Rebecca sighed. “I can’t believe I didn’t think the medication could be affecting me. I should have realized.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Dr. Safar said gently with a soft smile. “Drug interactions can often be the last thing people think of, especially the patient themselves. The important thing is that you’ll start feeling better from here on out. The surgery removed the polyp and the labs for that came back clear. We confirmed your PCOS and endometriosis diagnoses, and the next step is to develop a treatment plan for those. We’ll discuss that in about a week, once you’re feeling more like yourself.”
Alex took a deep breath and relaxed his tense shoulders. Thank fuck. His wife was going to get better, and now maybe things could return to normal. Well, as normal as they could for a royal family.
REBECCA
One week later
“I’m perfectly fine.”Rebecca grabbed her planner and headed out of their bedroom.
Alex dutifully followed, his voice lowering as the staff were currently in their apartments preparing for theirtrip to America. “You are not fine. You only just recovered from the surgery and everything after. Darling?—”
She turned abruptly and he stopped mid-stride and mid-sentence. She gave him a soft smile, then a deep kiss, then another smile, and patted his suited chest. “I really like this tie, you know. You should pack it for the trip.”
Alex had a look on his face that said ‘I know what you’re doing but I won’t let you get away with it’.
Rebecca sighed and turned for the kitchen. She’d need some food if he was going to be like this.
Alone in their tiny kitchen, he pulled her into his arms and she let him. “Darling, I’m only worried.”
“I know. I love you for worrying, however much it annoys me.”
“Hey.”
“It’s too much. You can’t be like this on the trip, or people will know. Or they’ll assume your hovering is because I’m…”
Pregnant. The word was left unspoken between them.
It was up to her to give birth to the next heir to Valleria and everyone—the entire country and even the entire fucking world—knew it. Despite recently revealing their miscarriage, everyone still expected her to become pregnant and soon.
Alex sighed. “I don’t mean to hover. I’ve just…I hate seeing you in any kind of pain, whether physical or emotional or mental, and since I can’t take your pain away physically, I overcompensate for it in other ways.”
She cupped his cheeks and cuddled closer to him, and he dove both hands into her loose hair. “I love you so, so much. I do. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, and how patient you’ve been through all my health issues. I know it hasn’t been easy, and I know I’d probably be acting just like you if the situation were reversed.”
“Thank you for saying that, darling, however, I sense a ‘but’ coming.”
She gave him a small smile. “But we finallyknow what’s going on with my body. I know I still need another surgery, but I need you to stop being my nurse and start being my husband again.” The doctor had recommended she have endometriosis excision surgery, as it was the best way to remove the tissue in her body causing her so much pain. The recovery time varied, but it could take up to twelve weeks for the tissues to fully heal, so she was planning to have it as soon as possible to get it done before the trip.
This type of surgery was expensive and rarely covered by insurance. But she was going to make sure it was covered under the new comprehensive healthcare plan, along with extensive training for up-and-coming OB/GYNs, who often weren’t trained in this type of surgery.
Alex frowned and pulled her in even closer, her heels skidding slightly against the floor while he did. A lock of his inky black hair fell forward, and she gently pushed it back. “I never stopped being your husband.”
“I know you didn’t, but you’ve thought of me as ‘sick’ for so long, and I just want us to feel normal again, whatever that is for us. Maybe we need to redefine or reset what normal means for us now, I don’t know. I do know that I’d like to use this trip to reconnect, to not worry about anything but the work we need to do and each other.”
He touched his forehead against hers. “We never did get a honeymoon.”
“No, and this doesn’t count either, but we could think of it as a pseudo-vacation.”
“Maybe we can even find time to sneak away together in-between engagements.”
She snorted a laugh. “As if we could sneak away from the press and paps. They’ll hound us on this trip, probably even worse than our Vallerian paps.”
“The paparazzi are often vicious, that’s true, but maybe we’ll get lucky this trip and they won’t be as much of an issue. In any case, pack a swimsuit.”
She laughed. “Why?”
“Ethan let me know the house he and Anda have rented in L.A. has a pool.”
