Page 35

On the anniversary of Madelyn escaping her ex and becoming an everyday part of my life, she wore the dress I had found for her in Thailand, exchanged vows with me, and became my wife. Rather than a traditional ring bearer and a flower girl, May had handled throwing petals while Danielle had carried the rings.

Like their new mother, my little girls wore dresses from Thailand, selected in the same store I’d acquired Madelyn’s gown.

They wore yellow accented with red. The golden hues represented more than just their rightful place in the New York lineage, offering hope and new beginnings for them. According to those I had asked, in Thai customs, crimson represented the sun and its warmth among other things. But the most touching of the colors, which Chailai had added with her own hand, was the subtle hints of green stitched within the hems of all our attire, the queen’s wish for their lives to be filled with harmony and blessing the next steps of their journey within our family.

It hadn’t been until I’d returned to the Royal States, delayed in Thailand for an extra two weeks for the dress to be ready for transport, that I’d learned the significance of why Chailai had thought the gown to be worthy of even a queen.

To her, yellow was everything good in her life, something she wanted for us to enjoy for the rest of our days.

Smalls, who remained stunted and might never grow much, attended the ceremony, observing from a special bowl on a pedestal nearby. Sika and Tumen stayed close to their reptilian sidekick, wearing gem-studded collars matching Madelyn’s gown.

Bumble and Mirage wore their gems on their harnesses and leashes, as we had not been able to train the cats to stay put for more than ten minutes at a time without the tools indicating we needed them to behave for once in their lives.

Our four Lampang horses would steal the show when it came time for us to abandon the reception for our honeymoon, which we’d spend touring museums across the country while Pat and Jessica entertained our little girls.

The Texan monarchs missed having children underfoot, our little girls loved everything about the pair, and as such, Madelyn and I would be able to steal away three weeks to settle into our new lives together before resuming our role as parents.

In one of the planned lulls, where the RPS agents coordinated the gifts we were not permitted to refuse, I leaned back in my chair and wondered what I’d done to deserve everything going right in my life.

Madelyn smacked her slippered foot into my shin. “You’re doing it again.”

Damn it. “My face tattled on me, didn’t it?”

My face exposed my state of mind with frightening regularity, as the wonder of my new circumstances sank in and I really understood I’d been set free in all ways.

“Yep. Fortunately, your sister has not noticed, as May is explaining the significance of every single flower used in the ceremony. The first day that botanist came to the palace, I had some serious questions about what you were doing and why, but then I look at her and understand you had the right idea all along. You honestly don’t give a flying shit about their general education, do you?”

“Oh, I do, but I’m encouraging them to read by setting them onto a path where they need to read books about what truly interests them. May’s already reading college texts about plants. Danielle is at the sixth grade level, and she’s only three . They’re brilliant children, especially now that they’ve been undergoing their treatments and have been given a chance to shine. But now isn’t the time to teach them regular education. It’s the time to teach them they love the process of becoming educated. Should they ever actually go to school with other kids, they’re going to go because they want to . We’ll teach them everything they need to be grounded in life, but they’ve had a hard enough time of things. I wanted their learning to be something that brings them joy. For May? That’s understanding how plants work right down to the types of cells, their functions, and how things can go wrong with plants even on the cellular level. And if I have to hear the word cell one more time this week, I really might start crying, Madelyn. Rachel did cry because May used a scientific term she did not know. She cried .”

“The lack of sleep from just having had twins has something to do with that,” Madelyn reminded me with a grin. “Terry cried, too. He was laughing, but he definitely cried. Everyone except us in this palace is exhausted. The only reason we’re not exhausted is because you wisely cultivated a pair of teaching nannies to control the tiny demons we’re attempting to raise. You also opted to delegate everything you absolutely could, stealing tasks from me like you were going to handle it yourself before passing it off to people you hired specifically for the purpose of dealing with the bullshit. Had I known how much bullshit would be involved with planning this wedding, we would have run away and eloped.”

I laughed. “That’s why I hired people and made it clear that I was the actual threat. You are a terrible bridezilla. I’m the groom from the depths of some dark hell, ready to set Smalls loose upon all offenders.”

Madelyn glanced in the direction of the menagerie, who had a throne of cushions to rest on during the long waits. “She’s what, seven whole inches now?”

