Page 30 of Reign
Jefferson had replied, with utter seriousness,Daphne has been part of my life for so long, I don’t know how it would feel to live without her.
She wasn’t sure what to make of that answer. On the surface, it sounded like a sweeping, swoon-worthy romantic declaration. Yet if you listened hard, you might notice that there was no mention of love. Only of shared history, of lives that had become so enmeshed and intertwined that there was no easy way to tear them asunder.
Daphne’s fingers itched to scroll through her phone, see what new comments had popped up in the last half hour. She’d stolen a quick glance on the drive over and was relieved to see that she still had a loyal army of supporters; #TeamDaphne was still active.
But she had plenty of critics now, too. They had become vocal after her father’s scandal—as if her family’s fall from grace had broken a shield that used to protect her, and now anything was fair game—and from the look of things, they were having a field day with this morning’s engagement interview.
They rounded up plenty of evidence of her unworthiness: body-language experts who analyzed her posture and said she was lying (well, she was); fashion critics who called her outfit “totally cringe”; die-hard royalists who protested that she “just didn’t deserve” Jefferson, whatever that meant. Someone had even unearthed her mother’s decades-old swimsuit catalogs, from her days as a model.Daphne’s mom was a total skank!!they wrote.Like mother like daughter. #TackyDaphne
A commoner princess. She was something entirely new, something the likes of which the world had never seen. Which was why she had to be excruciatingly careful about her behavior. She had to act more princess-like than a princess by birth, more royal than the Washingtons themselves, or the entire fairy tale she’d spun around herself would fall apart.
She stretched out her fingers, and the facets of her ring, a cushion-cut diamond on a simple platinum band, sparkled in the morning light.
There was a knock at the door, and a woman with shoulder-length gray hair strode inside. “Your Royal Highness, Miss Deighton, I’m Dr.Carlisle. I apologize for the delay; I came straight from the hospital.” She chuckled. “Babies tend to arrive on their own timeline.”
“Thank you so much, Dr.Carlisle. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Daphne replied, with a nervous smile. This entire practice had shut down their offices for the morning so that Daphne and Jefferson could visit the doctor in private, and the staff had all signed NDAs. Still, she needed to get the doctor on her side.
Her entire future was riding on how the next fifteen minutes would go.
“You believe you’re at eight weeks?” Dr.Carlisle nodded at Daphne to put her legs into the stirrups and lean back, which Daphne did.
“I’m not entirely sure, but I think so.” Daphne hesitated. “Will you be able to see much on an ultrasound at this stage?”
“We should be able to see the baby’s head and torso, and the beginnings of some tiny arms and legs. May I?”
Daphne sucked in a breath. “No need to be anxious,” Dr.Carlisle added kindly, lifting the hospital paper. The entire room fell silent as she began moving the ultrasound probe.
This was going to happen eventually, Daphne reminded herself. She’d maintained the fiction of her pregnancy for an admirably long time, thanks to Jefferson’s trusting nature, and the old-fashioned nature of the monarchy as an institution. And, of course, her own quick thinking.
“It’s too early to tell whether it’s a boy or girl, right?” Jefferson sounded nervous, yet a bit excited, too. Guilt wedged into Daphne’s chest, which she did her best to ignore.
“Too early.” Dr.Carlisle moved the ultrasound wand, studying the screen with ferocious intensity. “Can you shift down a little?” She helped Daphne nudge her hips lower and adjusted the angle of the ultrasound wand.
Daphne knew what to say next. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m just having trouble finding your little one. Baby is playing hide-and-seek! Don’t worry,” the doctor said absently, “it’s common this early in the pregnancy, given how tiny the embryo is.”
Daphne arranged her features into an expression of concern. She kept darting glances at Jefferson, who seemed increasingly worried—and confused—the longer the doctor went without saying anything.
Finally Dr.Carlisle sat back with a sigh. “Please give me a moment.”
She retreated into the hallway, then returned with two unfamiliar doctors in lab coats. Each of them took a fewminutes with the ultrasound machine, frowning down at it in the mounting silence.
“Miss Deighton, why don’t you go ahead and sit up,” Dr.Carlisle said at last. Daphne obeyed, trying not to wince at the stickiness of the ultrasound gel, and pulled the crinkly paper across her lap.
“I’m not sure how to say this…,” the doctor began, at a loss. She’d probably never imagined that she would have to tell an Acting King that his fiancée had been mistaken about a pregnancy.
“Is something wrong with the baby?” Jefferson asked quietly.
“There is no baby.” Dr.Carlisle winced and tried again. “Miss Deighton, I’m afraid you’re not pregnant.”
For a fraction of a second, Jefferson’s face flooded with unmistakable relief, but then it was gone. He grabbed Daphne’s hand and laced his fingers in hers. “Are you saying that Daphne had a…”
“It’s possible the pregnancy ended in miscarriage, yes.” Dr.Carlisle was choosing her words very carefully. “But given how thin your uterine lining is, Miss Deighton, it’s more likely that you were just mistaken. Your BMI is so low that you might have stopped getting your period because you’re underweight.” She kept talking, saying something about the benefits of healthy fats: avocados, almonds, the occasional piece of dark chocolate.
As if Daphne could afford to eat chocolate. Didn’t anyone understand that she had throngs of paparazzi chasing her these days? People who made it their mission to get a photo of her looking sweaty, or disheveled, or, best of all, pudgy.
Dr.Carlisle seemed to realize that no one was listening, because she trailed off and swallowed awkwardly. “I’ll give you two a moment alone,” she added, gesturing her fellow doctors out into the hallway.
