Silvia really did most of the detail work for America that week, insisting that it was her honor. She organized and managed all of the last minute decisions and alterations that needed to be made, making sure that all of the guests remained happy, well-fed, and that the maids and butlers they'd brought with them from their various countries of origin could find everything that they needed. This meant that America got to focus on recovering, and on her newborn baby during the day, and only had to make appearances twice a day. Once in the Women's room in the afternoons, and again at the large, ornate nightly dinners when everyone gathered together in the evenings.
Maxon was doing amazing work, together with Eoan, Nicoletta, and the Russians, to come to a resolution for The German Federation and the Kingdom of Romania. They were steadily finding the right combination of economic and trade incentives to keep the two countries from declaring war on one another. Right before bedtime, America and Addy loved to listen to Maxon recount the trials and successes of each day of the summit, and cheer him on with snuggles and spit up (from Addy).
America even made it to some of the keynote speeches, including Empress Jiaying's moving speech about learning important lessons from the darker aspects of our collective world history and valuing the strengths that every individual country can contribute to the human race. Empress Jiaying was the only woman to give a keynote speech, and America thought that she did a magnificent job with it.
In spite of all of this, most of the time America stayed on the third floor and rested. Caring for Addy was taking every drop of energy she could muster, especially with Maxon so busy, and America was realizing that even though it had been nearly a month since she'd given birth, her stamina still wasn't back to normal. It was disconcerting to find herself more tired throughout the day now than she had been a month ago, when she'd been heavily pregnant with Addy.
Dr. Ashlar recommended that America start taking short walks throughout the day to begin rebuilding her strength. It was with this in mind that America bundled Addy up and carried her out into the gardens, thinking to spend some time on the special bench, in the crisp air.
America couldn't stop gazing down at Addy's little face, the only thing peeking out of the bundle. America had never seen anything so breathtakingly cute as her newborn daughter, swimming in fluffy blankets.
Almost immediately on entering the chilly gardens, America's plans for a quiet stroll to the bench changed. There were several loud, little cheers coming from the direction of the tree castle, and a couple of brave grownups keeping watch on the grounds beneath.
America shuffled Addy in her arms and followed the trail to the others. Kenna's red hair was immediately apparent, as well as the chocolate brown hair of an unknown woman standing next to her. They looked over when they saw her, and the stranger fell into a curtsey.
"Hello." America called, when she was close enough not to shout.
"Hey, Ames." Kenna smiled. "What are you doing out?"
"Addy and I are taking a walk to build up our strength. What's going on out here?"
"I've got Astra and Kile today. Kile's been having sleepovers with us since the summit began, Marlee and Carter are both beyond busy."
America nodded her understanding.
Kenna continued, "And this is Piper, she's the head nanny for the Princes of England."
"Oh! Really?" America turned to Piper, who, upon being addressed, finally rose from her curtsey. "You're so young."
"Waverly was my best friend growing up." Piper explained, with a bright smile. "There was a bit of nepotism involved, to be honest."
"I understand that." America said, nodding. "Kenna is Adrienne's main nanny, but who better to trust my baby with than family?"
Up in the treehouse, a young British voice cried out, "The monsters are on the other side now!" and a stampede of stomps and squeals and screams followed as the children rushed to the far side of the tree castle.
"The boys have been in heaven this week." Piper commented, grinning up at the treehouse. "They seldom have friends their own age to play with. Astra and Kile have shown them the happiest time."
"That's wonderful." America smiled.
"They've already asked if Astra and Kile can be invited to Luke's birthday party in May." Piper said.
Kenna shook her head. "James and I are going to have a long discussion about the rules for international travel related to royal birthday parties, apparently. Not something I ever dreamed would be in the cards for my baby girl."
"You know, if you're not ready to go abroad in May, Maxon and I are still planning a trip next summer. Eoan invited us out, and I think they'll be finalizing everything before the christening is over. You can definitely come along, then."
"That might be a suitable alternative." Kenna looked relieved as she considered it.
"And you know May would be right at home at a major event like an English Prince's birthday party, she could always take Astra, if you wanted to avoid the insanity of it all." America added.
Kenna thought it over, shaking her head lightly. "Not quite yet. It's one thing for May to babysit for an evening or two, but she's still so young… international babysitting is a lot more than she's ever had to deal with before…"
America kissed Kenna's cheek. "Alright, then."
There was a sound of stomping feet and then Astra swung herself down the ladder with all the expertise of a child at her favorite playground. "Addy! Addy!" Astra called out, touching solid ground and dashing for America. "Addy is here!"
The other kids followed quickly after, young Prince Lucas the last to make it over thanks to his littlest legs.
"Hi Aunt Ames." Astra gasped, her breath ragged from all of her exertions. The other kids were panting, too, as they joined the huddle around the baby.
"Hey Astra, how are you doing?"
"Good. I can see Addy?"
America bent a little and lowered Addy down so that the little ones could see her face.
"She's a nice baby." Prince Andrew complimented.
"Thank you."
"Addy can play?" Astra asked.
Kile shook his head, "No, she's too small! What if she falls down?" His concern was incredibly adorable, written all over his furrowed little brow.
"What would she play?" America asked, hoping to find a compromise.
"We need another princess." Astra explained. "We got too much Knights."
America looked at the faces of the boys and realized what Astra was saying. She was outnumbered and wanted another girl to play with.
America kissed her niece's strawberry curls. "I don't mind if Addy goes into the treehouse for a few minutes, but a grown up needs to be holding her to keep her safe."
Kile looked immensely relieved at this sensible solution.
"Okay, Mommy, let's go." Astra grabbed Kenna's hand and tugged.
