Part Two
The next morning, Clarisse sat at her desk waiting for Charlotte and Mia to arrive for a scheduled meeting. She thought of the coronation yesterday, the culmination of five years hard work finding and fitting Mia to be queen in her place. She thought of Andrew, who had been brought to Genovia as a possible suitor for Mia. The two had tried to love each other, and had agreed to wed, but at the very last moment had called off the wedding, much to Andrew's parents' dismay. His parents had left in disgust the day after the aborted wedding, but Andrew had stayed on in order to become better acquainted with Lady Elyssa. Judging from their appearance together yesterday, Clarisse expected a wedding soon. She thought of Mia and how her grand-daughter's eyes had lit up when Nicholas had reappeared after disappearing for almost a week. Clarisse had promptly invited him to move back into the palace, knowing that he would not likely be welcome at his uncle's home any time soon.
Then Clarisse thought of Charlotte's past and of how, in the five years since learning about the lost child, Clarisse herself had taken over Philippe's search. After the first few inquiries, seeing Charlotte's spirits sink lower at every failure, Clarisse had stopped telling Charlotte when she was hoping for a response. This morning, Clarisse was once again waiting for a reply to a letter she had sent. She had had a very good lead, she had thought, and had secretly contacted the person. When Charlotte brought in the mail a few minutes later, Clarisse smiled when she saw the return address and the CONFIDENTIAL on the outside of the unopened envelope, and she held her breath in hope as she opened it. Reading the negative answer to this most recent inquiry, Clarisse threw down the letter in disgust.
"It's enough to make one wonder if anyone cares about anyone other than themselves anymore!" she sighed more to herself than to her assistant.
Charlotte looked up from opening the rest of the mail on the other side of the desk, leaned forward and said very earnestly, "Your Majesty, many people care! Why, I, for one, would gladly take a bullet for you!"
Clarisse blinked as she looked up, thinking she had heard that line in that exact voice and seen those earnest brown eyes one other time in the not-so-distant past ... but where? When, exactly? She shook her head, unable to remember. "Charlotte," she said, rather severely, "haven't I asked you to call me Clarisse?"
"Yes, and I try, but it's really hard!" Charlotte protested with an affectionate smile.
"There is no such word as 'try'. You either do or you don't. That's what my Aunt Marjorie was constantly telling me when I was a child," Clarisse said.
Chuckling, Charlotte nodded. "Very well, Clarisse, when we are alone, I will do my best NOT to say, 'your majesty'. Thank you."
"No, Charlotte, thank YOU," Clarisse put her hand over Charlotte's on the desk. "If it hadn't been for you, my last years as the ruling queen in Genovia would have been far less enjoyable for me, and definitely not nearly as much would have been accomplished! You were an incredible help."
Even as Charlotte blushed and accepted the accolades, a small part of her was screaming, 'Were? Is my job past tense now?' Before she could say anything, Queen Mia came flying through the door.
"Oh, Grandma, Charlotte, I'm SORRY I was late! But Lilly and Nick and Kip and I sat up talking half the night ..."
"Kip?" Clarisse looked blank, and turned automatically to Charlotte for enlightenment.
"Captain Kip Kelly, of the Royal Guard," Charlotte obliged instantly. She had seen the two at the Coronation Ball the night before, and Shades had told her a bit more. It seemed that the good Captain was smitten by Queen Mia's best friend.
"Yeah. He thinks Lilly's pretty cool, and it seems she kinda likes him, too. Oh, Grandma, I'm just so happy!"
"You're not talking about Kip and Lilly now, are you?" Clarisse's voice was dry.
Her grand-daughter, the newly-crowned queen, giggled. "No. It's Nick. I really like him, a lot!"
"I should hope so. You DID spend the night with him just over a week ago!"
"We just talked!" Mia defended herself. "Well, and fell asleep ..."
"Five years ago, you really liked Lilly's brother a lot," Clarisse reminded her gently.
Mia rolled her eyes, then sat down. "I did ... and I do. Michael's a really great guy. And he was the first one to really SEE me for who I was -- a person. He'll always be special because of that. But we grew apart when we grew up. We have different interests. I couldn't go touring with him and his band, even if I wanted to, now that I'm living in Genovia. And I wouldn't want to go, either. I love Genovia. I'm thrilled with the legacy I've been handed ... and I plan to try to live up to the role model I have in YOU, Grandma!"
A smile crossed Charlotte's face and Mia turned to her. "What?"
"Your grandmother just told me that there is no such word as 'try', your Majesty," Charlotte said.
Mia grimaced at her, then laughed. "Right. And YOU had better stop with the Majesty stuff, too, Charlotte. Call me Mia."
Rather taken aback at the familiarity, Charlotte nodded, looking at Clarisse, then back to Mia. "I'll try," she said, and all three chuckled.