“Yep, she’s grown an inch since she adopted me, which means her habitat in our suite should be good for a while.”

“Do you think we can teach her to eat those damned crickets a little faster?”

I snickered, as Smalls loved hunting crickets, but the sound would inevitably drive us all mad. As such, we gave Smalls crickets once a week and dealt with the two days of noise before she dispatched her living snacks. “I’m just glad that it turns out Smalls does have scales, else her proper name would be rather strange. As it is, people give me weird looks because I named her You Scaly Little Bastard.”

“It’s hilarious, but I’m glad we generally call her Smalls. How are you handling the gifts?”

“I’m not handling it nearly as well as you are. Everyone is onto you. You are never running out of painting supplies. I’m receiving hints that we don’t have enough children yet, parts for a car that I’m pretty sure is just a frame in my junkyard right now, and paintings. Honestly, I like the paintings. And as there are a bunch of assholes around this palace barring me from going to my junkyard, I’m pretty sure there are a bunch of presents I’m going to have to deal with there. Peter has been sneaking off daily, Zach has been pretending like Peter was around the whole time, and the other RPS agents flee before I can corner them. I’ve been told that we’re going to the junkyard before we are headed off on our honeymoon. Do you know what isn’t appropriate? Your dress in that junkyard.”

Thanks to my wisdom, I’d snapped a picture of the price tag, discovering that Madelyn wore a six million dollar work of art covered in precious jewels. As far as I was concerned, the gown was a family heirloom, it would stay in the family for all eternity, and I’d somehow convinced Chailai to let me pay for half of it as a compromise.

Threatening to cry if I couldn’t help pay for Madelyn’s dress had won me the war, but she’d forced me to accept one penny lower than half because she had embraced being a true source of evil.

Madelyn laughed at me. “My dress will be fine. We’re actually going to our hotel first so I can change my clothes, and then we’re going to your junkyard in the morning. The junkyard is a morning of our departure event, as we both need to unwind, relax, and make good use of the nice tub I’ve been promised is waiting for our use. I do have a present for you, however.”

As a general rule, Madelyn had taken to offering presents to notify me that she wished for positive attention in our bedroom. As her ex had controlled every element of her life, I used treats, usually in the form of her favorite chocolate, as an indication I would welcome positive attention at her leisure. If the chocolate disappeared and a come hither was issued, she had accepted my offer of adult entertainment in our suite.

Only several days ago, she’d made her first foray into bossing me around via text and ordering me to bed to make myself useful. I’d delighted in ditching my sister and work for a midday seduction. One day, I would test the waters, toss my woman on our bed, and give her many reasons to enjoy when I took the initiative.

“I always enjoy when you’re giving me a present,” I informed her in a solemn tone. “I am ready to accept my gift.”

“After discussing the matter with Mackenzie, I took her advice and ran my birth control through a blender before giving the powder to Dr. Stanton. Melody was there as well. I put them both on notice that I have a stud and I’m willing to use him.”

It was good to be me. “I’m very interested in hearing about how you have a stud and a willingness to use him.”

She leered at me. “I bet you are. And I’m aware that you’re due for your next shot. I ordered the dose be removed from the palace grounds and hidden away so it can’t bother us again. Dr. Stanton gave me a range of dates when you should be appropriately useful along with a warning that New Yorkers seem to toss off the preferred birth control ahead of schedule, as evidenced by your sister’s pregnancy.”

“I see. Were you encouraging people to encourage me through prank cards and gifts giving me hints on what I should be doing?”

She bobbed her head. “Most of your real presents are at the junkyard, as everyone has figured out you’re a traumatized New Yorker who doesn’t understand how to process people actually liking you. We’ve caught on to your ways, Ian. You help people because you needed to be helped, and you’re determined to change the world on your own. Now you’re going to just have to deal with the grateful people who want to see you get the happiness you deserve.”

I raised a brow at my wife. “And what about the happiness you deserve?”

“I got the happiness I deserved the instant I realized you actually wanted me around.”

“And when was that?” I’d wondered, but I hadn’t been brave enough to ask.

