A Dove's Tale

Chapter 188

"I'm not pregnant!"

Theresa laughed. I shot her a glare and turned to look out the carriage window, wishing I hadn't talked Chevalier into letting her and Jin ride with us. They were sitting across from us, keeping their hands off each other, at least, but the teasing was getting to be a bit much.

And I was sick and tired of people asking if I was pregnant yet.

"You can't say that for sure," she pressed on.

"Neither can you," I retorted. "Are you pregnant?"

Jin chuckled. "She's got you there."

I watched them in my peripheral vision, and despite my irritation, I had to smile. Theresa's face lit up redder than her hair, even before Jin planted a kiss on her cheek. He threw an arm over the back of the seat, letting his fingers drape across her shoulder, and she shifted in her seat, embarrassed.

"Wh-what do you think our dresses will look like?" she stammered, now as desperate for a subject change as I was. Although this one wasn't much better.

I sighed and turned to look at her again. "I don't know, but I hope they're not too... revealing."

"It's been a while since I've been to Benitoite, but Nokto said the current styles show a lot of skin," Jin commented.

Nokto had told me the same thing, as had the palace seamstresses. Benitoite had plenty of sunshine and beaches, and that, combined with new ideas arriving on trade ships every day, meant fashions which would shock Rhodolitian sensibilities wouldn't draw a second glance from a Benitoitan.

They even had clothes just for swimming. In Rhodolite, we simply stripped down to our undergarments, but in Benitoite, they wore swimsuits. And what I'd heard of those sounded scandalous.

"Belle wouldn't have picked something you couldn't wear, Ivetta," Theresa reassured me. "And she's marrying a prince. How risque could she get with a royal wedding, anyway?"

Chevalier was reading in silence beside me, as he had been doing the entire trip. I knew he was listening, but he wasn't one to join a conversation unless he felt it was necessary. So Theresa and I chatted, and Jin contributed here and there, and when the conversation waned, I rested my head on Chevalier's shoulder instead of picking up my book.

He was a much faster reader than anybody I knew. I read a paragraph before he turned the page.

He hadn't been thrilled about me traveling to Benitoite. Everybody seemed to think three months of marriage was high time for me to be pregnant, and there was no escaping the comments and questions about it. Add to that one missed cycle, and he was on edge, worried about my health and hypervigilant of everything I did or didn't do.

I'd explained to him it wasn't unusual for me to miss a month here or there, and I'd even asked Theresa to confirm that for him, hence her teasing. But if I ate less for breakfast than usual one day, or if I seemed the slightest bit fatigued, he would get overbearing. I knew he was concerned about how my body would handle a pregnancy after my past injuries, but I wasn't about to miss Belle's wedding to allay his fears.

We had a big fight about it. He'd put his foot down, and I'd stomped on it, in a manner of speaking. After a tense day that included a bout of angry tears on my part and strict avoidance on his part, we'd reached a compromise and made up.

I hated fighting with him. Making up with him, however, was oh so much fun.

"Is that the palace? It's gorgeous!"

I sat up straight and looked out the window at Theresa's exclamation, and I had to agree. Pristine white walls edged with gold and broken by smooth pillars and arches rose to turquoise roofs topped with gold spires. Two rectangular pools of crystal clear water flanked the spotless white driveway, and sparse palm trees and other tropical plants unfamiliar to me spotted the scene with splashes of green and vibrant, colorful blooms.