Charlotte & Nate (Royals of Valleria #4) (29 page)

Rebecca laughed. “Oh, please don’t. It’ll be stressful enough carrying the next heir to the throne.”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Arianna teased. “Carrying the second-in-line to the throne of Brazenbourg?”

Rebecca walked over and put an arm around Arianna. “You’re right. You do know exactly what I’ll go through, don’t you? I’ll be looking to you for advice.”

“Are we talking imminent advice?” Cat asked with a gleam in her eye.

“Oh, no,” Rebecca assured.

Arianna sighed. “If ever I get over this morning sickness, I’m going to start planning my wedding.” She gazed down at her ring, a large emerald haloed with diamonds.

“Do you want a big wedding?” Sarah asked.

“I want any wedding,” Arianna said. “Maybe in a few months. We don’t have to wait a year like Rebecca and Alex do.”

As all the girls chattered on, Charlie felt overwhelmed. She’d never really had anybody and now she had a veritable sports team of people including her in their lives. Charlie reached over and brushed her knuckles against Nate’s cheek. While conversation continued around them, she bent down and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

“What happened to no public displays of affection?” he murmured.

“This doesn’t feel like a ‘public’ to me.”

He smiled. “No, it doesn’t. Ready to meet the whole family?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

***

After the nurses raised the head of Nate’s bed and rolled him out into the reception area, Charlie took a seat next to him and held tight to his hand. She was so nervous and felt unprepared. She never knew how to act with a family. She could bake for them, sure, but talking to them presented an entirely different challenge.

She shouldn’t have worried.

Just as the women had invited her into their circle, the others did as well. Plates of hearty lasagna were passed around to family, friends, and hospital staff as well, who watched the scene with rapt fascination from the nurses station nearby. Their confidentiality agreements would keep their silence, though the nurses doubted anyone would believe the familial scene if they told it anyway.

The food was taunted in front of Nate, whose doctor had nixed it in lieu of a lighter soup. Charlie had passed the soup stage but could only manage the briefest bites before her nervous stomach forced her to set it aside.

“How long are you two in the hospital for?” Ethan, the youngest in the family and a doctor in Vallerian Royal Navy, asked as he perused Nate’s chart. “I’m guessing a few weeks by the looks of things.”

Nate tightened his grip on Charlie’s hand. “That’s what I hear, though Charlie will make it out before me.”

“Can we order you something else, Charlie?” Rebecca asked from her perch next to Alex. “It’s no trouble.”

“No. No, thank you. I’ll just share some of Nate’s soup.”

“You’ll have to settle for soup from the hospital kitchen,” Lorenzo said, shaking his head. “I’m sure it won’t be up to your standard.”

What did he mean by that? Did he think she was too particular? “I haven’t had any issues with the food while I’ve been here. It’s been lovely so far.” She looked down at Nate. “I could go down into the kitchens and make you something.”

“No, you won’t.” Nate glared at Lorenzo, who just shrugged. “You need your rest as much as I do.”

“Coco will bring something for you both,” Genevieve interjected. “The hospital staff do very well, but she won’t settle for anything less. She’s the one who had all this food sent over in the first place.”

Nate looked pointedly at Marcello. “What about the fallout? I won’t be in the office to spin anything for you.”

“Does that mean you’re planning to return to the office?” Alex asked.

Nate considered while the room waited for his answer. Charlie gave their joined hands a squeeze. “I don’t know yet.”

“You’ve done an excellent job, my son,” Gabriel said, his eyes crisp and clear. “We would love to have you on the Council for longer, but we will support you, whatever you decide.”

When Nate remained quiet, Charlie spoke up unexpectedly. “Perhaps this isn’t the best time to decide. It’s been a hard week, and I think some decisions are best made with the benefit of time.” She gave Nate a pointed glare that had him smiling. He realized he hadn’t smiled so much in years as he had in the past week he’d spent with her.

