Page 118 of The English Queen

Beth settled back in on the couch next to her mother. Maggie clung to Beth. Louis assumed she missed Beth dearly all of the time they had been apart. Louis knew it was soon to be over. He’d planned to go back to work in a week. However, that seemed foolish now. There was no way they would be back in Brussels in a week. The way Maggie held onto Beth’s hands like she didn’t want to let it go told Louis this was the end. Maggie was about to leave. Her final lap was being cognisant enough to help hold her baby granddaughter. And once it was over and all her children were there, Maggie was free to leave this realm and pass into another. Louis’s heart ached for his wife. He hadn’t been in the process of recovering from childbirth only to watch his parent die. This was going to be difficult.

?????

“How is she?” Vanna asked Robbie as he returned to their bedroom at Balmoral in the wee hours of morning.

Robbie shook his head.

Vanna telegraphed her sympathy with a sweet, sad smile that said it all.

“Vanora, can you do me the greatest favour?”

“Of course,” Vanna said.

She was not even sure what he was asking, but already agreed.

“I need to stay here. I cannot leave, but someone needs to collect Beth. I had hoped we could let her sleep until morning but…”

“Okay,” Vanna didn’t make him finish. “I will go and get her. Keep the monitor on you but Kiersten should be fine until I return.”

“Just… it’s not going to be long,” Robbie said.

Vanna nodded, gave him a quick kiss and handed him the baby monitor. He left through the hallway back to the other side of the house where his mother was in her bedroom—the one she had always occupied. It was the same bedroom Robbie, and his siblings would have rushed in the morning to bother their parents. Even after she became Queen, she kept that room, leaving the other side of the house to remain in the hands of Dowager Queen Margaret and Prince Gareth. Those were the rooms where Robbie and Vanna now found themselves.

Robbie slipped back into his mother’s room, sitting the monitor down on the desk in the corner of the room. Kiersten was, indeed, sleeping like a champ. She usually didn’t wake until around six these days. That would mean Vanna would be back in plenty of time. Duncan looked at him. Elliot was out of it. Keir looked up as well.

“Pa, she’s on her way.” Robbie patted his father’s shoulder. Keir smiled slightly and nodded.

Maggie was mostly out of it at this point. Her breathing was laboured. The day before, she struggled to keep her eyes open. Beth stayed most of the day in bed with Maggie and Margie. It had been so hard to watch. Beth was catching up on lost time. Maggie wanted to bask in the glow of the new baby as long as possible. Robbie and his brothers didn’t intervene. They had had many more months than Beth to process all this. Robbie was ready in a way. His mother was in so much pain. She lost her fire, strength, and sense of self by now. She faded fast. All Robbie wanted was for her to fade away painlessly. And, thanks to the hospice nurse, she would get that chance.

“When will Her Majesty arrive?” the nurse whispered to Robbie.

“Soon. My wife went to get her directly,” Robbie answered.

The nurse nodded as if satisfied. It wouldn’t take long. Robbie knew once Beth arrived, somehow, his mother would know to stop pushing. She would be at peace with all of her children.

Maggie murmured something.

“Mummy, what?” Duncan wondered.

“Sab. Where’s Sab?” Maggie asked, so quiet you almost couldn’t make it out.

“I can get her,” Robbie said. “You want Sabine here, Mummy?”

Maggie gave the tiniest of nods, then breathing so ragged as if it was too much exertion. Robbie left to collect his aunt, finding her in a sitting room pacing with his Uncle Malcolm watching on, brow furrowed, a glass of whisky in hand.

“She’s asking for you, Auntie. But… this is it. She is very unwell.”

Sabine, choked up, nodded.

“Where is Bethy?” Sabine asked as they strode to Maggie’s room.

“She is on her way.”

Sabine nodded.

They entered the room and Sabine pushed past the boys, sitting next to her sister’s bedside.

She took Maggie’s left hand and, tears in her eyes, said, “I’m here, Margaux. And Bethy is on her way. Robbie sent for her. You’re right here with us. And we’re right here with you, alright?”

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