La Chenille (Prince Harry)

Chapter Twenty One

       

The Duchess of Clarence and Avondale watched how her husband tried to dress her son in a tiny blue and white stripped baby romper. She could see the struggle in his eyes as he tried not to hurt their son. She nearly laughed at the concentrating look he had, determined to do the best possible job. "Are you doing alright over there?" She spoke, looking a little lovesick. "If you're struggling too much, I can do it for you. Make sure you don't hurt him though."

"No, no you rest. You earned it." Harry spoke, keeping his eyes on his son, who was actually already asleep after Evee fed him. "I don't understand how he can sleep through all this." He mumbled, sticking one tiny arm in the romper to finally close the buttons over Samuel's tiny diaper.

"Well, it is three in the morning." The blonde spoke, eyeing her husband who just took the baby carefully in his arms to march towards her. "I'm not tired though, how is that possible?"

"The rush." Harry spoke, smiling at her. "Look at him. I just can't keep my eyes off him."

Evee smiled, scooting over in the hospital bed to make some room for the both of them. "Sit with me." She watched how her husband crawled into bed next to her, carefully hanging on to their little newborn. He sat next to her, holding the baby in his arms while his wife rested her head on his shoulder. Both of them staring at the miracle in front of them.

"He has your nose and your lips." Harry whispered, feeling the warmth of his son nesting in his arms.

"That's the only thing he has from me. All the rest of him is you." Evee whispered, her fingers carefully touching her son's hands. "When will you call your grandmother?" Her eyes shifted towards Harry's.

She knew that The Queen had to be informed first. Then all the rest of the family would follow. She didn't have the urge to call her parents or anyone for that matter, immediately after Samuel was born. She wanted to have that cocooned, nesting feeling. Savouring their time, as a family, just the three of them. She knew it would all be over soon.

"I'm still debating if I should wake her up or not." Harry spoke softly. "She's been through so much already."

The blonde nodded her head, knowing how hard the Queen had taken her husband's death. "Do you think she would want to be woken up for this?"

Her husband stared at the sleeping baby in his arms, "For this? I'm certain she would."

"Then call her, sweety. Tell her his name." Evee smiled. "It's Christmas morning, after all."

Harry nodded his head, sitting up straight to pass Samuel towards his wife, who gladly held on to the little baby. His tiny eyes fluttering, his little fists bawled underneath the white, knitted blanket. He did not having a care in the world, not realising what an impact he had yet to make towards the public, not realising how important he really was.

Eveline patiently watched how Harry put the phone on speaker. After getting a hold of The Queen's private secretary at Sandringham estate, it still took a few minutes to actually get Harry's grandmother on the phone. Finally, she heard Elizabeth speak in wonder, "Harry?"

"Hi gran, I apologize for waking you up at this hour." The blonde listened with interest and a smile upon her face.

"I couldn't really sleep, that's alright." The Queen spoke.

"I called because I wanted you to be the first to know about a certain new member of the family." Harry grinned, side eying his family with much love. 

"Oh dear! Eveline gave birth?! How is she? How's the baby?" The blonde couldn't help but grin at the enthusiasm of Harry's grandmother. The tiredness in her voice immediately going away.

"Evee did an amazing job, I'm so proud of her. Mother and child are healthy." Harry answered. "It's a boy. He weighs 7lb 15oz. He was born last night at 11.48pm. His name is Samuel Philip William Alexander."

There was a moment of silence on the phone as Harry and Evee stared at one another. Finally breaking her silence, Her Majesty spoke, "He would have loved that, Harry. It's a beautiful name. I'm sure William will be thrilled as well."

The blonde adverted her eyes from Harry's as she noticed how deep he had to swallow, trying to hold back emotions. "I know he would have."

"I'm certain he's proud. You know how much he adored Eveline as well."

The blonde could feel her eyes watering once again. God, she had cried so much these past few hours, she didn't think she had any tears left. Watching her son sleep in her arms, she tried to hold them back as best as possible. Her thoughts had wandered somewhere far off from the phone call because when she came back from outer space, she heard Harry discuss the subject of telling the rest of the family with his grandmother.

"Yes, we probably should get some rest. I will call back in a few hours when everyone's having breakfast over there to deliver the good news. I'll ask William to put us on speaker." Harry explained, "Evee and I agreed that we'll inform her family in the morning as well."

"If it's alright, I will ask Buckingham to do the announcement tomorrow morning at 9pm sharp so you'll both have some time to inform everybody close to you. We'll try to get back to London as soon as possible. I know your father and brother will want to go back to visit immediately after the church ceremony if they hear the news."

"That's alright. We're cherishing our time together." Harry answered.

"Try to get some rest now, at least for the couple of hours that are left. The next few days will be hectic." The Queen advised.

"We will do our best."

"I never said you would not." Harry could hear the smile in her voice. "Congratulations again, I know you will be an amazing father, Harry. The boy's lucky to have both of you as his parents." The Queen spoke.  "Oh, and I nearly forgot, Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas, gran." Evee watched as her husband hung up the phone with a smile on her face.

"She seemed delighted." The blonde grinned, feeling Samuel wrap his small fingers around her pinky.

"She is." He smiled. "I can't wait to tell father and Will in a couple of hours. I actually can't wait to tell your father as well."

"And Chloe."

"20 pounds says she'll walk into this room with the biggest balloon you'll have ever seen." Harry joked.

"That's not even a bet, you and I both know she'll do that." Evee grinned. "Let's try to get some rest first. I'm getting jealous of this little guy, he doesn't seem to have a care in the world."

Harry nodded his head, smiling. "It's because he has you as his mother."

In that moment, the Duchess realised one thing. She had worn all the finest, most expensive jewellery this last year but the best, most precious jewels in the world were the hands of her newborn son wrapped around her finger and the arms of her loving husband around her neck.