She smiled at me. “It was when we were sitting on that stupid hospital room floor, and you were like a hopeful puppy wanting to please but not sure how—and then I asked questions you could answer. You lit up. You, despite that stupid headache and that fever, were just so damned happy trying to make me happy. I’ll admit, at first, I was testing to see if you were actually smart or just a spoiled prince, but then you were just so genuine. But that was when I understood you actually wanted me around and it wasn’t because of pity. You liked talking with me. You wanted to talk with me. You wanted me asking you questions and having a conversation with you. Your face betrayed you, and you were disappointed when we stopped talking and had to deal with your health matters.”

Before I had entered her life, before there had been hope for an us, she’d been expected to listen, and her bastard of an ex had hit her if she stepped out of line for even a moment.

“And here I thought you were just trying to figure out with which method you could kill me off and blame the planet,” I teased, as I always did whenever she brought up that fateful day my sister had almost taken me out on the mud run. “If it makes you feel better, I had wanted those conversations from the moment I met you. You were so not impressed with me.”

“Most people would not be thrilled about that, Ian,” she reminded me yet again.

“One, two, or more than two?” I asked, regarding my wife with curiosity.

“I am in camp more than two, as so far, we have survived having two under the same roof without many difficulties. Of course, you’re the Prince of New York, a most majestic and responsible being, so you wisely hire people to help with the load. You’re going to end up hiring a nanny per child, aren’t you?”

I read between the lines: my wife was still a little cranky over the whole venture to Cambodia and Thailand, although I’d learned an important truth. She wasn’t cranky I’d gone. She was more cranky I’d gone without her.

“Some will call it overcompensation, but we’ll raise the little ones until they’re two or three, and then we’ll start figuring out what sort of nanny that specific child needs. It’ll be expensive, and we’ll run high risk of having spoiled brats underfoot, but they’ll be happy spoiled brats.” I rubbed my hands together at the thought of putting my junkyard to good use to pay for the spoiling of our brats.

“Ian, you realize your parenting method is not going to produce spoiled brats, right?”

I stilled and stared at her. “What do you mean? I literally throw their favorite things at them all the time with the expectation of them enjoying what they’re given. We have maybe one temper tantrum a week. How is this not spoiling them?”

Madelyn crossed her eyes, and as she wore a fancy Thai circlet that matched her dress, she refrained from slapping her forehead. “Ian, what do the girls have to do first thing in the morning? And by first thing, I mean literally at six in the morning.”

“They have to go to the barn with us to feed and groom the horses, they have to help us take care of the cats, they have to check on Smalls, Isla’s cage needs to be cleaned and she needs to be fed and put into her daytime cage so she can sleep undisturbed, and they need to spend thirty minutes in the ferret pen feeding, cleaning, and playing with the ferrets.” In reality, Madelyn and I handled the cleaning, the palace staff handled the feeding, and the children handled the playing portion of the venture to the ferret habitat. “What about it?”

“And what do they do after they’re done making sure the animals are taken care of?”

“That depends on which day of the week it is. Which day are we talking about?”

“Tuesday,” she prompted.

“On Tuesdays, we usually go to the museum for a wander through the exhibits, and then we go to the food bank to prepare baskets for an hour. After that, we visit the women’s shelter so the girls can play with the other children. We don’t get to play. We’re interviewing the newest residents.” I eyed her, wondering what she was getting at. “I don’t get what you’re trying to communicate to me.”

I’d found once I told her I failed to understand, she would take the time to explain it in a new way until I could see the problem through her eyes. Acknowledging confusion helped—and it prevented arguments, which neither one of us handled well.

I tended to break down and flinch, and once that happened, Madelyn panicked because she realized I had more mountains to climb.

One day, we might navigate through a disagreement without one of us becoming an emotional train wreck.

“Ian, you’re literally teaching them to be selfless people who care about others. They don’t throw temper tantrums unless it’s really important because you’re showing them how little so many others have. They finish their dinner, even when they don’t like it, because they understand what it is to starve and not have enough. And you encourage them to put away their leftovers if they take too much food. You even got the kitchen staff working with the girls so they have the appropriate portions for their health and their current hunger levels. You have to nudge them to ask for new toys, and they won’t even accept them unless they can go take some toys to the shelter, too. I swear. It’s literally impossible to raise girls like you’re raising them and get spoiled brats out of it. You’re going to end up with hard workers with a strong focus on public services and a relentless drive to improve the lives of those around them. Now, you are raising them to be horse girls, which is why they’re ridiculously excited they’re going home with Pat and Jessica rather than with us.” Her gaze landed on the Texans, who had our children clinging to their legs. “They’re acting a little spoiled right now, but they’re doing so quietly.” She narrowed her eyes, and then she sighed. “For fuck’s sake.”

