The Irish Way
Sandringham
Former king Simon sat on a bench over a little fishing lake in the garden, lost in thoughts.
Without paying much attention, he was tossing crumbs to the ducks who responded with grateful quacks. Prudence's voice dragged him out of his thoughts:
"You should come inside. The ducks don't expect you to freeze to death out here." – she said with a warm smile.
Simon didn't bother to hide his annoyance when he replied:
"I'm fine. Could you leave me alone?"
Prudence sat on the bench next to him, which make her growing baby bump more visible. She looked him in the eye and forced him to look at her.
"Your Ma... Simon, you can't do this. You need to talk to someone." – she said with a worried look in her eyes. – "If not to me, then to a therapist. I'm sure we could ge..."
"Did Liam call?" – the former king interrupted her.
"Not yet." – she answered with a sigh.
Simon paused for a moment and focused his attention on the ducks who waddled out of the lake and ruffled their feathers at his feet.
"He promised to come here this weekend." – he finally said.
Prudence glanced at him with pity:
"I'm sure he will if he promised."
"And Eleanor? Did you find out anything about her?" – he asked eagerly.
"No, I... She is probably just busy." – Prudence lied, but of course she knew the truth. Everyone knew. It was a miracle that she was able to hide it from him for so long.
"Why don't you call the Queen, I mean your ex-wife? Maybe she knows something." – she suggested gingerly.
Simon gave him a surprised look.
"Helena? No, I don't think the children are very fond of her since the divorce. Honestly, I don't know if she cares at all."
"That's not what you said yesterday." – Prudence remarked matter-of-factly.
Simon eyed her up and down before he replied:
"Don't say you are jealous."
He could see that she didn't take it well, even though she tried to remain indifferent:
"I am not. I'm just saying what you said. That even she calls you more often than the twins."
"Because her horses are here." – he answered quickly.
"And her dogs. And half of her wardrobe..." – Prudence continued the list, but her former boss interrupted her again.
"For now." – he said softly. – "But yes, you are right. Despite everything that happened between us, she is very nice."
They sat in silence, watching the ducks together for a while. Then, Prudence suddenly winced and put her hand on her rounding belly. Simon followed the movement and asked in a worried voice:
"Are you all right?"
Prudence's features became more relaxed as she said with an awkward smile:
"Yes. I started to feel him moving a couple of days ago. I guess it's still strange a little."
"It is wonderful, isn't it?" – Simon asked with a childlike enthusiasm.
His former maid couldn't stand the honest look in his eyes and turned away.
"Let's get inside. I'll make some tea." – she remarked firmly.
Her change of subject didn't escape Simon's notice:
"Are you ever going to tell me who is the father?"
Prudence stood up and gave him a reproachful look.
"It would do no good. I just want to forget that life. And him as well." – she said before she headed for the house.
Alistair's cottage
Helena frowned when she looked around the small dining table. It was definitely not a palace. There was hardly enough space for the two of them, but with Alistair's family being there as well, it seemed impossible to eat comfortably.
The former queen jerked away her arm with a grimace when Alistair's mother poked her with her elbow.
"Did you eat this in the Palace too?" – she asked after she tasted the food on her plate.
"No, I cooked this one myself." – Helena replied with mock ease.
The older woman snorted contentedly:
"I thought so. It's terrible."
"Mam!" – Alistair cried out in indignation, but his fiancee stopped her.
"It's all right. I'm sure your mother is a better cook."
Her voice was calm, but she couldn't fool him. He has known her for thirty years, he knew what was coming.
"Hellie, please, don't." – he begged.
But Helena ignored his plea as she turned to his mother and said:
"Such a shame your son never experienced it since you left him in foster homes over half of his childhood." – she finished with a triumphant smile.
"Go ndéana an diabhal dréimire de cnámh do dhroma ag piocadh úll i ngairdín Ifrinn! Unlike you, I wasn't paid for doing nothing." – the older woman hissed between her teeth.
Helena has never heard anything like that before. She wasn't sure she should laugh or cry.
"Did you just curse me?" – she asked in shock, but she was soon distracted by someone else.
Alistair and Helena turned to their fourth convive, a young girl with curly red hair, who couldn't stop laughing for minutes.
"I'm sorry. I just... I have never heard this one." – the girl said apologetically with her face still red from laughter.
They all remained quiet for a moment, then Alistair broke the awkward silence.
"Amelia studies Irish culture at university."
