9. Before Marriage

                                    

                                          
Please comment requests! I'm out of good ideas, so this is awful. My school is on vacation all of next week, so I'll have a lot of time to write. I just need ideas! I won a school short story competition, so now my story is getting published! It's in a big collection of short stories from teens across the US.
"Francis, I'm pregnant. My monthly blood was quite late, so I went to the midwife and she says I'm just two weeks pregnant."
"Really? That's amazing! I know that we aren't married just yet, but it will just push the wedding forward. We must tell my parents immediately! I love you and our child so much already!"
The young couple in love then went to the throne room where the King and Queen of France sat upon their thrones. 
"Guards, leave us. What is it Mary, Francis?" Henry asked in concern for his heir and his soon to be wife.
"Mary is with child, our child. I know we are yet to be married, but is it possible to somehow move it closer so nobody suspects anything untoward happened before marriage?" Francis implored his parents.
"You shall be wed in the chapel here in two days time, I will plan the wedding myself." Catherine promised her favorite son. "Oh, I do hope the child is a boy!"
The wedding was short but sweet, a cardinal being the one to marry them, as the pope was unable to attend in time. The consummation was brief and awkward as there were many people watching them. Francis and Mary announced their pregnancy when they were 5 months along, and nobody suspected the child was created before the wedding.
Unfortunately, Francis had been unaware of this fact when he had chosen to lay with his one true loves lady. Mary was furious, and rightly so. How could her husband do such a thing to her?
In Mary's mind, she couldn't comprehend it. When Lola admitted that Francis fathered the bastard in her belly, she acted extremely rashly. Lola was banished from France and was sent home to Scotland in disgrace. She was disowned, and Lola latter bled to death after a painful labor. The child did not survive, and the king nor the dauphin ever knew of its existence. Mary swore she would take the secret with her to the grave.
Mary played the part of a grieving friend well in the comfort of her chambers, but it was poorly hidden from experienced eyes. Catherine De Medici confronted her the day after the funeral. Mary was still in her childbed phase, stuck in confinement. The baby boy lay in the nursery sleeping, with nanny's watching over his royal little body.

"I know what you did to your 'dear' lady, Mary." Catherine spoke, startling both mother and child feeding from his mother. 
"Catherine. What do you want? Francis can never know, it would kill him. I had to though, for James. I had no choice." Mary implored her fellow queen to keep her secret from her husband, Catherine's son.
"I understand, Mary. Believe me, I do. Oh, how I regret not doing the same to Diana and her bastard. That bastard caused 3 of my miscarriages, and I never forgave him for it. Ever since then, all of my husbands bastards are sent to a secure location. They are safe, and Henry doesn't know of them. I suppose the saying 'out of sight, out of mind' is true. I will keep your secret, if you keep mine. You make my son truly happy, and you did what you had to." Catherine comforted Mary that afternoon, the two queens bonding as only two queens can - sharing plots and secrets.