Part 15: If I Die Young (TRR AU, Liam x MC, NSF*W)
A/N: This chapter is actually two in one, meaning = there will be a lot of thing happening! I hope you guys enjoy it!
Pairing: Liam x MC (Catherine)
Summary: Catherine Spencer returns to New York after her fall from grace in Cordonia. She left the love of her life behind and all the dreams she had dared to dream. Now she has to pick up the pieces and move on but her past has a way of finding her.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Choices by Pixel Berry
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„Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother
She'll know I'm safe with you when
She stands under my colours, oh and
Life ain't always what you think it oughta be, no
Ain't even grey, but she buries her baby
The sharp knife of a short life,
Well, I've had just enough time
If I die young bury me in satin.
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song“, If I die young, The Band Perry
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After the fireworks, the guests were invited into the ball room for Liam’s toast to Catherine, presenting her formally as Duchess and the future Queen of Cordonia. Before going on stage, Liam kisses her on the cheek and gives instructions to a waiter to bring her a champagne glass filled with sparkling water. A couple minutes later the chime of silver on glass draws the attention of the party guests to the stage, where Liam stands and smiles to the crowd:
„Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you all for coming together today to celebrate my engagement to Lady Catherine Spencer. As part of becoming Queen, Catherine is receiving today the title of Duchess of Valtoria“, Liam looks directly at his fiancee, his smile is gentle and full of love, „Thank you, Catherine, for completing my life, filling it with so much love and joy“. He extends a hand to her and Catherine joins him on the stage, she is touched by his loving words. Liam puts one hand on her waist, „Please join me in raising a glass to the future Queen of Cordonia“.
As the party guests cheer and celebrate their new Duchess and future Queen, Madeleine glances at Regina, „Liam is turning his reign into a circus. He should know better than presenting his feelings to his court like that. This only makes him look weak and foolish“.
Regina moves closer to madeleine, „Come with me“. Walking through the cheering crowd, they leave the ball room through one of the French doors leading to the inner courtyard and sit down on a bench in a dark corner, far from anyone’s sight, „Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do… in a few days she will be Liam’s Queen and will initiate the end of the monarchy as we know it“.
„Aunt Regina, don’t be so pessimistic. As long as they aren’t married, a lot could happen…“, Madeleine smiles at her Regina as if she already had a plan.
„You don’t understand… the girl is with child. Liam would never believe any intrigue and he will definitely never leave her“, Regina shakes her head, „The only thing that makes us better than commoners is their believe in that. Catherine wants to bring this monarchy closer to the people… for God’s sake, she got Liam build a kitchen in the King’s chamber so they can cook together. What is next? Will she send their child to public school? Soon people will start asking if they really need a King. She will destroy the monarchy and all of us with it“.
„W-What? A child?“, Madeleine stands up and start pacing nervously, „That bitch thought of everything…“, she mumbles.
„My thoughts exactly“, Regina watches Madeleine’s steps slowing down.
„Oh, no but we are not going down without a fight!“, Madeleine crosses her arms in front of her, „Liam will never leave her but would she stay if she knew what life in palace is really about? If she knew how dangerous this life can be for her and her child? If we gave her a taste of how life with enemies in her own court could be?“
„I’m listening… What do you have in mind?“, Regina looks at Madeleine curious to know her plans.
—————
Once the celebration came to a close, Liam accompanied his fiancee back to their apartment. Unaware of Regina’s and Madeleine’s plans to disrupt their happiness, he runs a bath for him and Catherine.
Liam walks out of the bathroom, watching Catherine on the bed relaxing after this stressful day. He offers her his hand, „Love, the water is ready for you“. Once she gets up, standing in front of Liam, he unties her dressing gown, letting it fall to the floor. His eyes sweeps over her naked body, „You are so beautiful my love“. He gets closer to her, „Your breast… they look bigger“.
She giggles, „You noticed…“, she puts her arms around his neck. „Yeah, our baby is growing strong and soon we won’t be able to hide my pregnancy anymore“.
„I can’t wait to see your belly growing“, Liam runs his hands over belly and around her waist, going down to her butt. He smiles, squeezing it gently and then his hands make their way down to reach under her thighs and lift her up. She hooks her legs around his waist and he brings her to the bathroom. He then helps her into the tub and she slides forward so he can sit behind her. „Once we are back from our honeymoon, we will be able to know the sex of our baby… do you want to know it? I can’t wait for this day to be honest“, he massages her back.
„Of course I want to know! Then we can finally decide on a name for our little one“, she smiles and rests a hand on her belly. „I'd say once we reach the second trimester, we could share the news with our people“.
