Dirty Crown: A Bad Boy Secret Baby Royal Romance (with BONUS book - Rebel Rockstar!) (19 page)

I’ll miss home, and I’ll miss my friend Kelly, but I can always go back and visit any time I like. This feels like the right move for all of us, the one that will keep us all happy.

“Okay,” I announce, smiling at everyone in turn.

“Let’s stay here.”

P
lanning
a royal wedding is easy because most of the hard work has been done for us.

All we’ve really had to do is tell people exactly what we wanted to happen, and as if by magic it’s done.

Well, okay, Lily has done most of the ordering around, and since me and Faith don’t mind what it looks like, we’ve let her do so. It’s obviously going to be much bigger, and a lot more like something from a film than we would have done so for ourselves, but Lily is happy, and that’s all that matters.

Especially when she saw her bridesmaid dress, which is a pink, sweetheart, poufy dress with layers and layers of tutu. It’s grander than anything that anyone else is wearing, which will place her exactly where she wants to be.

Princess Lily – there for the world to admire.

The media storm hasn’t really calmed down since me and Faith got engaged, but I’m hoping that as soon as the wedding passes, something else will happen to grab the public’s eyes.

Luckily, it’s all been very positive – more and more since the full truth of our love story – which is lovely news, but really I cannot wait until it’s just us again, and we can be normal.

Not that we will ever be truly normal again.

We have made the decision to stay in England, which I know is the right one, but I’m not quite sure how prepared I am to take back the role that I was so willing to give up. It’s certainly going to take a lot of getting used to, but with my family by my side, I feel like I can tackle anything with ease.

Faith’s American links – her old boss, Bill, and her friend, Kelly – have been invited to the wedding, as have her parents.

They haven’t been on the best of terms their whole lives, which was made worse by the unplanned pregnancy, but in the spirit of moving forwards with our lives, Faith has written out to them. She extended an olive branch and telling them about the wedding, but we haven’t heard anything back yet, so we don’t know if they intend to be there.

We can only hope. I certainly pray for her benefit.

I know that she needs it more than she’s letting on. I don’t know if she will ever be able to be truly happy without them even minimally in her life.

And now that she’s seen how it’s possible to repair difficult relationships, I think that need has become more prominent.

“Are you ready?” I ask Faith, as she stirs in the bed, slowly waking up.

“For the biggest day of your entire life?”

“What do you mean?” She smirks.

“I don’t recall anything big in my diary today. Just a stroll around the grounds… then some tea at two…”

“Very funny,” I jump up and yank the duvet cover off her.

“Now go and get that gorgeous dress on. I want to make you mine officially today.”

“How do you know that my dress is nice?” She exclaims.

“It could be hideous. You haven’t seen it. I’ve done everything within my power to keep it away from you!”

“No, but I’ve had it described to me in great detail from the excellent secret keeper, Lily.” I laugh.

She’s been far too excited to keep anything inside over the last few weeks, which has been hilarious. To me, this feels more like an official engagement than a wedding, because we’ve already had the intimate ceremony that’s just for us.

I don’t mind how today goes, or what anyone thinks of it, because in my mind, Faith has been my wife for a very long time.

“So I already know that you look stunning.”

“Right, well I suppose I better go and get dressed then.” She throws on a silk nightie, which has my body craving her like crazy.

I already don’t know how I’m going to get through the whole day without claiming her as my own…

* * *

I
can barely even think
as the morning whizzes past in a blur. So much happens, but I don’t even get a split second to take stock of any of it – it’s madness.

Then suddenly, I’m alone, sitting in front of a mirror, drinking in my reflection. I’ve been given a couple of minutes to reflect and calm down before the car comes to take me to the cathedral where our wedding is being held.

“Wow,” I start talking to myself like a maniac, and I don’t even care.

“Here it is, the biggest day ever. The day that the world accepts Faith as mine.”

There is a massive beaming smile on my face, one that tells me what I already know – that I’m doing the right thing. If I was here, in this position, being forced to marry Kristine, it would have killed me, so I’m glad that I fought for what I believe in, and that I stuck up for the family that I adore so much.

Things are much better between me and my mother because of it, and they are improving with her and Faith too.

The one person who is truly forgiving of her is Lily. She absolutely adores mum, and she has her under her thumb already. I’ve never seen my mum so willing to give in to anyone, but she does whatever Lily says – it’s the sweetest thing that I’ve ever seen, and I’m so glad that they have each other.

In fact, when we asked Lily if she would like to come on our honeymoon with us, or if she would prefer to stay with her grandmother, she chose to stay behind. I know that she’s excited to start school anyway, so at least she gets that.