"Now, Charlotte," Mia leaned forward. "I'm gonna ask a REALLY big favour of you. You've worked with Grandma for years, right?"
"Yes," Charlotte said, a trifle cautiously.
"Well, I don't want to take you away from her totally, and I don't want you to feel that your job just sort of, you know, goes along with the queen job or anything, but I'd appreciate it if you'd help me for a little while ... a few months, anyway ... just until I get my life organized. Would you?"
A few months? A reprieve for a short time? Charlotte refused to let the tears come to her eyes. She didn't have to leave the palace right away! "Of course, your ... umm, Mia. Anything I can do ..."
"Well, I don't expect you'll have a whole lot of time. You see, I've been talking with Sebastian Motaz, and we figured that with the change of command, so to speak, now is the time to bring the Genovian Parliament right up to date. We're going to add a number of new Members of Parliament, and they're all going to be women, and YOU are the first on the list, Charlotte."
Charlotte stared at the young woman, speechless.
"You WILL go into Parliament, won't you, Charlotte?" Mia wheedled. "I'm not like Grandma ... I can't do it alone. I need support in the room with me, and I intend to make sure I HAVE that support!"
"You really ARE an ideal choice, Charlotte," added Clarisse.
"You KNEW about this?" Charlotte finally found her voice. She could hardly believe her good fortune.
"Of course. I had had the same thoughts for a long time, but it was Mia who was brave enough to broach the subject with Sebastian."
"And he agreed. Actually, he said he couldn't refuse my first request as queen," Mia almost giggled. "And it didn't take a whole lot of bravery. He thinks you're pretty cool, Charlotte. Anyway, just so you know, being in Parliament will take up a lot of your time, I expect, and Grandma doesn't want to lose you completely, because she still can't do anything in the public eye without your help, but really, I DO need you a bit because I'm totally at sea when it comes to organizing all this royalty stuff and you do it SO well. So the next few months are bound to be really hectic, and, well, I'd hate to break up anything you've got going as far as your love life is concerned, because it'll pretty much be non-existent for a while."
Charlotte smiled faintly. "It's pretty much non-existent already," she admitted. Clarisse made a sudden movement and Charlotte looked at her evenly.
Mia looked from one to the other. "What's going on? What aren't you telling me?"
When Clarisse said nothing, Charlotte finally said to her, "He was just there AS A FRIEND. We were TALKING ..." Then, remembering that she had been sure Shades had been about to kiss her last night just before the phone had rung, Charlotte coloured. Nevertheless, she reiterated firmly, "A FRIEND." Then she looked defiantly at Mia. "So you have no need to worry about me. I am honoured to be asked to be a member of Parliament, and I will do whatever I can to help you ..."
"WHO is just a friend?" Mia asked, ignoring the rest of Charlotte's speech.
Charlotte tightened her lips and said nothing. Clarisse's eyebrow raised as she looked at her aide, and a smile crossed her face. Then she turned back to Mia and said briskly, "Now then, Mia. When is Lilly leaving? And your mother?"
"Neither of you are going to tell me anything, are you?" Mia sighed. "And it probably wouldn't do any good to ORDER you to spill the beans."
"No, your Majesty. MIA!" Charlotte caught herself at Mia's frown.
"Well, all I can say is, being a queen sucks if you can't get information when you want it," Mia grumbled.
"Mia! Your language!" Clarisse was mildly shocked.
"Okay. I'll watch it. The others are all leaving tomorrow, so we can get down to work. Which means I was wondering if I could have the rest of today free to spend with them. Lilly's off on a picnic with Kip, so I could spend the afternoon with Mom and Patrick and Trevor. If that's all right with you."
"Of course. Run along. Your baby brother will be grown up before you know it, so spend what time you can with him!" Clarisse smiled.
"Thanks, Grandma! I love you!" Mia kissed Clarisse's cheek, then waved to Charlotte and was out the door in a flash.
Charlotte and Clarisse looked at each other in silence, then both nodded. "She'll be a good queen, Clarisse," Charlotte assured Clarisse earnestly. "You did a wonderful job teaching her ... and being a role model for her."
"I couldn't have done it without your help, Charlotte, since you kept us organized and on track for the last five years!" Clarisse said. "I'm so glad you're still going to work with me occasionally. You DID agree, did you not?"
"Of course!" Charlotte nodded emphatically. Then she confided, "Actually, I had been a little afraid that you weren't going to need me any more ... that I would be out of a job and would have to leave the palace. I was just saying to Shades last night that ..."
"Shades?"
"Scott," Charlotte said. "Everyone calls him Shades."
"I see." Now Clarisse's gaze was speculative. In spite of Charlotte's vehement denial that there was anything between her and the new Head of Security, Clarisse had to wonder about them. After all, