Royalty

35| Epilogue

Chapter 35: Epilogue (Ella's POV)

2 years later

I was sitting in bed, exhausted. I leaned my head back against the headboard, rubbing my eyes. 

Nick came in, walking over to me. "Hi," he smiled, leaning down and kissing my lips. 

"Hi," I mumbled. 

"Do you want me to put her to bed?" he chuckled, picking her up and bouncing her in the air. 

"I need someone to put me to bed first," I said sarcastically, lying down in the bed. 

"Go to sleep. I'll put her to bed and then in the crib," he nodded. 

Aurora giggled in response. She is almost one year old, she will be in a month. 

"I thought you would be heading for the council meeting?" I frowned in confusion. 

"I canceled it," he replied, pressing kisses to her cheek. 

"You said this was an important meeting, how come you canceled it?" 

"It was important," he nodded. "But not more important than my wife and daughter." 

He had his way eventually. We had a daughter last year. And what do you know, having an actual grandchild in his arms, made my father-in-law have a great change of heart. Well, he says he's working on it. That didn't stop Nick from wishing he was dead for a good eight to nine months after Aurora was born. It took a lot of persuasion on both ends to have them talking again. Little by little. 

Nicholas still doesn't really like leaving Aurora with him, he doesn't like having him around her. I remember when she was born, he didn't even want him to see her, let alone hold her. 

"Where is your mom?" I asked, fiddling with the sleeves of his shirt. I don't think I have worn my own clothes in the palace since we had her. Only when we go out. The pregnancy wasn't too bad, but the mood swings were horrible. So since then, until now. Nobody has dared to tell me to dress or act a certain way. It felt nice to have the power. 

We didn't plan the pregnancy, just like we didn't plan the scare we first had. It was another scare but the tests came out positive. I took three to make sure. Nick was very understanding, he told me I didn't have to keep the baby if I didn't want to, but I knew he wanted it and I knew I wanted it. 

We were in no world ready to be parents. But we wanted to. When we got pregnant, I didn't study pregnancy or parenting at all. Nicholas was way more nervous than me. I had my mother swing by often, she would explain things to me, tell me her experiences, I learned most of it from that. 

Nick on the other hand was a ball of nerves until we were in a set routine. 

And this baby. Aurora. Dear God. 

Nick and I would stay up a little before having her. Especially me. I would sleep often in the mornings and wake up in the afternoons, except for waking up to get something in my stomach. It became Nick's duty to make sure I was healthy, eating, taking care of the baby. 

Nick fell in love the day we had her. He was the one who stayed up the whole night to watch her, not me. He was the one who did all the firsts. First bath, first nail clippings, first diaper change. 

That isn't a pleasant memory. 

I helped but the labor was very difficult and I took a little longer than most to recover. 

Everything is good now, I suppose. Her clock just happens to be the other way around. She normally sleeps throughout most of the day and she's wide awake throughout the night. Which leads to me staying up with her. I try letting Nick sleep at night because he's the one who needs to wake up early in the mornings and get to work, not me.