Liam kisses her shoulder and her neck, „This day will be historical. After over four years, Cordonia will finally have an heir to the throne. Our people will rejoice over the news and we can finally start preparing for our baby’s arrival“.
„Honey, isn’t it too early to start getting ready for our baby?“, Catherine chuckles.
He hugs her, resting his head on her shoulder, „We are talking about the crown prince or crown princess of Cordonia… we have to choose a room, find someone to be responsible for the interior design, we need to find a local carpenter to make the furniture…“, before he finishes his thought, Catherine says:
„Hold on a second. If you still have the furniture of your baby room, we could use them. We would have the carpenter refurbishing those pieces, but the we wouldn’t need anything new and at the same time we would have something from your mother… that she chose for you. What do you think?“, she turns her head to Liam and notices he is getting emotional.
He kisses the back of her head, „You are amazing, my love. I don’t deserve you… you’re so thoughtful, so kind… your love is everything I need to feel complete“, his voice was soft, almost fragile, „That you wanna include my mother in this special moment, welcoming her into our child’s life means so much to me“. Liam holds her tighter to him, „I wish she could have met you, Katie… she would have loved you“, he whispers.
„I’m sure she is here, Liam, taking care of all of us“, she takes his hand and puts it on her belly, „Taking care of our baby“.
Liam closes his eyes and thanks God for having sent her to him, he can’t stand the thought of a life without Catherine.
—————
The next morning, Liam and Catherine head to Valtoria for a day trip. Catherine looks through the window enjoying the scenery and with the corner of her eyes she catches Liam staring at her.
She smiles, „So, my King, what are the plan for the day?“
„We will be choosing the flower arrangements for the Cathedral from a local florist and also one of our wedding cakes will come from a Valtorian baker. As I told you before, it isn’t an official visit but I thought it would be nice to include your duchy in the celebrations. Unfortunately, we won’t have much time over there because of my trip to France tomorrow“, Liam kisses her forehead, „Now, you better look out the window or you will miss the entrance to your castle“.
Catherine’s eyes widen in disbelief, „What?“, she looks back at Liam shocked, „Are you serious? This is like out of a fairy tale“.
Liam smiles, „Everything you see here is yours“.
Catherine smiles, getting closer to Liam she whispers, „Well, Mr. Rhys, I can’t wait for the day we will christen every and each room of this castle“, she brushes her fingers over Liam’s chest and trails kisses over his neck.
Liam blushes, „Oh honey, I can’t wait for this day either but let’s not start something now that we won’t be able to finish… in a couple of minutes we will have to leave the car and I, erm…, I won’t be able to walk out of this car if you go on like that“. Catherine giggles and kisses him on the cheek, turning back to the window.
After their arrival, Catherine is greeted by Gladys, the majordomo and is led by her through the castle for a tour of the most important places while the florist displays her arrangements in the ballroom.
When Liam and Catherine finally arrive at the entrance of the room, they can already take in the sweet scent of the flowers. Catherine slowly walks into the sea of flowers and heads straight to the petit brunette, working on the final details of one arrangement.
„Good Morning!“, she says, „This look amazing!“.
Liam walks behind Catherine, watching carefully every details, „You have exceeded my expectation, Mrs. Wallace“.
The woman curtsies, „You Majesty, your Grace. Forgive me for having my back turned to you, I didn’t notice you approaching!“
„Please, don’t worry about it in anyway“, Catherine smiles, „So, I see you have included my favorite flowers in your arrangements?“
„Yes, your Grace. His Majesty made clear that I should add pink and white roses to the arrangements. I took the liberty to add the peonies though, for they are one of the symbols of your duchy“, she smiles and shows the different arrangements she has created.
„I love peonies and everything you have here. What do you think, Liam?“, Catherine looks at him and he walks through the sea of flowers.
„I believe this arrangement is one of my favorite — it’s simple yet classic and elegant“, he looks at Catherine and she smiles.
„I love it, sweetheart! I think we have a winner!“, she takes his hand in hers and leans her head against his strong arm. „Now it is starting to feel real, soon we will be married, Liam“, she looks at him and he kisses her head. They discuss a few other details with the florist before heading for lunch in the dining room.
In the afternoon, they headed to the parlor, where a local baker prepared a few different cake slices for a wedding cake tasting. Liam playfully fed Catherine with every cake flavor that was represented on the several trays. After going through the different flavors, they settled for a chocolate truffle cake filled with chocolate ganache with a hint of raspberry and vanilla.
