I buried my face in the crook of her shoulder and inhaled her extravagant scent temporarily lost in her essence. She snuggled up closer against me and I wrapped my arms around her, placing my hand on the round firmness of her belly.
She signed as the baby pressed against the inside of her belly, making her presence known. I smiled and kissed Jenny’s neck tenderly.
“Connor, when do you think it’ll be over? “She asks softly. I was silent unsure of how to answer her question. Mindlessly, I began to rub her belly gently. “Connor,” she whispered and turned around so that she could look me in my eyes. Her bright brown eyes were glowing with uncertainty and I knew that they were mirroring my own gaze.
“Jennifer, I don’t want to worry about that at the moment. I want to sit here and bask in the moment that we have. I have come close to death more than once and what that has taught me is to appreciate the little moments in life.”
I could see glimmers of tears in her eyes and she immediately closed them, holding the tears back. Despite her efforts, they spilled out washing down her cheeks. A sob broke free and she threw her arms around me as if she was trying to keep me close to her. “Please, please don’t ever leave me again. I thought that you had broken your promise and that I had lost you forever. It felt like my heart was on fire,” she cried burying her face in my chest and taking a hold of my shirt. I rested my face in her hair and rubbed her back soothingly.
“I would never break my promise to you,” I mumbled, my voice muffled by her hair. I pressed a kiss into her hair and then continued to softly rub her back.
“I wrote you something. It was like a eulogy. I couldn’t come to your funeral and I thought I had lost you forever. When I thought you had died, it took so much in me to stop crying and when I did I decided to try to say goodbye. It was the hardest thing I had ever done and the most painful thing. Can I read it to you?” She probed, lifting her face up so that she could look at me.
“Sure,” I say, unwrapping my arms from around her. She slid off of the bed and walked over to her dresser where she picked up an envelope with neat script handwriting on it. She ripped open the envelope, taking out a neatly folded piece of paper and unfolded that paper.
She glared down at the paper and then looked back up at me. “This is stupid. Never mind,” she grumbled and began to refold the piece of paper.
I sat up with a frown on my face. “It’s not stupid, Jennifer. I want to hear the letter,” I encouraged.
She swallowed visibly and unfolded the piece of paper once again. She looked down at it once again, not speaking. Finally she looked up at me with tears in her eyes.
“It started with a kiss,” she began, and wiped her eyes. “A simple touch of the lips and he had stolen my soul. Connor Levi Middleton talked a lot of game, he was arrogance at its finest, but there was a reason he was such a lady’s man. He was free spirited, gorgeous, charming and most of all he was optimistic. He was optimistic about life, about love, about everything and that was one of the many things that I loved.” She stopped and looked up at me. “Love about him.” Breaking the gaze we had begun to hold she looked down at the piece of paper in her hand. “I could talk about how much I love him for days and why I love him, but I don’t need to. I don’t need to prove to the world that I love him or tell the world how much I love him, because he knows and that’s all that matters. He was all that mattered, him and our baby. There were so many different ways I saw this turning out, I never expected this to be one of the scenarios. When I imagined myself crying over him, I figured he had broken my heart, but this type of heart break wasn’t something I expected. “She stopped again and I stood up prepared to comfort her as small droplets of tears fell from her eyes.
She sniffled and wiped her face again continuing to read from the paper,” I think it’s unfair that we fell in love and we were punished for it. Despite what we had done to get to that point, he didn’t deserve this and neither did Aria and if I could take back everything that had happened that lead up to this point, I wouldn’t change anything. I wouldn’t change anything, because our love story was the grandest tale anyone could ever dream of.” Biting her bottom lip, she folded the paper back and looked up at me. “I love you Connor.”
I wrapped my arms around her and she sagged against me, crying into my shirt. I began to stroke her hair in a comforting manner. “You didn’t deserve any of it either,” I grunted and closed my eyes.
***
I walked out into the hallway closing the bedroom door behind me. Jennifer had fallen asleep after reading me that eulogy. It had hurt me to hear the pain that she had gone through. I felt guilty for putting her through so much. Like she had said, it all started with a kiss. That kiss in the hallway after speaking to her about her mother. The kiss that I had initiated. I had done this to her. This was all my fault and it made my heart hurt to think that I had caused her so much pain.
I walked out into the living room to see my mother sitting on the couch with her laptop on her lap and her reading glasses on the edge of her nose. She was typing away and I sat down next to her grabbing her attention. She narrowed her eyes at me, sitting the laptop aside.
“Connor, why do you look so sad?” she inquired, worried.
I leaned against the wall, crossing my arms over my chest and sighed. “I want to talk to grandmother,” I blurt, looking over at my mother plainly.
