ladder, turned from teasing Lucy as all eyes fell on me. Marlee was arranging confetti on my desk and wardrobe, Aspen was stringing streamers around the bed, Lucy was pushing a second ladder back up on its feet across the bed from Aspen, and Maxon was sprawled on his butt beneath the overturned structure. So that was the thump.
Maxon jumped to his feet, brushing himself off, anxiety filling his features. "Good morning darling! So sorry to wake you! I don't suppose there's any hope of you just going back to sleep is there?" He spoke quickly and nervously, afraid I'd be upset.
"Not a chance," I shot back. "What is all this?" My eyes took in the messy room with decorations strewn haphazardly from every surface.
"Well I was just coming back in here to decorate this morning and these three were trying to convince me to let the servants do it for me, but I refused, so they at least made me promise to let them help. Do you like it?" There was an undeniable note of hope on the last words, much like a child trying to impress someone.
I took another sweeping look. The streamers hung down over the bed on Maxon's side, no doubt a result of his fall, and the rest of the room looked like a confetti cannon threw up on it. But with four sets of big eyes staring back at me I knew I had to be nice.
"It's...lovely," I said.
"She hates it. See, I told you the confetti was too much," Aspen threw his hands up and began climbing down from the ladder.
"No!" I recovered. "I don't hate it. It's just...what are we celebrating again?"
Now it was time for four mouths to drop wide open in disbelief.
Marlee came and sat on the edge of the bed. "America! It's your birthday!"
What? No that can't be right. It's only… what is the date anyway?
"Umm are you sure?" I asked to no one in particular.
"You forgot your own birthday?" Aspen gaped back at me.
"No?" I squeaked weakly. "It's just been...hard lately. I've had a lot going on so I wasn't paying attention to silly things like my birthday."
Maxon stepped closer, "Your birthday's not silly, darling. I was actually hoping it could give us an excuse to take our minds off what's been happening lately and try to have some fun and be happy." His eyes were so hopeful as they stared into mine. He was trying so hard.
"Okay, watch," I said, laying back down. "I'll pretend to be sleeping again and you can finish your decorating. I'll even put my underemployed acting skills to use and try to appear surprised." I yanked the sheets back up over myself and buried my face in my pillow. "Okay, go!" I shouted unintelligibly into the pillow.
"America, get up this instant," Marlee giggled and tossed an unopened bag of streamers at me.
And so, before anything else could be hurled at me, I got out of bed to get ready for what was sure to be an interesting first birthday in the palace. I could feel less and less of the hollow ache that had drilled into my chest just hours earlier.