The day in Valtoria ended with a ride through the the countryside, just a small presentation of Catherine’s duchy as their first official visit will be after their honeymoon and they will spend their first week as a married couple in her lands.
—————
In that same evening, after dinner, Catherine walks into her bedroom wearing a white night gown. She looks at Liam, lying in her bed, very concentrate in his reading and she smiles. She sits down next to him and gives him a kiss on the cheek.
Liam smiles and looks at her, putting down his book, „Sorry, I didn’t see you there…“
„It’s okay. What are you reading?“, she gets closer to him and he wraps an arm around her waist.
„Nothing too important, I’m just trying to get ready for my trip to France tomorrow“, he kisses the top of her head, „Are you sure you don’t wanna come with me?“.
Catherine smiles, „I’d love to but I got work to do and I got that tea party thing, the one Regina is organizing, remember?“
„Oh, yes, I do“, Liam tilts her chin gently to him, „If Madeleine is there and if anything happen that makes you uncomfortable, don’t feel obligated to stay there, okay?“.
„Thank you, sweetheart, but I think I can deal with Regina and Madeleine…“, she smiles and stares at him for a few seconds. Catherine bites her bottom lip, moving slowly over him, pulling her gown high enough so she can straddle Liam.
He smiles naughtily, „Hmmm, you are insatiable, my Queen…“
„I’m blaming the pregnancy hormones…“, she giggles and lower herself slowly onto him for a passionate kiss. His hands roam up her thighs -- one holding her hip and the other stopping between her legs, making her moan.
„Oh god, Katie, you are so wet…“, he whispers and massages her love button with his thumb. She slips her hand into Liam’s boxer briefs, reaching for his fully erected manhood. She looks deep into his eyes, leading him slowly inside of her and he groans. „Oh baby, you feel so fucking good…“. She lowers the straps of her gown, exposing her breasts to Liam. He reaches for them and massages them gently for a moment while she rides him the way he loves it. He pulls her to him and kisses her neck, trailing kisses down to her collarbone and to her breast. They enjoy the feeling of their body becoming one for a while, their moans and groans getting louder.
„Fuck, baby… I’m close“, she lets her head falls to her back and Liam grabs her hips, intensifying her movement, getting deeper and faster into her, making her scream, „Liam…“.
„Yeah, love, come for me…“, as he feels her walls tightening around him, he wraps his arms around her, pulling her tighter to him and he lets go, finding his release inside of her. He looks deep into her eyes, „Catherine, I love you more than anything…“
„I love you too, Liam“, she lets herself fall to his side and Liam lies down, pulling her to him while they try to catch their breaths. She nestles into his arms, tracing circles on his muscular chest.
Sometime in the middle of the night, Catherine wakes up feeling sick. She tries not to wake up Liam but when he hears her throwing up in the bathroom, he doesn’t hesitate to go to her side. Although the treatment is working, some days are better than others.
After 30 minutes in the bathroom, she washed her face, brushing her teeth and went to bed feeling terribly. Liam pours her a glass of water, „Maybe I should cancel my trip…“, he looks at her worried.
„Nonsense, Liam. I’ll be fine… we know that the sickness can last throughout the pregnancy. I’m just glad I get a break some days“, she drinks the glass of water and rests her head on Liam’s chest.
„Then promises me you will see the palace doctor in the morning, please! Just to make sure you don’t need another infusion…“, he kisses her head and strokes her back.
„Okay, honey, now you should sleep. You have an early flight to catch“.
Liam sighs and turns off the light. He tries to fall asleep but he can’t shake the feeling that he shouldn’t leave her alone.
—————
Feeling better than the night before, Catherine walks through the palace, on her way to Liam’s study to work from home. After two conference calls she hears a knock on the door.
„Come in“, she says.
Regina opens the door and looks at her annoyed, „I was looking for you, your Grace. I just couldn’t believe my ears when I was told you would be working here, in Liam’s study“.
„It was Liam’s idea but I’m sure you aren’t here to discuss where I should or shouldn’t be…“, Catherine closes her laptop, „Please, have a seat“.
Regina walks into the room and sits down, „I had an early meeting with our family lawyer and I was told you still haven’t signed a prenup“.
„Liam and I have never talked about it, actually“, Catherine crosses her arms.
„He probably forgot with so many things to take care of... “, she smiles, „That’s the reason why I took the liberty to bring this for you. It is the same prenup Madeleine signed so in case of a divorce you will be taken care of“.
