/ Istvan – FC Rob Evans
/ Both images borrowed from their Instagram
/ I own none of these images, all used with love and respect <3
/ Rings – enoirvado / Vegas view – Instagram sin1city / Quotes – all taken from Pinterest and none had credit for where they came from.
Istvan’s left hand rested on Vik’s stomach, his right hand brushing her dark hair away from her face as they lay on the sofa, nose-to-nose. He smiled softly as he looked into his wife’s big blue eyes, whispering,
“What are you thinking about?”
Vik’s eyes flicked away from his, looking down as he cupped her cheek,
“What is it? You can tell me…”
Viktoria started nervously,
“How can we go away for a few days at such short notice Istvan? We’ve both got appointments and there’s security arrangements to consider and…”
The king placed his finger gently on her lips, shushing her,
“Stop worrying and leave the details to me, my love , please?”
Viktoria opened her mouth to protest, but Istvan cut her off,
“Please, Viktoria. Please, will you just let me look after you? I’m your husband, trust me. Give me forty-eight hours and we’ll be in Santorini. The only thing you need to do is pack, ok?”
Viktoria nodded firmly,
“Ok.”
as she buried her head against his strong chest; she just wasn’t good at sitting back and letting other people take control…
—-
“Maxwell come in!“
Istvan’s voice boomed through the solid oak doors to his study. Maxwell’s head poked round the door,
“Hey Istvan, you needed to see me? Is everything ok?”
Istvan wrapped his arm around his old friend,
“Couldn’t be better! All good with you?”
Maxwell nodded,
“Oh you know, staying out of trouble…”
Istvan laughed clapping him on the back,
“I doubt it! Maxwell I need a favour, that’s why I’d asked if you could stop by. Can you help me out?”
Maxwell nodded affably,
“Do my best… What’s up?”
Istvan was genuinely grateful,
“I knew I could count on you Maxwell, thank you. Have you noticed Vik has been a little stressed lately?”
Maxwell winced visibly,
“Yes, but please don’t tell her I said that. She’s bitten my head off a few times recently. You know, it’s ever since she went on this stupid detox. She’s definitely a happier person when she’s had wine or coffee Ist…”
Istvan nodded, wiping his hands across his face, not feeling good about telling half-truths to one of their best friends; someone he wanted to tell everything to… He sighed as he answered, waving his hand in a vague and dismissive gesture,
“You know how she is, it’ll be another of her flash-in-the-pan health-kicks… I’m sure it’ll pass soon enough… Seriously though, she’s had so much on recently Maxwell, between the Trust and our official business… Plus, she was feeling a bit off-colour and it still seems to be lingering on, I think that’s why she’s detoxing… I know she likes to be busy but I’m genuinely scared that she’s going to burn out. I want to take her away for a few days for a complete stress-free, chill-out break… I think she really needs the downtime.”
Maxwell nodded sagely,
“Yes, she does kinda run herself ragged. Usually she enjoys the madness though… I hope she’s ok. Hey listen, I think it’s a great idea Istvan. What do you need me to do?”
Istvan internally punched the air at the lack of difficult questions from Maxwell and grinned,
“Corgis and anything Trust related? If we leave on Sunday, we’ll be back on Thursday? And don’t tell her, it’s a surprise… She’ll only say she’s too busy to go away if she knows in advance.”
Maxwell nodded enthusiastically,
“Deal. Just bring cheerful, fun Little Blossom back with you, not the grumpy, caffeine-deprived version that’s been hanging around lately.”
Istvan wanted so badly to defend his wife and shout at Maxwell, ‘She’s carrying my baby and she isn’t well! Give her a bloody break!’ But of course he couldn’t do that without giving their special little secret away, and Maxwell would never say those things if he knew the truth… Maxwell loved Viktoria too. So he kept a benevolent smile spread across his face as he thanked Maxwell for his help, planning how he would broach the short-notice foreign travel plans with Bastien and Drake…
—
Viktoria was in their bedroom, her suitcase was lying on top of their bed as she pulled items out of her walk-in wardrobe. As she held up sun-dresses and hats, she smiled. She really liked the idea of she and Ist, just being together, no work, no pressure. Just relaxing for a few days… Maybe this was just what she needed to decompress and get her head straight. She held a pink and purple tropical looking bikini up against herself and shook her head, muttering,
“Hmmm… Not sure about you…”
She tossed it into the maybe pile and continued rummaging through the closet. King Istvan appeared, chuckling as he wrapped his arms around her from behind, kissing the side of her neck,
“Why are you not sure about the bikini?”
His wife shrugged, saying nothing. Istvan nudged her,
“Come on, why not?”
She sighed,
“I’m just not sure ok? Walking about with my stomach out. It just feels a little weird?”
Istvan turned her in his arms,
“I don’t think telling you how gorgeous you look is going to convince you; you’ll only roll your eyes at me. So, think of it this way, you can sunbathe in your bikini at the villa where it’s only us and then when we go to the spa, you’ll have a big fluffy robe on, so you’re not exactly going to be parading the bump around if that’s what you feel strange about.”
Viktoria reached up, placing a kiss on her husband’s cheek, before picking the bikini back up and tossing it into the case. Istvan grinned down at her,
“Good girl. So, everything is booked, we fly on Sunday and get home on Thursday afternoon, ok? Maxwell is going to look after the dogs and the Trust until we’re back; I told him you’re stressed out and need a break. Security have arranged to have two discreet agents in Santorini with us, as far as they’re concerned it’s a spa break because we’re both exhausted. Drake said Cassie sends her love, he said she misses you and would love to get together when we’re back from Santorini.”
Viktoria nodded,
“That’s nice. Cassie is so sweet…”
There was a pause before Viktoria blurted out,
“Do you think they’ll have a baby?”
Istvan looked a little surprised,
“Well, I guess they will, at some point? I don’t see Drake ever being with anyone but Cassie now, I think they’re meant to be together, and he would like a family eventually, we’ve spoken about it over the years.”
Viktoria smiled softly, her voice small,
“Cassie would be a lovely mom… She’s so kind and patient.”
Istvan nodded, “Yes, she would Vik. But why do you ask?” Viktoria dipped her head, feeling stupid for saying it, “No one else has babies. I mean, Leo’s kids are in a whole other country, I’ve only met them, maybe three, four times? Bartie’s, what? Nearly six? I… I don’t want the baby to be lonely…”
Istvan’s heart almost broke as he looked at his wife, she was worried about things that were years down the line and completely outwith their control… He took her hand and led her to the edge of the bed, encouraging her to sit down,
“Stay there…”
He ducked out, returning moments later with a beautiful turquoise-coloured leather-bound journal with a big pink bow wrapped around it,
“For you.”
Viktoria thanked him, but looked confused as she accepted his gift. Istvan knelt down level with her and continued, explaining,
“I know you’ve got all these thoughts and fears turning over in your mind and I know, that despite how much I want you to talk to me about all of them, my love, you maybe don’t feel ready to… And I understand that… But I don’t want you to bottle everything up until you ‘are’ ready. So I got this for you. You can even write things down and give it to me to read if that makes it easier? I don’t know if any of that would help at all, but please take it Vik…”
—
TBC – VP 💖
