Chapter Twenty-One
Airport, Cote d'Azur, France
"Seriously? None of you have a driver's licence. What the hell were you thinking?" – Queen Helena shouted at the four frightened bodyguards.
"I switched my shift with Bobby. He was the one who should have escorted you." – stuttered the first one.
"I just started this job for three weeks…" – said the other.
"I will call Mr. Pryce and he will send a driver right away. He can be here by evening." – the third man tried to correct their mistake.
Seeing the Queen's gaze, the fourth one didn't dare to open his mouth.
"We have our car, we have our holiday home. The only question is how can we get there?" – Helena summed up the situation. – "Because you can't expect the Royal Family to call a bloody taxi, can you?"
The King and the children stood beside her with the luggage and watched the scene in silence.
"We could fly over the villa and jump out of the plane by parachute." – Princess Eleanor suggested.
"Yeah. That would be cool." – her brother, Prince Robert cried with enthusiasm.
Their mother, however, didn't appreciate the idea.
"Just shut up!" – she hissed impatiently. – "If you can't come up with a normal solution, we all go home."
King Simon cleared his throat to end the quarrel.
"What about you, my love?" – he asked the Queen.
Helena looked at him with surprise and said:
"I'm thinking too, of course. Since we came this far I don't wa…"
"No, I mean you have a driver's licence." – the King interrupted her.
"I hope you are not serious." – his wife snapped at him. – "I haven't driven for… for five years. And you know what happened the last time I did."
Simon spread his arms helplessly.
"I know, but I really can't think of any other option."
The ride was a far cry from smooth. Queen Helena understandably had problems with the large SUV and the right-hand traffic.
"Stupid wanker!" – she cried out after a car from the opposite direction passed inches away from them.
King Simon quickly turned around to the children who travelled in the passenger area.
"You didn't hear that."
"Come on!" – Helena rolled her eyes. – "Did you see that?"
"You were on the wrong side." – Simon mumbled, but he immediately regretted his words when he saw his wife's expression.
"What are you talking about? I'm the only one on the right side." – the Queen snapped at him.
The King couldn't hold back a soft chuckle.
"Except that we are in France." – he remarked.
Helena wanted to get back to him, but her security detail interrupted them.
"Next turn to the left, Your Majesty." – he said willingly with a map in his hands.
However, it was already too late.
"You missed it." – King Simon turned teasingly to his wife.
"Really? Do you want to drive?" – Helena asked angrily because she didn't find it so funny.
"I'm sorry. You are doing great." – the King apologized, then he whispered in her ears: – "And you are bloody sexy."
The Queen glanced at him for a moment before she turned back her attention to the road.
"You just say it." – she remarked with a dim smile. Then she felt her husband's hand on her thigh moving upwards. – "No, no, no… Simon, stop it! I can't… It's not like in the movies, I have to concentrate."
King Simon surprised himself by being so turned on from the sight of his wife driving a car. After ten years they had their differences, but he had to admit that she was still the most attractive woman he has ever seen.
"Just wait until we arrive at the villa." – he whispered again.
"With the children." – Helena sighed resignedly.
Simon shook his head in discontentment.
"Now I regret that we don't have the nannies with us."
"I bet you do." – Queen Helena remarked with a flirty smile and took his hand in hers.
Of course the first thing the children wanted to do was go to the beach. It was half past twelve and the sun was burning hot. The Royal Family was sitting under a large umbrella in the sand, surrounded on four sides by their bodyguards. The Queen thoroughly smeared sunscreen on her children and her husband, then tossed the bottle to her security detail.
"If you want to stay there in that position the whole time, you will need it." – she said to him with a smile.
The bodyguard was surprised by her sudden familiarity, but he took her advice and put some cream on his shoulder and body.
"He looks funny." – Prince Liam said as he glanced at the man.
Helena also looked in his direction and nodded in agreement.
"Yes, it's a bit odd. Your father asked them to wear civil clothes so that we could stay unnoticed."
"How?" – the little boy asked in confusion because 'unnoticed' was the last word he could think of when someone talked about his family.
His father pulled closer to him and pulled him down on his lap in an unguarded moment.
"So far so good. Nobody recognized us." – he whispered in his ears.
"Yet." – the Queen remarked softly because she was more skeptical about this plan.
They were only lucky because of their timing. In the southern region of France people took siesta time very seriously. Early in the afternoon, very few were at the beach.
The King could see his wife's concerns and he hoped that he could make her forget them.
"Don't think about that. We are undercover now." – he said to her and kissed her cheek.
