#i don't think i have any set as bad cooks/bakers in my brain | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

katedrakeohd · 4 years

Text

Twas the Day before Christmas

(Catch up on the first three Parts Here)

Part Four of A Very Valtorian Christmas

The kitchen at the manor in Valtoria was a bustling hive of activity. Cakes and pies were being made for the meal on Christmas day, and the warm scents of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and vanilla filled the air. Standing at the long marble island, Hana and Kate are rolling out sugar cookie dough and cutting out shapes to bake.

Hana picks up a star-shaped cutter, "I love stars, they're my favorite shape of Christmas cookie."

"I'm partial to snowflakes myself." Kate says, laying the cut shapes carefully on the baking tray.

Kate feels the baby move and lays a hand on her belly. "What about you little one? Will you be a snowflake lover like Mommy or a star lover like your Daddy and Auntie Hana?"

"Speaking of Daddy, I wonder how Drake and Maxwell are getting along with their mission to spread Christmas cheer." Hana says as she hands off the tray of cookies to one of the cooks.

Kate giggles as she rolls out more cookie dough, "I'm sure they're fine. I know that Maxwell can be unpredictable at times, but Drake assured me that he would let him help in whatever way Maxwell as an elf can. I'm proud of Drake for taking on the responsibility of playing Santa this year. I can imagine all of the smiling faces of the little children."

"I'm still trying to get over seeing Drake in a Santa suit. Shockingly he wears it well. Who knew Mr.Grumpy would make such a good jolly old elf."

Kate swipes a bowl of gum drops as the bakers shoo her and Hana out of the kitchen. There was still much to be prepared, and having the Duchess and her Lady friend in the way was slowing them down.

The two women giggle like school girls as they make their way back to the Great Room. "Well I guess that officially takes us off baking duties. Now what?"

Hana links her arm through Kate's, grabbing a red gumdrop out of the bowl, "Any gift wrapping left to do?"

Kate shakes her head, "No, all done."

Hana takes in the lavish decorations around the Great Room as they sit down on one of the sofas to relax. "Thanks so much for inviting me to your home for Christmas Kate, it really is a nice place to spend a holiday. And you and Drake have really captured the spirit of the season in your beautiful decorations."

Kate smiles and reaches out to squeeze Hana's hand. "You're always welcome here sweety, and Drake and I wouldn't dream of letting a friend spend Christmas alone. I'm so glad to have you, Maxwell and Nicholas here. You're part of the family."

Hana wipes away a tear, "You're the best, Kate."

Pulling her friend into a hug, Hana giggles as the baby belly ends up in the way. "And our family is growing too. I can't wait to meet your sweet little baby."

Kate looks down and smoothes her hands across her belly in a gentle hug of her own, "Can you believe my child is going to be King or Queen someday?"

"You and Drake must be over the moon excited about being parents. This little royal heir is going to be born into such a world of love. Between all the attention from Mommy and Daddy, plus their Aunts and Uncles. I truly believe they're blessed."

"We're both excited and a little nervous, as any first time parents would be. But we also know we've no shortage of help if we need it."

"Have you picked out names yet?"

"We've talked about it, but haven't narrowed down a list."

Hana frowns, "I suppose it's a little complicated to pick out baby names when there's going to be so much importance attached to it."

Kate's eyebrows shoot up, "Exactly! Knowing that the title of King or Queen is going to be forever associated with their first name is a heavy burden on my mind."

"Have you thought about picking a name from ancient Cordonian history and giving it new life?"

Kate smiles, "Ooh that sounds like a great idea. It would give our son or daughter a connection to history and we can tell them stories about who they've been named after. Plus where I'm not from here it's a way to show the people that I'm embracing their Country as my own."

Hana glances around the Great Room, "Does the manor have a library? Surely there's a Cordonian History book around here."

"We don't have a library, but there are plenty of books in the study."