“Connor, I don’t think that’s possible. I mean you just returned from the dead. We can’t duck the media or your father for that matter,” she disapproved.
“Wouldn’t it be logical? We can have him arrested. I hadn’t thought about it, but if we talk to grandmother he could go to jail for what he has done.”
“And what is prison going to do Connor? It will only make him bitterer and more vengeful,” she explains.
“You’re right.” I push myself away from the wall and push my hands into the pockets of my jeans. “She’d be on our side. He told me that she hates him. He hates me because she hates him.”
My mother arched an eyebrow and peered at me in curiosity. “She hates him?”
“Yeah, it’s really complicated, but father is a lunatic. He is a psychopath.”
She rubbed her eyes in irritation and then looked over at me. “I’m going to call your grandmother and see what I can do. Maybe now we can finally rid ourselves of the problem.”
I nodded and watch her walk away. Jennifer’s bedroom came open and I turned my head to see her pregnant figure stagger out of the door.
“Hey,”I spoke, causing her to jump in surprise. Noticing her frightened expression I walked over to her and stopped in front of her. “Did I scare you?”
“Uh, I’m a little jumpy. Ever since the maternity store incident I just …get frightened more easily.”
“I’m sorry,” I apologize and wrap one of my arms around her, pulling her up against me. “I truly am sorry.”
She shrugged casually, looking up at me,” It’s fine. You don’t have to apologize so much.”
“There is so much to apologize for! I can’t stop apologizing to you. When I’m not apologizing to you, I want to apologize to you. You deserve so many more apologies than I have given. I fucked your life up. You could be married to Sam right now and happy –“
“But I wouldn’t be happy, because I’d still be in love with you. Love’s not easy to come by and it sure as hell isn’t easy to let go. I love you.” She cupped my face and glared up into my eyes. “We love you.” She took a hold of my free hand and placed it on top of her belly.
I gently placed pressure on the area where my hand was and felt a gentle nudge in return. “Can we just be in love now? We don’t have Caitlyn and that baby on our asses anymore and everybody thinks I’m dead. This won’t last for a long time, but while it lasts can we simply be in love with one another.”
“Of course,” she murmured, taking my hand and pulling me inside of her bedroom. For the rest of the afternoon we lay in her bed, cuddled up against one another and simply laying there.
Our moment was disrupted when my mother came barreling through the door with a certain look on her face. She took a deep breath and swallowed.
Jennifer and I both sat up at the same time and looked in her direction. “Mum, why are you looking at us like that?” I ask, puzzled.
“We’re going to England tomorrow. I talked to you grandmother, and I told her everything. She wants to speak to you both,” she explained. She looked between Jennifer and me and then twisted her mouth in uncertainty.
“Me too?” Jennifer spoke out, pointing to herself.
“Yes, she knows that you are pregnant and she just wants to discuss some things with you.”
Okay.”
My mother heaved a deep breath and looked to me. “Connor, I’m very worried. Please, please keep her safe.”
“Of course, but aren’t you going to be there?” I question confused.
“No, I have to talk to your father.”
“Mum…” I trailed off my voice filled with worry.
“Don’t worry about me Connor. I’ll be fine, I promise you.”
“So many promises,” I grumble and run my hand down my face, before sliding off the bed. I directed my gaze to my mother once again. “Mum, be careful. “
“Of course darling. You two should get some rest, we’re leaving early in the morning.”
I nodded my head, despite my irritation with the entire situation. I wasn’t even sure if it would be safe for Jennifer to fly and it probably wasn’t. Once again I was putting her in danger. I turned to her and cupped her face in my hands.
“I don’t want you to come. You’re too close to your due date to be flying,” I affirm.
“I’ll be fine,” she argued.
“You have a complicated pregnancy. You could go into early labor or worse something could happen and we could –“
“Connor.” She barked, grabbing my attention. She didn’t have an angry expression on her face, but she wasn’t pleased with what I was saying. Although I wanted to make her as happy as possible, I didn’t want to sugar coat the circumstances because this was serious. She took a deep breath and smiled weakly up at me. “It’ll be fine. I’ve been doing really well.” I didn’t feel appeased by her statement, my face held a blank expression. My hands dropped away from her face and my jaws clenched.
“I know you don’t want me to leave again, but it’s just not safe for you especially not there. It’s not safe in England. My father wants you dead, he wants me dead and both of us going back to where he is will be bad Jenny.”
“Connor, I know,” she says, frustratingly. She closed her eyes, intertwining her hands in front of her face and setting her chin on top of them. “Connor.” She lets out a heavy breath and untwines her hands and opens her eyes. “Listen, I have to face them. I can’t keep running away and I understand it’s dangerous and stupid, but I have to do it. I want to talk to your grandmother.”
