§ § § - July 7, 2001
After a very light lunch, the royal family scattered to their various suites to prepare for the ceremony. Leslie, who had found herself the owner of six complete new outfits on the shopping trip she had taken with Michiko, Anna-Laura and Anna-Kristina, surveyed the two formal gowns they had helped her choose and wondered with the first traces of unease what the other women would be wearing. Christian, meantime, went to one of the large wooden armoires for the first time since they'd taken over this room and opened it to survey the contents. Happy to let herself be distracted, Leslie joined him there. "So that's where the white dress uniform got off to," she remarked. "Are you going to bring it back home with you?"
"Maybe," Christian said. "I should probably wear that today, as a matter of fact. This is one of those times I'm happy I was born male. I really think you women fuss too much over clothing. Have you made a choice yet?"
"No…I'm afraid of standing out too much," Leslie admitted. "Please, my love, help me, will you? I just don't know what I'm doing here."
"My poor Rose, out of her element again," Christian said teasingly. "All right, then, let's get a look. We never got around to having you model whatever you bought the other day, so I'm looking forward to this." Extracting the white dress uniform from the armoire and closing the doors, he followed her to the bed and examined the two dresses that had been laid out there. "You know, I think this will be as difficult for me as for you." One of the gowns was a rich emerald green silk, with a round neck and a square scalloped collar that draped over the shoulders and upper arms, and was trimmed in matching satin at the edge of the scalloping and along the hem. The slim green belt was genuine leather. The second dress—silk again—was pure white, elegant in its simplicity with long gathered sleeves and a V-neck that would just accommodate Leslie's necklace. Only its belt was a standout: an inch-wide strip of white silk liberally shot through with silver threads, to be tied in a loose knot around the waist.
"I was kind of leaning toward the white one," Leslie admitted after a moment of silence. "If you wear your white uniform, we'd look…well, like a matched set."
"Like we belong together, you mean," Christian said gently and kissed her. "Which we do. Yes, definitely, wear that. And I am already in a great state of anticipation to see you in it." He grinned, winked at her and swept his uniform off the bed to change in the bathroom, so that Leslie could don her gown in private and give him the element of surprise.
Fifteen minutes later, completely ready, he emerged and stopped short in his tracks, staring. Leslie had yet to put on the makeup she knew she would need, but she was fully dressed otherwise and brushing her hair. The dress was a perfect fit: Anna-Kristina had firmly insisted that all alterations on her new clothing be done while they waited, and the effect was stunning. Mesmerized, Christian drifted toward her and surveyed her from head to toe. "So beautiful," he breathed.
Leslie looked at him with nervous eyes. "Then you like it," she ventured.
"You do have a knack for understatement at the oddest times," Christian observed with a wry smile. "It's perfect. Anna-Kristina tells me she has brought the makeup artist back out from the city, so you need not worry about that. We're going down to her rooms for that. Are you ready otherwise?"
"As much as I can ever be, considering what's about to happen," Leslie said. "I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd be in a position like this, and I'm scared stupid."
Christian grinned at the phrase and gently removed the hairbrush from her hand, dropping it into her suitcase. "You have me," he reminded her simply. "Let's go now."
Together they walked down to Anna-Kristina's suite; the princess' eyes popped and her mouth fell open in wonder. "You look perfect together!" she cried. "I think the cameras will be watching you instead of Briella, and that will make her simply furious."
Christian and Leslie both laughed and slipped into the room. "So why haven't you finished dressing yet, Kattersprinsessan?" Christian inquired humorously. "You're going to make us late—if Briella grows furious over something, it will be that, not us."
"But I have nothing to wear!" Anna-Kristina cried, then stared at her uncle with a wounded expression: Christian had said the exact same thing in tandem with her, imitating her almost perfectly and sending Leslie into a fit of laughter. "Uncle Christian…!"
"If you had nothing to wear, you should have bought something when you and your aunt and Queen Michiko took Leslie shopping," Christian said. "Honestly, Anna-Kristina, you can't tell me that there's nothing in that closet full of clothes you have—not and make me believe it. You own half the clothing that's ever been manufactured in this country to begin with. How can there be nothing suitable?"