“Are you ready?” Marcus enters the room, looking a little uncomfortable in his best man’s suit, but I forced him into the job regardless.

When I heard about how he risked his job to counteract what Kristine told the media with the truth, I realized that I never had such a good friend as him.

I understand why he drifted apart from me during those difficult years, but we’ve managed to get things back now, for which I’m truly grateful.

“I think so,” I tell him, standing upright.

“How do I look?”

“Like a man who’s about to tie on that ball and chain for the rest of his life,” he jokes.

“You look just wonderful, now come on. I don’t want to leave that fierce bridesmaid waiting. I don’t think she’ll ever forgive me.”

There is already a massive crowd gathered outside the wedding location, which piles the pressure on me. I still don’t quite feel comfortable with all eyes on me, so this feels a little strange. I step out and wave at a few people, before posing for a couple of photographs, but it isn’t long before everyone gets bored of me. I look over to where the interest is being held, and of course, I see Lily talking to the press about her dress.

No one has any control over her, no one is telling her what to say, but they don’t seem to need to. She is holding her end just fine, so I take the time to sneak inside to get myself ready.

Finally, after what feels like forever, it’s time.

The wedding march blasts out, and I keep my eyes solely focused on the door, waiting for the love of my life to burst through.

My heart is racing, my palms tingling with excitement, my entire body fluttering with anticipation.

The door opens and in she comes.

The ivory designer dress is sleek and elegant, clinging to her every curve perfectly. I’m sure that she was told to have her hair in some very complicated style, but she has resisted and it’s hanging down loosely, reminiscent of our first wedding day.

My heart literally skips a beat as she starts to walk slowly and gracefully, keeping her eyes trained on me the entire time. We both have that same expression on our face, the one of true happiness that nothing else will stand in our way and that we can finally just be together. It’s amazing, after all that we’ve been through, that we can actually be here.

For a brief second, I’m reminded of that gorgeous stranger I saw standing in the breeze at Tintagel Castle, the one I just
had
to speak to before I lost my mind. Who would have thought that one conversation would have led us to here?

Behind her comes Lily, who is performing her duties perfectly. She really does look like a true princess, and I know that she will relish her new role. As someone who hasn’t had it easy her entire life, she won’t grow up anything like Kristine.

She’ll be grounded and smart, and she will love every single second. I can’t wait to give her the life that she’s always deserved.

When Faith reaches my side, and she grips onto my hands, my heart is filled with an overwhelming, powerful love. This is it, the moment that my entire life has been building up to, and I cannot wait for the rest of our lives.

Now that we can truly be together, it all feels so worth it. All the horror, all the awfulness, it all simply melts away.

We smile at each other throughout the entire ceremony, conveying many unsaid things in our eyes. We’ve somehow managed to become a champion of the people, proof that true love conquers all, but for me this has never been about what we symbolize.

It’s about being us, and being happy. We’re meant to be, and that’s all that has ever mattered.

“…and I believe that the bride and groom have prepared their own vows?” The priest states, indicating that it’s time for us to take over.

I cough slightly, preparing myself to say the words that I’ve been practicing for what feels like forever. This moment with be publicized for the world to see, and I want everyone to finally understand what we truly mean to one another.

“Faith,” I start, looking at her with true love in my eyes.

“When I met you all those years ago, at Tintagel Castle, I already knew that you were the one for me. You had just got off a plane from America, and you were jet lagged and disheveled, but I didn’t even notice that. All I saw was the girl of my dreams, the one who would make my life complete. Then, we got separated…”

I had no intention of focusing on this part, the negative bit in the middle. It didn’t matter now.

“But fate brought us back together, and led me to learn about the greatest gift on the planet – my daughter, Lily.”

I send my daughter a smile too, and she jumps up and down with excitement.

“We’ve made it through thick and thin, overcome more than most people have to do in their entire lives, and we know for sure that it’s meant to be. It’s you and me against the world, and I’m so happy about that – you make me smile every day, laugh all the time, and you’re my rock when things get tough. I don’t know what I would do without you in my life, and I’m so glad that I never have to find out. I love you Faith, and I’m so glad to call you my wife.”

Faith is crying now, and as I glance around, so is pretty much everyone else. It’s hard to believe that our story and my words can have such an impact on people, but here is the evidence right in front of my eyes.

“I love you too, Edward,” Faith starts, with thick emotion.

“You have always been amazing to me, loving me for who I am and making me feel special no matter what. I honestly can’t picture my life without you in it, and now I’m lucky because I don’t have to. You’re right, we are meant to be, and I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with you. You’re perfect for me, and I love you.”

