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Three Months Later

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A Buckingham Palace reception is something I used to wonder a lot about. You'd hear on the news a lot about garden parties and state banquets, but you'd never know what receptions are. They always sound like a wedding reception or something, but you could never find much about them. Before we came in this morning, Kai told me that it's basically the same as a garden party, but much busier. Some receptions can be much more intimate and involve lunch or dinner, but this one is just a basic meet and greet with drinks and canapes to celebrate a lot of NHS workers who were invited a few months ago.

I'm currently dressed in a deep blue dress with a pencil skirt at the bottom, black high heels, and a selection of diamond jewellery. Members of the royal family are given sashes so people can tell them apart. As the new Prince of Wales, Kai is given a deep blue one with the other colours of the Union Jack on show, but to a lesser extent. A few of Kai's cousins are also here as dukes and duchesses. I never expected to be included in sash-giving, as I'm not legally a part of the family yet, but I was given one to match Kai's. When I questioned it, apparently it's because although I'm not legally in the family yet, I will be in two months, and I'm carrying a royal child, so they consider me part of the family.

"How're you doing, Peach?" Kai whispers as he passes. "You look tired."

I nod. "I'm okay, just feeling a bit under the weather."

"Just give me the nod if you need to go, okay? We have bedrooms here, don't forget." He touches the small of my back and gives me a sort of side cuddle.

"It's fine, honestly." I squeeze his arm. "Anyway, I feel pretty at home with all these people. Nurses, doctors, physios. Makes me kind of miss it."

He sips his drink. "I wonder if we hadn't got together, you'd be standing here as a visitor. If you were, I'd have met your eyes across the room and scooped you up."

I arch an eyebrow and smile. "Who says you would've done that? We could've been together already in this parallel universe."

"Fair point. Let's just say in every universe there ever is, we'd find each other and be together. But personally, I like this one the best."

"You're way too smooth for your own good, Prince Kai."

"Only for you, Princess Peach."

I laugh and shake my head before reluctantly moving around more guests.

"Mila?"

I look up and instantly break out the biggest smile I think I've ever felt. Gemma stands there in a long, purple dress with her hair done up in an updo.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" I ask. As I'm technically on duty, I'm unable to give her the biggest hug I want to, but we both kiss each other's cheeks. We saw each other a month ago when I visited Southampton for an engagement, and we've been messaging a lot, but it's absolutely crazy to see her like this.

"I wanted to surprise you. Girl, you look amazing! You're all bump, and you're glowing!" She grips my hand. "I'm so happy for you." After the Stonehenge engagement when Gemma and I messaged for hours, I explained to her the truth behind the pregnancy and everything with Kai. I also updated her when we technically got together after my birthday. She's agreed to be one of my bridesmaids, so she knows how tightly strung the royal family can be, especially when she saw the bridesmaids dress for the first time.

"I didn't know you'd even been invited," I mention.

She smiles. "They sent a bunch of invites to the hospital and they wanted representatives of the ED, and knowing you'd probably be here, I asked to be one of the people. Someone new got the other invite, Maggie, if you remember her? You did like one shift together before you left."

I rattle my brain but don't remember. "No, I don't recognise the name. I'm so pleased you're here!"

"Well, you'll see me again on Saturday. Only a couple of months to go! I'm so excited! A royal wedding and a baby. Mila, you're living the dream. I can't believe it!"

I grin. "It's... a lot. But I'm loving it. Sometimes I wish I could just do a shift or two back at work, but you know."

She snorts. "You'd hate it! So busy all the time—"

"Mila, as much as I would love you both to have a good catch up, for the event, you need to mingle with others too," Kai whispers between us. "We're staying in the palace tonight, so after the event, you can stay for a while longer if you want, Gemma."

I smile at her before moving on and promising to catch up with her later.

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After half an hour of mingling and discussing the NHS with different workers, it's Kai and the king who ask me over to see them.

"Mila, this is Professor Hawkins," King Hugh says.

"Your Highness." He shakes my hand rather than curtsies as I'm not yet married to Kai. "His Highnesses have been telling me all about you. You're a trained nurse?"

"I am, Professor. Until I joined the royal family, I worked in accident and emergency," I mention.

"I wanted to introduce you both as Professor Hawkins specialises in obstetrics, and says he's starting a charity to support pregnancy loss. I know it's not what you specialised in, but I know you mentioned a while ago a few stories of what you experienced while working," Kai says.

He's talking about the girl I still remember to this day who lost her pregnancy in the emergency department, along with a few women I helped going through threatened miscarriages and a stillbirth I helped until the midwives arrived.

"Your Highness, I won't lie, I came today to celebrate the wonderful work of the NHS. However, I also came with a slight proposal," Professor Hawkins says.

I nod and smile. "I can imagine with the glint in your eye, Professor."

He laughs. "The charity I want to start up is about getting memory boxes together while the parents are in the hospital, and funding carry cots – a special box that keeps the baby... cold... while in it so the parents have as long as they want with their baby, if you catch my drift. I'm sorry to talk about this whilst you are pregnant."

