kiramaru7 | Cross posted from Madrona Project

Title: Fatherhood
Author: kira
Word Count: 657
World: Capital city of Madrona
Main Characters: Princess Carmina Infantanta, Diego della Vega, their baby
Borrow: yes, but ask first as I’m still working on their back-story
Summary: The princess has a baby…

Diego della Vega looked up from his sketch to gaze at his family. His wife, the Princess Carmina Infantanta, hummed softly as she nursed the baby, preferring to do it herself rather than have a wet nurse. Diego thought she looked beautiful, her plump cheeks rosy, her breasts full and heavy with milk. As scandalous as it was, she was now his favorite model and he had several small paintings of her in the nude as well as numerous sketches of her as her pregnancy progressed. His favorite painting was one of her shortly before the baby was born, her stomach swollen from the life growing within, her breasts large and full. She wore only a dressing gown and did nothing to conceal her nakedness as she lounged on the bed with a hand resting on her belly.

While he sketched, he remembered their trip to his patron and adoptive father’s villa in Firenze and the fun they had had there. Everyone was happy to see them, from his fellow artists, to the girls and the odd boy or two who modeled for them. Vega della Rosa had a special gift for them, a small portrait he had painted from memory, and when his wife said she wished she could paint, Della Rosa started giving his young cousin drawing lessons, only to encourage her husband to take over. By the end of the month, Princess Carmina Infantanta could paint simple still-lives of fruit and flowers. She had also started life drawing lessons; with Diego’s favorite model Maria posing for them. Diego remembered his wife’s initial shyness and he smiled at how reluctant she was to touch Maria’s naked form. It was how he had learned to draw; by observing and feeling how a shoulder curved or a hip bone’s straightness as it pointed to the gentle swell that became the model’s buttock as it moved behind her. That in turn reminded him of when he first painted her portrait and how scandalized they both were over her misunderstanding of the whole process and how she thought she would have pose in the nude for him.

It led to thoughts of when he finally did see her naked. It was when they had decided to run off and Maria helped them escape by dressing the princess as a peasant. Diego had been keeping watch by the door, and used to the sound of clothing rustling as it was removed, he paid little attention to it. When he thought he heard someone approaching, he turned around only to get an eyeful of the princess who stood there clad in her stocking and shoes. To say the Princess Carmina Infantanta was mortified was an understatement, and yet with Diego’s and Maria’s help, she was soon dressed. The pair of young lovers were quickly on their way. The second time he saw her naked was on their wedding night. To this day, Diego still had no idea how he managed to avoid death at the hands of the king and his adoptive father, but was married off to the princess instead.

Diego shook his head as if to clear it. It was thoughts like that that had gotten his wife with child in the first place. That was when it hit him. He was not only a married man, but a father. Setting his sketch aside, Diego walked over to his wife.

“Can I hold him?” he said softly.

“He’s asleep,” Princess Carmina Infantanta said just as softly. She removed her breast from their son’s mouth, smiling as the baby continued to suckle. “Careful…” she whispered as she handed him to her husband.

Diego nodded as he gingerly held his son. “He’s beautiful.”

“Yeah...” She stifled a yawn. “Do you mind if I sleep?”

“Not at all.” Diego laid the baby in his cradle. “Sleep well, my loves,” he said softly as he picked up his sketch and left the room.