Catherine has a quick flick through it and closes her eyes shortly, pinching the bridge of her nose, „Okay, Regina… you know I am a lawyer, don’t you? Do you really think I am going to sign this?“, she opens her eyes and sighs.
„Why not? It’s fair…“, she says.
„First of fall, if we signed a prenup or not it’s none of your business, so you don’t have to go around asking questions. Secondly, I’m not against it. If Liam wants a prenup, we will have one but one that we both agreed upon — we will find a lawyer and we will discuss the terms of this contract, not you and your lawyer, do you understand me, Regina?“, Catherine stands up and walks to the bar area to pour herself a glass of water.
„I just wanted to be helpful…“, she says, „And there is also this other thing...“.
Catherine signs and takes a deep breath trying to keep her cool, „What is it?“, she walks back to her seat.
„This one you have to sign. Every Queen before you did…“
Catherine reads attentively every line and can’t believe her eyes, „You want me to terminate my parental rights to my unborn child?! Are you insane?“, she laughs but actually she feels like screaming, „‚The child of a King or Queen is property of the Crown‘? My child is property of nobody. I mean, Regina, if you or anyone think I’m going to sign this… you are delusional“.
„As I said, every Queen before you did. It’s just to assure that the child will have a courtly education and in your case, that you won’t take the child away from Liam“, she says.
„Liam knows that I’d never do this to him and there are international laws that protect the rights of both parents... I’d never be able to leave the country with my child without the father’s consent. You have to know this much at least“, Catherine says, trying to keep her voice down, „Look, I have work to do. I’m gong to discuss this with Liam but I can tell you now, I’m not signing it!“.
Regina stands up and smiles, „Sooner or later you will have to…“. She turns around and leaves the room. Catherine waits until she closes the door and sends Liam a text:
„Can you talk now?“
A couple of minutes later, Liam calls her:
„Hey sweetheart, what is going on? Missing me already?“, his voice is soft and full of love.
„Liam, do you want a prenup?“, she says agitated.
„Whoa, where is this coming from?“, he says confused.
„Go on! Have a guess…“, she sighs.
„Regina? But I have never talked to her about a prenup… Honey, listen to me, I don’t need one. Otherwise we would have talked about it a while ago“, he tries to calm her down.
„Liam, I am not even mad because of the prenup but with the prenup she gave me a waver… to sign over my parental rights to the crown?! What the fuck! I am not doing that…“, Catherine stands up and starts pacing.
„Love, you don’t have to sign anything. I would never ask you to do that, you know me. You have to calm down, Katie, this isn’t good for you or our baby…“, Liam waits for an answer but she doesn’t say anything. „Honey?“
Catherine sits down again and puts a hand on her side, feeling some cramping, „Yeah, you are right. I think I gotta finish up things here and lie down for a while“.
„Is everything okay? Did you see the doctor?“, he asks worried.
„Yes, he will come by after the afternoon tea and I’ll probably get an infusion again“, Catherine closes her eyes and breaths deeply.
„You should stay in bed today, you don’t have to go to Regina’s tea party“.
„I am going with Hana, Liam. Don’t worry too much about me… everything will be fine“, she says feeling a little better, „I love you… talk later?“
„I love you too, please call me whenever you want!“. After talking to Liam, Catherine answered a few emails and went to bed. She was still annoyed with Regina for her lacking of boundaries, but she tried not to worry about it for the baby.
—————
After a few hours in bed reading, Catherine got dressed for the tea party and met with Hana in the parlor.
As they arrive in the tea room, Catherine and Hana are greeted by Regina and from the corner of her eyes she sees Madeleine with a group of ladies. The room is nicely decorated with beautiful flower arrangements and live piano music. In every table there were a selection of teacakes, macaroons, scones with Cornish clotted cream and strawberry preserve, tiny sandwiches and other exquisite pastries. Regina was trying to be extremely nice, introducing Catherine to the other ladies.
After chatting with each one of the ladies, Catherine and Hana headed to their table and soon Regina joined them.
„Are you enjoying the tea party, your Grace“, Madeleine comes from behind Catherine and sits down by her side.
Catherine glances shortly at Hana before putting on a fake smile and turning her head to Madeleine, „Hi Madeleine. Yes, it’s been delightful so far. Are you enjoying it?“
“Well, enjoying isn’t the exactly the word I’d go for. I know most of the ladies in here. They are from lower nobility classes, looking for the opportunity of their lives…“, Madeleine stares at Catherine with a grin on her lips.
„Oh yeah? And what kind of opportunity are you talking about?“, Catherine asks curious.
