The Beautiful Thief

Chapter Twenty

     "Okay, just a couple more steps," Mary says. I can't see anything due to her hands covering my face, so I have one hand on my stomach and the other out in front of me. "Alright, wait right here, no peeking."

      I hear her footsteps and then she stops. "Can I open my eyes yet?"

      "Yes." She's standing next to two gorgeous dresses. One of them is a wedding dress, the other is a long red dress with lace details on the shoulder. "Do you like them?"

      "They're beautiful. Did you do this?" I ask.

      "You were so sad about Caleb, so I took it upon myself to make you a wedding dress, with the help of your cousin of course. And the red dress is for your maid of honor, whoever it is."

       "Well, seeing as how my cousin is already gone and my mother would be the one to walk me down the aisle, would you like to be my maid of honor?" A smile spreads across her face and she nods her head. "Great. And we already have our flower girl and ring bearer."

       She gives me a questioning look and I say, "Evan and Evie."

       "They'll love that. Let's get you back to bed, you have to rest."

       "I'm fine, I'm not even that far along yet. Plus, Caleb and I have to take our walk."

       "After that, you are going to rest. Or read a nice book. No straining yourself."

        "Okay mom,"  I say sarcastically. She uses her rag and swats at me. "Come on, let's go find my fiancé." We loop arms and make our way to his room. He's just buttoning his shirt when we enter. "You ready for our walk?"

        "I most certainly am." Mary unloops her arm from mine and walks back down the hall, but not before giving me a wink. "Have you got all the wedding details figured out?"

       "Of course. We'll have red roses lining the aisle, and I'll have a bouquet of gardenia, aster, and baby's breath. Luck, love, and innocence. You'll have a an aster pinned to your lapel. Mary is my maid of honor, Evie is the flower girl, and Evan is the ring bearer. My mother will walk me down the aisle and give me away to you."

       "What about our honeymoon? Have you chosen a destination?"

       "I want to stay here. I'm not taking any chances for one of us to be taken, or worse, both of us. We'll stay in our new room, and be together. We'll sing and dance and be merry."

        "Sounds much better than a foreign country," he whispers in my ear. Caleb plants a kiss to my temple and we pause at a bench to rest. Since we're inside the palace, there are no guards watching us. "Are you hungry?"

        "A little." Since Caleb's been back, my appetite has grown and my taste buds crave the oddest things. Like peanut butter and pickles on bread, and grilled cheese with grape jam. "Let's go to the kitchen, I'm sure they'll have something sweet."

        "You know what they say about craving sweet things while pregnant?" Caleb says.

       "No, what do they say?"

       "Sweets means a girl, sours mean a boy. And if you crave dairy, you'll have a girl. Meats and it's a boy."

         "I guess we're having a girl then," I state.

         "And she'll be just like you. Kind, caring, loving. She'll have your eyes and hair."

         "No, she'll have your eyes. Beautiful baby blues and my curly mop of a mess."

         "And she'll be beautiful and all ours." I place my forehead on his and close my eyes. Imagining us with children circled around, Caleb telling them a story and me listening closely, admiring our beautiful creations.

           "I can't wait for the future," I whisper.

        "And we won't have one if we don't feed our beautiful girl. Come on, let's get you your food." I stand and help him to his feet and we make our way to the kitchen. The cook having already placed a plate of cookies and two glasses of milk on the counter for us.

         "Thank you Charles," I tell him as we take the plate.

         "You are very welcome Lady Adelaide." I smile and we walk back to my room to eat the cookies.

         "Two more weeks and I can call you my wife," Caleb says as I chew a bite of cookie. I give him a smile and lean back on the pillows. "And six and a half months until we see our beautiful baby."

         "I can't wait." After I finish two cookies, I get sleepy, so I crawl closer to Caleb and lay my head on his chest.

         "Get some sleep my love, I'll be here when you wake up." I dream of Caleb and I together, old and frail, our children all grown up and surrounding us. When I do wake up, Caleb is playing with my hair and it's nearly night time.

          "Why didn't you sleep?" I ask.

          "Because you were asleep and I wanted to watch over you." I sit up and plant a quick kiss on his lips.

         "I should probably go take a bath before dinner. Because after dinner we have that press conference in the Announcement Hall." Caleb gets up to run the water for me and I grab an outfit out of the wardrobe. "Will you put bubbles in it please?" I call to him.

         "Sure, what kind?"

         "Um, lavender. Thank you." After I set the dress and accessories on the bed, I undress and make my way to the bathroom. Caleb is already sitting in the tub that is filled to the brim with bubbles. "Caleb Hancer, you are not supposed to be in that bathtub."

          "But you're about to get in, I thought I could join you." I smile and step into the warm water. "Is it a good temperature?"

          "Yes, it's perfect." We sit in the tub for a minutes, just enjoying the water, until someone knocks on my door. Without thinking, I tell them to come in, assuming it's just Mary.

        "Adelaide, are you in the bathroom?" I hear my mother call. I turn to Caleb, a look of shock on my face.

         "Yes mother, I'm back here." Caleb takes a deep breath and ducks under the water. She comes into view a few seconds later.

         "Dinner starts in ten minutes, don't be late okay."

         "Sure thing. Love you, I'll see you in there." Ever since I was chosen, my mother has been named a Lady of the palace. She doesn't have to work anymore, but she still teaches the children of the house maids and medical nurses.

         "Love you too. And you can tell Caleb to come out of the water." With that she turns and leaves the bathroom. Caleb comes back up and gasps in air.

        "She knew you were under there." I look at him and then he bursts out laughing, which in turn makes me laugh.