Hana helps Kate up off of the sofa. "Cool, what do you say we score a plate of cookies and some hot chocolate and head down to the study and research some cool baby names?"

Kate tucks her arm through Hana's and gives it a squeeze. "I'm so glad you're here Hana. Do you have to go back to the Palace tomorrow? Because I'd love it if you could stay longer."

Hana grins at her best friend, "Wouldn't I get in the way of you and Drake having time alone?"

Kate laughs, "As sweet and comforting as Drake can be, he can be a bit too helpful sometimes and I have to shoo him away to do something else. I know he means well, but I can tell he gets bored just sitting around while I sit and read or take a nap. And there's only so many romantic comedies on Netflix he can suffer through before he just pretends to take a nap or finds a game to play on his phone."

Hana scoffs, "Well that won't do. You need another girl around to binge watch stuff with you and to gush over cute baby things online."

"Exactly! Drake doesn't have a clue about all the adorable baby clothes, toys and other gear there is out there. I want my nursery to be fully stocked."

"Do you think Drake will change diapers? Or if he knows how?"

"He said he was willing to learn how to do all of that stuff, but I guess we'll have to wait and see."

"Hasn't he helped Savannah with Bartie before?"

"He has, but beyond holding his nephew and chasing him away from things he shouldn't touch I don't know what else he's helped her with."

After stealing a plate of cookies from the kitchen along with two glasses of milk. Hana and Kate head for the study.

As they pass by Kate's office, they can here Nicholas on the other side of the door, his voice is raised and he's talking to someone.

Hana frowns, "What's going on in there? I was wondering where Nicholas was hiding."

"Oh you know Nicholas, you can take the King out of the Palace but he can't leave the Crown and everything that goes along with it behind. He asked me if he could use my office as a base of operations while he's here in Valtoria. I'm hoping he takes a break at some point from running the country and enjoy the Holidays."

The main Study is in the room next to Kate's office, and as the women enter Kate turns on the lights. Hana sets the tray of cookies and milk down on the large oak desk.

"So as the Duchess, you have an office. Does Drake have an office too?" Hana asks, picking up a cookie.

Kate smiles as she leans her hip against the desk and folds her arms. "Well, it's not quite an Office for business anymore. The room next to this one used to be the Duke's office, but Drake had it converted into his own personal man cave."

Hana giggles. "Let me guess, it's upholstered in leather, dark wood and smells of whiskey?"

"Pretty much. He's basicly turned it into his own pub. With a bar and a pool table. Although he still calls it his Office."

Hana looks at the array of bookshelves lining the walls of the Study. "Hmm, where do we start. Do you think Drake would be upset if we start researching names without him?"

Kate shrugs, dunking a cookie into her glass of milk. "I think he would just be happy to have a list to pick from."

Hana runs her fingers along the spines of the books, "So how far back into history should we go? There are books here going back to the 17th century."

"Is there one that chronicles the nobility from way back then til now?"

Hana picks two books, "Yes, two actually."

Kate clears a spot on the desk for the two books. "Cool, let's take a look."

Hana and Kate settle into the desk chairs and each grab a book. Kate pulls a couple of notepads from the drawer and hands one to Hana, along with a pen.

"Ok Hana my love, you pick me out some nice girl names and I'll look at names for boys. And we'll take note of any interesting facts about these people as we go."

Nicholas opens the door to the adjoining office, "I thought I heard voices in here. What are you Ladies up to?"

Kate waves him over, "Welcome your Majesty! Just the royal brain we need to help us out."

Nicholas grabs a cookie from the plate and leans over to see the open books on the table. "Doing research?"

"Well kinda, we're looking up baby names." Hana says from behind her glass of milk.

"I don't want to impose my opinions on Kate or influence her in any way. She made it clear this is her and Drake's child first, and heir to the throne second. If it got back to Drake that any of my suggestions made the list I don't think he'd be very happy."