Robert, always been interested in a good spy story, liked his father's idea.
"So who are we?" – he asked eagerly.
"I'm a paramedic. With a helicopter." – King Simon replied with ease.
The Queen raised her eyebrows. She was equally surprised by the response itself and its rapidity.
Her husband caught her eyes and asked curiously:
"What would you be?"
Helena shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know. I always regretted that I didn't go to university, so I guess I would be a student."
The three children stared at their mother like she was some kind of freak.
"You want to go to school?" – Eleanor asked in shock.
"This officially makes you the most horrible person on earth." – Robert added jokingly.
If it had been anyone else than Robert, the Queen would have been boiling with rage. But it was Robert so she turned in his direction and began a sudden tickle attack on him.
"Because… being… a pirate… is a much… better… life goal, isn't it?" – she asked playfully.
"I wasn't going to say pirate!" – the Prince protested.
"Yes, you were." – her mother insisted and laughed at him.
Five minutes later they were all in the water. Eleanor and Liam with their arm floats, splashing water to everyone while the others played with a beach ball.
"Can I go swimming?" – Robert asked after a while.
Of course, he wasn't allowed to go alone, so the Queen was about to go with him, but Princess Eleanor interrupted them.
"Where are you going?" – she asked reproachfully.
"Swimming." – came the answer from her mother and brother.
They could see that Eleanor didn't like the idea of being left out of something.
"I want to go too." – she said firmly.
"You can't, darling. You are too young for it." – her mother explained patiently. – "You stay here with your father and we will be back soon."
The Princess was on the verge of a tantrum, but her father's words seemed to calm her down.
"I think we should stay together." – he said conciliatory.
"And I don't think that we should do everything she says. If Robert wants to swim, he…" – Helena hissed angrily, but her son stopped her.
"It's okay, Mum. I can stay here with Lenny." – Prince Robert said and smiled at his sister.
"I will make it up to you, darling." – the Queen promised and hugged her son.
After they got out of the water, Liam and Robert decided to build a huge sandcastle. Eleanor was so tired that she almost immediately fell asleep on the beach towel between her parents.
"I admit, it wasn't your worst idea to come here incognito." – Queen Helena remarked to her husband after they got out of the water.
"It wasn't my worst idea?!" – King Simon cried out in disbelief. – "Come on, Helena! I'm a genius."
The Queen looked at him with a sudden seriousness in her eyes.
"You really are. I'm sorry if it doesn't always seem like I appreciate it. Because I do."
"I can't believe it has been almost ten years." – the King mumbled, lost in thoughts.
His wife smiled at him.
"Ten years of marriage, three children, one kingdom… We are not doing so bad." – she remarked in a playful tone.
King Simon let out a soft chuckle.
"No, we are not." – he agreed.
Helena put her hands around his neck and leaning over their daughter, she gave him a long kiss. That was the moment when they heard the clattering sound of flashing cameras.
"Goddamn it!" – the King cursed between his teeth.
The Queen pulled away from him and quickly grabbed her beach scarf to cover her bikini body.
"At some point you have to wake up from every dream." – she remarked sarcastically as she watched her security detail escorting the paparazzo back to his car.
Later, when everybody was already asleep, the Queen sneaked in her son's bedroom.
"Robert! Are you awake?" – she whispered in the dark while she was trying to find her way to him.
"Mum? What is it?" – Prince Robert mumbled in a sleepy voice.
Helena finally managed to reach his bed.
"I go to swim. Do you come with me?" – she asked softly.
Robert rubbed his eyes and looked at the digital clock on the nightstand.
"Now?" – he asked in shock.
"This is the right time." – his mother reassured him. – "Your father is sleeping, the twins are sleeping…"
"The paparazzi are sleeping." – the young Prince added.
Queen Helena couldn't hold back a dim smile in the dark.
"You know me so well. So are you coming or not?" – she urged him.
She didn't have to say twice. He may did not show it completely, but Robert was more than excited about this adventure.
"Of course I am. Just give me a minute to get changed." – he said quickly and turned on the light.
"All right." – replied his mother and sat on the edge of the bed.
Robert cleared his throat as he said:
"I thought you would wait for me outside."
The Queen gave him a motherly smile.
"There is nothing there I didn't see before."
"Mum!" – Prince Robert cried indignantly. – "What matters is when you saw it and not what you saw. So please…?"
Helena, still with a grin on her face, shrugged her shoulders and left for the door.
"It goes without saying, this is our secret." – she looked back at her son. – "I don't want to get in trouble with your father."