At this Moment Regina starts saying, „Well, I’m not sure if you know but in a Cordonian marriage is quite common for both parties to have extra conjugal relationships. And as future Queen, it is your duty to choose Liam at least two of these beautiful ladies“.
„Do you see Lady Anne and Lady Cassandra over there? Those I chose for him before we got married… his mistresses will live in the palace. Of course not in your quarter but they should be available whenever their King desires“, Madeleine looks over at Catherine and her face is blank.
„Okay… Regina and Madeleine, Liam doesn’t need a mistress. I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t want one. It may be usual in a political marriage or a marriage of interests but we love each other. There will be no third person in our bed“, Catherine stares deeply into Regina’s eyes.
Madeleine laughs quietly, „Listen, Catherine, this monarchy is much older than your own country. If you wanna survive as Queen, you better accept that… your relationship with Liam is everything but normal, there are rules and you will follow them or you will have to leave“. Suddenly, Catherine feels extremely sick and tries to get up from her chair but Madeleine grabs her arm forcefully, „Now, you listen to me. Do you see the table on our left? Those ‚Ladies‘ I introduced you to? Why don’t you choose two of them and you can go… Liam has already pre-approved each one of them a few months ago. Lady Sophia, for example, spent 48 hour in a hotel in Paris with Liam… as you know, our King doesn’t lack of stamina. Lady Jasmin, on the other hand, spent a couple of days in his Yacht… oh, haven’t you two spent some lovely days cruising the Mediterranean? I hope it doesn’t bother you too much that you weren’t the first one. And lady Agnieszka, he sent a plane to Saint Petersburg to bring her to Cordonia for the weekend… I don’t need to tell you the things he might have done to her… probably in your room…“. Catherine feel the pain coming back and it makes her so dizzy she can’t concentrate.
„Enough, Madeleine!“, Hana stands up, „We are leaving… you two should be ashamed of yourselves!“, Hana takes Catherine’s hand and helps her to stand up.
„But I didn’t finish yet…“, Madeleine says laughing while Hana and Catherine leave the room.
Hana leads Catherine to the parlor and after a couple of minutes in silence, she says, „You are pale and your hands are cold. I gotta call someone“.
„I think I am a little dehydrated, I feel so dizzy I don’t think I can go up the stairs…“, Catherine says, her hand is on her belly. „Would you please call Leo?“, she hands her phone to Hana.
Hana immediately calls him and tells Leo to come as fast as he can. Meanwhile, Catherine wraps her arms around her stomach in pain. She tries to takes deep breaths but it doesn’t help.
When Leo arrives, he walks up to Catherine, „You don’t look good, Katie… What happened? I thought you guys were having tea with Regina!“. Hana told him what happened in the tea room. „What the fuck is wrong with those two? Liam is going to kill them…“. He offers a hand to Catherine, „Let’s go, I’m taking you to your room and then I’ll let the doctor know you aren’t feeling well”.
When Catherine stands up, Hana notices blood in the back of her dress, „Katie, you are bleeding…“, she says. Shortly after Hana finishes her sentence, Catherine faints, being caught by Leo.
„No, no, no.. this isn’t good! Okay, I gotta take her to the hospital… You tell the guards to not allow Madeleine or Regina to leave this palace. They should take them to Liam’s office and stay there until I come back!“, Leo holds Catherine in his arms and runs to the front door, getting her into his car and rushing to the hospital.
During the short drive to the hospital, he let them know that he would be arriving with Catherine and in less than 15 minutes he parked in the back entrance of the hospital, where a team was already waiting for her. Leo watched her go before leaving to park his car. Nervous with the situation, he called his brother but nobody answered the call. Then he tried Bastien:
„Bastien, where is Liam?“, he says apprehensive.
„He is in a call, can I help you with anything?“, Bastien asks.
„I need to talk to him. Catherine is in the hospital“
„I see, give me a second…“, Bastien puts him on hold and soon Liam in on the other side of the line.
„What is it, brother? Did you cause a fire in the palace again?“, Liam chuckles.
„Li, listen to me… you better come back! Regina and Madeleine are out of control…“, he says agitated.
„Okay, you are making me nervous… what is going on, Leo?“
„Catherine is in the hospital, I think she and the baby aren’t doing well… she was bleeding, you better get here fast, Liam. I’ll tell you what happened once you arrive!“, Leo explains.
„I’m on my way“, Liam says angrily, „Don’t let them leave… I’m going to deal with those two once and for all“.
To be continued…
For more chapters go to my MASTERLIST in my bio.
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