“You may kiss the bride,” the priest says quickly, proving that it’s all getting to him too.

I pull Faith into me and I kiss her fiercely. I know that we’re supposed to be demure and sensible here, but our love story isn’t a typical one so I have no fear in displaying my true feelings.

As we pull apart, I smile at her.

“Come on then, let’s get on our honeymoon.”

We say a quick goodbye to our family, with a massive hug for Lily, but she isn’t bothered. She’s too excited about all that she’ll be able to get up to once we’re gone.

We exit the cathedral, waving at everyone in turn, before stepping into the car which will take us to the airport.

People are happily chanting our names, excited to see us get our
happy ever after
, but it isn’t that which has caught Faith’s attention.

“I saw them,” she turns excitedly to grin at me.

“My parents, they were outside. They came.”

And with that I get the feeling that we are really getting our clean slate – everyone is happy with us, and we can finally be comfortable in our love for one another.

1
year
later

“I can’t believe we’re going home!” Edward turns to smile at me.

“It feels like we’ve been gone forever!” He’s more tanned now, and he looks more relaxed too, which is hardly surprising since we’ve travelled around the world, seeing some of the most beautiful sights on offer. It’s been exciting, very interesting, and enlightening too.

I’ve experienced new cultures, spent time with some very different people, and had my eyes opened to some wonderful new things.

On top of that, we also took a stop home to see my parents. After seeing them there at the wedding, I knew that it was time to bury the hatchet and to put the past behind us.

It’s going to take some time of course, but we have made a start and they have already made plans to come over to England to spend some time with us as a family around Christmas time.

There is a healing process going on all around us, but it’s positive, and it’s what we all need. It makes me so, so happy that we’re all finally coming together.

“I know, but you have your responsibilities,” I tease.

Six months is long enough to be away from all of that.

“You have them now too, don’t forget that you’re a princess, there are going to be things expected of you too.”

Oh God, turn the car around,” I joke.

“Take me back to the airport!”

“But it’ll be so great to see Lily face to face again. Skype is okay, but it’s not quite the same is it?”

He gets that dreamy look in his eyes that’s always there when he talks about his daughter.

I know that he cannot wait to have her back in his arms again, almost as much as me.

“She’s had such a great time with mum.”

The fact that the queen has babysat Lily for all this time, and has done such a good job of it, has helped to close the rift over a little bit. It’s forced us all to talk in a much more adult way, and I feel good about what the future holds. She knows everything that she did wrong now, and she’s been making up for it ever since.

“Plus we’ve got our news…” I tease, winking at him.

“I wonder how that’s going to go down.”

“It’ll be great,” Edward reassures me.

“Everyone is going to be over the moon.”

As the car pulls up at the palace, I start to feel a buzz of excitement consuming me. Of course I’m sad about leaving the best few months of my life behind, but I’m happy to get back to reality too – my real life is about to become amazing and I cannot wait for it.

There is nothing holding us apart anymore, nothing holding us back, and I’m so ecstatic about that.

We step out of the vehicle, instantly shivering a little from the cold temperature – something that we’re going to have to get used to now that we’re back – and we find a welcome party for us, complete with banners and a very excitable, jumpy little girl.

“Mom! Dad!” She screams, racing over to us and hugging us in turn.

“I’m so glad you’re back, did you buy me any presents?”

“Right to the point,” Edward laughs.

“Of course we did, but we need to unpack soon.”

“Well you can’t do that yet, there’s a dinner been cooked for you!”

“Good, I’m starving,” Edward laughs, but I panic.

I’m not exactly dressed for my first royal dinner since being a married woman, and I don’t know if I’m going to have time to change.

Then my eyes fix on the queen, and I see that she’s dressed very casually too.

“Come one,” she tells us.

“It’s just something small to celebrate you guys being back.” She steps closer to me, as if she’s going to hug me, but then she stops suddenly, as if she thinks better of it, so I make the move and I wrap my arms around her.

“Thank you for taking such good care of Lily,” I say into her ear.

“I really appreciate it and it’s so good to be home.”

We walk through into the dining room where there has been a lovely buffet type spread set out for us. It’s perfect, just what we need after such a long day of travelling, so we all excitedly dig in and catch up on each other’s lives.

I listen intently to how Lily is getting on in her new school, which is actually much better than expected. She has some great friends with very similar interests to her, and it seems like her social life is buzzing with sleepovers and parties – this move has clearly been a good one for her, and I couldn’t be happier.

Ding, ding, ding.

I spin around to see Edward standing up with a glass in his hand, ready to make a speech. I shoot him a confused look, but he simply smiles back.

