By this point, Rebecca had seen all the jewels in the royal collection, and had worn quite a few herself at various events since they’d first become engaged. But these weren’t in the royal collection, as he’d kept them with his things since they were given to him.
“Nonna and Mama gave them to me. Nonna had been given them by her mother-in-law, who’d been given them by the former queen and so on for several generations. Mama received them after Cat and I were born, but she rarely wore them. When you and I married, Mama gave them to me to save for you. They’re traditionally given to the queen after the birth of an heir, but…”
He cleared his throat. “But I thought you may want to wear them today, to honour Nonna instead, and update the tradition slightly. She wore them often, and people associate these earrings with her, more than they would as royal family heirlooms.”
She brushed her thumb over the cluster of three diamonds and single amethyst, and she pressed her lips together.
He suddenly wondered if he’d been wrong to give them to her today, or to share their history. One loss could remind her of another, after all, and mentioning the baby, even tangentially, may have been a mistake.
Yet his amazing, wonderful wife wasn’t fazed in the least.
“They’re beautiful. Thank you, Alex. I’d hug you but…”
“But we can’t risk our outfits, I know. I’ll collect that hug later though.”
“Can’t wait.” She stepped closer and pressed a soft, barely-there kiss to his lips. “Put them on me?”
“Of course.” He put down his hat and gloves, caressed her neck for a moment, then removed her current earrings—simple pearl drop earrings, a gift from one of his sisters if he was remembering correctly—and replaced them.
“I’ll have to let Mara know. People will ask and the press releases should be correct.”
He nodded. The press always asked about her clothes at events—misogyny was alive and well in the press—and he didn’t doubt it would also hold true for the funeral. No matter how much they called out the double standard, it never went away. “Call her, then we should leave.”
She nodded and reached for her slim black purse, pulling out her black gloves first, then her phone. He grabbed his things and stepped out into their bedroom, taking one last look in the mirror as he waited for her. He pulled on his right glove, tugging it into place and stretching his fingers to loosen it up. He did the same with his left glove, then securedhis hat.
He heard her soft heels, then saw her reflection in the mirror beside him, and she slipped her gloved hand into his.
“Ready?” she asked and squeezed his hand.
He lifted their joined hands and kissed the back of her gloved hand. “As I’ll ever be.”
She smiled at him in the mirror, then turned and led him out of the room.
Now for one of the longest days of his life.
GABRIEL
Gabriel tookhis place and looked back to watch his sons file into place behind him. His gaze lingered on Lorenzo, his seventh child, who’d struggled the most with his military duty but who wore the uniform proudly.
“Sir.”
Gabriel straightened and looked to Corrado, his chief of staff and the man who’d led the effort and managed all the details of today. Corrado had been with him for over forty years, and he couldn’t imagine being a king without him. “Are we all set?”
“Yes, Sir. They’re moving the casket now.”
Gabriel’s mother, Her Royal Majesty Princess Victoria, was to have a ceremonial funeral, rather than a full state funeral that a sitting king and queen might have. The main differences were mostly the length of the ceremony and the number of people involved. Still, it was quite a production, and the last nine days had been beyond hectic, transcending into a new level of exhaustion.
Prior to this day, his mother had lain in state for several days in the same abbey where he had married Genevieve, where Alexander had married Rebecca, and where his mother herself had married his father. Well over one hundred thousand had come to see her and say goodbye while she’d lain in state, and over a thousand troops rotatedpositions and shifts over those days to stand guard. Now his mother would be moved to the main hall for the funeral.
A hand came up to squeeze his shoulder. “All right, Papa?”
He patted Alexander’s hand. “Yes, my son. Thank you.”
After another squeeze, he let go and resumed position.
Gabriel glanced at his siblings, taking position in two lines behind him: Ferdinand and Gaston directly behind him, followed by Lucien and Agnes. They were all dressed in their ceremonial uniforms, even Agnes. Though they’d never done military service as he had, they wore them for certain occasions such as this.
He hadn’t been able to spend as much time with his siblings as he’d wanted to, but the little time he had spent with them had made certain things clear. He hadn’t told them about the abdication yet but, based on the little probing he’d done, it was clear they all wouldn’t approve. So he saved that fight for the future, and focused on saying goodbye to their mother in the present.
