She’d never admit she’d cried on the plane on the way home. Not to a single person. And especially not to a person she’d now have to tell she was carrying his baby.
Her eyes came into focus sharply and she leaned forward.
The tickertape stream of news changed constantly. Something had made her focus again.
She waited a few seconds.
Prince Sebastian Falco of Montanari has announced his engagement to his childhood friend Princess Theresa Mon Carte of Peruglea. Although the date of their wedding has not yet been announced it is expected to be in the next calendar year. The royal wedding will unite the two neighbouring kingdoms of Montanari and Peruglea.
Every single tiny bit of breath left her body. Her stomach plummeted as a tidal wave of emotions consumed her.
It was as if the glacier ice pool she’d imagined on the mountain of Montanari had followed her home. Nausea made her bolt to the bathroom.
This wasn’t morning sickness.
This was pure and utter shock.
He was engaged. Sebastian was engaged.
As she knelt on the bathroom floor she felt momentarily light-headed. Could this be any worse?
She squeezed her eyes closed. Trying to banish all the memories of that weekend from her mind. Her body responded automatically, curling into a ball on the ground. If she didn’t think about him, she couldn’t hurt. She couldn’t let herself hurt like this. She had a baby. A baby to think about.
She pressed her head against the cool tiles on the wall.
Pregnant by a prince. An engaged prince.
Funnily enough, no fairy tale she’d ever heard of ended like this.
December
SHE WAS LATE. Again. And Sienna was never late. She hated people being late. And now she was turning into that person herself.
It was easy to shift the blame. Her obstetrician’s clinic was running nearly an hour behind. How ironic. Even being friends with the Assistant Head of Obstetrics around here didn’t give her perks—but she could hardly blame him. Oliver had been dealing with a particularly difficult case. It just meant that now she wouldn’t complete her rounds and finish when planned.
She hurried across the main entrance of the hospital and tried not to be distracted by the surroundings. The Royal Cheltenham hospital—or Teddy’s, as they all affectionately called it—did Christmas with style.
A huge tree adorned the glass atrium. Red and gold lights twinkled merrily against the already darkening sky. The tea room near the front entrance—staffed by volunteers—had its own display. A complete Santa sleigh and carved wooden reindeers with red Christmas baubles on their noses. Piped music surrounded her. Not loud enough to be intrusive, but just enough to set the scene for Christmas, as an array of traditional carols and favourite pop tunes permeated the air around her.
Sienna couldn’t help but smile. Christmas was her absolute favourite time of year. The one time of year her parents actually stopped fighting. Her mother’s sister, Aunt Margaret, had always visited at this time of year. Her warmth and love of Christmas had been infectious. As soon as she walked in the house, the frosty atmosphere just seemed to vanish. If Margaret sensed anything, she never acknowledged it. It seemed it wasn’t the ‘done thing’ to fight and argue in front of Aunt Margaret and Sienna loved the fact that for four whole days she didn’t have to worry at all.
Aunt Margaret’s love of Christmas had continued—for Sienna, at least—long after she’d died. Sienna’s own Christmas tree had gone up on the first of December. Multicoloured lights were decorating the now bare cherry blossom at the bottom of her garden. She wasn’t even going to admit how they got there.
It seemed that Mother Nature was even trying to get in on the act. A light dusting of snow currently covered the glass atrium at Teddy’s.
This time next year would be even more special. This time next year would be her baby’s first Christmas. A smile spread across Sienna’s face.
Thoughts like that made her forget about her aching back and sore feet. At thirty-four weeks pregnant she was due to start maternity leave some time soon. Oliver had arranged for some maternity cover, and he’d had the good sense to start her replacement early. Max Ainsley was proving more than capable.
He’d picked up the electronic systems and referral pathways of Teddy’s easily. It meant that she’d be able to relax at home when the baby arrived instead of fretting over cancelled surgeries and babies and families having to travel for miles to get the same standard of care.
She hurried into the neonatal unit and stuffed her bag into the duty room. She looked up and took a deep breath. Every cot was full. An influx of winter virus had hit the unit a few weeks ago. That, along with delivery of a set of premature quads—one of whom needed surgery—meant that the staff were run off their feet.
Ruth, one of the neonatal nurses, shot her a sympathetic look. ‘You doing okay, Sienna?’
Sienna straightened up and rubbed her back, then her protruding stomach. She was used to the sideways glances from members of staff. As she’d never dated anyone from the hospital and most of the staff knew she lived alone, speculation about her pregnancy had been rife.
The best rumour that she’d heard was that she’d decided she didn’t need a man and had just used a sperm donor to have a baby on her own. If only it were true.
She’d stopped watching the news channel. Apart from weather reports and occasional badly behaved sportsmen, it seemed that her favourite news channel had developed an obsession with the upcoming royal wedding in Montanari early next year.
News was obviously slow. But if she saw one more shot of Seb with his arm around the cut-out perfect blonde she would scream. She didn’t care that they looked a little awkward together. She just didn’t want to see them at all.
She smiled at Ruth. ‘I’m doing fine, thanks. Just had my check-up. Six weeks to go.’ She waved her hand at the array of cots. ‘I’ve got three babies to review. I’m hoping we can get at least two of them home for their first Christmas in the next few days. What do you think?’
As she said the words her Head Neonatal Nurse appeared behind Ruth. She’d worked with Annabelle Ainsley for the last year and had been more than a little surprised when it had been revealed that Annabelle was actually Max’s estranged wife. She hadn’t been surprised that it had only taken them a week to reconcile once he’d started working at Teddy’s. For the last couple of weeks Annabelle hadn’t stopped smiling, so she was surprised to see her looking so serious this afternoon.
‘There’s someone here to see you.’ The normally unfazed Annabelle looked a little uncomfortable.
Sienna picked up the nearest tablet to check over one of her patients. ‘Who is it? A rep? Tell them I don’t have time, I’m sorry.’ She gave Annabelle a smile. ‘I think I should maybe hand all the reps over to Max now—what do you think?’
Annabelle glanced at Ruth. ‘It’s not a rep. I don’t recognise him and didn’t have time to ask his name. He’s insisting that he’ll only speak to you and...’ she took a breath ‘...he won’t be kept waiting.’
Sienna sat the tablet back down, satisfied with the recordings. Her post-surgery baby was doing well. She shook her head. ‘Well, who does he think he is?’ She looked around the unit and paused. ‘Wait? Is it a parent of one of the babies? Or someone with a surgery scheduled for their child? You know that I’ll speak to them.’
Annabelle shook her head firmly. ‘No. None of those. No parents—or impending parents. It’s something else entirely.’ She handed a set of notes to Ruth. ‘Can you check