"He doesn't understand, Aunt Leslie," Anna-Kristina protested, giving Leslie a pleading look. "He's a man, and they never understand."
Leslie giggled. "Don't panic just yet. Maybe I can help you find something. Let's see what you've got."
"Don't faint from shock, my darling," Christian said dryly, finding a chair and making himself comfortable so that he could watch. He returned the grin Leslie cast him over her shoulder and looked on with great interest.
Anna-Kristina led Leslie over to the far wall; her enormous bed, covered by a turquoise satin comforter and piled high with throw pillows in every possible tint of turquoise, bisected the space, and on either side the wall seemed to consist entirely of closets set off with louvered shutters. Anna-Kristina went to the left-hand one and pushed aside the shutters on both ends, leaving Leslie gaping at the sheer accumulation of clothes hanging therein. Anna-Kristina, giving the contents little more than a cursory glance, swept a hand through the air and wailed, "You see? Nothing!"
"That's an awful lot of nothing," Leslie remarked, at which Christian hooted with mirth from his chair. "Come on, Anna-Kristina, I'm sure there's something here. Where do you keep the outfits that are suitable for formal occasions?"
The princess sighed melodramatically and plowed into the closet, using her entire body to shove about three-quarters of the clothes farther towards the end near the bed. This left some twenty or so dresses hanging there. "Okay," Leslie said, "that's still quite a bit of nothing. What's wrong with all these?"
"I've worn them all before," said Anna-Kristina. They heard Christian groan.
Leslie shrugged. "Most people wear their clothes more than once," she said gently.
"But I'm a princess," Anna-Kristina said impatiently.
"Maybe that's the whole problem," remarked Christian, and in spite of herself Leslie snickered. Anna-Kristina threw him a quelling look that just made him laugh again.
Leslie went to the closet and patiently removed one dress after the next, scrutinizing each with a critical eye. After the first few, which seemed a little flashy, she turned to face Christian with the fifth one. "What do you think, my love?"
Christian studied it, then said, "No, I don't think so. The color is too bright." It was a deep-blue dress with a calf-length skirt. "Actually, my Rose, you can eliminate anything without a floor-length skirt. That should narrow it down slightly."
"How slightly?" Leslie wondered, making Christian laugh again. She grinned, hung up the blue dress and went through some of the next few till she found one with a full skirt. It was in a pale pink and edged with metallic fabric in the same color. "What about this?"
"I wore that at the last formal function," Anna-Kristina protested.
"Which was when?" interjected Christian.
"February," she said.
Christian and Leslie looked at each other. "Is she for real?" Leslie wondered.
To her surprise, Christian nodded. "For royalty, that is a little too recent," he agreed. "Try again. I know she's got to have something."
"You're both starting to worry me," Leslie said only half jokingly, returning the pink dress to the closet and eliminating three more. The next one was in a somewhat deeper pink, unadorned, with a scoop-neck collar and short cap sleeves. "Hmm…"
"Not formal enough," decreed Christian.
Leslie shot him a startled look. "Now who's the clotheshorse?" she said, and Christian rolled his eyes.
"I suppose that's your way of telling me to shut up?" he suggested.
"Yup. Butt out, my love, and I mean that in the nicest possible way," Leslie assured him, amused. "I'll ask for your input if I need it, though." She put the dress back and went through some more till she got to the last: a gauzy pale-lemon-colored chiffon that seemed to float through the air as Leslie pulled it out. "Hmm. How about this?"
"Oh, I still have the shoes that go with that," Anna-Kristina exclaimed excitedly. "And I haven't worn it in almost a year. Maybe that will be right."
"It looks good from here," Christian said hopefully.
Leslie grinned and handed Anna-Kristina the dress. "Then go put it on, and let's see how you look. Try to be quick, okay?" Anna-Kristina nodded and shot off across the room to the other half of her suite. Christian slumped in his chair and let out a loud groan.
