A Christmas Wedding 3, Chapter 2

It was a little bit past noon when a dark car drove towards the front door of the castle.
Through the day, the castle of Knightendale was a museum. The ground level and some of the cellars were open for public.
But these people, who were inside the dark car, weren't there to just visit it.

A big, somewhat old looking man stepped out of the car. He went to the other side and opened the door. Anita stepped out of the car. The opening didn't take too long, so she could go back to her castle a little bit earlier. "Thank you, George." she said to her bodyguard. "I'm curious if Abigail is already here."

George smiled. "I think she is, Your Majesty."

Anita smiled and she walked to the front door. The castle had been a museum for a few years now and Anita got pretty used to that fact.

In the Grand Hall was now a little shop and a few people were waiting to get a tour. There was never a real threat to the Royal family, but they didn't want people just wandering around and coming to the private parts of the castle.

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty." said the man behind the counter.

"Good afternoon, Henry." said Anita with a smile. Henry, the old gardener of the castle, was now part of the museum. Literary. He took care of the register and he did a tour now and then. In fact, most of the employees who worked at the museum, used to work at the castle once.  

"How are you, ma'am?" asked Henry. As the old gardener, he knew Anita since she was little. And the contact between the staff and the family was very good.

"I'm wonderful, knowing Abigail will be here…"

"She is already here, my Queen." said Henry with a big smile.

"Well, I should be looking for her then." said Anita and she said goodbye to the staff. To get to the garden, she had to walk upstairs. That was the only disadvantage of this museum-thing. She had to take a little detour to get to the garden, since she didn't want to interrupt the tours.
Anita walked to the back of the castle. Knowing her parents, Abigail and her grandparents were going to the 'Rose of Love'. It was a little guesthouse, which was located in the Rose Garden. Mary Lynn had prepared a little surprise for Abigail at the guesthouse.

"Hey, Anita!" sounded and Anita looked to the source. Victor walked out of the Conference Room.

"You're early." said Anita with a chuckle. Normally when there was a meeting with the ministers, the meeting wouldn't be over after three or four hours.

Victor smiled. "Abigail just arrived a few moments ago, so I figured I should let the meeting end earlier. But I had to promise them that they would get some of Bianca's lunch. Anita laughed and they walked to the garden. "Can you believe it?" whispered Victor as they walked through the Rose Garden. "We are married for twenty years now."

Anita gave him a smile. "Twenty wonderful years."

"Especially our wedding day was great. We didn't have all the time to plan it, but it was certainly great."

Anita nodded. "Just like our first Christmas together."

"And the birthdays of Abigail and Veronique."

"And tonight, we will be celebrating our twentieth anniversary." said Anita with a bigger smile.  She couldn't wait for the big party they had organized for that evening. Their best friends would be there, together with the whole family.

"Where is Veronique?" asked Victor as they were near the cottage.

"I believe she is in the city, hanging out with some friends." said Anita. Their youngest daughter loved being around with her friends. She was truly her father's daughter. "She promised me that she would be home at three, around tea-time."

"Good. Do you know if she has a boyfriend already?"

"She doesn't have one." sounded as the door opened. A young, brown-haired and brown-eyed woman looked to Victor and Anita.

"How are you, Abby?" asked Anita and she gave Abigail a hug.

"Wonderful mom." said Abigail with a smile. "Come on in, Granny is still upstairs."

"She designed the whole room, why would she be…" started Victor, but Anita didn't let him finish his sentence. She elbowed her husband in his side and walked inside.

Abigail laughed while her father groaned. "You know that gran didn't see the complete outcome of the room." she gave Victor a kiss on his cheek. "You should be nicer to mom, dad. She did work hard today."

"Yes, well, I worked hard too." sighed Victor and he walked into the cottage.

Anita chuckled and she sat down onto the couch. "You're exaggerating it, Victor." she said and Victor sat down next to her. "Besides, you had the opportunity to stop earlier."

Abigail smiled. She knew her parents. They loved each other deeply and truly, but they could still argue like the best. "So this is the way you welcome your daughter you haven't seen for four months?"

Victor and Anita laughed. "How are things between you and Phillip now?" asked Anita when Abigail placed the teacups onto the table.

"Wonderful! I guess we both need to get used to the fact that we are actually married now."

Victor looked to his daughter. "Well, it is something…"

"Victor!" said Anita and she gave him an angry glare.

"It is true, Anita!"

Abigail shook her head. "Daddy, please." she whispered. It had been the subject for the last months now and she didn't want to hear anything about it.

"Victor, why don't you go back to the castle?" asked Anita and she looked to her husband. She figured he needed some time to think about everything. "Please?" Victor nodded and he walked away. "He doesn't mean it like that."

Abigail sat down next to her mother. "I know, mom." she let out a deep sigh. "I just hope he will be happy once he sees his grandchild."

Anita gave her daughter a hug. "You are showing it now." she said with a smile. "And it looks good on you."

"Thank you, mom."

"And your father will be happy soon. You can count on your grandmothers for that." Five months in prior, Abigail broke the news that she was pregnant. Her grandmothers were the ones who loved it the most. They were spoiling their great-grandchild. But her father wasn't happy with it, to say the least.

"Well, I have to say that it looks beautiful." sounded and Mary Lynn walked into the room. "Where is your father?"

"Back to the castle." both women said and Mary Lynn shook her head.

"We will talk to him this afternoon."

"Who are 'we'?" asked Anita. But suddenly, she remembered who her mother was referring to. There would be only one other woman who could change Victor's mind.

"Mildred and I."

"Just keep him in one piece, please." said Anita. Mildred and Mary Lynn had been busy about it for months. They tried to relax Victor and kept talking about it the whole time. But it didn't work, yet.

"Don't you worry, Anita. Besides, it's your anniversary tonight, so we aren't even able to do something to him." Then, Mary Lynn started to think. "Although, maybe the tourists would like to see the king of Knightendale to confess it in the dungeons." she said goodbye to her daughter and granddaughter and went back to the castle.

Abigail smiled a little bit. "I hope gran won't be hard to him."

"Oh, I'm not afraid my mother would do something to him, but I'm not so sure about his mother." Anita laughed. Victor had his mother's personality, which meant that it would take some time before he would calm down. But his mother could change that. She could convince him that it could be wonderful to get a grandchild.

"Daddy can be stubborn sometimes."

"He loves you," Anita started and she placed her hand onto Abigail's swollen stomach, "and your child."

"I know, mom."

"Besides that, do you know when Phillip comes to Knightendale?" Abigail's husband was still in England, finishing some last things.

"He would be here before the party will start."

Anita smiled. "Well, let's drink some tea before it'll get cold and then I'll leave you alone again. So you can take some rest for the party tonight." Anita knew Victor would change his mind before the party would start, so everyone could have the best time of their lives.