I checked, realizing that Danielle had fallen asleep on Pat’s feet. “Well, he’s going to be happy about that. His favorite thing in life is having little children fall asleep on his feet. Don’t worry about it. He’s in his happy place. Sure, he’s going to have numb toes, but I’m sure Randy won’t mind helping him limp around as his last act as Pat’s head of detail.”

When the girls came home, Randy would be joining Terry as a New York RPS agent, and he’d be in charge of May’s detail. We’d also be getting Andrew, another one of Eddie’s fathers, for Danielle’s head of detail. I foresaw Eddie visiting often, as he worried about all of his fathers and checked on them as often as possible.

Marcus would head to Texas as Pat’s new head of detail, and Monty would lead Madelyn’s detail at my recommendation.

Times had changed, and I had changed with them.

I spotted my head of detail prowling our way, and I nudged my wife with my elbow. “Uh oh. Zach’s coming this way.” I waited for the RPS agent to come closer to say, “I’m behaving, I promise.”

“I am absolutely astonished over how well behaved you’re being, honestly. The next wave of presents is ready. Madelyn, you’re going to need the tissues. Don’t be alarmed.”

There was only one thing I could think of that would run a high risk of me breaking down at my own wedding, and that involved my gelding’s little herd of foals. Not a day went by I didn’t miss my old horse. “None of the foals can be ready already, Zach. Isn’t it too early?”

“Your first dropped three nights ago, and she’s going to be a dead ringer for Saoirse. I lost the draw to warn you. The guests have been warned, and it is expected for you to be emotional.”

“But wasn’t Saoirse a fairly rare color?”

“Yes, he was a silvered black Saddlebred, and he was particularly valuable because he didn’t have any signs of multiple congenital ocular anomalies. In good news, she doesn’t look like him yet, but she will when she grows up. I know you weren’t particular about his breeding. All you knew is that he was a good horse, he was yours, and Pat and Jessica had given him to you. Pat was present for the foaling, and for perhaps the first time in his life, he suggested that you name her for both registration and barn name. We did not notify you because someone thought it would make a good surprise.”

I stared at Madelyn. “You’re tricky.”

She smiled. “I am. She dropped a day before her safe date, and we were worried there might be complications, but she’s fine. She has great conformation, she’s already straightening out properly, and she’s got enough promise that the mare’s owner asked for a breeding.”

“I have no idea how much sperm we have left,” I muttered. “Pat’s been handling all that.”

“Saoirse was heavily collected before he was gelded, so there’s plenty of available semen,” Madelyn reported. “It’s no problem if you want to sell a breeding to the mare’s owner. Pat will handle the transaction. You’ll be drowning in foals by the time we get back from our honeymoon, but I thought you’d like to meet your firstborn filly before we go. And no, you are not going on foal watch.”

I’d wanted to, but I’d lost the argument because exactly nobody wanted to find out how I would react if I witnessed losing of the foals or mares. As such, Pat and Jessica were on foal watch, as they loved the whole process and could handle the grief.

“She’s really here?”

“She’s really here,” Zach confirmed. “She’s still finding her legs, but Randy will bring her out with her mom so you can meet them. And yes, you can purchase the mom if you like her, although the owner would still like a foal. But this mom is the only one of the lot you’re allowed to buy.”

“That’s an increase from the previous number of mares I was permitted to buy, which was zero. Why the change of heart?”

“Your sister is a menace,” Zach informed me. “She saw the little baby earlier and started to cry.”

“I thought the pregnancy hormones ended after the pregnancy,” I muttered, shaking my head. “I will try not to add to the tears in this palace. I’m ready.”

Zach raised his hand to his ear and told Randy I was prepared to meet the filly.

To my disgust, all the wedding guests returned to the grand hall, where we’d staged the festivities, to witness Randy, Geoff, and Eddie lead a chocolate colored mare with pale legs, mane, and tail with light tips on her ears. A pale foal bounced at her side, doing her best to break free of Randy’s hold on her. As most did with young foals, the man restrained her with a long line, making sure she couldn’t hurt herself or others.

Over time, the filly would darken, although her mane and tail would remain silver or white.

