A Dove's Tale

Chapter 193

Outside the library window, all the signs of spring were here. Pale green buds appeared on the seasonal rose bushes and vines, filling in the gaps between the year-round blooms. Water droplets fell from icicles to the melting snow banks below.

Soon, Chevalier and I would celebrate our first wedding anniversary, and then the baby would arrive.

I smiled, remembering the joy in Mother's eyes whenever she held a baby, and the familiar ache came to my heart again.

"Who are you writing this time, little dove?"

I looked up at Chevalier as he came to my side. He combed his fingers through my hair, and the butterflies fluttered happily around my heart. Lack of room had forced them to vacate my stomach.

"Belle. A lot has happened since the last time I wrote to her. I'm trying to make sure I'm not missing anything, but I keep getting distracted."

There were plenty of things to distract me. I couldn't get comfortable, and although sitting on a cushion helped a little, I couldn't sit still long before I had to get up and go to the bathroom again. And getting up was difficult.

And then there was the baby kicking me all the time.

I was sure he or she was having a lot of fun, but I wasn't enjoying the internal beating.

"Next page."

I shuffled the pages of the letter as Chevalier scanned them over my shoulder. There was so much happening, I felt certain I had to be forgetting something. I'd covered Sariel and Sarah right after the greeting, so I didn't have to worry about that. He and Sarah had eloped after he got Sarah pregnant, and he was still trying to patch things up with her father. That man was giving Sariel a worse time than any of the nobility ever did.

Jin and Theresa came next. She was pregnant and due to give birth in the fall around the same time Belle was due, and although Jin had never been shy about expressing physical affection toward Theresa in public, he was beginning to embarrass her. He'd kiss her stomach and talk to it at the most inopportune moments, and she wasn't even showing yet.

"Nokto and Lydia."

"Oh, you're right. How could I forget?"

Nokto planned to propose to Lydia as soon as I had my baby. He'd bought the ring a week after meeting her, which surprised me, but not Chevalier. Apparently, after introducing Lydia to me, Nokto had returned to Chevalier's office and announced he would marry her.

With any luck, he could get the engagement ceremony and wedding expedited. Lydia was making him wait until they were married, and I'd seen him standing outside in the snow so often, I was starting to worry about his health.

"There. That's done."

Chevalier held out his hand for me, and I took it, grateful for the help with getting up. When he was leading me across the library toward the door, the baby kicked again.

"Ouch. I'm ready for this to be over. This child is definitely yours. He's violent."

"Kicking?"

"And punching, I'm sure of it. It's bad enough we can't go to the chateau or do anything worthwhile for our anniversary. I'd rather not spend it getting beat up, too."

"Would you like to go later this spring?"

I looked up at him, surprised. He'd been reluctant to plan anything beyond labor, struggling to see past my due date, but his question sounded... hopeful.

I smiled. "Of course! We could go right at the six-week mark, so it can be a kind of second honeymoon."

"On one condition." He gave me a sidelong glance and a smirk. "Servants will accompany us."