CHAPTER 2 : CHARLOTTE
"Can you believe this day?", asked a exhausted Charlotte as she kicked
her feet up on the coffee table in her living area of her room.
"No way! The boss married The QUEEN! Its so weird!"
"We all knew there was something between them! I for one walked in on
their, shall we say, romantic moments a number of times"
"Yeah, but they're MARRIED. I going to have to call him SIR Joseph.
They are probably up in her suite right now going at it like animals
in heat!"
"Shades!"
"Well they probably are! It is their wedding night. Are you saying we
aren't gonna get a little ... wild on OUR wedding night?"
"Well, If we were planning on getting married I might answer that
question, but since we haven't even been on a date..."
"And who's fault is that? Charlie, your my best friend and I don't
want you to take this the wrong way, but you really enjoy playing
"hard to get" don't you?
"Scott..."
"Oh no, your calling me Scott. This can't be good. You only call me by
my real name when your laying down the law"
"Shades..."
"Better"
"Shades, I really like you, but as I have told you...I'm not looking
for a relationship right now, if I was then it would be with you ok?
...But I'm just not, not yet OK?"
"You always say that. You always say "not YET". What happened in your
past Charlie? Some guy must have hurt you pretty bad. Tell me about
him, I want to be here for you"
"Its not that simple. Look, your my best friend...and I promise
someday I will tell you. When I'M ready ok? Meanwhile, I don't expect
you to wait for me. Your a great guy and if you find someone..."
"DON'T ok? Just don't Charlie. I get it, you are not ready. We'll stay
friends ok? For now."
"Ok"
"Well then friend, are you eating this last slice of pizza or can I have it?"
"Can have it"
Shades ate the slice in three bites, wiped his hands and tossed the
box in the trash.
"Your disgusting you know that right?"
Making a crooked smile, he replied "You want friendship, you got it.
This is how I act with my friends"
"Yeah, its probably how you would act if I were your girlfriend too though"
"Oh no, no. THIS is how I would act if you were my girlfriend", he
replied as he walked across the room and bent before her to softly
kiss her lips. Once and then once again. He drew back looking at the
confused look on her face. Confused by what? Her own emotions he was
willing to bet.
"Charlie, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I should have known
it would make you feel uncomfortable"
"Its ...Its ok Shades. Let's just not make a habit out of it ok? Not yet anyway"
"You got it, beautiful", he said giving her a weak smile. "Well, I'm
outta here. Tomorrows another big day. Count down to the coronation
and my first day as H.O.S."
He walked to the door and turned as he heard Charlotte say his name, "Yeah?"
"Your going to make a great Head Of Security Shades"
"Goodnight Charlie"
"Goodnight Shades"
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
As Charlotte lay in bed that night she found that she couldn't stopped
thinking about the past. The last few years had been such a crazy
ride, these years at the palace, as any assistant to a queen would
likely report. There was literally "always something", but she had
grown to love the palace and the craziness of it all. It seemed it was
even starting to feel like home now. The few years previous to her
coming to work at the palace however had been nothing short of a
nightmare.
It all seemed to really come apart when her parents had died
tragically several years before. They had been on a ski trip with
friends and had a fire going in their suite. Somehow the suite went up
in flames while they were sleeping and they both perished in the
blaze. She could remember like yesterday when she had gotten the phone
call. She had been 26 years old, working for the Gov. Of New Jersey at
the time. She had been working there for the two years since she had
finished Grad School. She picked up the phone in her tiny office that
she shared with a co-worker to hear Nanny's trembling voice.
"Nanny? What is it, what's wrong?"
"Oh love, I don't think I should tell you this over the phone. Can you
come to the City as soon as possible or can I come and see you there?"
"Nanny, please. Something is wrong?"
"Yes love, something is...oh, I'm so sorry Charlie! Can I come there
now? I don't want you to find out from someone else"
"Find out what? Oh please Nanny just tell me!"
"Not on the phone Char..."
Fear got the worst of Charlotte and she did something she seldom did,
yelled at someone she loved dearly, "TELL ME!"
"Ok. Ok, I will tell you. Its...Its your parents Charlie.
They're...they are...they're gone sweet'eart. I'm so, so, so sorry!"
"They're...they're gone?"
"Oh love, I should have came to you in person. What is the matter with
me! Please come 'ome Charlie, Kay is on 'er way from Paris. We should
all be together. Do you want me to come for you? I'll get a taxi right
now if you..."
"What happened?"
There was a pause before Nanny spoke again, "There was a fire..."
The funeral was very simple and quiet. Nanny, Charlotte and Kay paid
their respects and soon, sooner then Charlotte would have liked, it
seemed life was moving on around her. Kay went back to Paris. Nanny
returned to work at the school were she had been teaching in the years
since Charlotte had left home and it felt like Charlotte should be
moving on too, but she just couldn't.
