Callie's POV
Christmas ended up being very eventful. Everyone got what they wanted and then some. Me and Corinne managed to tuck the kids into bed after much protest from them. Corey wasn't a problem; it was more so the twins that were hard to deal with. Especially Caleb. He didn't go to bed until we allowed him to sleep with his wand. Believe me, it took a lot of time and effort to get him into bed. Camellia was easier but was still just as difficult, however, we got there in the end.
Now new years was upon us. It felt so weird because although I had been with Corinne for two years now, it still shocks me that we were going into another year together. It made me happy nonetheless though, especially knowing we had our kids.
I never did anything for new years after my parents died because I just never saw the point in it. Why would I celebrate moving into another year, when technically I was alone? I mean, I know I had Ava, Evelyn and the staff in the castle but it wasn't the same. I didn't have that someone to celebrate with but all that had changed now. That, and the fact that Corinne really wanted to do something again this year and like everyone knows, I can never say no to Corinne.
So, tonight we were just having a small party. All of the staff and their families were invited. Corinne wanted to do it this year so I naturally agreed. Also, I didn't really want to sleep in the spare room again. I haven't in a while and I really want to keep it that way.
At the moment, we were just setting up for the party. Many of the staff adamantly suggested that me and Corinne let them set up the whole thing but we decided against that. We weren't the type of Queens to leave the work for everyone else to do. We didn't like that.
As I looked around the ballroom, I smiled at how everything was coming along. It wasn't anything big, we were just putting up a few streamers, some balloons and some drapes, which would probably stay up after this party because I was really liking the colour. It just seemed to fit the room quite nicely. I'd run it by Corinne later to see what she thinks.
I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist and I smiled, automatically knowing that it was Corinne, "What are you thinking about?" She murmured into my back. I turned around to face her and she leant her head on my shoulder, with her arms still around my waist,
"I'm just thinking about the party. It's been a while since I've done this, I'm just not sure about it."
She sighed and leant her head up to look at me, "We've spoken about this."
I averted my gaze downwards and ducked my head slightly. She wasn't having that. She tilted my head back up to look at her,
"Look, I know you haven't had a party since your parents died. We have our own family now and I think it's time we show them our traditions and I know one of yours used to be this."
I nodded. That was a good point. I couldn't keep letting my parent's death affect me like this. They said they were proud of me and that should be enough.
"You're right. I'm sorry." I replied. She smiled and bit her bottom lip slightly, making my wolf purr. She looked so sexy when she did that,
"You know; I was thinking about something." She spoke seductively. I licked my lips before replying,
"What were you thinking about?" I asked. She looked me up and down briefly,
"You left me this morning without giving me a kiss and I was wondering if you could make it up to me."
I smiled and slowly wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her closer to me. I leant down and pressed my lips to hers. She smiled against them and raised a hand to my hair. Before we could really get into the kiss, someone shouted out,
"Alright guys!! Enough of that!!"
I jumped back away from Corinne and narrowed my eyes at Tatum. Sasha shook her head at her mate and went back to helping to setup the annual ball. Tatum walked over to us and I swiped her feet out from under her, making her fall onto her back. She groaned in pain and I placed my foot on her chest, keeping her on the floor,
"Interrupt me and my wife again and I'll be doing a lot worse than this. Understand me?" She smiled and I pressed my foot down harder, making her groan out in pain again, "I said, do you understand me?"
She nodded so I removed my foot. She coughed multiple times and rubbed her chest before standing up from the floor. She smiled at me,
"Have you been training more often? Damn that hurt."
I smirked, "Of course. I need to kick your ass next time we duel. It hurt my pride when I lost last time and to be honest, Corinne looked at me differently."
Corinne slapped my arm, "That's a lie!"
I laughed and shrugged before looking back at Tatum, "So yeah, I have been training actually. I'm glad you noticed."
Corinne rubbed my arm gently, "Slow it down baby."
I nodded and looked over at Sasha, "Sasha! Are you alright?!"
She raised a thumbs up, letting me know that she heard what I said and was okay. I smiled and gestured for Corinne to follow me,
"Tatum, we'll be back in a bit okay?"
She smirked, "Try to keep it down please."
As I went to punch her in the arm, she swiftly dodged me and ran over to Sasha laughing. Corinne chuckled and followed me out of the room. I led her up to our room and I gestured for her to sit on the bed. She looked at me confused but didn't really question it,
"Do you remember when you said you needed a dress for the party tonight?" I asked, while walking into the walk-in closet. She shouted out yes as I retrieved a bag from one of the hangers.
