Once she was on feet and the door closed behind her, Frederick let go of her hand, but rested his on her lower back, something she was starting to realize he did often. She couldn't be certain why, but she found herself enjoying it.
Someone else opened the door to the building to let them inside. Elise thanked him as did Frederick.
Inside, they were met by the director of the facility. The woman curtsied to both of them then shook their extended hands.
"Welcome to our facility." The woman led them toward the entrance of the first section. "We're so very glad you're here."
Elise smiled at her. "I can't tell you how glad we are to be here."
10
As Frederick would have expected, Elise fit seamlessly into his world. She chatted easily with the adults and immediately put the children at ease.
She spent time experiencing each of the exhibits with the children. He noticed she seemed especially happy in the paleontology exhibit. Too bad there wasn’t much in the way of dinosaur exploration in Southern Santiero. There wasn’t much in the way of archaeological digs either. They were relatively young as a country and had only been sporadically inhabited before that.
Frederick also talked with the children and experienced each exhibit with them. The time set aside for the visit passed quickly, and before he knew it, they were back in the SUV.
He’d told his team he may want to stop at a restaurant for dinner with Elise.
“Are you hungry?” he asked as they put on their seatbelts.
“I could eat. Will something be waiting for us at the palace?” She glanced at her watch. “It’s a little early, isn’t it?”
“I thought we could stop and get something at one of my favorite restaurants.” He didn’t put the vehicle in drive just yet, not until a decision had been made.
Elise looked down at herself. “Are we dressed appropriately?”
Frederick laughed. “Yes. It’s a cafe run by a friend of my grandmum. No fancy clothes allowed.”
She grinned back at him. “Then that sounds perfect.”
He sent a quick text to the head of his security team then put the SUV in gear and followed the lead vehicle away from the discovery building.
The drive took longer than he expected, but they arrived at the cafe on the outskirts of town in time to beat the dinner rush. As planned.
Once again, he opened Elise’s door for her then held the door to the building when they reached it. Inside, the hostess clearly wasn’t expecting them.
She gasped and curtsied before saying anything. “Your Majesties. How may I serve you this evening?”
“Two for dinner,” Frederick told her. “The table by the window if it’s available.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.” She grabbed a couple of menus and rolled napkins before turning away. “Follow me, please.”
Frederick waited for Elise to go in front of him then followed both of them, though he knew where the table was. None of the tables offered total seclusion, but this one came the closest.
Once seated, Elise asked him what he recommended, then decided to order what he suggested.
"Did you enjoy the center?" He took a sip of his beverage.
"I did." Her whole face lit up. "I wish we'd had something like that. The one we had was great, but not that extensive."
"One of the best things about being king is getting to do things like that." He took a sip of his beverage. "There's a lot of meetings and boring paperwork and things like that, but getting to be out with the people... that's my favorite part, even if I don’t do it nearly as much as I wish I could."
Elise glanced around then leaned closer. "Is getting to have some contact with people part of that?"
He remembered his moment of vulnerability on the plane. He still hadn't hugged anyone but Elise in a very long time. "Yes." He'd been hugged by several of the smaller children who didn't know enough to be intimidated by the king. Their parents would sometimes try to stop them, but he never did. One of the children even sat on his lap for story time in one of the stations. Those photos would make the rounds soon, if they weren't already.
Now that he was legally married, the comments about what kind of father he would be would ramp up exponentially.