"Now do you see what I mean? I honestly believe that if I were ever to sneak into this room and take out fifty percent of these clothes to give to charity, she would never miss them. After all, she constantly disdains them as 'nothing'. And after what I see on this side of the closet, I hate to ask what lurks on the other side that didn't even merit consideration. What are you doing, then?" Leslie had come over to him as he spoke and now stood with a foot on either side of his long legs, which he'd stretched out in front of him.
She grinned and leaned over to him, bracing herself with a hand on each of the chair arms, her eyes sparkling. "After all this complaining, Christian, my love, you'd better think twice before you give me clothes on either my birthday or Christmas."
Christian's grunt told her what he thought of that. "A wise man never buys clothes for a woman, unless he happens to have a death wish. Never fear about that. Frankly, I'm glad you were here to defuse the next bomb. I haven't seen her with Prince Carlono yet, and to tell the truth, I wonder if he knows about this side of her."
Leslie lowered her head and kissed him. "Then ask her. And maybe you should sit up straight. You're the first slouching prince I've ever met."
"I have a right to slouch if I like," Christian said with heated dignity, and she giggled. He grinned back and obediently sat up, then pulled her down onto his lap, evoking a soft surprised squeal from her before she landed, giggling again. "However, you may have a point there…this is really much nicer." He kissed her, and when Anna-Kristina came out they were involved enough not to notice her reappearance.
The princess watched for a moment, cleared her throat, and rolled her eyes when it went ignored. Loudly she demanded, "Do you two ever take your hands off each other?"
Christian broke from Leslie long enough to assure her dreamily, "Never," and then resumed kissing his wife. Anna-Kristina snickered, envious in spite of herself, and crossed the room to hunt for the shoes that matched her dress.
Only the knock on the door a few minutes later made Christian finally stop kissing Leslie and give her a rueful look. "Thought I'd better do that now…I don't know when I'll have my next chance," he said, making her grin and drop a last quick kiss on his lips while Anna-Kristina opened the door and admitted the other Enstad women, including Gabriella. Anna-Laura and Amalia, seeing Leslie still in Christian's lap, looked at each other.
"I see Christian and Leslie are making the best use of the seating in here, since all the other chairs are clearly occupied," Anna-Laura remarked acerbically, surveying the several empty chairs scattered around the room.
"As I told Leslie the other day, Father and Arnulf should have taken some of that energy they expended on marrying me off and used it on finding you a husband," Christian told his sister with a good-natured grin. "I really think you're jealous sometimes."
"Of course I'm jealous," retorted Anna-Laura. "Unfortunately, it's not easy for a princess to meet a suitable man, particularly if she's staring her fiftieth birthday in the face. I wonder, Leslie, if royalty is entitled to fantasies."
Leslie grinned. "Of course," she said. "We've had our share of princes and princesses come to us looking for a fantasy. Father and I'd be glad to help you."
Anna-Laura regarded her with real interest and said thoughtfully, "Then I'll keep that in mind. However, just now we have some work to do. Anna-Kristina, where is that makeup artist? I thought you said she would be here by now."
"Quite likely cooling her heels in the great entry," Christian said. "Since I appear to be the only male in the room, let me correct that problem and go after her for you." Liselotta said something, and everyone laughed; Christian tossed her a salute and departed.
Amalia saw Leslie's curious look and said with a broad smile, "Liselotta asked him if he would bring Gerhard back with him," she explained, and Leslie grinned. "Oh, Leslie, you look truly lovely in that dress. You'll be perfect beside Christian, and you'll do the family much credit."
"Thank you, Amalia," Leslie said self-consciously, "but if I were you I wouldn't be so quick to speak. Christian promised me this morning we'd go over all those lessons in protocol that everyone tried to pound into my head this past week."
