“Well, London, at least.” I slid my arm through Nicky’s. “The world will have to wait for tomorrow.”
There wasn’t time for anything else, as the heavy wooden doors in front of us swung open. I allowed Nicky to set our pace, following his lead as we stepped outside, went down the steps and then turned to walk along the brick path that meandered through the gardens.
I’d been here before; in fact, this part of the Kensington Palace gardens was one of my favorites for solitude and quiet wanders. But today, the peace and quiet was nowhere to be seen, for as soon as we emerged from around the hedge, there was an explosion of flash bulbs and a burst of cheers.
“Ms. Duncan, are you very happy? Are you prepared to become a princess? Ready to join the Royal Family?”
“Prince Nicholas! Over here! Look this way!”
Nicky steered me to a center point, several safe feet away from where the photographers were snapping away. I tried to remember what I’d been taught already: I didn’t look down or directly at the cameras themselves; instead I focused on the middle ground or on the people taking the pictures. I checked on my lips—where they smiling? I hoped so, because I was pretty sure my whole face had gone numb with nerves.
I held tight to the crook of Nicky’s arm and concentrated on standing up straight.
“Sir, congratulations!” A man called to us over the cacophony of clicks. “How do you feel?”
Nicky cleared his throat. “Very happy. Thank you for your good wishes.”
“Show us the ring!” one of the women yelled. “Let’s see it.”
I lifted my hand, laying it atop Nicky’s so that he could angle our fingers in the right direction.
“Who chose it? Did you design the ring, sir?”
Nicky nodded. “Yes, I did. I had some input from Kyra’s sisters and even from my own. I’m surrounded by many opinionated women, and I decided to make good use of that.” He coughed a little and shot me a secret grin. “In the end, though, I went my own way and chose this completely on my own.”
“How did he propose, Kyra?”
I slid my eyes to Nicky. This was one of the questions that would be addressed during the interview later today—and we already had a prepared response—which meant that for now, I was supposed to just keep smiling as though I didn’t hear it.
Nicky, however, shrugged. “That’s private. Just between us.”
“But did you drop to one knee, sir?”
I laughed then, remembering that day, with Nicky in the sand. He cocked an eyebrow at me, gazing into my face as he called out an answer.
“I did it properly, let’s leave it at that.” He lowered his head to murmur into my ear. “Just two more minutes, then we’ll go in. Are you cold?”
I shook my head. “I’m okay. As long as the wind doesn’t blow, I’ll be fine.” I smiled, certain it was more than a little tremulous. “If I’m shivering, it’s not from cold. It’s the jitters.”
“You’re doing marvelously. We’ll turn around and go up the steps behind us, pause for a few more pictures, then back inside to warm up.” He covered my hand with his, chafing it a bit before he linked our fingers together.
“Sir, can you both please look here and give us a smile?”
We turned simultaneously, tilting our heads together slightly as we’d been instructed by the staff—or, as Sophie called them, the powers that be. There was another surge of clicks and flashes, and then Nicky turned around and tugged me toward the set of four steps that led to the upper tier of the garden path. We stopped for a minute at the top of the stairs, where Nicky drew me closer to him, his arm snugging me to his side.
“Give us a kiss! Kiss her, sir!” The reporters were growing bolder now that they sensed our brief session was ending. I wanted to shake my head and roll my eyes at the group of them; they had to know a kiss wasn’t forthcoming. I’d been informed that the kiss had to be saved for the wedding day, as we exited the church. Kissing at the engagement announcement was apparently on the no-no list.
To my left, I heard the sound of clapping. Nicky glanced that way, over my head, and chuckled.
“Look there. See? That’s as far as the public can come into the gardens today, since they have this part secured, and the crowd’s been gathering since the announcement went out this morning.”
I followed the direction he was looking. There, behind the barricade, was a large group of people, some of them holding up phones or cameras to snap our pictures, others simply waving as they cheered. When they realized that both Nicky and I were looking their way, the noise grew.
We hadn’t rehearsed anything about this or even talked about it, which was probably why I just did what came naturally and waved back. Everyone cheered wildly.
“They’re trying to take pictures, but what will they really see?” I asked Nicky. “The hedge is in the way, and we’re partly hidden by that tree. Can we go a little closer to say hello?”
Nicky studied me, a small wrinkle between his eyes. I sensed his surprise at my request. “We can’t go down to shake hands or anything—not right now—but I don’t see why we can’t go closer to the hedge border there and wave. You’re right—they’re not seeing much from where they’re standing.”
