His Royal Highness, Prince Vincent - 10. Getting Ready for Parenthood

More coming! I'll be going back to "I've Always Loved You" next. Love you, Daniel. I'll keep writing. You guys keep reading. I love you, too! 

Getting Ready for Parenthood

Harald turned out to be a nice guy! He was somewhat reserved, but it was clear he loved Angelica. He was charming! He had this boyish smile and this way about himself that wasn’t aggressive. He was adorable! Yes, I had Vincent and there was no way in Hell I would give him up. We worked to hard to get where we were. I’m just saying I can see the attraction. He didn’t look old enough to shave! My Indian cousin did like nearly all Indians in America. They plucked the hairs out!! Ouch. You had to keep up with, though. When a hair begins to emerge, yank it out! Many didn’t think Indian men could even grow breads. They all had skin on their faces that said they weren’t just clean shaven, but no hairs grew there. Ever. I wasn’t Indian or brave enough to do that! Pain is because there is something wrong! It was far easier to use a blade and have no pain; unless you cut yourself. When I did that, I didn’t really feel pain at first. It was the blood that told me I cut myself. Boy, those little knicks would just keep bleeding. It seemed to take forever for the bleeding to stop. Harald was blond and so was his beard, if he had one. My father was hairy. He had a hairy chest, eyebrows, legs, his arms… He trimmed the eyebrows and shaved his face. Mom didn’t care for Dad when…like on the cattle drives where he wouldn’t shave every day. He would have to shave before coming home. If he had a meeting or was going to party or something, he’d shave again that day. That was happening more with me as the years passed. Dad taught me to shave at thirteen! He didn’t like those little hairs on my upper lip that had begun to grow.

“Grow a beard if you want,” Dad said. “It’s your face, but kiss your mother first, because if you have one, she won’t let you kiss her again if you don’t shave.”

He didn’t tell me about the itch. After a couple of days, it would itch like crazy! If I let it go on a few more days, my beard would soften and itch would go away. Then you had other problems, such as when eating. No. I decided no beard or moustache for me.

Harald Dahl didn’t look as if he ever had shaved. If I hadn’t known he was the age he was, I would have guessed he was about fifteen. Damn him. Like I also said, he was thin. His service kept him trim.

“Do you eat?” I asked.

Harald looked puzzled, but nodded, “I do. Why?”

“Apparently, it’s not enough!” I waved at him, “You have room to spare. You need to eat more.”

Harald smiled his crooked smile and chuckled, “I try! I’ll eat until I can’t eat anymore and it doesn’t help.”

I looked at Vincent, “I should get Mom to send one of the steers…” I looked at Harald, “or two!”

“My father was in his early twenties when he stopped growing tall,” Harald held one hand up. “Then he began to bulk up. I’m almost there.”

As we talked, Harald was relaxing and realized we were not mad or upset about him and Angelica. Vincent and I were speaking to him as a friend. I joked when Angelica said we were bizarre. We were bizarre. Harald just needed to adjust his mind to the situation. Who else knew about Harald and Angelica? Angelica’s worry that we were her mother didn’t really tell us anything, but Harald had not really tried to hide. He was getting his coat on to leave. Did Queen Martha know and disapprove? Was she simply worried about exposure?

Harald loved a real princess. That princess had married a real prince who fathered the child she was carrying. Together they would become king and queen of Denmark. The prince wasn’t even bothered with Harald in the princess’ life. In fact, he was encouraging Harald to stay in the princess’ life and be another parent to the child! Also, Harald was being encouraged by a man, who was in a diplomatic office from the United States of America and a cowboy who had been and will continue to be romantically involved with the prince and would also be a parent to the child!! I say again, what’s bizarre about that!? The fact that he wasn’t repulsed spoke positively to me about Harald. It could be like many in this part of the world and didn’t pry. Those like Vincent and me have been around for eons! So, nothing new.

Vincent pointed at me, “You may know, but David and I met in school in London and were roommates. How did you two meet?”