"Oh yes," Anna-Laura exclaimed. "While we wait for Christian to bring back the makeup woman—and maybe Gerhard—" that brought on more laughter— "we'll do a hasty run-through or two. Now, everyone line up as you will for the initial procession…"
At five minutes till three the entire royal family waited in the corridor from which they would emerge into the great entry. Gabriella, with Elias by her side, was in the lead; behind her was Kristina, and Anna-Kristina and Margareta stood behind her. Carl Johan and Amalia were next with Gerhard and Liselotta behind them, then Rudolf standing alone; then Anna-Laura with Roald as escort, and Cecilia and Axel behind; and at the very end of the line, Christian and Leslie. They all stood in silence, aware of the incredibly solemn event about to take place, all looking straight ahead and carefully composing themselves. Christian noticed Leslie start to breathe a little deeply and swallow; he turned to her with a slight smile and murmured, "You'll be fine, my darling. You really only need remember that you must stand still and straight-faced beside me, without actually touching me, your eyes on Elias and Briella the entire time."
Leslie looked at him, faintly panicky. "But you and I have to be first in line to make obeisance," she said. "We can't touch then either?"
Christian shook his head. "If you're truly so worried, remember that I'm at your side, not behind you, and you can watch me in case you miss any cues. You know the proper curtsy, right?" She nodded. "Good. As I said, it should be fifteen minutes at most." He paused, took in her attempt to compose herself, and then relented long enough to place a feathery kiss on her cheek. "That's the last time I can touch you until the ceremony is over, so that will have to be enough for you till then," he teased gently.
"Are they taping this?" she whispered frantically.
He grinned. "Of course they are, silly girl! If you're so anxious, I'll tell Carl Johan to send us a copy of it when it's ready." She threw him a dirty look and he chuckled. At that moment a fanfare swelled up in the great entry, and he glanced over the heads of the others in front of them. "You're going to be fine, my Rose. Here we go."
It wasn't hard for Leslie to remain sober-faced; she was too nervous to find any humor in the situation. She wanted desperately to look at Christian, but resolutely kept her eyes trained straight ahead as she walked by his side in the family's wake. Inanely she wondered what announcers around the world were saying at this moment, while all this was being telecast on countless TV screens, and then gave some thought to all her friends and Roarke on Fantasy Island, where it was currently three in the morning. Tabitha might be gung-ho enough to be awake at this hour, but it was unlikely the others were, even Roarke.
The formal fanfare continued as Elias and Gabriella moved to the center of the dais and the rest of the family filed onto the top tier, forming a semicircle around them, with Christian and Leslie on the end. He had told her there would be a formal announcement, made by the head of the jordiska parliament, that Gabriella would now be crowned; then long, serious oaths were to be taken, consisting in the main of a reminder of the many duties, responsibilities, rights and powers the monarch held and how to administer them in the course of ruling the country. Once the crown was placed atop Gabriella's head, the parliamentary head and the page bearing the crown would make the first obeisance to the new queen, followed immediately by the royal family. So Leslie knew to watch for this last and take it as the cue to step off the dais: having walked in at Christian's right, she now stood right on the edge of the top tier and would have to step off it even before Christian did, so that he could fall into step beside her and the others could follow them.
Just before the parliamentary head came forward to speak, she swept a quick glance around the family circle, moving only her eyes. Sure enough, they all stood looking on without expression, hands at sides and no one touching anyone else. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Christian matching their looks and stances, and promptly returned her gaze to the front, just in time. She hoped she looked dignified enough not to disgrace her husband and his family, for they had been correct—the protocol was indeed quite brutal. It even went down to posture. Not only did she have to be still and silent, with a blank face, but she was also required to stand straight, at her full five-feet-nine, with her weight evenly distributed between both feet. Hands could not be clasped in front or behind, but must hang straight down. It crossed Leslie's mind to hope she didn't develop an itch somewhere, and she instantly squashed it lest the idea bring on the reality.