I sigh, running my hand through my hair. Twisting my lips, I thought over it. I didn’t want her to fucking go. The thought of her going made my chest hurt and my heart felt like it was burning. I knew I wasn’t having a heart attack, and I knew it wasn’t heart burn.
It was fear, worry and pain all missed into one. Swallowing hard, I let my gaze flicker back to her. “I love you, when we get there you will not be leaving my side. You hear me?”
She nods in agreement. “Don’t talk to me like that, but I get it and I understand. I won’t leave your side. I promise.” Her voice was a raspy whisper. I took her into my arms and hugged her to myself.
***
“Why do you keep walking around?” I ask curiously watching her as she paced the aisle carrying a bottle of water in one of her hands.
“I should walk around at least once an hour to avoid blood clots in my leg,” she informed me and I nodded digesting the new information.
Turning away from her continuous pacing I take a look out of the window to see several familiar buildings. I was back in England. I hadn’t been back in England since I had died. I decided to stay in the United States to keep an eye on Jennifer and to insure that my father didn’t find out I was alive. I was in Georgia most of the time, watching and waiting.
“You should take a seat, madam. We should be landing soon,” the flight attendant recommended. Jennifer smiled at her and took her deserted seat next to me. She buckled herself in and turned to me.
“This should be interesting,” she concludes, before turning back forward. She took my hand, surprising me, and exhaled through her mouth. Smiling at the side of her face, I squeeze her hand gently.
When the plane landed, we were escorted off and into a black, sleek Mercedes. I smiled up at the driver, recognizing the familiar face as Charlie.
“Charlie” I say happily.
“Good to see you sire,” he greeted us with a smile of his own. “Shall we?”
“Yes, we shall. “
He nodded at me in the mirror and started the car, before pulling out of the private airstrip. We bypassed several familiar buildings. The sense of familiarity warmed my heart. I felt a soft, warm hand on top of my hand.
“Are you nervous?” she inquires, biting down on her bottom lip.
I exhaled heavily and shrugged. “I don’t know. Honestly, I think that my grandmother will understand, but the thing is her husband had an affair and that’s why she detests my father.”
“Wait. What?” She whispered, her voice quivering.
“I should have told you about that detail, but Jennifer it’s different with us. We’re different from those two. Caitlyn she was manipulative and …my grandmother would understand.”
“Connor, how do you know that? She could hate me. How stupid can –“She stopped and shook her head. “This probably wasn’t such a good idea.”
I shook my head disagreeing. “No, we have to face them. Her and my father.”
She doesn’t respond, instead she turns her head towards the window and ignores me for the rest of the drive to Buckingham. We were met at the gates by guards, but let us through without hesitation. My grandmother must’ve spoken to them about our arrival. I swallowed relieved that I didn’t have to make my presence known in order to get through.
Breaking the news of my resurrection wasn’t something I was quite prepared for. I had to handle things with my father and grandmother first. “Sir,” Charlie spoke, grabbing my attention. “The Paps are present,” Charlie acknowledged and I glanced behind us to see several photographers hounding at the gate.
“Shit,” I swore and then turned to Charlie. My eyes flickered to his hat and I smiled. “Can I have your hat?”
He nodded hastily and took the hat off and handed it to me. I placed the hat on top of my head and unbuttoned my coat and shook it off. “How do I look? Do I look like a common citizen?” I ask.
“Well, it’s as good as we’re gonna get. We should’ve thought this out more,” Jennifer comments, smartly.
I roll my eyes and open the car door and get out. As soon as I stepped out of the car, I could feel several eyes on me, but I ignored the pestering glares and focused on Jennifer. I reach out my hand for her and she placed her dainty one in it. I gently pulled her from the car and ignoring the glares of the camera lights flashing, we walked into Buckingham Palace. We were greeted by several looks. My attempt at not blowing my cover was blown, and I realized I hadn’t really thought this through.
“Your highness, my god, you’re alive,” a maid announced to the rest of the room.
“Emily, right?” I say.
“Yes, sir.” She blushed. “I can’t believe my eyes. This is really you.”
“Yes, it’s really me. I need for you to quiet down just a bit. “She nodded, frantically and smiled at me, before her eyes skirted over to Jennifer gawking obviously at her pregnant belly. “She is pregnant with the royal baby. We all heard about Caitlyn and we are truly sorry, your highness.”
“It’s quite fine. I’m actually glad, Emily.”
“Your highness, the queen is in the sitting quarters awaiting your arrival,” she says and I nod to her my thanks. We take the stairs, up to the second floor and quickly walk down the hall. Taking a deep breath I push open the doors to the sitting room and see my grandmother sitting on one of the several couches and sipping tea.