Damn it again! He turned pink as he blushed! He pointed at Angelica, “She rescued me.” He said bashfully. “I had just enlisted. I was still seventeen. She was fourteen and accompanied her father where we drilled and trained.”

Angelica shrugged as she smiled at Vincent and me, “I didn’t know how they prepared our militia to become soldiers.” She looked at Harald. “Personally, I still think how they do it is barbaric.”

Harald rolled his eyes at a subject they had talked about many times before, “It’s called discipline, Angel.” He said casually.

“Training to fight, I understand,” she said. “What he was doing to you was just to torture!” She looked at Vincent and me. “Harald was being forced to run in place, then do push-ups, then run in place again over and over. He was covered in sweat and about to collapse! And it wasn’t for all of the troops, just him!”

Harald nodded and said patiently, “Yes, Angel. One more time, it was discipline. I didn’t obey orders!”

“So, he tormented you until you drop from exhaustion?” Angelica asked.

I smiled at the ease they had with each other. “Did you learn your lesson?” I asked Harald.

“Ja, for helvete!” Harald said quickly in Norwegian for Hell yes. “I never disobeyed again!” He laughed.

“How did Angelica rescue you?” Vincent was also smiling.

Angelica looked proud as she said, “I told that sadist to stop! I asked for Harald’s name and told the sadist I would check to see if Harald suffered retaliation from what I made the sadist do.”

“And she did!” Harald grinned. “She came to the barracks that very night and asked for me.” He chuckled, “Then the next night and the next night.”

“Every night!?” I gaped. “You were in school! In Switzerland!”

“Not the whole year!” Angelica laughed. “This was on Summer Break!” She shrugged, “I would get homesick!”

“Every night!” I insisted.

“Only the first week,” Harald admitted. “Then twice a week. I became known as the Princess’ Pet Soldier with the other guys.” He shrugged, “I was transferred to the Palace Guards and have been here ever since.”

I held my hand up to stop the conversation, “Okay, that’s a sweet story, but you couldn’t keep something like this to yourselves.” I pointed at Vincent and myself, “Believe me, we tried!”

Vincent chuckled, “Well, not that closely.”

“But I didn’t know your mother knew the whole time until after you married Angelica!” I shot back looking at Vincent. “You told your father!”

“And you know why I told Dad!” Vincent retorted testily.

It wasn’t my place to tell that Vincent used what we learned about his father in the Paris underground or how Vincent used that knowledge to blackmail his father into allowing Vincent to go with me to Wyoming. “Yes!” I said. I looked at Angelica, “But someone had to notice Harald going and coming to your room! How did you get away with going to see Harald in the Barracks? You were fourteen!?”

Angelica’s eyebrows waggled up and down, “I would sneak out.” She shrugged and then shook her head, “I’m wasn’t a prisoner! I came and went as I liked in Oslo. As long as I was home to have dinner with the family, no one watched me too strictly.” Then she got a devious look and said, “It was great being a little sister. Bjarke showed Eirik and showed me a secret way out of the palace! Of course, they didn’t know they were showing me. I sort of followed them.” She laughed lightly.

Vincent’s eyes grew in shock, “That was very dangerous! You could have gotten into trouble or even killed!”

Angelica grinned at Vincent, “That never happened.”

“Vinnie,” I nodded and waved at Angelica. “She’s here, alive and well and carrying your baby. It’s too late to worry now about her safety back then!”

Vincent pointed his finger at Angelica and Harald, “Don’t even think about using that name with me!”

Angelica laughed and Harald raised his hands in surrender, but was smiling.

“I use it to goad him on,” I said in a loud whisper.

Angelica nodded, “I remember you used it at the table the night we met.” She chuckled, “Queen Maregete was furious!” She leaned toward Harald, “I half expected her to order David’s head to be cut off!”

Vincent shook his head, “No, she wouldn’t dare if she wanted me to be king. Dad wouldn’t let her, either.” He put his arm around my shoulder, “They love him now.” Vincent’s arm moved as he put my head in a loose choke-hold. “I can’t get him to stop.”

I grinned, “You saw Vincent’s face. That’s why I do it.”