I walked back out of the closet and placed the bag on the bed next to her. She looked down at the bag before looking up at me,
"What's that?" She enquired,
"Open it and take a look." I said with a smile.
She furrowed her eyebrows and took hold of the zipper on the bag. She unzipped it and her eyes widened at the sight,
"You didn't." She whispered. I rubbed the back of my neck slightly,
"You said you needed a dress, so I bought you a dress." I knelt down beside her and placed a hand on her thigh,
"Although you are beautiful regardless of what you wear, I want you to feel like the Queen you are. You'll be the most beautiful woman at the party tonight."
Her eyes watered as she looked at me, "I-You did that for me?"
I smiled, "You know I would do anything for you love."
She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me forward so that she was lying on the bed with me on top of her. She tilted her head up and pressed her lips against mine gently,
"I love you." She spoke against my lips before pulling away, "And I'm about to show you just how much I do."
My wolf purred as she pulled me back down for a kiss. Although we had to pull back after a while in order to move the dress from the bed but that didn't stop us from continuing.
I will admit, once we were finished, we were very satisfied. Adeline wouldn't stop purring afterwards and it was starting to get very annoying now,
"Don't act like you didn't enjoy it. The way that Corinne used her t-"
I cut her off immediately, "Woah Addy, you have your mate and I have mine, what Corinne does, doesn't get discussed."
She scoffed, "Oh please. They are one of the same, although I will admit, Lillianna is an absolute vixen in bed."
I laughed and cut off the link between us. Although technically Corinne and Lillianna were the same person, they were still different minds, which very much separates them. So, I didn't really want to hear about how Lillianna is in bed. It felt kind of weird,
"Callie!" Corinne called out. I turned to face her and walked over to where she was. She was at the door greeting her family. I tried as hard as I could to suppress a growl when I saw Corinne give Hollie a kiss on the cheek. I know it was just a friendly kiss but Adeline doesn't understand that, all she saw was someone kiss Corinne,
"Good evening Mr and Mrs Matthews. Jameson. Hollie." I spoke once I reached Corinne. Her mum and dad smiled at me,
"We've told you to call us Carla and Leo, it's perfectly fine."
"It's a force of habit." I justified, "We're really glad you could make it. Corey is up in his room but will be down shortly and the twins are-"
"Mummy!!" The twins shouted, cutting me off mid-sentence, making me smile,
"Are here." I finished off. The twins ran up to me and Corinne but when they saw Carla and Leo, they ran up to hug their legs,
"Nana! Granda!" They shouted. They hadn't seen Corinne's parents since Christmas so they were really excited to see them again.
The twins pulled away from their legs and Camellia turned to face us, "Mummy, we have J tots?"
I nodded, "Of course baby girl."
She cheered and tapped Caleb on his shoulder, "Cali come! We have J tots!"
Caleb's eyes widened in excitement and he followed Camellia over to the sweets table. We all laughed at their excitement before I gave Corinne a kiss on the cheek and walking away to greet other people. We didn't have that long left until the new year countdown and I had big things planned for that.
Although me and Corinne had only been married for just two years, she had been adamantly talking about renewing our vows. Not because it was a milestone or anything but mainly because she wanted a bigger wedding with more people invited. I was fine with that and it would be better now that we had the twins. I didn't just want to marry her again though. If we were going to get married again, I was going to propose to her again, with a new ring. She was a Queen. My Queen. My Queen only deserved the best.
Corey walked up to me as I was making sure the ring was in my pocket. He wasn't alone though. He had developed a small crush on a girl named Nexus. She was in his class. Me and Corinne think that they're mates but we won't know until he's sixteen so we'll just have to wait and see,
"Mama? Is it okay if Nexus stays here tonight?" Corey asked. I tilted my head slightly and looked over at Nexus, who ducked her head at my gaze,
"Your majesty." She spoke,
"It's lovely to see you again Nexus." I replied. She smiled but didn't raise her head. Everyone knew that you never rose your head until you're given permission to,
"You too your majesty. Thank you for inviting me."
I smiled down at her. She was so cute and she suited my son well, "You may lift your head."
She rose her head and I looked back at Corey to answer his question, "Can you please go and get your mother so we can discuss this together?"
