“I do,” she corrected again with such a look of solemnity. “Everyone here must know who the new boss is…including you.”
I shook my head. “You’ve done so much for everyone. It feels wrong to just have you pushed aside.”
She chuckled. “That is how it works. That’s how it’s always worked and will always work. One day your child will get married, and you will be pushed aside as well. It’s not a bad thing. It’s how the monarchy survives. Besides, I think I deserve a real vacation after all these years. I’ve been planning much more than this wedding, you know.”
“Are you going to travel the world or something?”
“I’m going to take Gale’s father on dates…while there is still time,” she said with her head lifted high.
My heart ached at that. Gale’s father had been doing a bit better, but they still didn’t know how much time he had left. Elspeth had spent so much time worrying over Gale and me. Now she wanted to date her ill husband.
I nodded. “Everything you said…I’ll remember, and I will do my best.”
“I’ve seen you at your best, so I am not worried,” she replied, rising from the couch. “You can do this, Odette. It won’t always be easy; it will be painful at times, but you can do it. After all, you’ve already survived much more than any of us so far.”
Slowly I rose from the couch as well. She looked me over once more and glanced over to the dress. “Shall I call them back in?”
“I’ll do it.”
The corner of her lip turned upward. “See you there, then.”
“Thank you, Your Grace, for…everything,” I said, curtsying low one more time, my true and last one to her, as she walked to the door.
Taking a deep breath, I looked up at the ceiling, doing my best to calm down before I called out for Gelula.
—Present—
It all happened exactly as she said. Which only left me even more in awe of her. That was my predecessor, a woman who could predict the future apparently. How would I be able to top that?
She told me not to think of myself. I said I would do my best, but I wasn’t sure how exactly to do that.
I was just as terrified as he was. I was just getting used to the training wheels, and now they were off. I was Queen of a nation I barely knew, married with no idea how to be a good wife. I wanted to believe everything would remain the same between us. The same as they had been for months now. But the fact that we couldn’t sleep through the night said we already knew it wouldn’t be the same. So much was going to change whether I was ready for it or not.
Resting my head on his chest, I listened to his heartbeat, and it gave me peace again. Whatever the future held, we were going to face it together.
“Hmm,” he muttered, shifting onto his side and wrapping his arm around me tighter. Even when he was sleeping, he seemed to know what I needed.
This was only the beginning, but I had to believe that so long as we ended up like this at night, we could take on anything, forever.
CHAPTER 3
“There, ma’am,” Gelula said, adjusting the remembrance broach on the breast of my navy wool coat. “You look perfect.”
“Thank you, but I have noticed you haven’t given me any report this morning like always,” I said, adjusting the small Sunday hat on my head. I was not a hat person. When you had a lot of hair, they never fit right. So I’d taken more to wearing berets on the side.
“There is no news other than everyone gushing over your wedding, ma’am,” she lied, and I knew she lied because her lips went into a tight smile. Like she was being tortured but couldn’t say anything.
“Gelula,” I pressed gently. I knew she was just trying to protect my peace. But the problem with that was it was impossible for me to be ignorant, knowing that Mr. Balduin would surely give Gale an update on anything he felt he needed to know. And Gale would ask if he didn’t. I couldn’t be the only one unaware. “Tell me, outside all the people gushing over the wedding…”
She sighed. “A few newspapers like The Morning Eagle and the television station The Horizon—those ones—interviewed your sister, Augusta, about her thoughts on the wedding.”
Now I wanted to sigh.
It had been months, and instead of changing, instead of fixing our relationship, she was pouring as much fuel on the fire as possible. How did it get so bad? What exactly was my fault in all of this? I missed her, but I didn’t think I could ever forgive her now.
“What did she say?” I asked gently, looking down at the gloves in my hand.
“Ma’am, it’s the day after your wedding. You shouldn’t fill your head with any of it—”