109. The King's Decision.

[Claire]
I tossed and turned in bed, sweat pouring down my back even though the air conditioner was on, as I wrestled with my demons in my sleep.
The doctor said it was probably because of my memory skip but I had been having frequent nightmares and memory flashes since I came back home.
I still remember the first image that flashed across my mind when I first entered the house. I thought it would feel strange but it did not. It felt very familiar, warm, and cozy. I definitely preferred it to the hospital room.
I remembered bits and pieces of my memories and I even remembered fighting with my father before I came to Denmark but after then, my memories seemed rather hazy.
But one flashback that was prominent in my head was one where I was running away from someone and that usually ends with a loud explosion and the other was rather sexual in nature.
"Jean, help me, Luke save me," I murmured in my sleep as I tossed and turned as much as my protruded belly would allow me.
"Jean." I gasped and woke up from sleep immediately.
I'd finally seen the face of the man who had been disturbing my dreams. He had the same face as the Prince but his name was Jean.
"Did the Prince have a twin brother?" I asked myself, I stood up from bed, wrapped my body in my robe and I walked out to the kitchen to drink some water because I was parched.
The kitchen was dark and my mother was sleeping in the next bedroom so I didn't turn on the light so as not to bother her.
My father had gone back to America a few days after I was discharged because he had to take care of the company but my mother had stayed with me, Sophie and Michele had also stayed a few extra days but they had to return back to work so they had also gone.
Right now it was only me and my mother.
For some odd reason, Prince Luke sent me different flowers every day and he sometimes came to visit.
Every time he came, he would look into my eyes and ask me the same question.
"Claire, do you know who I am?"
I focused my mind back on the present as the water overfilled the glass and began to pour on my hands.
I turned off the faucet and gulped the water. I should have just taken a water bottle from the fridge but somehow I was craving tap water.
Speaking of craving, my stomach immediately growled and I began to crave a peanut butter and jelly sandwich but with a twist.
The twist was some pickles, normally I wouldn't go anywhere near pickles but right now I craved them badly.
I turned on the kitchen light and busied myself, a few minutes later, I finished making my sandwich with the pickles in between them and I began to munch on it.
I soon finished the snack and as I tried to return the items I had used, my belly knocked over a container and it fell to the ground making a loud noise.
Then came the dilemma, I couldn't bend down to pick it up because of my condition, fortunately, it had not been glass and so it hadn't broken, it had also been sealed tightly so nothing spilled out of it.
After grunting for a while, I finally found a way to squat and pick it up. I was thankful that the sound hadn't woken my mother up.
"Bingo." I smiled as I picked up the container and then got back up but as I stood up, I hit my head on the kitchen cabinet and my vision turned dark.
A lot of memories rushed to me like a flood and then I looked ahead and saw a man staring at me.
"Jean," I called out to him and he just smiled.
.
.
[Luke]
"Congratulations to you both, I'm sorry that I couldn't invite you guys out sooner." I smiled as I congratulated Megan and Liam.
Megan had come out of rehab and she was better now, both physically and mentally.
"Thank you, Luke." They smiled and we all cheered.
"So, have you picked a date?" I asked them and Megan laughed.
"Nah man, we're waiting on you," Liam said and I fondled the ring in my pocket as I recalled the conversation I had with the King that morning.
*"Tom has told me everything." The King started immediately I entered his chambers.
"Everything?" I asked him, looking confused.
"Yes, he has filled me in on everything that happened when I was at the hospital." He said and my heart dropped.
"I see." I turned to my back and glared at Sir Thomas, I wanted to be the one to talk to the King myself about Claire. "Your majesty, I want you to know t—"
"Uh-uh." He shook his head, cutting me off. "I'm not speaking to you as the King this time, I'm speaking to you as your father." He said and I beamed.
"Father, I'm very sorry for what happened to you." I bowed my head in shame as I apologized.
"I didn't say anything about that because I wanted to see how long you were going to keep the guilt bottled in." He said.
"I'm so sorry, Father, it was all my fault, I shouldn't have delivered such news in such a way." I began to ramble nervously.
"Lucas." He called out and I looked up at him immediately, he knew very well that it was only my mother who called me like that. "I heard that you went to see your mother's grave." He said after a short silence and I nodded.
"Yes, I did."
"Do you want to go there with me right now, I haven't been there since I got out of the hospital." He said.
"Yes, Sir."
The ride to the royal sarcophagus was short and quiet, I was lost in my thoughts as I looked outside the window and the King seemed to be lost in his too.
Sir Thomas drove us to the cathedral and we took only one bodyguard with us, we wanted it to be an intimate affair, we had also made sure that no press would disturb us.
When we got to my mother's tomb, we dropped the flowers we brought on it, and then my father opened a compartment with a passcode and pulled out a box from a vault-like compartment.
"She would have wanted me to give you this." He said, breaking the awkward silence and he stretched the box to me.
"Thank you." I accepted the box and did not attempt to open it.
"She always wanted to give that to you herself, won't you open it?" He asked.
The box was wrapped in a blue velvet wrapper and when I pulled it off, it revealed a small black box and when I opened it, it had the royal engagement diamond in it.
My eyes watered as I looked at it. Of course, my mother had always talked about how I would make her the happiest person in the world on my wedding day.
"I miss her so much," I said, my voice cracking as the tears escaped and spilled down my face.
"I'm not upset about anything, child." The King said and pulled me into his arms. "It wasn't your fault, my heart had been bad for a long time now and I knew that it was just a matter of time before it gave out." He said.
"Dad." I hugged him tighter as I cried. "I was so scared, I thought I was going to lose you."
"No, son, I'm going nowhere." He said and held me in his arms. "As always your mother always knows how to resolve our conflicts." He murmured but I heard him.
"Why did you give me this?" I sniffed and pulled away from his arms.
"You should make it official." He said, tapped me on my back, and turned away from me.
"What about the rules?" I asked him.
"Rules were meant to be broken, besides you'll be King soon enough, you'll make the rules." He said without looking back at me.
At that moment, I felt the most joy and sadness that I'd ever felt in my life but above all, I felt hope, hope to make things right.
And I had to make them right before Claire got her memories back.*
"Hey, Luke, why are you looking so lost." Megan tapped me, bringing me back to the present. "I can't believe the King is letting go get married to a foreigner, you'll be the first Prince in history of the Danish royal family to marry a foreigner." She said,
"You don't look so happy, what's wrong?" Liam asked.
"She hates me, remember, she doesn't have her memories back yet but when she does, she'll also remember my betrayal and I'm afraid she won't agree to marry me."