She turned and smiled at me. “There’s my darling grandson. Come in,” she exclaims. Jennifer and I both glance at each other unsure. Her chipper attitude throws us both off guard.
Hesitantly we both walk into the room and I wrap my arm around pulling her to my side protectively.
“Grandmum, we came here because you said you wanted to speak to us.”
“Yes of course. I’ll help you.”
We were all silent, a little surprised and somewhat curious. “Why?”
“I hate my son. And I know he says it’s because of his father, but my son is evil. He is a despicable human being and he takes advantage of people.”
“Well Mother tell us how you really feel,” A familiar voice spoke, catching all of our attention. We all turned around to see my father, Samuel and my mother. Samuel held a gun to my mother’s side and I could see the expression of fear on her face. I had seen fear in my mother’s eyes plenty of times, but nothing as fearful as the expression on her face at the moment.
“Father, it’s so good to see you,” I say with an agitated frown. He smiled at me and entered the room further. Taking Jennifer’s hand I drag her behind me.
My father chuckles noticing my actions and shoved his hands in his pockets, before smirking at us. “So, Connor you are alive. Isn’t this quite brilliant?” He exclaimed in an enthused tone. He seemed pleased but frustrated at the same time. “Never send someone in to do your job. I’ve fucking shot you several times, why aren’t you dead yet?” He asked in astonishment.
“I guess I’m resilient, father,” I say in a somber tone.
“Of course you are.” He grumbled and then turned his eyes to Jennifer who was standing behind me, shaking. I knew that it was a bad idea bringing her here and I wanted to fucking kill myself for giving in to her. We both knew that he wanted her dead, but she had to fucking insist. “Miss Turner, always a delight to see you, deary.” He pulled his hands from his pockets and let them sit at his side as he looked at Jenny. “Connor, don’t block the view. I want to see her, I want to see her and that bastard baby.”
“Don’t you fucking dare you sorry son of a bitch! If you EVER call my daughter a bastard again I’m going to personally detach your balls from your body and strangle you with your scrotum,” I snap, as anger consumes my body.
Instead of being frightened as he should be he seemed amused. I was more than prepared to act on my threat. I hated him and I wasn’t afraid to show him just how much I hated him.
“Connor, I have a proposition for you.” He narrowed his eyes at me in interest. “Let Samuel kill her. I’ll put this all behind us and I won’t hate you as much. I’ll probably allow you to take throne. I would like you to make a press conference telling them about the Caitlyn thing and taking a new wife. We could find you a fitting one. A blond with blue eyes –“
“You don’t fucking get it do you?” I growled. “I don’t want another wife. I don’t want you as my father. I want Jennifer and I want this baby and there is nothing you can do about it, George.”
He didn’t respond, instead he stared at me in shock. Finally he turned to Samuel and smiled that sadistic smile. “Let Emily go, Sam,” he commands. Reluctantly Samuel releases my mother and shoves her in our direction. “Now kill them.”
A gasp passes through Jennifer’s lips and I instantly become alert. He couldn’t get away with this. Prince or not, this was going to look suspicious and he was going to get caught. Or that’s what I hoped would happen.
Samuel turned to us with an emotionless expression on his face. He lifted the gun towards us and smiled. “My pleasure your highness.” My eyes moved pass him to glance over his shoulder. Glancing through the doorway was Charlie and Thomas. I glanced over at my mother to see if she could see what I saw. She looked over at me and cocked both of brows in inquiry.
“I’m going to allow you to say goodbye before Samuel kills you all.” George smiled and nodded at us.
“Of course,” I say nodding. “Goodbye father.” He tilted his head confused, but before he could ask me about what I had just said Thomas shot him in the head causing an array of gasps to fill the room. Samuel turned around, but before he could fire his gun he was shot in the neck. I couldn’t even speak at that point, my shock overwhelming me.
“Oh shit,” I cursed glaring at my father’s dead body.
Before I could say another word, I felt Jennifer’s hands tightly gripping my shirt and I turned around concerned. She looked up at me with wide eyes and a distraught look on my face.
“Connor I think my water just broke,” she gasped. I looked to my mother for advice, but saw that she was attending to my grandmother who lay on the floor, still, with her eyes shut.
“I think she had a heart attack, we need to get them both to the hospital,” My mother advised and I nodded, hastily. Jennifer groaned and her grip on my shirt only tightened. I could feel my heart beating frantically inside of my chest and my body becoming numb with fear and worry.
“Hey, it’s going to be fine. We’re going to get you to the hospital and the baby is going to be fine. I promise you,” I assure her.
“Okay, “She quivered and swallowed. I couldn’t even think right at this point. My thoughts were jumbled up, half of them worried about Jennifer and the life of our child and half worried about my grandmother. In that moment so many things had happened and things were becoming very much real.