His stomach growled as he sat up. "Good. It's been a long time since lunch."
Catherine laughed. "It hasn't really been that long, has it?"
"No,” he admitted, “but I'm still ready to eat."
A few minutes later, they were seated at a small table in the sitting area near the window overlooking the gardens and lake. Catherine clearly seemed to still be waking up. He watched her as she ate. Not staring, but just aware of her movements. That's how he realized something seemed to be weighing on her besides just being slow to wake.
"Something on your mind?" he asked as she pushed her plate away.
"Have photos from lunch already made it to social media?" Catherine leaned back in her chair, her shoulders slumped.
"Probably." Jake pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened it, first checking for a message from Byron before opening one of the social media apps when he didn't find one.
Nothing appeared in the first few scrolls so he swiped it closed then opened the browser and did a search for Catherine's name. There were a couple of photos from earlier in the day intermixed with photos from the last few weeks.
He clicked on one of the recent ones and skimmed the story. "This one just says that we treated a family to lunch and spent some time with them before heading out of the city for the weekend." He tapped a couple of more times to open the comment section. The ones he read over the next minute were generally positive, but there seemed to be a bit of caution as well. A few wondered if it was a publicity stunt, but none could quite pinpoint why they thought it might be. "Overall, seems positive. There's nothing negative, necessarily, just a few not quite sure if it was possible that it could be a stunt of some kind, but noreasoning for it."
"So that's good?"
"I think so," he confirmed. "Certainly not bad."
Her shoulders slumped a little further, though it seemed like there was more relief in her posture after he spoke.
"Everyone loves you, Catherine," he told her softly, moving his chair to the side so he could place a hand on her arm.
"But being loved by the people of my country isn't the same as having their approval. You can love someone and think they're doing a poor job." She blew out a breath and pushed herself up so she sat a bit straighter. "I'm doing my best, but I don't really think I'm doing a very good job. I don't know how to know if I am."
"Are you doing your best? Are you surrounding yourself with wise advisers? Are you considering all options then making the decision you believe best for everyone? Even if it won't be a popular decision?"
She nodded.
"That's all you can do, love." The term of endearment slipped out without him realizing it. "The rest of it will take care of itself."
"I hope so." She took another breath and sat up straight. "Is there anything specific you want to do this evening?"
Jake shook his head. "I'd like to explore the property a bit at some point, but it doesn't have to be tonight."
"How about a walk in the garden? Then maybe a movie?" she suggested.
"That sounds perfect." He stood and cleaned up their dishes, placing them on the silver cart.
When he finished, Catherine stood and led the way to a door he hadn't seen. It took them out on to a veranda which led to another sweeping staircase.
What was it about sweeping staircases? The palace had them. This home had them. So did every other upper end home he'd been in or seen in pictures. Why?
At the base of the stairs was another patio area. Catherine kept walking toward another, smaller set of stone steps, these leading into the upper area of the garden itself.
The further they walked from the house, the more Jake noticed the areas near the building were heated somehow. About the time they reached the bottom of the steps, Jake realized they should have brought some outerwear.
"We won't go far." Catherine wrapped her arms around herself and led the way to the top of another staircase. It appeared to be the last one, only a few steps above the pathway leading into rows of planters.
Jake moved to stand behind his wife and wrapped his arms around and on top of hers. "I bet this is beautiful in the spring."
Her head leaned back to rest against his shoulder. "It is. We'll have to come back when everything is in bloom, and we can go out on the lake. It's too cold to swim without the proper gear, but it's lovely to just be out there."
"I can imagine." He rested the side of his cheek against her hair. "I'm looking forward to it, but maybe we better head back inside and finish exploring another time when we have the proper clothes."
"Agreed."