Hana and Kate exchange a worried look, "Well I'm sure Drake wouldn't protest that much would he? You know Cordonian history better than we do. I'd hate to pick someone bad out of history to name my child after."

Nicholas nods, "Well I can help steer you away from repeating that kind of history for sure."

"Ok good, pull up a chair."

Hana looks through ancient family trees from the 17th century, "So are you partial to any letter of the Alphabet for name starters?"

Kate blushes slightly, "Well I do have a soft spot for names starting with K. Or containing the letter K. Since Drake and I both have that in common. I figured it could be our new Walker family tradition."

Hana smiles, "That would be nice, plus it would help narrow things down."

.........

Drake and Maxwell opened up the back doors of the SUV and climbed in. Pulling off his Santa hat, Drake settled back against the seat wearily.

“Take us home, Preston.”

In the front seat Preston nods and makes eye contact with Drake in the rearview mirror, “Very well, Your Grace.”

Beside Drake in the backseat, Maxwell's tank of exuberant Christmas energy is still half full. If it weren’t for the requirement to wear a seat belt for safe travelling, he'd be bouncing all over the car like a rubber ball. Between Drake and Maxwell there's a large bag of candy on the seat. They're leftovers from the parade, and Maxwell has already had more than his share. Drake pulls it over closer and throws his hat over top to discourage Maxwell from eating anymore of it. Who needs little children to worry about when you have a Maxwell?

Maxwell looks like he might explode if he doesn't talk about his day, so Drake reluctantly engages him to let him let off steam. “Ok Maxwell, out with it. Did you have fun today?”

Maxwell beams, “Yes! This was the best Christmas adventure ever. Bertrand never lets me do this sort of thing. Now that he has Savannah, Bartie and now dear old Dad to keep him busy he has even less time for doing fun stuff.”

The warmth inside of the SUV is starting to get to Drake and he struggles his way out of his Santa coat, Max grabs a sleeve to help him get free of it. “Best adventure ever, huh? So what was your favorite part of today?”

“Seeing all the kids happy faces when I handed them candy canes and presents. They were so excited. What was your favorite part?”

Drake looked at Maxwell and thought about his answer. He didn't want to admit to Maxwell that the happy children were his favorite part too. Every smiling, rosy cheeked, grateful child reminded him that he was going to be a father himself soon. That warm, emotional feeling he felt every time one of the kids said: “thank you Santa..” had nearly brought him to tears.

Oh my God what's happening to me? I’ve gotta maintain my tough, grumpy guy persona in front of Maxwell or he’ll tease me like the schmuck that he is.

“Uh, sure the kids were great, but driving that sleigh was definitely the highlight of my day. Three horse power doesn’t mean shit as far as motors go, but with three actual horses? Damn that sleigh flew.”

Maxwell frowns, “But the drive to town was terrifying. I fell off, remember?”

Drake gives Maxwell a reassuring pat on the shoulder, “Well that part sucked, sure, but after you got back on the sleigh and sat up front with me; you had fun right?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” The corner of Maxwell’s mouth turns up in a smirk as he shrugs his shoulders.

“The children really did seem to enjoy the sleigh’s jingling bells, and the fancy horses.”

Drake gives Maxwell a gentle punch to the shoulder, “See? That’s why the sleigh was my favorite part. Besides, I couldn’t have handed out all of those candy canes by myself. You did good today, Max. Heck, if we do this thing again next year maybe you can play Santa, and I’ll …”

Maxwell’s face lights up, “O..M..G, could I really play Santa?”

Drake nods, scratching at the itchy white beard on his cheek. “Well sure you could. But just let somebody else drive the sleigh for you OK?”

Maxwell grins at Drake, “And would Daddy Drake be my elf helper?”

“Nope, not a chance.”

°•~⭐❄🎅🍭🎄🎁🏰~•°

Continued in ^♡^ Part Five ^♡^

25 notes · View notes