#Elbie’s smile made a tear fall from my eye

[myusuchaa]

AGF 2024 Dark Mafia

Omg… al’s braid … ellis’ gloves and shirt.. rin’s waist.. ELBIE THOUGH.. HIS SMILE ASLDKSJDKS ( ◜ཫ◝)

[itsbrindleybinch]

You’ll Dance One Day

Summary: As the idea of a child becomes a startling reality, Maxwell and Hermia realise just what they’ve signed their baby up for.

Word Count: 1,351

Book: The Royal Heir

Pairing: Maxwell Beaumont x MC (Hermia Flowers)

Author Note: Written for @kinda-iconic‘s Choices July Challenge Day 2 (Regret). I just needed to get this out after TRH Chapter 2.

“There’s no bump yet.”

Hermia lifted her eyes from the month’s accounts to smile indulgently down at her husband. He was sprawled out on the bed beside her, his chin resting on his arms and his gaze fixed on her stomach. He huffed in frustration, the strand of hair that had flopped in front of his eyes fluttering.

There hadn’t been a bump yesterday either.

“It’ll still be a few weeks,” Hermia murmured, reaching down to push his hair back out of his face.

Maxwell closed his eyes fro a moment in bliss, leaning into her touch. Sighing, he propped himself up and leaned over to press a kiss to her belly and Hermia felt herself tremble as his warm lips lingered.

“See you in a few weeks then, little bud,” he whispered, and it wasn’t just the light gust of his breath across her skin that made her shiver.

The idea of having a baby had crept up on them slowly, then his them all at once. Much like Maxwell himself had done to her, Hermia mused. One day she had simply opened her eyes, seen his beaming face eager to greet her as she woke, and thought, “Oh. It’s you. Finally. I’ve been waiting for you.”

And the baby… Well, they had barely discussed it. One hushed conversation wasn’t exactly agreeing on a life plan, especially when both of them were so relieved and overjoyed to have found one another that they didn’t need the future to be anything more than a nebulous stretch of happiness.

But after the wedding, as things began to settle, Hermia had begun to think more about what the future held. She had begun to tease and mould imaginary pictures like clay and it hadn’t taken long for ideas to creep in. Maxwell, staring in awe into a bundle of blankets in his arms. Walking through sunlit grounds with a giggling toddler running a few steps ahead. Sitting together on a bed, a child snuggled between them, as Hermia  read a story and Maxwell supplied the silly voices. And once the ideas were there, they wouldn’t go away. They lodged themselves in her head and she had found herself longing for each one of them.

Maxwell wanting the same thing had been a surprise of the best kind. Not the biggest surprise surrounding the whole thing, the one that had started to make her chest clench every time she thought of it and the one that she had carefully put to the back of her mind by telling herself it was how things were supposed to be. No, the reality of that particular surprise was going to hit them with full force soon, the moment anyone beyond the two of them and a very well-trusted doctor caught wind of their situation.

“… and you’re gonna be amazing,” Maxwell was whispering. He had shifted to rest his cheek against Hermia’s hip, still gazing at her stomach with a dreamy smile on his face. “Happy and fun and kind and brilliant, just like your mother.”

“Just like their father,” she interjected, her heart fit to bursting.

His gaze flicked to hers and he grinned. “And we’ll teach you how to roller skate,” he continued, his eyes still on hers and full of love. “All the way up and down the halls. Bertrand would hate it, but he won’t be here most of the time. And you’ll have a treehouse, too. A huge one in the best tree in the grounds.” His eyes glimmered. “And, little squidlet, you’ll be the best dancer that ever…” He trailed off, misty affection slipping from his face to be replaced with pure horror.

“Maxwell?” Hermia’s voice quavered.

“Liam would never dance.”

“What?”

“Never. Not outside training and balls. Never for fun. And he was never allowed to come and play much, especially not outside. He always had lessons and meetings that were more important.”

“Max –”

“Hermia, I don’t want this.”

Blind panic flashed across her face. “The baby?” Her voice was high with fright.

“No! No, I want the baby. I really want our baby.” Maxwell’s eyes were glistening. He was shaking as he covered her belly with his hand  and nuzzled close. “But… But Liam was always in the papers. Being photographed. On show. Standing up straight in clean jackets with shiny buttons and being tested on noble lineage and always being afraid of getting it wrong.” Maxwell squeezed his eyes shut. “I…” His voice cracked. “I  don’t want that for them, elbie. I want them to roller skate and pull faces and get messy and dance and… and be a child.”

Hermia bit her lip and reached down, clutching his hand in hers. All of the little doubts and all of the moments when she’d wondered whether this was right, the ones she had carefully packed away, came spilling into her mind at once as the truth of it slammed into her, breaking her open. “I want them to be happy.” Her voice sounded so small to her own ears. “I just want our little one to be –” She let out a muffled sob.

Maxwell was scrambling up the bed in an instant to lie beside her, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her cheeks. His own face was wet with tears, which she did her best to brush away with trembling fingers.

“What have I done?” he whispered.

“We thought it was the right thing…” Hermia ran her fingers through his hair, still quivering. “It seemed like the best thing for the country. It still does, but…” But not for their baby. She bit her lip hard, trying and failing to blink back her tears.

“And…” She heard Maxwell swallow. “And for Liam.”

“For Liam?” Hermia tilted her head up to meet his gaze.

“It’s my fault,” he whispered, unable to meet her eyes. His expression was more anguished than Hermia had seen it since their wedding day. “If… Well, if it wasn’t for me, he’d be happy. He’d have a Queen. He’d have picked a suitor and everything would have been fine. But I messed it up.” He bit his lip. “Maxwell Beaumont messed it all up again. I brought you to him. I did everything I could to make him fall in love with you and then… I took you away for myself.”

“Maxwell.” Hermia rested her palm against his cheek. “You didn’t take me. I chose you.”

“But…”

“You did everything perfectly.”

“I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you.”

She swallowed. “Do you… wish you hadn’t?”

“No!” He looked at her then, horrified. “No! Not that, never that.” He buried his face in her shoulder and held her close, although she noticed he was handling her with a little more delicacy than he usually did. “But I thought that agreeing the appointment… I thought it might help him. And it would help Cordonia and it would help House Beaumont. And it’s just made things…” He sobbed against her shoulder and Hermia kissed his temple, tears streaming down her own cheeks. “I’ve messed up our baby’s life before it’s even started.

“No.” Hermia shook her head and brushed her fingers through his hair. “We decided together. And we were trying to do the right thing…”

But their helpless little baby, barely bigger than a berry… Hermia imagined them growing up the way Liam had described to her, so different from her own childish childhood…

Since Liam had announced the appointment, the council had agreed and the public were eager. It  felt as though the entire country was waiting with baited breath to hear word of a pregnancy to secure the throne.

“We can fix this.” Hermia whispered.

“How?” Maxwell’s eyes were watery and forlorn as they met hers. “How, elbie?”

Hermia opened her mouth, then closed it again. Thoughts of a midnight escape slipped in. Stealing away under cover of darkness.

“By putting our baby first,” she answered, her voice coming back just a little as a plan began to form in her mind. “We’re going to tell everyone no.”

Tagging: @brightpinkpeppercorn @melodyofgraves @ladykateofhousebeaumont @mariaoz @universallypizzataco @choicesjulychallenge