My hand has subconsciously gone to my bump, and Kai's hand is in my free one. We're not supposed to be holding hands in public – it's against royal protocol, but apparently, neither of us cares right now.

"No, you're absolutely fine," I insist. "That sounds like an amazing charity, and definitely one that's needed."

"I've been telling Prince Kai all about it, and it was his idea that you could help with the charity," Professor Hawkins says.

"When you become Princess of Wales, as we've discussed, you'll be championing your own charities and work," Kai says. "You mentioned the other day about working with pregnancy and childhood charities. I thought this might pique your interest."

"There's no pressure, Your Highness, I just wanted to leave you with some contact details if you wanted to know more. With your background in nursing, it could help as well." He passes me a business card.

"Thank you," I say. "This is actually the exact kind of thing I was hoping to do when the time comes. It would be perfect as well, a new start for a new charity once I come in to the new title, you know?"

Professor Hawkins smiles. "I hope this will prove worthy of your time."

"I think it will. Things like this are invaluable," I mention.

The professor nods and walks away after a few seconds and a goodbye.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pressurise you in that moment," Kai says. "I just remembered what you said about those charities a while ago. Thought it might be a brilliant opportunity – it aligns with your interests. You're a nurse, and he said he'd put off starting it until the wedding if you're interested. It just seemed perfect, but you don't have to—"

"Kai, you're rambling," I say. He stops and breathes. "I appreciate you doing that, and I already want to set this thing up and help this charity. It's the exact thing I'm looking for. No, you didn't pressure me. Don't panic."

He heaves a sigh of relief and nods. "Good. I need to talk to you outside for a moment."

"Why does that sound ominous?" I question as he leads me outside the room. Following him down a corridor, he takes me into a small room. Well, small for Buckingham Palace. It's about twice the size of my old flat in Southampton, and yet it's probably one of the smallest rooms in this place.

"Kai, what is going on?" I ask.

"My mum pulled me aside just now. They've changed our wedding."

I arch an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"We're now getting married in Westminster Abbey," he announces. "And it's going to be bigger than previously mentioned because I'm the next in line now."

I take a second to let that settle. The Westminster Abbey, around the corner from where we are, in London.

"I mean, it's not that big of a deal, right? It's just the same ceremony, people are already saying how excited they are, so they'll still camp out wherever it is. It's just... in a bigger church."

He smirks. "No, no, I mean, we are now going to be married by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Peach. The leader of the Church of England—"

"Your dad is the leader of the Church, Kai. The Archbishop is the senior bishop," I point out. He laughs. "I actually learned things in princess lessons, you know!"

"Why do you make big deals into jokes?"

I grin. "Because you're stressed, so it helps. It's just a bigger church, Kai."

"We're going to have every single eye in the world on us, even more than we were before. This is a big deal."

"It always was! Why do you think I initially didn't want this? You're a prince, I'm a normal person from the south of England. People would've always watched us and been interested. It happens all the time – my dad and Annie were meant to get married in a small room in the registry office, right, but the council mucked up the bookings, so they upgraded them for free. They ended up getting married in an old Tudor house by the marina, and it was so empty. But it ended up being amazing."

He sighs and nods. "Okay, okay."

"Kai, you're being anxious about it, and that's okay. I get it. You – we – never planned for this kind of thing to happen. We got this, okay?"

He nods and silently accepts what I'm saying. "Okay. Sorry, I'm just—this is weird."

My hand reaches out and cups his cheek. "We will be fine. I promise." I press a kiss onto his forehead. "What will happen is this: we'll get married in Westminster Abbey, right, and it'll be amazing. We'll forget all about people outside and watching because they're for the day, not important. June ninth is about you and me, and Mini Cherry – as much as that sounds stupid still! – and that's it. This whole thing might have been done backward, but it's us and our family. No one else, Kai, okay? And hey, if you wanna think about the good of it – we get a better church to get married in. How many people get to get married in Westminster Abbey?"

"You can only get married there if you're royal, a member or child of someone in the Order of Bath, or someone who lives within the Abbey's precinct."

I nod. "So not just anyone then. Look at us, we're amazing. And if I'm going to be honest, my dress will look even better in there."

His answer is to kiss me hard until I see stars. His tongue darts into my mouth, and my back suddenly ends up against the wall. What gets me excited and also shocked is that he's doing this when his family and around five hundred people are a few feet down the corridor in another room, and I've no doubt people caught us both walking out of the room.

"I love you," Kai whispers against my mouth. I drink in the words and savour them like they're the best thing I've ever tasted.

"I love you too. Everything will work out perfectly, I promise."

He seems to take my words and devour them because the next thing I know, he's back kissing the words into my lips. It starts gently, but after we settle in, Kai gets hungrier and hungrier, desperate to cling onto the one thing that anchors us in all of this craziness: us.

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