Things went from bad to worse. She had always been so close to her
parents, especially her father, and the fact that she would never see
them again, that she would never be able to say goodbye...was all just
too much for her. She was angry and she began acting out. She ignored
calls from her sister, Kay. She also ignored calls from Nanny, which
was hard for her to do, but she did it none the less.
She went drinking with co-workers almost every night for the months
following her parents death. On one such night a high ranking,
married politician, a fellow Gov. from another state, joined them as
well. Charlotte went back to his hotel room with him in the lowest
moment of her life. She woke up the next morning and realized she had
become someone she didn't recognize. She knew her parents would be
sickened if they knew what she had become.
She did the only thing she could think to do that morning. She went to
Nanny and spent most of the day in her suite at the Plaza crying and
trying to understand how she had become this person.
"Listen to me!", a stern Nanny told her, "You are still a good, good,
good person Charlie! And I love you now as much as I ever have and
nothing is going to change that! Now then, you made a big, big, big
mistake and if I thought there was any chance of you doing something
like it again, then we would be having another conversation, but I
know you Charlotte! This is not you! You have made a mistake and you
will learn from it, but I will not let you start hating yourself! Now
I want you to pick yourself up and live your life proud, for Lord's
sake!"
Luckily, with Nanny's sage advice, she moved on with her life in a
manner that would make her family proud. Which was all good and fine
until the morning she realized she was pregnant.
She called Kay and cried for hours on the phone the morning she found
out. Kay advised her to tell the baby's father, as hard as that would
be and then she would meet her at Nanny's place. To say the talk with
her child's father went badly would be a understatement. He in no
uncertain terms told her he would pay to have it "taken care of" and
that was that. When she hinted that she was not sure she could do
that, he plainly told her she would NOT have this child! She agreed,
but only out of fear. She still had no idea what she was going to do,
but she told him that she would "take care of things" and he needn't
pay for anything, she could take care of herself. She also told him he
would never hear from her again, which was a promise she was happy to
keep.
A week later as she was sandwiched between Kay and Nanny on Nanny's
sofa, they had come up with a plan. Nanny knew someone who worked for
the king and queen of Genovia, how NANNY of all people knew this
person she wasn't sure, but anyhow... Nanny had made some calls and
pulled some strings and had gotten Charlotte a job at the Genovian
Embassy in California. It was just far enough away for the baby's
father not to bother her or to find out that she was having this baby,
which she decided was the only choice for her. It had been arranged
that she would start early the following year, after the baby came.
Meanwhile, she would spend the remainder of her pregnancy living with
Kay in Paris, as not to attract any attention to the fact that she was
pregnant should she run into anyone who ran in the same circles as the
baby's father.
After the baby was born, Charlotte and Kay would return to New York
where Kay would claim her niece as her daughter and nanny would raise
her as she had Kay and Charlotte. Nanny had been teaching at a local
school since Charlotte departed to college years earlier, but was
happy to give it up to be a Nanny once again, to Charlotte's baby.
Before they knew it the day had come and baby Eloise was born. Kay
fell instantly in love with her and bought her more clothes then any
child would ever need. Naturally it was also love at first site for
Nanny, who would become the child's "mostly companion". While the
other two fussed over baby Eloise, Charlotte found her emotions to be
more complex then she had ever imagined. She eventually got used to
holding her and in time, especially after she had left Eloise with
Nanny and moved to California, she learned to be a wonderful Auntie.
It felt a little odd and she guessed it always would, but she knew
her daughter had a loving family. She was able to be part of her life.
They had done the best they could have with the circumstances and that
would have to be enough. Wouldn't it? Charlotte still wasn't sure she
had made the right choice in not raising her daughter herself, but it
didn't seem safe and so she reluctantly let things lay. Eloise did
seem to adore her and would yell "Auntie Charlie" as she threw her
arms around her, whenever she visited them at the Plaza. Would she
tell her someday? She had no idea.
As Charlotte drifted off to sleep she remembered the first time she
had met the queen, she reminded her so much if someone, she still
wasn't sure who. She had once thought it was Nanny, but no. No two
people could be more different. Soon after meeting the queen she was
offered the position of her assistant, which she happily accepted and
she had been living in Genovia ever since. Her first day in Genovia
she had met Shades, her now best friend, and perhaps more? Who knows.
It was just too, too, too much to think about, as Nanny would say.
"But you never know", Charlotte said to the dark ceiling, "after all,
the queen of Genovia did marry a member of her staff today"
She had to smile at this. She was so happy for them! She let her eyes
rest on the photo of Eloise and Nanny on her bedside table, right next
to the photo of her and scott laughing and smiling.
"Perhaps miracles do happen!"
... To Be Continued