“Did you do something stupid like propose?” Lorenzo asked Nate and a series of groans echoed around the room. Cloth napkins descended upon Lorenzo as they were thrown at him from around the room.

“Don’t listen to him,” Carolina told him. “He’s an idiot.”

“Show a little respect for your older brother,” Lorenzo whined.

Genevieve cocked an eyebrow and fixed a stern look on Lorenzo. “Show a little respect for
your
older brother and the woman he loves, who is now part of this family.”

Nate heard Charlie’s soft gasp; he wished he could take her into his arms. “I didn’t propose to Charlie, but I will someday. She’ll be moving in with me, though, so you should get used to seeing her.” Nate sent Lorenzo another glare.

Charlie shook her head. “Nate.”

“You’re it for me, Charlotte.” Nate kissed her hand. “Everyone needs to get used to that. And so should you.”

She brushed her knuckles across his cheek and he leaned into her touch. “I will. I do love you, you know.”

“I know. They will, too.”

“We already do,” Alex said, a knowing smile on his face. “And don’t worry about work. Take your time and decide.”

Nate decided honesty was best; the time to hold back from his family was past. “I don’t know what I’d do if I wasn’t on the Council. I don’t think I’d mind having a proper job, like Charlie will once she takes over for Coco.”

“Why is she taking over for Coco?” Sarah asked as she tossed her golden hair back over her shoulder. “Where’s Coco going?”

“Coco’s retiring,” Genevieve said and her children ‘awwed’ and began protesting.

“Nothing against you, Charlie, at all,” Cat assured her, “it’s just that we all love Coco quite a bit. We’ll be sad to see her go.”

“She’ll still be nearby,” Charlie assured them. “I think she’ll miss you all just as much as you’ll miss her.”

“So, what else happened while I was in surgery?” Nate asked.

Furtive glances were exchanged as the room went quiet once more, hard to do with this crowd. “Perhaps it should wait until tomorrow,” Alex suggested.

“Perhaps you should just tell me now or I’ll get my news from other sources,” Nate countered.

After a nod from Gabriel, Marcello spoke. “One of my agents was shot, but he’ll recover. He was in surgery the same time as you. Gerald’s been taken into custody. Jasper got him access to the Council chamber and Valleria itself; I’m still trying to unravel the holes in the system that let him do that.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” Grace said beside him, her slim arm wrapping around his. “It’s not your fault.”

“No, it isn’t,” Gabriel said in a tone that brooked no argument. “Security breaches happen; it’s how we deal with them that counts.”

“Was Calvin involved in this?” Nate asked.

Marcello shrugged. “We’re not sure. We’ll question Jasper some more and see if he admits anything, and Gerald, too. We’re still not sure if his death was intentional; we’ll keep digging until we find out.”

Nate nodded. “The Prime Minister and his family?”

“He was airborne not long after you starting speaking,” Marcello said. “The public perception’s against him right now since he left when he did, but our PR people are working with his to put the right spin on it.”

Nate looked at Alex. “We could use this to push the new trade deal.”

Alex smiled. “If you come back to work, you can.”

“What about Gerald?” Rebecca asked and Alex pulled her tight against him. “Does Gerald still blame us? He’s got to know that his son’s actions were his own and that we acted in self-defense.”

Marcello stared down into his drink; it had been the gun in his hand that had taken the life of Gerald’s son, Lafayette, who was nicknamed Leffie. “He doesn’t. We had our counterparts in Switzerland search Gerald’s home. They found quite a bit of Lafayette’s things there, too, including a journal he wrote in almost daily. Apparently, Lafayette blamed Gerald for the change in the succession line, for not marrying his mother, and a lot more. Leffie wanted to kill Gerald, but decided to try for the throne first.”

Alex rubbed a hand up and down Rebecca’s arm. “That’s when he decided to come after me, via Rebecca, a few months ago?”

Marcello nodded. “Not only that. The search at Gerald’s house also uncovered all kinds of documents about his shady business dealings. He’d been using the bank he owned to funnel the money Jasper had embezzled from Valleria. We can trace it, and we’ll get it back.”

