“Of course not.” She gave him a warm smile. “I’m glad you’re here. You just surprised me.”
He wasn’t the only one there, though.
Frederick rested his hand on her back. “Elise, these are members of the public relations team.”
The three men and two women all bowed or curtsied when he said their name, but she doubted she’d remember them after just one meeting.
Dinner had already been ordered. Fortunately, Elise had told her assistant what she wanted earlier in the day.
“Unfortunately, this needs to be a working dinner for you, Your Majesties.” The lead member of the PR team clicked the remote to turn the television on.
That was when Elise realized his computer was hooked up to it and none of them were eating - just her and Frederick.
“Aren’t you hungry?” she asked them.
“We’ve already eaten, ma’am.” The lead member clicked a button on a different remote and the screen changed to a new slide. “We have three more days before the deadline. The polls show that the public is getting anxious, so an announcement tomorrow morning would be our recommendation.”
“Why tomorrow morning and not late afternoon?” Frederick asked between bites of his dinner. “Wouldn’t it be better to let it sink in overnight rather than having all day to pester the press office for information they won’t be getting?”
“That would be another option.“
“Why would you prefer earlier in the day rather than close of business?” Elise took a turn to ask question.
“We wouldn’t, to be honest,” the head of PR told her. “But it’s very possible that will work against us in the court of public opinion. They’ll know why we did it, and that no one is available to ask questions will irritate the press which will color how they report on it.”
Elise nodded slowly, as though she fully understood. “What if the announcement was made in the late afternoon, but not quite that late? Maybe have a small press conference. Make it clear you’ll only take a few questions and there are certain things you won’t discuss, like who I am, but it avoids giving the impression that we’re unwilling to answer any questions.”
The head of PR turned that thought over in his head. “That could work. We also need to discuss what exactly that press release will say.” He clicked the remote again, changing the slide on the television. “We will leave your identity vague, but let them know you have contractual obligations to complete before taking your place as Queen Consort after the wedding later this year.”
“When do we need to start planning the wedding itself?” Frederick asked that question.
“Yesterday.” The reply didn’t surprise Elise, like it seemed to surprise Frederick. “We have a list of dates we need to choose from. All of them have already been cleared by your office.” Another click brought the dates to the screen. “The first option is the beginning of June. It will be a bit tight getting everything organized in time, but it would be the best option.”
Frederick nodded. “Then we have a date.”
8
They had a wedding date.
They had a plan for a short press conference the next day.
Frederick would not be in attendance.
The palace spokesperson would handle the press, a job Frederick was only too happy to let someone else handle.
After the PR team left, Frederick found himself alone with his wife.
“I’m sorry we sprung all of that on you,” he told her as he took their dinner dishes and put them away. “How was your day? Everything went well on set?”
Elise nodded and yawned at the same time. “Sorry,” she said through the yawn. “It’s been a long day, and I can’t wait to get to sleep. I wish I had tomorrow off so I could sleep all day, but that’s highly unlikely to happen for at least a couple of weeks. We’re shooting every day, but I’ll get to have a morning off in a couple of days so I can at least sleep in.”
“How much longer are you shooting in Southern Santiero?” He sat back down in the chair next to her.
“About three weeks. Then we’ll move on to the other shooting location. We’ll be there about three weeks then I should be done,barring any reshoots.” She tried again to suppress a yawn - and failed.
Frederick stood and held out a hand to her. Elise accepted it, and he supported her as she stood.
“I’ll let you get some rest. If we hadn’t needed to go over the press release today, I wouldn’t have bothered you.” He reached up with his free hand and brushed a bit of hair off of her face.
