By her tone and expression, he knew where this was going. “Daffy is pregnant?”
“Yes, but you can’t be surprised,” Mum said, low and tender, with a touch of pink excitement on her cheeks. Of course. This was her first grandchild. Well, nottechnically, but what did it matter now? “The baby’s due in December.”
“I’ll be an uncle.” Instead of a father. They’d announced Holland’s honeymoon pregnancy to the Family a month before the accident. John plastered on his best smile, downed the last of his tea, and set aside his cup and saucer. “The fun, eccentric one with a library of old books and a crow living on his shoulder.”
Mum made a face. “You will be the uncle king who allows his nieces and nephews to play hide-n-seek in the throne room, who dons a red suit at Christmas to pass out their presents. John, look at me. You’ll be the uncle who tucks inhischildren with Gus’s during a wild, crazy summer sleepover. I know you lost more than a wife that day but—”
“Mum, please. Can we not discuss it?”
Her words, her vision of the future inspired more tears—which he found annoying. He’d cut off the waterworks six months ago. Crying wouldn’t bring her back, or the baby she carried.
However all this talk of fairy tales, future children, the documentary, and the approaching one-year anniversary of Holland’s death—where he’d place a wreath on her headstone… His tears had a will of their own.
“The thing is, Mum, I can’t see my way clear. My future seems so…so gray and blank. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful because I’ve more than most. I’ve a rare and privileged position. I know what and who I’ll be ten years from now. Twenty. But I can’t help wondering if God didn’t mean for me to die on that day too. With them.”
He was supposed to meet Holland for an afternoon of riding but investiture planning had waylaid him.
“Darling,” Mum said. “You are here because you’ve a purpose. You will find your way. Have faith. A lovely future awaits you. I know this as sure as I’m queen of Lauchtenland.” She left him no room to argue because Mum was most definitely the queen of Lauchtenland. “However, I urge you not to be passive about your future. Seek it. Ask. Don’t assume your present situation is the model for your life. Death, as cruel as it can be, happens in the midst of life. Of living. Holland’s journey ended. Yours did not. Not to sound trite or cliché, but she would want you to find happiness, marry, have children.”
“What if my happiness doesn’t include a wife and children? What if Holland was my only love? We’ve no promise on this earth of anything, clearly, lasting more than a day. If that even. We’ve no promises of a lifetime of love. Or living to a ripe old age. As a man, I can limp my way forward, fulfill my duties, and achieve some success, but as a future king, onerequiredto marry… That is where I am most lost. I will not be forced into anything, Mum.”
Besides, no woman came close to his Holland. Not one.
“No, no, of course not,” Mum said. “But your father and Elias and I have been talking.” Elias was Lauchtenland’s prime minister who’d formed a government in the queen’s name. She was his listening ear and adviser. He was her voice to and from the people. “We thought perhaps you could at least start dating.”
“Mum, my queen, you and Elias run the country. Not me.”
“Like it or not, John, as our future monarch, youarepart of my duty. As well as the prime minister’s.”
“I’ll do my duty for Lauchtenland and the Family, but I refuse to marry for the sake of a hundred-eighty-year-old writ. I’ll abdicate and give the crown to Gus first.”
Mum launched to her feet, rattling her chair. “A Blue hasneverabdicated. There is no reason to start now. Abdication in this modern age could mean death to the Family and a millennium of Lauchtenland history. Never mind a plain black eye on my legacy and leadership.”
“I think the mark would be against me, not you. Mum, honestly, don’t you think people would understand? If to keep our constitutional monarchy safe, we need a married and sworn-in prince, Gus is your man.” Baby brother was married to the lovely Daffodil Caron, whom everyone adored, and now a father-to-be. “He’d make a splendid king.”
“Gus doesn’t want the job. Will you thrust it on him?”
“Why not? It’s been thrust upon me. No one asked. Just first born,boop, here’s your crown, laddo.” John knocked the air over his head with a pass of his hand.
“I’ve trained you. Taught you. Invested in you as the next ruler. Gus is thirty years behind the curve, John.” Mum returned to her chair, smoothing her hand over her skirt, panic shaping her expression.
“You know the answer is right in front of you.” John scooted to the edge of his chair with a bit of energy. “Change the writ. A crown prince or princess doesnothave to be married for the investiture ceremony. Remove the requirement to make a spouse part of the legal bargain. Allow future kings or queens to take their oath when they become of legal age. Twenty-one. It makes no sense to wait for marriage.”
“Elias and I discussed that very thing, but we are both concerned changing the writ, at least at this current time, will draw fire from our opposition. They’ll say we’re changing the rules to accommodate my son. Playing favorites.”
“Of course you are. I am your son. Why can’t you change the rule? It’s ours to change. Granddad Louis made it up to get what he wanted.”
“True, but since then it’s been codified by parliament.”
“You can handle parliament, Mum.” John smiled. “You’ve done it before.”
“I also worry a change will have a negative impact on the future generations. Let them off the hook, so to speak.” When she said “them” she really meant him, of course. “Marriage and family are the threads of our society and even more so, the monarchy. When I became queen, the Family was a hundred and twenty strong between my grandparents’ siblings and their children. Twenty-five years later we’re down to thirty.” Her eyes glistened. “I’ve been to more funerals the last five years than weddings. Those of us who remain only had one or two children except Uncle George who had none and Millicent who bore three. We’re not prospering, we’re shrinking.”
“It only takesoneto maintain the throne.”
“Onewiththe Family, an army of Blues, surrounding him or her. How do you think we’ll fare if you abdicate and Gus is put forward as the new crown prince? Do you think upstarts like Hamish Fickle and his RECO party will just doff their hats and bow? In the past year the move to be solely an elected republic has gained strength. More and more say the time of the monarchy has passed.”
“An argument that has been going on since the American Revolution.” Lauchtenland sided with their American cousins over their British family and neighbors during that conflict. For centuries, it had been a point of pride to have been on the winning side.
