Chapter 21 #2
The little girl’s eyes were large as she looked at Adelaide and me. “Are you King Oliver?” she asked.
I held back a laugh. “I am.”
Her mouth popped open. “Wow. Mum!” She reached back to tug on her mother’s sleeve. “It’s him!”
“I know, darling,” the woman whispered, her cheeks pink. She looked at us, clearly flustered. “We can come back later. Isla wanted to do some painting, but we can take the supplies back to our room.”
“No, please, do come in,” Adelaide said, going to the art table. She moved one chair aside to make room for Isla’s wheelchair and pulled out another seat for the girl’s mother.
The woman nodded and pushed Isla to the table before grabbing some paint, brushes, and canvases.
Adelaide sat at the table facing the little girl. “Hi, I’m Adelaide. You’re Isla?”
Isla nodded. “And this is my mum, Josie.” The girl paused, looking over her shoulder at me. “Do you want to paint with me, Your Majesty?”
Josie nearly dropped the tray of paint she was holding. “Isla, darling, I’m sure King Oliver has other things on his schedule.”
I strode to the table, taking the seat next to Isla. I smiled at her warmly. “I would love to paint with you.”
Josie looked at me with a look that asked, Are you sure?
I nodded at her imperceptibly and winked. Very sure.
Josie placed a white canvas in front of me and a second in front of Isla. Adelaide helped her to set up the paint and a cup of water for rinsing our brushes.
I leaned toward Isla conspiratorially. “I have to admit something to you: I am awful at painting. Any type of art really.”
Adelaide snorted a laugh.
“Hey, I heard that,” I admonished.
It was Adelaide’s turn to lean in toward the little girl.
“Isla, you know how King Oliver courted several of us women before we got engaged?” The girl nodded, her eyes wide.
Adelaide continued, “Well, one of the first group activities we did was a visit to the artisan workshops here in Altborn. We each got the opportunity to paint an ornament for the palace’s Christmas tree.
King Oliver’s was awful; it looked like he had just closed his eyes and poked around with the paint. ” Her eyes sparkled with amusement.
“Oh, it wasn’t that bad, was it?” I asked. I already knew the answer.
Adelaide laughed. “It was that bad.” I was fairly certain I heard Caroline chuckle from her post by the door.
“I’m not that good either, Your Majesty.” Isla reached over to pat my hand. “I am good at painting nails! But Mum said she was too tired for that today, so we came here instead.”
Adelaide met my gaze and I knew we were thinking the same thing.
I turned to face Isla fully. “You know what?”
“What?”
“I could really use a manicure. Do you think you could paint them for me?”
Isla’s face lit up, some of her pallor shrinking as she smiled from ear to ear. “Yes, I can! Mum, can you get my nail kit for me?”
Adelaide was already walking with Josie to the door, assuring her in a low voice that I would not have made the offer if I didn’t mean it. The pair disappeared, with Adelaide returning a few minutes later carrying a brightly colored Caboodle much like one Rosie used to have.
Adelaide set the kit on the table and opened it to unveil a rainbow of nail polishes, remover, and manicure tools. “Isla, I hope it’s okay, but I told your mum she could rest in your room while King Oliver and I hang out with you.”
“Yeah, that’s fine! She’s embarrassing anyway.”
I snorted a laugh. Kids were brutally honest.
Adelaide bit back a smile. “Yeah, she looked like she could use a nap.”
Isla nodded as she rooted around in the nail kit. “She stays up with the nurses at night while I sleep.”
I met Adelaide’s eyes, spotting the emotion behind them. “That’s really kind of her,” I said.
“Yeah, she worries about me a lot. She’s a really good mum.” She looked up at me. “What’s your favorite color?”
“Green,” I answered.
“Ooo! I have the perfect green. It’s called Wexstone Pine.” She dug around for a moment, looking for it. “Ms. Adelaide, can you ask the nurse for a bowl so King Oliver can soak his nails?”
“It would be a pleasure.” Adelaide stood and winked at me. She was loving this a little too much, almost as much as coercing me onstage at the concert.
Adelaide returned shortly holding two bed pans. She was doing a piss-poor job at hiding the amusement in her eyes.
“The nurse’s station didn’t have any bowls available. They said we could use these though?”
Isla covered her mouth with her hand. “Are you kidding me, Ms. Adelaide? No! People pee in those!” The little girl fell into a fit of laughter.
Adelaide shrugged, winking at me. “Well, they clean them.”
