Epilogue
“Mommy, look at me!” The squeals of a little boy on the bed rang through the air in the light morning day.
“Don’t bother your mother, Will,” Alex scolded the little boy. Will instantly jumped from the bed and into Alex’s arms. The little boy of four years was growing big quickly. Alex couldn’t wait until he let Will ride a horse. They could go for a ride and he could teach him how to hunt.
“It’s fine, Zander. Let him be,” Izzy said, smiling up at the two boys. They were her world and she cherished each one of them.
“Yes, daddy. Let me see mommy’s stomach,” Will giggled as he struggled to get out of Alex’s arms.
“You would choose your mother over me?” Alex said, pretending to be mad. He brought Will to the bed and began to tickle him on the side where he was ticklish.
“Ah, too much movement,” Izzy gasped and instantly Will and Alex stopped.
“Can I touch it?” Will said, aweing at the bloated stomach.
“Yes, you can. Come closer, Will,” Izzy smiled, urging him to come closer. The little boy, with wide curious eyes, touched her stomach and recoiled back as if he got burned.
“What are you doing Will?” Alex laughed, amused.
“I didn’t want to hurt it,” Will gasped, scooting back to give Izzy room.
“‘It’ is a she, Will. She will be your baby sister,” Alex chuckled, laying on the bed and reaching for Izzy’s stomach. Alex bent down and kissed her stomach gently, careful not to harm her or the baby in any way.
“When did you say Maliki and Elizabeth was coming today?” Izzy asked, looking at Alex and an excited Will.
“Is Rose coming with them?” Will asked excitedly. Izzy chuckled.
“Yes your cousin will come too. I hope you two will not get into your usual troubles,” Izzy said, looking at Will with a knowing look. Will only blushed and gave her a cheeky smile.
“Of course not,” he gushed. Alex laughed aloud.
“Go and change your clothes. We can go on a hike around the castle before your Uncle Maliki and Aunt Elizabeth gets here,” Alex said, shooing an ecstatic Will away. After Will had gone to his own bedroom, Alex came closer to Izzy until her stomach touched his.
“Will is too active for a four year old,” Izzy laughed after he was long gone.
“Well he is our son,” Alex answered with a chuckle. “I think we were pretty active with everything we went through.”
“I guess so,” Izzy smiled. She looked at Alex the way she did five years ago when they got married. The love they had for each other was still there and was growing bigger as they waited for the arrival of their second child, their daughter.
“I think I have to get ready to go with Will. Will you be alright with Marissa?” Alex asked, looking down at Izzy’s stomach. They had named their unborn daughter Marissa after her mother.
“Of course I will be. Do not worry about me,” Izzy smiled at her husband. He bent down and kissed her gently.
“Until then my queen,” he grinned before she could slap him. She had grown weary of the title and although she was the best queen the kingdom ever had, she didn’t like it when Alex called her that.
Alex blew her a kiss before he closed the door behind him and instantly Izzy sighed. She couldn’t wait to see Maliki and Elizabeth later that evening. She would never have imagined seven years ago of where she was now. Everything still seemed like a dream. Unrealistic and dream-like.
Izzy tried to get up on her own, although it was getting hard these days from carrying Marissa inside her. She walked over to her desk and opened the small secret compartment and took out a familiar leather journal. She had perused the journal hundreds of times thinking if she read it enough times, she would gain new information from it.
However, despite all the numerous entries, there was one that she had found in a secret hidden pocket of the journal she had found right after she had Will. She opened the aged paper and read it again even though she memorized it by heart.
Dear Daughter,
I hope that someday this would be in your possession safe and sound where it should be. There might be a lot of questions going through your head and I might not know all of them or be able to answer them.
However, I want you to know that I love you. So much. For the nine months I have nourished you, I have always repeated that constantly. I know under circumstances I cannot be with you right now or I am dead but you should know that you are my everything.
I cannot write a whole life lesson for you to read and I cannot be with you through everything you might go through but I want you to know that you should always reach for your dreams. That you should persevere in everything you do because then you will be successful. I can see you now, twenty years from now as a beautiful daughter I imagine you to be.
I imagine you to be bold, smart, intuitive, and beautiful. A caring and yet fierce-hearted woman who has their own opinion. You will change the world. You will change the kingdom. I see that you are destined for goodness.
Remember always that I am with you wherever you go and may Heaven bless you and watch over you. You are my daughter. A princess at heart. I love you always.
From your mother,
Marissa