Harald chuckled, “King Olav and Queen Martha know about us, but are hoping she will grow out of it.”

I nodded, “A schoolgirl crush?”

“That’s right,” Angelica said. “But it isn’t.”

“Being a guard at the palace I can walk the halls more freely,” Harald said.

“Lucky for you,” I said.

“It wasn’t luck,” Angelica smiled. “It was Daddy. He thought my seeing him more would help me get over this crush.”

“Which didn’t work!” Vincent stated the obvious.

“No, it didn’t. I told Daddy my feelings for him were real,” Angelica said.

“They know,” Harald said. “They don’t like it, so I make myself scarce when they come around.”

“But you did your duty,” Vincent stated to Angelica. “They aren’t still objecting?”

“They’re not happy about it,” Harald said. “I don’t want to push my luck.”

They were certainly committed to this, but they had a headache Vincent and I didn’t. She could get pregnant! Even with the latest in birth control using condoms, a diaphragm (which was also called a womb veil) and the sponge…those weren’t one hundred percent effective. Neither Vincent or I would get pregnant no matter how many times we made love. With Vincent’s virility proven with the speed Angelica conceived, the one to get pregnant would be me. It was even made worse in many countries as contraceptives were banned or even against the law! Many of the lower classes had the poor women taking drastic chances to end their pregnancies like getting someone to beat them in the abdomen or using things like knives or metal coat hangers to stop another life from coming where everybody in the family suffers if it did. Many of these women die because they didn’t know what to do or how. Wherever you are on the abortion issue, doesn’t it make more sense to stop the pregnancy from happening in the first place rather than having to choose to abort or not? I didn’t even ask if Harald and Angelica were physically intimate. That was just human nature they would be. I didn’t even have to ask if Angelica was carrying Vincent’s baby or Harald’s. The timing was proof. Did Angelica break her promise and have sex with Harald even the night before the wedding? Not with everything at stake, she wouldn’t. Anyway, who cares? Even if it were Harald’s child, Vincent’s claiming the baby would make the child Vincent’s! Other than being really angry at them for breaking a promise we all made…I don’t believe Angelica would do that. She wasn’t that foolish. Angelica was about midway in her pregnancy, so in a few more months we’d see. Harald and Angelica were both blonds, but even if the child had blond hair it could get that from Vincent’s father.

Angelica was not suffering much with this pregnancy. The assessment King Olav gave his daughter was true. She looked very healthy!

Vincent nodded, “Well, I’m hungry.” He thumbed over his shoulder at the door. “We’ll get some breakfast. Are you coming or can we bring you something?”

“No,” Angelica smiled, “We already had our breakfast.” She waved at a rolling cart with dishes, glasses and leftover toast they didn’t get to.

Harald was putting the coat of his uniform on and began buttoning it, “I have to report for duty, Your High…”

“Harald,” Vincent interrupted and grinned, “We can dismiss the formalities. We’re raising the same child. Call me Vincent,” he reached out to shake Harald’s hand, but pointed with his left index finger, “Not Vinnie!” He said firmly. “Got it?”

Harald chuckled, shook Vincent’s hand and nodded, “I got it, Vincent.”

Angelica laughed, “There is no magic in a name.”

“On that,” I said to her. “I disagree. When I use that name, you’ve seen the transformation that takes place with Vincent. The name is magic!”

Vincent ignored what I said, “We’re more than friends. We’re family.”

“What title do we give the True Love of Your Wife,” I asked. “Or what does she use with the True Love of Her Husband?”

Vincent rolled his eyes at that and then looked at me in irritation. That was just for effect which both Harald and Angelica laughed at.

“It will probably be French,” I speculated. “Other than using the masculine and feminine for of the title…it has to be French. They have all those great titles! We need to ask next time we’re in Paris!”

Vincent turned to the door, “I need coffee. Let’s go.”

“You still need to come back for the lesson on nappy training.” Angelica smiled.

“Oh, yes,” I said following Vincent. “How to not stick the baby with the pins.”

Vincent opened the door. Turning to Harald and Angelica. “See you soon!”

