One month, it had been one month since one of Veronica’s babies died. One month carry one living and one dead baby because they didn’t want to risk the second baby. One month since Liam had no choice but to send Rowan for help. One month of wondering, of mourning the loss of a baby who they still didn’t know the paternity of. One month of getting used to the thought of having one living child instead of two. One month of feeling complete and total heartbreak. One month of feeling like she failed her children. One month of depression and not wanting to leave the royal suite. One month of her blaming herself for not being strong enough to carry them both. One month of Liam blaming himself for being a weak husband and father. One month of waiting to find out if Veronica’s living baby would be their heir or break the country.
Both Liam and Veronica were hard on themselves, each of them taking the blame for the baby’s death. Both too wracked with guilt and shame to speak to the other. Though they clung to each other neither could voice the words and take the blame. Neither could stand the thought of the look of heartbreak on the others face when they claimed the blame. Neither could take anymore heartbreak, they’d already failed the babies, they couldn’t bare to fail each other too.
Veronica was eight and a half months along when she started having contractions, Liam rushed her to the hospital knowing they needed to get her there as quickly as possible. They prepped her, taking her in for a cesarean, the only way they could guarantee getting the living baby out safely.
Liam paced the private waiting room, waiting terrified to hear news about his wife and the surviving baby. They still didn’t know if it was his or Drake’s—but he prayed it’d be safe either way, he couldn’t watch Veronica lose both of her children not at the hands of his daughter. He paced the room, roughly running his hands through his curly blonde locks, his blue eyes rimmed red.
Drake sat in a nearby chair, his head in his hands. He felt broken, he knew whatever the results of the paternity test yielded one of them would end up heartbroken. He knew he had to keep himself distanced from the baby just incase it wasn’t his. His heart already ripping at the seams, torn between wanting to be the father of the baby and wanting it to be Liam’s so they wouldn’t have to explain to the country why the new baby wasn’t the heir.
The two men waited, hearts on edge, both knowing they wouldn’t survive if Veronica and her baby didn’t make it out okay. They just needed her, them to be okay, everything else would be figured out later—but they had to be okay. Liam would be destroyed if either of them didn’t make it, he couldn’t hold the guilt, the regret of losing Veronica, her baby, or both on his head on top of everything else.
They waited for what felt like hours before the doctor came out to speak to them. “Your Majesty, Mr Walker, both Veronica and the baby are fine. She’s in recovery and the baby is
in the nursery. We’ve taken samples from both umbilical cords and sent them in for testing.” The doctor explained.
Both men left a relieved breath, she was fine, the baby would survive, they just had to wait to find out who would be burying their child and while he watched the other man raise his child’s sibling. It was only a matter of time before they found out who’s heart was about to become completely broken.
***
Liam and Drake stood side by side staring into the bassinet the doctor had brought into the private room. Veronica’s baby, father still unknown, dark hair, blue eyes—but didn’t most babies and yet Veronica had blue eyes, maybe just maybe he’s mine. The thought quickly flitting through Liam’s mind. He was strong, born weighing slightly more than an average twin—but the last month he was the only baby growing. Weighing six pounds and five ounces nineteen and a half inches long, he was perfect, already claiming a place in the heart of both men—no matter how hard they tried to fight it. His sister, she was, well neither one of them could bring themselves to look at her, not yet—not without Veronica. Their hearts both full of love and broken as they look at the lone baby, he should have had his sister by his side.
Veronica’s heart just about shattered when she was finally able to hold her son, her heart feeling the loss of his sister more now that he held him but not her. Her daughter, Julia Lee Rhys, never made it to play with her brother, meet her mom, or even her father—still unknown, giving her Liam’s name to keep up appearances. Her son, Jacob Walker Rhys, carrying the names of both men, the least they could do until they knew who’s he was. Holding Jacob, Veronica tried to see if she could see who he resembled, trying to get the answer before the tests came back. He looked too much like her to tell, so once again, the waiting game began.