“No! He’s the king! He can’t soak his hands in pee pans!”
We all roared with laughter, Caroline included, taking several minutes to collect ourselves. Caroline stepped forward and offered to pop down to the kitchen and find us an actual bowl.
“A shame, I was really looking forward to teasing you about soaking your hands in bed pans for the foreseeable future,” Adelaide whispered to me.
An hour later, deep green nail polish adorned all ten of my fingers. Adelaide painted Isla’s Royalty Red, and Isla gave Adelaide Lady Lavender.
“This was the best day,” Isla announced with a happy sigh as we took her back to her room.
“It really was,” Adelaide agreed.
Isla turned, appraising her work on my nails. “Everyone is going to love your nails, Your Majesty. Make sure you let them know that it’s called Wexstone Pine and they can get it at the pharmacy.”
“I will definitely let them know,” I promised sincerely.
Adelaide rapped softly on the door before we entered. Josie sat on a couch by the window, a book in her lap, looking refreshed.
“I was just about to come get you. It’s almost time for your next dose.”
Isla’s grin melted as she sank in her chair. “Aw, man. I don’t want to.”
“I know, sweetie. But we have to stick to the schedule so that you can feel better and come home soon.”
“King Oliver, do you ever have to do things you don’t want to? Or do you just make other people do it for you?” Isla asked as Josie lifted her onto her bed.
I took a seat in the chair next to Isla’s bed, leaning forward with my elbows on my knees. “Oh, I do things I don’t want to all the time. A good leader doesn’t just offload all the things they don’t want to do; they have to be willing to do some of those things themselves, too.”
“Even scary stuff?” Isla’s voice was small.
I nodded. “Even scary stuff.”
“Can you tell me some scary things you’ve done while the nurse gives me my IV?”
“Absolutely.” I scooted my chair closer and took her tiny hand in mine. A nurse came in with a tray of supplies and an IV bag of medicine. She bobbed a quick curtsy when she saw me, then started taking Isla’s vitals. “You know what? Just a few months ago I had to do something really scary.”
Isla’s eyes widened and she gripped my hand tighter. “What was it?”
“Well, I don’t know if you know this, but I had to be crowned king in front of a lot of people.”
Isla brightened. “Yeah! We watched it on the TV in one of the lounges here with some of the nurses and other patients!”
“That sounds like a fun little party,” Adelaide said from where she sat beside Josie on the couch.
“It was! We had snacks and made paper crowns.” Isla’s eyes danced over to the crafted crown that sat on top of a dresser in the corner of the room.
“Can I tell you a secret, Isla?” She nodded solemnly.
“Until last year, I didn’t think I would have to become king.
It was a big, big change for me, and I was so nervous to take on the responsibility.
What if I make the wrong decisions for the country, for people like you and your mum?
But even though I was scared, I knew I could be brave at the same time. ”
“That’s something my mum tells me! That you can be scared and brave at the same time.”
I glanced briefly at Josie, noting the silvery sheen of tears in her eyes. Adelaide reached over and took her hand. The nurse finished taking Isla’s vitals and started prepping her arm for the IV, one side of her mouth tipped up in a smile.
“Your mum is very wise,” I said. “Want to know something else?”
Isla nodded again. With her gaze locked on me, she was unaware of her mother wiping the tears from her eyes across the room.
“Do you remember when I had to wear the crown and hold the orb and scepter?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I didn’t want to wear and hold all of that. Those things are all really heavy and very old and very valuable. I kept imagining myself dropping and breaking them and everyone laughing or my family being upset with me.”
Isla gasped. “But you didn’t! It was all fine!”
“You’re right. And I made it through without any tears. Just. Like. You.” I squeezed her tiny hand and nodded to the nurse who was cleaning up her tray of supplies.
Isla’s eyes lit up and a smile lit her face from ear to ear. “Hey, I didn’t even feel her insert the IV! Thank you, King Oliver.”
“It was absolutely my pleasure.”
“Do you think you’ll be scared when you and Ms. Adelaide get married? There will be a lot of people watching you there, too.”
I caught the sound of a chuckle from the nurse as she left the room.
My eyes met Adelaide’s and I couldn’t stop the smile that took over my face at the thought of marrying her.
I knew that I wouldn’t have a care in the world when it came to our wedding day.
If she would let me, marrying her would be the easiest thing I’d done in my life so far.
“No. Not at all. That woman right there”—I nodded toward Adelaide—“is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Saying ‘I do’ to her isn’t scary at all.”