Since she couldn't understand the long speeches and oaths in jordiska, she found it somewhat difficult to concentrate on the ceremony and had to fight to keep her mind from drifting in every possible direction. She lost her sense of time, and she began to grow aware of a dull fatigue from holding her straightened position. Each time Gabriella spoke—presumably taking another oath—she wondered how many more there were remaining. The astounding quiet in the great entry made her aware of every extraneous sound; when someone in the audience coughed, it startled her almost enough to twitch—another taboo. She wished she knew what was going through Christian's mind right then. Was he still as rebellious, at least mentally, as he had been back in 1995 at his brother's coronation? Was he having irreverent thoughts? Was his mind shooting off all over the place like hers? Leslie became aware that she was losing focus and tried to gather her concentration. She thought, Oh no, what if I sneeze? and then roundly scolded herself for thinking that too.
Incredibly, beside her, Christian suddenly did sneeze, and she blinked, only barely managing not to look at him in her astonishment. Me and my big mouth. Or my big head, Leslie thought with a trace of hysteria, trying to convince herself that her thought hadn't brought about the deed. Christian simply recomposed himself without bringing any further attention to the slight interruption, somewhat to her disappointment; no one else moved at all, and the speeches and oaths continued as if nothing had happened. But after a few seconds, she realized that Christian's breathing had become slightly irregular, and had to concentrate very carefully on her own to remain under control: for she knew immediately that he was trying his utmost not to laugh!
It took him a moment to settle down, and it looked as if no one noticed. Leslie took in a very slow, deep breath, let it out just as slowly, and surreptitiously wiggled her toes in her shoes. Christian's unexpected sneeze had made her feel inexplicably more relaxed; it was as if she'd been reassured that she wasn't the only one who could make an inadvertent mistake. She hoped Arnulf I had taken such involuntary instances into account when he rewrote the protocol in 1962; she'd have to ask Christian when this finally ended.
Another minute or so ticked away; then the parliamentary head lifted the crown off its pillow and placed it atop Gabriella's head with great care. He then turned to the assembled crowd and in jordiska formally announced that the country had its new monarch, at which point he and the page dropped to their knees and lowered their heads. Prince Elias promptly followed suit, and Leslie took her cue, turning and moving down. Christian drew up beside her, and side by side they stepped off the lowermost tier, moved to the center, then back up to the middle tier. The second Christian started to sink, she did the same, calling on leg muscles to keep her upright and steady as she knelt nearly to the floor, without actually touching it as Christian was doing. He held his kneel-and-bow and she her curtsy till Gabriella touched each of their shoulders and smiled, and they arose and moved off to the right in single file, out of sight of the cameras for a moment or two and at the right of the dais where the family would gather and remain while Gabriella received their many guests' acknowledgments of her new position.
As soon as they got out of the range of the TV cameras, Christian slipped an arm around Leslie, and she let out her breath with a loud, relieved groan. "Oh, my god!"
He grinned at her. "You're all right?" he asked. "You did very well, my Rose."
Leslie shrugged. "Was that sneeze a breach of protocol?" she wanted to know.
Christian's eyes lit with merriment. "You're actually serious, aren't you! No, it was one of those things you just can't help. But even if it were, quite frankly, I have to admit it wouldn't bother me in the slightest. My father's rules are too damned strict, and I've been hoping Briella will find the time to rewrite them."
"Thank the fates," Leslie muttered with another sigh, this one a bit shaky.
"Why?" Christian asked in surprise.
She found herself grinning sheepishly at him. "Because just beforehand, I wondered what would happen if I should sneeze, and when you did, I stood there thinking I'd made you do it." Christian blinked and then burst out laughing, the sound carrying over the rising voices in the great entry and setting off her own relieved laughter.
The rest of the family began joining them, and Anna-Laura eyed Christian with mock reproach, shaking her head. "I should have known you'd find a way to call attention to yourself, Christian Carl Tobias," she said. "Sneezing like that!"
"Father forgot to forbid sneezing," Christian said innocently, touching off an explosion of laughter in everyone, including Liselotta after Gerhard translated for her. Laughing, he hugged Leslie close and said cheerfully to her, "I'm still incorrigible, aren't I?"
"Absolutely," she agreed, smiling. "My very own incorrigible prince." They kissed softly for several seconds before cuddling up to each other and waiting patiently for the chance to retreat to the family's living quarters.