He nodded and quickly ran over to Corinne. I saw him take her hand and literally drag her over to where me and Nexus was standing, making me laugh.
He dragged Corinne to stand next to me before situating himself next to Nexus again,
"Mama, can Nexus stay over tonight?" Corey asked. Corinne looked at me briefly before looking at Nexus,
"Are your parents okay with that?" She asked. Nexus nodded,
"Yes your majesty. You can ask them if you want to."
Corinne nodded and looked at me again, "It's your call."
I looked at Corey and he tilted his head and gave me the puppy dog eyes. He knew I could never say no when he did that. I was weak when it came to my own family,
"Of course she can stay. Make yourself at home Nexus. Corey will be able to show you the room next to his after the countdown," I looked down at my watch, "Which should be in a few minutes actually."
Corey cheered and hugged me and Corinne before taking Nexus' hand and leading her over to get a drink. I took Corinne's hand in mine,
"You ready to see in the new year?"
She smiled and nodded. I led her over to the middle of the ballroom and let out a high pithed whistle, gaining everyone's attention. The twins ran up to us and Caleb took hold of Corinne's leg, while Camellia took hold of mine. I panned the crowed briefly before speaking,
"We have a couple of minutes until the countdown so I would just like to say thank you all for coming tonight. It's been a long time since we've done something like this so for that, I apologise. While everyone is here, I would just like to say that I know it's been a tough few years since my parents died but we managed to overcome everything because we stuck together as a kingdom. I wouldn't have been the Queen I am today without all of you."
Everyone smiled and I looked down at Corinne, who took that as a cue to speak, "I'll keep this short. As my wife said, thank you for coming tonight. It's nice to be able to see the new year in with everyone. I, also wouldn't have been the Queen that I am today without all of you so once again, thank you. On that note, let's start the countdown."
Everyone turned to face the giant clock we had in the ballroom. I made sure to situate myself behind Corinne so that she couldn't see when I pulled out the ring. I wanted to already be on one knee when she turned around to face me,
"Ten!"
Why was I even nervous right now? I had proposed to her once. We were already married. It's not like she would say no. Right?
"Seven!"
I mean, she wants to get married again so this should go smoothly. I looked down at the twins who were happily eating their sweets, unaware of anything that was going on right now. They were still too young to understand,
"Four!"
I reached into my pocket and took the ring box out,
"Three!"
I rolled out my shoulders. When I got nervous, I got tense. She'd say yes again, I was sure of it,
"Two!"
The twins smiled up at me briefly and I looked over at the crowd one more time. Everyone looked so happy right now and that just calmed my nerves,
"One!"
I opened the ring box and let out a breath before getting down on one knee just as everyone shouted out,
"Happy new year!!"
Corinne naturally turned around to face me but looked confused she she couldn't see me immediately. That was until she looked down to see me on one knee, her eyes widened and I could see them watering slightly. It felt like déja vu,
"W-what are you doing?" She asked quietly. The crowd around us went silent as I spoke my next words,
"I know we're already married and we haven't been married for long, but you've mentioned a few times about wanting to get married again in front of everyone this time. I didn't want to do that without proposing to you again. It wouldn't be right. So, baby, will you do me the honour of marrying me? Again?"
Tears fell from her eyes as she laughed, "You didn't have to go through all of this. Yes. Of course I'll marry you. Again."
I cheered, making the crowd laugh. I slipped the ring onto her finger, where her wedding ring was and stood back up onto my feet.
She pulled me in for a kiss and the crowd cheered around us, giving us a round of applause.
When I was younger, I imagined what my life would be like a few years down the line. I never could have imagined that I would have a wife and three children at the age of twenty-two. However, there was no way I would change this for anything.
Mine and Corinne's story started off rough. Our title meant we could never have a normal life. Our sexuality meant the same but did we care? Not at all.
We faced the world head on and showed everyone that we didn't care what anybody thought of us. We were happy and that was all that mattered.
So, I'd like to leave you with something to finish off our story.
Whenever you feel like the world is against you. Whenever you feel like there's not a light at the end of the tunnel. Just remember that there is always a silver lining. I died for a few minutes so trust me, I'd know.
You just have to hold your head up and high and continue moving forward. Although you don't have a title, you are a King in your own right. You are a Queen in your own right. You are important. Never forget that.
My life was hard and I'm sure I'll continue to face more struggles in the future but I know everything will turn out okay in the end.
I had my wife and my children. Why wouldn't it?