The wedding had ended.
The children were safe at home with Daphne and, apparently, Nick.
And Dylan and I had gone to the hospital together. Just us. No Frank. No rushing. No being flown in from elsewhere required.
Every photographer in the country was back at the palace. Every journalist at their desk awaiting details from the royal wedding.
We walked in the front door of the private wing of the hospital hand in hand, full of anticipation. The halls were quiet.
And at nearly midnight on the same day that Princess Caroline and Zach Washington became the Duke and Duchess of Kent, Lady Anna Georgina Bell Hale was born.
The doctor had handed Dylan our daughter, and he placed her gingerly on my chest. “No one has ever been more perfect,” he said, staring at her open brown eyes. And I swear she looked right back at him.
“You said that about Aiden and Eleanor too,” I teased.
“And you,” he replied, and he kissed me. He kissed me without kink or urgency or demand. Just with love.
* * *
The next morning, I’d just finished feeding Anna, and Dylan was sitting on the couch in the room burping her, when there was a knock at the door. Daphne cracked it open, but two little hands much lower pushed it wide open. Eleanor led the charge as she and Aiden came bounding onto the room.
“Careful with Mummy!” Dylan said sternly as my two older children climbed onto the bed.
“They’re okay,” I said. “Come on, you two,” I urged as I snuggled them next to me. They immediately started fiddling with my hospital bracelets. When I looked up, I saw that Nick had quietly followed Daphne in.
I smiled big, and Daphne blushed before shrugging her shoulders. “Hi, guys,” I said.
“Hi,” Daphne replied, still blushing, and she came over to give me a hug. “Stop staring at us like that,” she whispered, sternly but lovingly.
“I just pushed a baby out of my vagina,” I whispered back. “I’ll do whatever I damn well please.” She actually stuck her tongue out at me for that. “We are definitely talking later,” I added.
Dylan brought Anna over, and Daphne cooed just as Nick coughed sheepishly. “How’d it go?” he asked me, and I got the sense he was defaulting to professional questions given how potentially awkward it was to be in my hospital room right now.
“She was brilliant,” Dylan chimed in, and handed me Anna. Aiden and Eleanor immediately stilled on the bed to admire their new sister.
I looked back to Nick. “Smooth. It was dead quiet here last night. I got the epidural as soon as I could, and she came out in three pushes.” I looked back down at my new baby daughter and marveled that only hours earlier she had been inside me.
“Fantastic,” he replied, and then looked at my best friend. “Why don’t we go get some coffee, Daphne? Let these guys get acquainted.” Daphne nodded and went to give Dylan a hug. Nick sweetly came around my side to take a look at Anna. “She’s lovely,” he said. Then he paused and looked across the bed to Daphne, who was laughing about something with Dylan.
“Thank you,” I said. Then I leaned a little closer to him. “Also, if you hurt my best friend, I might have to kill you. And ever since Dylan brought down a Russian drug kingpin with MI6, I have connections.” I winked.
Nick laughed, obviously assuming I was joking, and smiled bigger than I think he meant to. “Understood.”
“Oh, and thank you for looking out for me yesterday,” I added. I knew he’d been keeping tabs.
“Of course,” he said, taking Daphne’s hand. We waved as they left the room.
Once we were alone, Dylan came and sat by my knees, leaning over baby Anna, who lay on my lap. Eleanor was tucked next to me on my right, and Aiden was on my left. My family. Complete. I felt a tear of pure joy slide down my cheek.
“Eleanor, Aiden,” I said. “This is Anna.” Eleanor touched the baby’s hand, and her tiny fingers wrapped around Eleanor’s instinctively. Eleanor’s eyes widened, and she looked up to me, checking in, making sure it was okay.
“Just be gentle. She loves you, sweetheart,” I said, and Eleanor beamed. “It’s a really important job being a big brother, Aiden, but Eleanor will help you,” I continued.
Aiden smelled her and then pulled away, making Dylan laugh, just a little.
“Lydia?” Dylan said softly, looking so deep into me, I felt lost in his gaze. “You are, truly, incredible. Thank you. Thank you for making me a father and a husband.”
If I could have reached across our children to kiss him, I would have. But I was stuck, nestled in, and then I started to cry. I laughed through my tears when he got down on all fours and reached over the baby to touch my lips with his own. “I love you so much.”
I kissed him back. I kissed our daughters and our son. And then I kissed him again. This man—this bossy, sexy, outrageously brazen, crazy-smart, gentle, loving, demanding duke—was my husband. And this was our family. “Take me home, knighty,” I said, smiling through my exhausted tears.
“You got it, damsel.”