Page 167 of Modern Romance January 2025 1-4

Her heart soared. ‘I thought you needed an heir,’ she said with a lift of one brow.

‘I need nothing but you.’ He was now adamant. ‘You tell me your heart’s desire, and I’ll make it happen.’

She sighed with contentment. Rosie knew that a child was in their future, but in that moment, she also knew that Sebastian was right. They had just found their way to one another, and she wasn’t ready to share him yet either.

She pressed her forehead to his. ‘I love you,’ she said, simply, and in those three words, there was a lifetime of promise and hope.

It was an accident, in the end, and one with serendipitous timing. A few niggling symptoms in the weeks leading up to their first wedding anniversary had Rosie beginning to wonder. This time, when she dispatched Laurena to buy a pregnancy test, she expected it to be negative. They hadn’t been trying. Sebastian had been emphatic about using protection, despite the fact every test under the sun had shown Rosie to have no increased risk factors. She took the test as a matter of course, glanced at it quickly before intending to toss the thing away, only to be stopped in her tracks by the appearance of a very dark second line.

‘Oh my,’ she whispered, lifting a hand to her mouth, her smile broad. Her other hand pressed to her stomach. Her heart soared.

A baby!

And a baby that had simply decided to swim into their lives no matter what they’d intended. It was as though the fates had pulled all the strings, shaped the stars, done whatever they could to gift this to the royal couple.

Although it was news Rosie felt bursting out of her, she didn’t tell Sebastian right away. She felt a hint of guilt at confiding in only Laurena, but she needed her help to discreetly book appointments. Before she broke the news to Sebastian, she wanted to have every assurance she could give him: she knew he’d need that before he could celebrate, and when she told him, she wanted him to be happy.

And so appointments were organised with the royal obstetrician, scans completed, more tests undertaken, and though Rosie couldn’t be exactly sure, when she worked back the dates in her head, she became convinced that they’d conceived on the island, whilst celebrating Sebastian’s birthday, two months earlier.

Their first wedding anniversary was marked with a formal dinner. Many dignitaries were in attendance, but it was notable to Rosie because the dinner also included Maria and the king, and for the first time, she witnessed them have a private conversation. Concern frayed at the edges of her mind, because Maria had looked pale and walked out quickly afterwards, leaving the function for almost ten minutes. Rosie, as the guest of honour, had been unable to follow and make sure she was okay.

Sebastian only had eyes for his wife and hadn’t noticed the conversation.

For her part, Rosie wanted the formal event to be over, so she could be alone with her husband, and finally tell him their news.

At the first opportunity however, she excused herself and went to her mother-in-law.

‘Hello,’ she said, taking a seat beside her and smiling.

Maria smiled back. ‘You look radiant, my darling, utterly radiant.’

‘Thank you,’ Rosie frowned though. ‘Maria, I wanted to make sure you were okay. I thought you might have been upset earlier.’

Maria waved a hand in the air, but her lips trembled, and her gaze travelled across to the king. He was locked in conversation with the prime minister.

‘I hadn’t realised until tonight how much I needed it,’ Maria said, her voice soft.

‘Needed what?’

‘His apology.’ She shook her head. ‘I had given up all hope of hearing it, and then tonight, out of nowhere, he told me how much he’d missed me. How much he regretted his decision. He said he’d been wrong, and if he could undo any one thing in his life, it would be his failure to stand by me. He said it had been like the knocking over of a domino that had tracked through the rest of his entire life, and that he will always be grateful to Sebastian for finding a way to bring me home. To bring Sebastian home.’ Maria squeezed Rosie’s hand. ‘Can you imagine how I felt to hear these things, darling one?’

Rosie’s mouth dropped. ‘I had no idea he was going to speak to you.’ She had pulled back from her official duties in recent months, seeing less and less of the king, and working instead on her key charities.

‘He has asked me to stay here for a while, to spend time with me.’

‘Are you going to?’

Maria sighed softly, her eyes shifting then to Sebastian’s. ‘I will never forgive him for what he took from my son,’ she admitted. ‘But then, he has also given Sebastian the greatest gift in life. You.’

Rosie’s cheeks flushed pink.

‘On balance, I am inclined, I think, to let bygones be bygones.’

Rosie wanted to cry with happiness, but she didn’t. She smiled instead, and in her heart, she felt a lightness that spoke of a bright future and a truly happy family.

The plane touched down on the island a little after midnight, and it was ten minutes after that before they were at the villa on the edge of the water, but Rosie wasn’t tired. She was buzzing and humming, almost incapable of believing that after weeks of waiting, she could finally reveal everything to her beloved husband.

‘We need to talk,’ she murmured, draping an arm casually around his waist and drawing him onto a balcony that overlooked the ocean. The evening was cool, and the moon was high and silver like a shiny coin.

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