“Really? Just us or the O’Shays as well.”
“Just us. Then later the O’Shays perhaps.”
“What if he loves her?”
“Who?” Once she started eating the chicken, she found she was hungry.
“Gemma, who else? I think John’s very keen on her.”
“Edric, you know what would await her if she joined the Family. Gossip, ridicule, scrutiny. The video will never die. Do you really think John loves her? He’s disappointed in Holland, I know, but I think he’s still in love with her.”
“He’s told you this?”
“Are you going to challenge everything I say? Pour me some water, please.”
“Not to change the subject.” Edric filled Catherine’s glass, then his own. “I’ve been thinking about Hamish Fickle’s little anti-monarchy campaign. Why not invite him for an audience with you? Get him on our side.”
“Go on,” Catherine said.
“If you ask me, he just wants attention. Validation. Like the boys used to do when they were young. We’d spend an evening with them and they’d be fine.”
“If he’s looking for approval, he chose a poor path by going into the parliament.”
“Let’s invite him here. You listen to his complaints about the monarchy, his plans to improve things, affirm him, and voila, he’s on our side.”
“I wonder at your recollection. There are a good many politicians who have never wanted to be onourside.”
“We have to win one over sometime,” Edric said.
“From what I can see, Hamish Fickle’s plan for government improvements is to do the same thing a different way. Only with him in charge.”
“Of course, he’s young, isn’t he? For him, history began the day he was born.”
“All right, I’ll invite him to the palace,” Catherine said. “But I get to say I told you so.”
“As do I, my darling. As do I. Now what’s on the telly?”
Catherine reached over to squeeze her husband’s hand. He was a gift. A compliment to her. John must find the same sort of love to walk with him through his reign.
And Catherine, the mother, and Queen Catherine, the monarch, knew Gemma Stone was not the one.
Then again, Emmanuel, whom she’d not seen since his visit to her hospital room, might have a thing or two to say about John’s future bride.
If he had plans to speak to her son, then he’d best get on with it.
“Can our crown prince and future king marry a woman with a sordid background? If he did, he wouldn’t be the first. On the blog today, the scandalous love affairs of Europe’s royal families.”
— Loyal Royals Blog
If you ask me, the prince should run from this girl. Why? Those videos will follow her the rest of her life. Who’d want that? Give her some privacy.
—@StefwithanF on Instagram
“Prince John lays the final memorial wreath on Princess Holland’s grave amid questions of her involvement with her father in the Reingard scandal.”
—the News Leader
“My heart breaks for Prince John. Maddie, look at this image of him alone at her grave. Solemn and dignified. I’m weeping, truly.”
