Peanut Butter Fingerprints

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Sweet Dreams"

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"Harsh reality is always better than false hope."

-Downton Abbey

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America

I awoke to shouts ringing through the Palace. I stirred lazily, wiping my eyes clean with numb fingers and yawning. What was going on? Oh, God. Were the French here already? Did everyone get to the safe room? Is-?

"Your Majesty, the King has returned!" a maid squealed as the door to Maxon's office flew open.

My head jerked up immediately, and I pushed my unruly hair out of my tired eyes.

"What?" I breathed, my heart skipping a beat.

"His Majesty King Maxon has returned to the Palace with Lady Georgia and Sir August!" the maid repeated.

Maxon's back. Oh, God. He's back. He's okay.

I flew out of his leather chair and stumbled in my hazy stupor through the open door. My heart was pounding feverishly in my chest as I made my way down the hallway.

"America?" Maxon called from a floor away.

I rushed down the hall to the stairs as fast I could. Aspen exited from a nearby room with Lucy in tow, and they looked curiously down the stairs with me. Lucy had a bundle of fabric in her hand and knitting needles in the other, while Aspen was holding a handful of baby blue and bubblegum pink yarn. I would have laughed at Aspen holding pink yarn if not for the troubled look on Lucy's face. I remembered that the rebel attacks had given her great anxiety in the past, and all the commotion must have triggered some unwanted memories.

"What's going on?" Lucy asked in a soft voice as she fidgeted nervously.

Aspen, noticing Lucy's anxiety, tugged her closer to his side and wrapped an arm around her protectively. I couldn't help but smile.

"America? What's going on? Aren't you supposed to be in the infirmary?" Lucy wondered.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and blinked twice at them.

"Maxon's back," I replied.

I purposefully left out why I wasn't in the infirmary. In all the excitement, I'd hoped they'd forget about that. It seemed they did, as Lucy didn't press me for an answer. She just clutched her knitting needles to her chest and held Aspen's free hand.

"I told you everything would work out in the end, Mer. It always does," Aspen added as he looked behind Lucy's back to smile at me.

I smiled back and nodded. His words echoed in my head: it always does. I hoped he was right.

A loud squeak drew me back to reality, and in suddenly remembering that Maxon was just a floor below me, I darted for the stairs. Before my toes could hit the first step, Aspen grabbed my arm and gently tugged me back onto the carpet in front of the stairs.

"Mer, you can't climb stairs in your condition. You'll hurt yourself," Aspen exclaimed.

I struggled to writhe free from his grasp. Maxon was so close, I could hear his footsteps as he made his way upstairs. I didn't want to spend another second without Maxon, but I also knew that Aspen was right.

I tried to reason with him. "Please let me go. I'll be careful."

"Aspen's right, America. You could hurt the baby," Lucy agreed.

I sighed and ran a hand through my messy hair. As much as I didn't want to wait, I knew I didn't have any other choice.

"He'll come to you. Just wait," Aspen reassured me firmly.