“And I’ll put more security and due diligence in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” Nate said.

Gabriel cocked an eyebrow. “Will you?”

“Yes. Yes, I think I will. I’ll stay on for a little longer. I need to straighten this mess out, at the very least.”

“You don’t need to,” Alex reminded him. “But we’d love it if you did.”

“Technically, I was Jasper’s boss. That makes me culpable in the debt. The public may not want me in that role.”

Marcello shook his head. “No way that happens. The public all saw you take a bullet on live television for king and country. They won’t forget that.”

“I don’t know if I will, either,” Charlie whispered, though everyone heard it. Nate kissed her hand again.

“Besides which,” Marcello continued, “Jasper was the head of the Vallerian Patriots. He started stealing when he couldn’t bend Papa or the rest of the Council to his will.”

“If everyone knew how bloody hard it is to be the king, believe me, few would really want the job.”

“But that’s just it, isn’t it?” Alex piped up. “Others only see the power of the position. Few see it as a job that a country full of people depend upon.”

Gabriel nodded. “Well said, my son. Another example of why you will make a fine king one day and probably sooner than you thought.”

As gasps were heard around the room. Gabriel held up a hand. “I alluded to something earlier in the week, regarding the Independence Day celebrations, and I’m now finishing that discussion.” Gabriel signaled for the protection agents to clear the room of any hospital personnel; even confidentiality agreements wouldn’t keep his announcement from reaching the press. When the room was filled to the brim with his family only, he cleared his throat and held tight to Genevieve’s hand.

“A year into our marriage and my reign,” Gabriel began, to the rapt attention of all, “we celebrated the fifteen hundredth anniversary of our independence. In eleven years, we’ll celebrate the fifteen hundredth and fiftieth year. On that occasion, I will formally abdicate the throne to Alexander.”

The room was eerily silent while they all pondered the news. Alex furrowed his brows and spoke first. “Papa, are you sure?”

“Quite sure. I’m going to be a grandpapa soon,” he said with a smile to Arianna. “And who knows how many more grandchildren we’ll be blessed with in eleven years. I want to spend time with all of them, and less time running the country.”

“Eleven years though?” Sarah asked. “That’s a long time to prep for retirement, Papa.”

“I know it, but Alexander deserves this time with his young bride, and Rebecca deserves this time with her young groom, so I’ll slowly move more responsibilities to him after the wedding. I wasn’t so lucky at the start of my marriage to steal away moments with my bride, and I want Alexander and Rebecca to have that.”

“Are you feeling all right, Papa?” Ethan asked, his face a mask of worry. “There’s not something else leading this decision, is there?”

Gabriel sighed. “I confess that I do tire much more easily these days, but it’s nothing more than my age.”

“I can take over sooner, Papa,” Alex insisted. “You can still take your time retiring, if you wish, but let me bear the burden.”

“You’ll carry it for many years to come, my son, and I’ll not give it until I’m ready to do so.” Gabriel’s no-nonsense tone brooked no argument. “It also shouldn’t have to be said, but I’ll say anyway - this news go nowhere beyond this room. We’ll announce it when I’m good and ready and not a moment sooner.”

“Are you all right, Your Majesty?” Charlie asked Genevieve.

Genevieve smiled. “Of course I am. You’re so sweet to ask. Please, just call me Genevieve, no need for formality, not anymore.”

Charlie flushed. “Oh. All right.” Nate squeezed her hand again.

“And you must call me Gabriel. No argument. You’re part of the family now. I wouldn’t have made that announcement in front of you if I didn’t think so.”

“Thank you.” Charlie swallowed. “Thank you very much.”

“Thank you for bringing a light into my son’s eyes,” Gabriel said and cleared his throat. “Now then, I think we still need to have some dessert. I believe Coco’s packed us with some of your delicious cake, Charlotte.”

Charlie’s eyes widened. “Oh, well, don’t feel obligated to eat it, if you’d rather not.”