In the corridor, I quickly caught up with Vincent. There was something I needed to clear up. Just to be sure.

“Vincent,” I began as I took his arm and turned him so I could see his face. “You know, I would do anything for you.” I saw his eyes grow in surprise. “Anything.”

“Yes!” Vincent nodded, “I know that! Just as I would for you.”

“You know I tease you,” I said. “Like calling you Vinnie.”

Vincent’s face had a huge smile and he laughed, “Yes! I’ve known that a long time. Why are you bringing it up now?”

“Because,” I said loud. “I worry that it might,” I raised a finger, “it might actually bother you.”

Now Vincent did laugh heartily, “Oh, David!” He grabbed me in a hug. “That was made clear years ago!” Now he was holding a finger up, “Here’s why.” He smiled. “In the very beginning, it did bother me. But you hardly ever use it with just me.” He nodded, “You use it, but you have to have an audience!” He threw his arms out, “Hell, you did it in front of Bendt and Nakia when you were drunk!” He leaned in and pointed that finger again, “People hear it and see my reaction just like Angelica and Harald! They always smile and even laugh.”

I grinned, “So, you’re okay with it?”

“When you use it, yes,” Vincent nodded. Then his eyebrows came together. “Only you!” He chuckled. “Angelica was right. When you used the name at the table and my mother blew up…that was priceless!!”

“I just wanted to be sure,” I said grinning.

“Let’s go eat,” Vincent said throwing his arm over my shoulder. “I could really do with a cup of coffee.”

This was the residential portion of the palace. There were people moving about to clean rooms and straighten up. We had not done anything, but what would they see? Two good friends going to get breakfast. Simple.

The palace didn’t close, but we were a bit late. In Norway they knew to have a hearty breakfast. How else could Vikings row those little boats? I loved these children of Vikings! I loved Vikings!

They served us this open face sandwich on toasted bread! On the toast was this pile of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. I ate it all, but Vincent got a second serving. There were two kinds of cheese blocks and crackers. One was a brown cheese or Brunost, and a yellow cheese called Jarlesberg. I have no idea why that one cheese was brown, but I really like the Jarlesberg with its nutty flavor.

Learning to put a nappy, or diaper on did draw some blood. Mine. Even with a doll, it was tricky! And those pins!! Even out in the Wyoming Territory we knew the safety pin when it came out. My mother did what the Pohogwe did. She wrapped me snuggly in a cloth and carried me around. Not that I remember, but I was potty trained early like all Pohogwe babies were. There was a time to eat and drink, and a time to go to the bathroom. The schedule was the training even if I wasn’t able to sit up yet. The safety pin was an inch or two long with the sharp pointy end tucked away for safety. The ones we were to use on the baby were enormous! That wasn’t an exaggeration. They had to be. A thick cloth diaper had to be folded over and the two edges were pinned together. That was a lot of cloth! Of course, you put your fingers over the baby’s skin under the diaper. If anyone got stuck by the pin, you would! Self-sacrifice was part of being a parent. I stabbed my fingers three times! You had to learn to be careful. Angelica did it just fine. The woman who was to be nanny to help Angelica had taught Angelica. Angelica taught us! Except for the blood, I did better than Vincent. He didn’t stick himself, but the diaper wasn’t secure. Thinking he’d done a fine job, he picked up the doll and the nappy fell right off. The pins were in the diaper, but it was too loose.

Vincent grimaced after he tried to do it again and it was still too loose, “You keep the baby until it’s potty trained. I can’t do this!”

Angelica wasn’t worried, “Oh, come now. Think of all the generations of fathers before you that learned and did it. Didn’t your father do it?”

Vincent shrugged, “I don’t know. I can’t remember that far back.”

“Did they do it with Annabelle?” I asked.

“Probably,” he smiled. “Mom insisted she be the mother. Dad might have, but they had staff.”

Angelica nodded, “Which I will only use if I have to be somewhere without the baby. There is a rubber pants to slip on the baby to prevent leaks.” She had up something small and pink! “And these!” She handed it to Vincent.