Saoirse had lacked the silvered tips on the mare’s ears along with the pale markings on her legs.

“I thought bay tended to override black genetics,” I murmured, eyeing the filly and her mom.

“That’s only the case if you have the agouti gene. Fearless doesn’t have the agouti gene. They’re both homozygous blacks, and Fearless has heterozygous genetics without agouti and they’re both homozygous silvers,” Zach informed me in a solemn tone. “This combination means you had a fifty-fifty chance to get a silver black. It’s highly likely the filly will be dappled like Saoirse had been.”

I got up, circled the gift table, and went to meet the mom and foal. While some mares turned into angry dragons out to protect their little one, Fearless showed no evidence of wanting to rid the Earth of me, and I spent a few moments petting her nose and praising her before crouching to meet my filly.

I’d seen Saoirse’s baby pictures a time or two, and I could understand why Zach had been concerned I would break down over meeting the first of my foals. I held my hand out to the filly, who regarded me with interest and bumped my fingers. I petted her, smiling at the little baby. “She seems really friendly.”

Randy chuckled, and he nodded. “They started handling her shortly after birth, as her mom is tolerant and we knew we’d be bringing her over for the wedding. We stashed the mare in the RPS stable. She’s actually been here for two weeks. The other mares will be brought in tonight after you leave, and we have a few imports from Montana and Texas to help with the foal watch. The other mares are a few weeks behind, so they’ll be dropping their little ones after you’re back from your honeymoon unless we have an early foaling. So far, none of the mares look close. Fearless hit her cycle first, and she was successfully bred the first try. We actually bred two of the horses twice, because the first two breedings failed.”

I hadn’t been told about that part of things, but I also wasn’t surprised. Failed breedings happened. “You’re sneaky, Pat,” I accused.

The Texan king laughed and waved from his position, handling his duties as a bed for my little girl. “I paid for twelve foals, and I was getting twelve foals. You can’t trust me with matters involving horses, Ian. You should know this by now. I will do exactly what I want.”

Yes, he would.

I gave my filly a kiss on her nose, delighting in how the baby animal seemed to appreciate the attention. “You’re going to help me train her, right?”

“Only if I can spoil your girls rotten while you’re on your honeymoon.”

Snickering, I got to my feet. “That seems like a fair exchange.” I engaged Randy in a staring contest and held out my hand. “I know I just cost you on a bet of some sort, so you can just pay up now.”

Heaving sighs, the RPS agents, Zach included, pulled out their wallets and slapped twenties onto my palm. I took the money, slid it into my pocket, and after visiting Fearless again, I returned to my wife’s side. Once in my seat, I said, “How does eighty dollars in treats sound to you, ma’am?”

“Like a damned good time.” Madelyn reached down, grabbed a few tissues, and held them out. “Just put them in your damned pocket, because we all know the instant we’re alone, traitorous tears are going to escape because you simply cannot handle good news when it involves you, me, our kids, or our animals. But good job on snookering those RPS agents out of their money.”

“One day, they’ll learn not to bet against me. It might take me a while, but I always find a way to win,” I informed her in a solemn voice.

“That you do.”

“What’s at the junkyard, anyway? Because nothing is going to beat that little filly, and I just don’t feel like dealing with it right now,” I informed her.

“Our getaway car for our honeymoon and the rest of your presents are at your junkyard, so we do have to go. You’ll survive,” she replied with a grin. “You’ll like the car, although you’ll complain about the RPS agents tailing us the whole trip. I told them you’d have no interest in the junkyard after meeting your little filly. We’ll be putting a few of the presents into the car, but the rest will be taken back to the palace for you to deal with once we’re back. Allow me to motivate you: the boxes contain lingerie.”

As my wife had a wicked sense of humor, I eyed her. “Which one of us is going to be wearing the lingerie?”

“Tomorrow, you’ll find out.”

Every time I thought I couldn’t love Madelyn more, the woman found some way to sass me, and I loved every minute of it. I made a show of checking my watch. “That’s a long time.”

“You’ll survive. Just focus on the real prize. After you make it through the gifts and the fancy dinner, you get to peel me out of this dress. It took a great deal of wiggling to get into it. Do the math.”

“But do I get to use my teeth?”

“On the dress? No. On the lingerie? Yes.”

For the first time in my life, it was truly good to be me, and I looked forward to the days to come.