Now?
I try to ask him telepathically.

We’re doing this already?

“Thank you for listening everyone,” he starts.

“And thank you for this meal, we really appreciate it, and we’re grateful that you’re here. I just want to make a toast to family, to marriage, to all of us. And to the future. I really feel like everything has finally fallen into place. So… cheers everyone!”

As everyone raises and clinks their glasses together, I feel happier than I ever have done before.

“And I think that Faith might have something to say too.”

I take in a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves before standing up to join my husband.

“I… I think that you should all know, we recently got some news,” I grin at Edward.

“We found out that… we’re having a baby!”

Everyone jumps up and cheers excitedly, happy about this amazing news. I couldn’t be more pleased about that. Even Lily looks happy, although I know that I’m going to have to spend some time talking to her alone about this. I don’t want her to be jealous.

I hug her tightly too me, and I whisper in her ear. “You’ll always be mommy’s special princess, you know that right?”

“I do, mommy,” she replies happily.

“And I’m really pleased for you.”

“Are you ready for bed?” I check my watch to confirm that it is in fact way past her normal bedtime.

“I can read you a story and we can have a really nice chat.”

“I would love that mommy, thank you.”

* * *

I
end
up sitting with Lily for three hours, but the time simply flies past because we have so much to say to one another. As it turns out, she genuinely is happy about the baby, but I don’t expect that will last forever.

As I walk back into the dining room, I find only Edward and his mum there and she hugs me once more, with tears shining in her eyes.

“I’m so happy for you!” She tells me, really looking it.

“And I’m so grateful too. You make my son so happy, and you’re giving me the big family that I’ve always wanted.”

“Maybe not that big,” I joke.

“The morning sickness is kicking my ass!”

We all laugh happily, really feeling like the family that we always should have been.

“Now you two must be exhausted, so why don’t you go to bed and get some rest?” She starts to walk from the room, leaving us alone once more.

“And I will see you in the morning.”

After a round of goodnights, we head to our room, feeling on top of the world. As I stare at Edward, I feel that familiar burning sensation in between my thighs – the one that hasn’t diminished one bit since our honeymoon.

If we thought that a lot of alone time would curb our passion for one another, we were very wrong. If anything, it’s made it worse.

“So how does it feel to be home, hubby?” I ask him with a twinkle in my eyes, trailing my hand up and down his torso.

I bite my lip and feel my face flush with excitement as I look forward to what’s going to happen next.

“It feels great with you by my side,” he pulls me in for a deep and passionate kiss, clearly feeling the same way that I do.

“It’s weird being back here after everything that we’ve been through, but it’s good too.”

“I know what you mean,” I agree with him, but I don’t want to talk now. I have much more important things on my mind.

So I pull him back into me, and I kiss him hard and fast, hoping that nothing can be misconstrued this time. From the way that our clothes shed in a blur, it’s clear that they haven’t, and it isn’t long before we’re tumbling into a heap onto the bed, completely wrapped up in one another.

“I love you.” Edward smiles, as his fingers trail up my legs.

“I’m so glad you’re my wife. I’m so glad that we’re finally here, together forever.”

“I love you too.” I gasp loudly, gripping the sheets beneath me as he works his way towards my hot, wet desire.

I want him, I need him so badly, and I cannot wait for him to finally feel that.

He slips a finger gently inside of me, whilst claiming my nipples with his mouth, sending a crazy range of sensations flooding right through me. I arch my back with desire, pressing against his gorgeous body as he drives me insane all over again.

He knows my body better than I know it myself these days, and he never fails to make me feel incredible.

As he alternates between working inside of me, and massaging my clit, I find myself yelling out a little too loudly in pleasure.

“Oh my God Edward,” I cry out to him.

“I need you now.”

Because he doesn’t instantly respond to my needs, I reach out and grab his thick length, noticing just how hard he is for me. Clearly the passion is just as intense for him as it is me, even after all this time.

“Impatient today aren’t we,” he whispers against me, smiling next to my cheek, then he flips me over until I’m on my front and he slides inside of me, a position which sends me wild.

The waves of pleasure starts to build, and my whole body warms up with it. As the orgasm crashes through my body, so intensely that I need to bite the pillow in front of me, I think about how truly deeply I’m in love. Nothing has ever felt so good, and I’m the luckiest woman alive.

As we lay next to one another in the bed, panting excitedly, I turn to face Edward.

“I love you,” I tell him.

“I’m so glad that we finally made it.”

“I love you too,” he replies.

“Forever and always.”

And I truly believe that we will make it until the end of time.