Seeing the entire bed was happily rumpled, she faced Ginny. “Well, this is a change of plans.”
“You don’t really think we were going to be married and not sleep together, Mom.” She put her hand on her stomach and the strange flutter happened again.
“Honey, I knew you’d be sleeping together. I just didn’t think you realized it would happen.” She walked over. “What’s up with your tummy? You’re not sick, are you?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. But every couple of minutes this morning I’ve been getting this strange flutter in my stomach.”
“Oh, my gosh! The baby’s moving!”
“He is?”
“Or she is!” She plopped her palm on Ginny’s stomach. “Let me feel.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Oh, my gosh. Oh, Ginny. I’m going to be a grandma.”
Ginny fell to the bed. “That fluttering is my baby?”
Rose sat beside her on the unmade bed. “Yep.” She nudged Ginny’s shoulder. “Mama.”
She pressed her lips together. “Mama. I’m going to be somebody’s mom.”
Rose slid her hand across her shoulders. “Yes, you are. And whatever nonsense is going on between you and Dom, you have to straighten it out.”
“There is nothing to straighten out. The deal is made. I leave two years after the baby’s born.”
Rose studied her face. “But you don’t want to go now. You love him.”
“And I think he loves me, too, but he doesn’t want to.”
“Oh, what man willingly falls in love?”
Ginny laughed.
Rose said, “Give him time.”
“Time won’t heal the fact that he thinks love makes a ruler weak.”
“Really?”
“You know his mom died, right?”
Rose winced. “Kind of hard not to see that Ronaldo’s wife isn’t around.”
“She was apparently sick for years with cancer.” Ginny sighed. “He tried everything to save her and in that time the country fell apart.”
“So?”
“So, parliament called for his resignation. Had he not snapped out of it he would have lost his crown.”
“Oh.”
Ginny rose from the bed and paced to the dresser. “I never realized how difficult their job was.”
Her mom leaned back, balancing herself with her hands behind her. “How so?”
“Their location forces them into a position of needing to protect the waterways. While Dom’s dad was scrambling to save his wife, pirates began attacking ships, demanding money to pass.”
“That’s not good.”
“The press crucified the king. Parliament called for removal of his crown.”
“So you said.” She sat up. “But I still don’t get how this means he can’t have a wife.”
“He doesn’t want to be weak.”
“You know the marriages I’ve seen that work the best are the ones where a husband and wife form a team.”
“If you’re suggesting that I should help him rule, you are out of your mind. Not only would he never let that happen, but I can’t rule. I could make a suggestion or two, but I couldn’t rule.”
Rose batted a hand. “You’re good with people, sweetie, but not that good.” She stood up and walked over to Ginny. “You love this guy.”
Ginny didn’t even try to deny it.
“So how in the hell could you possibly be willing to let him live this demanding, difficult life alone?”
Ginny blinked.
“You’re looking at this from your side of the street, but what about his? Ronaldo told me that his wife was the treasure he came home to at night. That when the world was rocky, her silliness was his salvation. She was beautiful, elegant and could charm the birds out of the trees. But he didn’t care about any of that. He liked that she played gin rummy with him until the sun came up on nights he couldn’t sleep. He liked that he could talk about anything with her, knowing she’d never abuse the power of his confidences and that no one would ever know she’d heard things that were supposed to be secret.”
Rose took a breath and patted Ginny’s shoulder. “Do you really think Dom will live much past sixty if he doesn’t have a friend, a buddy, a confidante, a lover who’s willing to be whatever he wants without making demands?”
“No.”
“And can you see the lonely life he’ll have unless you try to work this out?”
She sucked in a breath. “Yes.”
“Ginny, you always believed that being a guidance counselor was a calling. But what if this is your calling? Not just being Dom’s true partner, but also raising your child so that he or she isn’t buried under the stress of ruling?”