The minute he said it, he realized it was a mistake because Helena immediately turned all of her attention to the girl on her left.
"Really? What did she say?"
"Nothing." – her fiance mumbled hastily.
Amelia didn't care about the warning look Alistair gave her as she willingly translated the old Irish curse.
"She wants the devil to use your backbones as a ladder to pick apples in the garden of hell."
Helena stared at her with a shocked expression, then she turned to her fiance:
"What a lovely language. You should use it too, darling."
Before Alistair could have replied, the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it." – Helena said quickly and left the table.
At her big surprise, she found her son at the door. They spoke a few times over the phone since the abolishment of the monarchy, but he has only come to see her once before.
"How could you have done this to Eleanor? She trusted you." – he yelled at her.
Helena cast a nervous glance inside the house before she answered:
"Rehab is the best place for her right now. Can we talk about this later? I have guests."
As if she had heard what she said, Alistair's mother shouted from the living room:
"Helena, close that door. You let out the heat."
Liam's expression immediately turned into a scornful grin.
"I think I'd rather stay. After the way you treated Ophelia, I might even enjoy seeing you in her shoes."
"Fine. But please don't say again that you are so different from me. Because you are not, you nasty little brat." – Helena rolled her eyes and followed her son inside.
"Margaret, this is my son, Liam. Liam, this is Alistair's mother." – she introduced the two of them to each other.
Margaret eyed the young prince man up and down, then she remarked casually:
"More handsome than on TV... but I always preferred your brother."
"You were not alone." – Liam replied with a polite smile and gave his mother a knowing look.
Helena led him to their other guest whom she introduced rather briefly.
"And this is Amelia. She is the result of a one-night stand between an Army friend of Alistair and a bar dancer."
"Singer..." – the young girl corrected her, then she added sarcastically: – "I must admit your lack of tact impresses me. I wonder how you could be queen with such manners."
The former queen was so struck by her words that she couldn't think of a good comeback. The two women maintained eye contact until Alistair got tired of the embarrassing situation and broke the silence:
"Amelia, why don't you clear the table?" – he suggested assertively. – "Liam, you can help her."
"Me?" – the former prince asked in surprise.
Amelia let out a soft chuckle and said to him:
"Don't worry, you'll learn it in no time."
She gathered the plates from the table and took them to the kitchen. Liam grabbed some glasses and followed her.
"I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't want to be rude to your mom." – she mumbled softly.
"Are you kidding? You are the first person who left my mother speechless. I already like you." – Liam remarked with a big smile.
Amelia returned the smile and let out a sigh.
"I tend to overreact when it comes to my parents."
"What is the deal with them?" – the former prince asked and gave her a curious look.
The young girl wasn't sure where to begin.
"Do you know the musical Miss Saigon? My parents' story is like that, only less romantic." – she said, trying to act like she didn't care much. – "Henry, my dad met my mom in a bar where she was singing. They spent the night together, he promised to come back to her after his deployment, but he never made it."
"I'm sorry. It must have been hard growing up without your father." – Liam said with empathy.
Amelia shrugged and continued in the same tone:
"Who knows he really would have come back if he had survived? Sometimes I wished it was the truth. That he lived somewhere happily ever after." – she paused for a moment, then she said in mock ease: – "So a couple of years ago I started looking for him and that's how I met Alistair. He told me about my dad: what kind of person he was, how he died as a hero... then we became friends. He spoke an awful lot about your mom too. He really loves her. I don't know why, but he does. So after the monarchy was over, Al wanted me to meet her. And now I met you. The story of my life in sixty seconds."
Liam didn't know what to say. He has rarely had the chance before to hear the stories of the so-called average people and he was impressed. Although Amelia was anything but average.
"Your life is... quite intense." – he finally said.
"You can't complain either." – the young girl remarked with a smile. – "A royal prince, who suddenly becomes the heir to the British throne until the king abolishes the monarchy and condemns him to an ordinary life."
"A very ordinary life with very ordinary problems like a junkie twin sister, a depressed father, a tough university and a frighteningly real job to pay for it." – Liam summed up his own life.
They looked at each other and both burst into laughter.
"Maybe not so ordinary." – Amelia admitted.
"Yeah, maybe not." – Liam agreed. – "So… if you want it too, I would be happy to talk more about our not-so-ordinary life."
Amelia tucked a strand of curly hair behind her ears and looked at him:
"Honestly, I would be pretty disappointed if you were not."