Page 11 of Falling for the Widowed Prince

"Papa!" His youngest child, a mere four-years-old, ran toward him.

He swung her up into his arms.

"Dinner ready." As she often did, she played with the knot on his tie. "Mama be here today?"

Anthony closed his eyes and prayed for help. "No, sweet girl. Mama won't be here tonight."

"Mama won't be coming back. Ever." Almost eight-year-old Nessa's sullen response was typical of her attitude since her mother's passing. While not surprising, and definitelyunderstandable, Anthony hoped she would start to heal sooner rather than later - just like he hoped for all of them.

For the entirety of their marriage, they'd enforced a "family only" dinner and bedtime policy whenever possible. That meant Anthony now had two small children and three older ones without any other adult help. The nannies had helped the first couple of weeks, but it had been time to discover their new normal.

A new normal that would have to change soon. If he remarried, another woman would be at their dinner table. If he didn't, there would likely be one less place as the regent took up more and more of the new queen's time.

That alone made one decision more likely, but the question of “who” still remained, followed closely by how he would tell his children he was marrying again, but not trying to replace their beloved mother.

The sheer challenges of getting his children bathed and to bed at a reasonable hour made him wish for someone to come alongside him.

Someone who wasn't a nanny, though they loved the children.

Someone who did so because she wanted to, not because it was her job.

Someone he could talk to, vent his frustrations to, ask advice of, and trust to have his family's best interests at heart.

Someone who would understand why he needed her in his life for at least fifteen years, but who would also understand his heart wouldn't be involved.

A good working relationship with someone who would love and help take care of his children was all he required.

Much later than he preferred, he made his way to his lonely bedroom and found himself staring at the ceiling. He mentally ran through all of the women he knew, considering whom hemight be able to resign himself to a life with and also maybe, someday, settle into an easy camaraderie with as they took care of his children and their country together.

No matter how many names he came up with, only one stayed at the forefront of his mind.

If only she'd agree.

Unless she found another way, he would ask Madeleine Woodward to marry him.

4

For two days the only contact Madeleine had with the prince was via email. It surprised her to realize how much she'd come to enjoy their daily lunches and conversations, one-sided though they often were.

In all of digging, she had yet to find any other way to guarantee the prince could be the regent without also requiring him to marry again.

Needing a break from the research, Madeleine opened the book she'd been planning to work on the day their world changed. She'd been told it came from the late-seventeenth or early-eighteenth century, but needed to verify its authenticity as well as catalog the contents and make initial copies of the pages.

Carefully opening the front cover, she read the title for the second time.

A History of Eastern Novigradia through 1690

Was it just a coincidence she'd been given a book from the era she was investigating in depth? Or was it divine intervention?

She used her digital audio recorder to document her findings as she went.

"Water damage to the cover is moderate, but does not obscure the spine. From initial observations, there is also water damage to a significant number of pages, though at first glance it doesn't appear to be throughout the entirety of the book or cover all of any given page. The author is a well-known historian from the era. Copies of other books by the same author have been found and are stored in the archive. The existence of this particular one was unknown until a couple of months ago. The date of the monograph has been authenticated as 1701."

Very carefully, she turned to the table of contents, recording information about the previous pages as she did. "The chapters are divided into sections based on the monarch. The last era is that of King Gilead III. The chapters all seem to have sections on accomplishments and controversies, in addition to sections which indicate a specific era or event within that monarch's reign."

She paused. King Gilead III? Her research had confirmed the widely accepted list taught to school children throughout the country.

It only included two Gileads.

---