"Baby? Don't you want to ask me something first?" Kenna said, pointedly.
"Oh. Yes." Astra turned back, still gripping her mother's hand. "Mommy, you can hold Addy in the tree house and keep her safe until snack time?"
"I would love to." Kenna smiled and then turned to America. "Alright, Ames?"
"I don't mind going up there, myself." America insisted.
"I know that, I just want to see you rest a little. It's a big sister thing." Kenna winked.
"Alright, then." America began shuffling Addy into Kenna's eager arms.
"Hello, my lovely." Kenna cooed at Addy, who was making quick work of snuggling into Kenna's embrace.
"Ready, Mommy?" Astra called.
"We're going to go up the ramp, we'll meet you at the top." Kenna said. While the other kids took off at a run and monkey climbed up the ladder, Kenna took the long way, using a spiral ramp that led straight up to the top tier of the castle. Once there, she sat down and held Addy close, admiring the view from up high.
Andrew, Lucas, Astra, and Kile were quick to incorporate Kenna and Addy into their game. They pretended Addy could see the future and tell them where the monsters were going to attack next. Kenna spoke for the baby prophet, of course, because baby prophets were much too busy to speak for themselves.
America and Piper kept watch from below, making themselves comfortable on a large, fluffy picnic blanket nearby. It was only ten minutes later when a maid appeared at the Palace door with a basket full of snacks on her arm.
"Princess Baby prophet has had a vision…" Kenna announced, having caught sight of the maid first. The kids all stopped their rampaging and looked up to the top tier. "A feast will be arriving at the picnic spot… in thirty seconds!"
The kids ran and screamed, racing to the blanket. Kenna was much more careful, easing herself and Addy down the ramp and back to solid ground.
The maid, who America recognized as a woman named Bethany, curtseyed upon catching sight of America. "Your Majesty! I wasn't told that you'd be here."
"That's alright, I surprised them." America reassured her.
Kenna handed Addy back to America and accepted the basket from the maid.
"Are you thirsty? Is there anything I can bring you?" Bethany asked.
"No, thank you. I'll be heading back inside soon." America reassured her.
The maid curtseyed again and returned to the Palace.
The contents of the picnic basket were adorable. A tupperware of scones, a few assorted jams, some 'ants on a log', and four tiny, colorful thermoses of warm tea. Piper served the kids while Kenna dealt the napkins.
"Want some?" Astra offered America through a mouthful of peanut butter, raisin, and celery, offering up the remaining celery in her hand.
"No, thank you." America giggled. "You eat it all."
"I love it." Astra agreed.
Andrew scooted over so that he was sitting next to America and Addy, sipping his tea thoughtfully, though his thermos was bright green with cartoon insects on it. "Is she too cold?" he considered, peering down at Addy.
"No, she's very well-swaddled except for her face, and it's not cold enough out here for that to bother her."
"No, it's not bad at all, is it, Lady Piper?" Andrew agreed, and then worked to incorporate someone else into their conversation. America could tell that he was already being trained for the social rigors of his future role as King of England, and the results were absolutely precious.
"Agreed, your Highness. It's perfect here. Cold enough to be winter, but not cold enough to be painful or messy." Piper agreed, and, demonstrating the skill that the Princes were obviously learning, turned to Lucas. "What do you think of it, Luke?"
Luke was in the middle of a large gulp of tea, but he swallowed and then licked his lips, nodding, "Mmmm." In agreement.
"What do you think of your tea, Astra?" Piper asked.
Astra had just taken the first sip from her purple thermos with cartoon umbrellas painted on the outside, and she was making a face like she'd never tasted anything so bitter in all her four years on earth. Astra's drink choices were mostly water or juice, so she'd probably been expecting something entirely sweet or entirely bland. But, wanting to fit in with the others, Astra swallowed and nodded, still grimacing, "It's good."
None of the grown ups could help laughing at her, but she didn't seem to mind. She was back to the celery and peanut butter snack, hoping to purge the tea from her palate.
Luke was now staring, transfixed, at Addy. After a moment, he seemed to settle on how best to say what he was thinking. In his usual toddler slur, he said, "I likes her hat."
"You do? That's very nice to say." America complimented him. "Her grandmother knitted that for her after she was born."
"It's soft?" Luke asked.
"Very soft and warm. Perfect for her brand new little head." America nodded.
"Can't see her hair, though." Lucas sighed.
"You really like her hair, don't you?" America smiled. "It's red like mine and Duchess Kenna's, and Astra's."
Luke nodded, "Yeah."
"Did you know that we'll be coming to visit you this summer?" America asked the boys.
"Are you?" Andrew looked up from his scone, interestedly. "And, um… Will Astra and Kile come, too?"
America glanced at Kenna apologetically, knowing she'd wanted to talk over such a possibility with James before Astra found out about it. As it was, Astra was now keenly interested in what America said next. "If their Mommies and Daddies agree, and everything works out, they are certainly invited."
"Hm." Andrew seemed to take this as the 'maybe' that it was, but Luke and Astra were eyeing each other excitedly.
"All I meant was, Addy won't be wearing any hats come summer. She'll be a bit bigger, with a bit more hair. That will be a fun visit, won't it?"
"Yes!" Astra cried, and Kenna rolled her eyes to the grey sky above.
"Sorry, Ken." America said, in a low voice. "I didn't think that one through."
"It's alright." Kenna pretended to be annoyed, and maybe she wasn't entirely pretending, but she wasn't angry, at any rate.
Silence fell for a moment, as little faces worked to chew through their snacks and sip their warm tea, and then Luke said, out of the blue, "I do likes her hat, though." As if he didn't want to take the chance that Addy might be offended that maybe, just maybe, he liked her hair better.