“What’s this for?” Vincent asked turning it over in his hands.

“To protect the baby!” Angelica she said happily, “I’ll show you.” She took one of the big pins, put the little rubber thing on the tip of her pinky and pulled the sides down over her finger, placed her finger on the safety part of the pin and reversed what she’d done. The pink now covered the safety part of the pin! “See? As the baby grows and get a lot more mobile, moving its arms and feet, it can cut the baby. But not with this!”

I smiled as I looked at it, “That’s clever! A safety pin with a safety cover!” I marveled and Angelica nodded.

Vincent took the pin, “It’s pink.”

Angelica turned and pointed behind her, “There are blue ones, too.”

Who assigned certain colors to certain genders!? Pink for girls and blue for boys? I liked red. Diapering wasn’t the only thing. She told us about feeding the baby. She brought out a glass bottle and lid with a rubber tip that looked like a female human nipple.

“I thought you were going to do that!” Vincent said in a near panic.

Angelica laughed, “I will, but you can help me.” She smiled bigger as Vincent’s eyes grew. “With the mechanics of feeding,” Angelica shook her head. “I provide the milk.”

“Sure,” I nodded. “Of course, you could hire a wet nurse.”

Angelica shrugged but shook her head, “I would rather not unless I have to.” She looked at Vincent. “Feeding a baby is a special time to bond with a baby. I would prefer that bonding be with you.” She looked at me. “And you and Harald. You will fall in love with the baby and the baby will love and trust you.”

“Okay,” Vincent nodded. “How are you going to get what’s in there,” he pointed at Angelica and then to the bottle, “in here?” He looked at me. “Can a woman be milked!?”

Angelica frowned, “I’m not a cow! But yes, that’s essentially what will be done. I have a pump I can use.”

“A pump!?” Vincent blurted. “How does that work?”

With a devious smile and look in her eyes, “I can show you!”

“No!!” Vincent said quickly. “That isn’t necessary.” He looked as if he would cover his eyes if she showed a breast.

Even I laughed. I couldn’t imagine the wedding night. The days when there had to be witnesses to the king’s and queen’s first consummation were in the past. I think if Vincent had an audience, Angelica wouldn’t be pregnant now. It was possible that Vincent never saw her breasts! He didn’t have to touch them or anything else but put his erection in and do the job. Never turning on the lights or even looking. He got the job done! He confessed he felt a little sick to his stomach doing it. He might tell me, but I’d never ask him.

“Speaking of cows,” I said brightly feeling so much better now. “The Pohogwe use a diluted cow’s milk to supplement.” I shrugged, “When the baby needs more than the mother has.” I explained. “We had plenty of cows at the ranch. Goat’s milk will work too, but not as well with a newborn.”

Angelica nodded quickly and waved at me with a look that said “see”.

There was a lot of ground to cover. It took most of the day! Queen Martha did visit a little while. Vincent was still trying to fit the diaper properly. Queen Martha was pleased that Vincent was trying to learn and even gave some good advice such as what to use to help with the rash a baby can get for being wet so often.

“Having two sons,” she smiled. “Even with those protective rubber pants, if it’s a boy, if the nappy isn’t snug you’ll have a mess.” She took a diaper and put it under the doll, but in the front of the diaper she folded it down. “You fold it so his…” she paused a second, “liten penis,” she said in Norwegian for little penis, “between these folds. It saved a lot of dresses I wore because of it.”

Logical. It was perfectly logical.

All three of us went down for dinner with the family. It was more relaxed tonight. Queen Martha told how Vincent was learning to be a good father which made King Olav very happy to hear.

We stayed so long Harald returned from his shift.

“Okay, Vinnie,” I said for which I got a soft growl from Vincent. “Time to go.”

This was the best time for them. Assuming Harald had no problem being intimate with a pregnant woman. She was in no danger of getting pregnant again! Angelica would have no problem setting him straight about that!

Harald and Angelica were smiling again at Vincent and me.

“Yes,” Vincent stood. “We should go.” He shook Harald’s hand. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

This was going to work!!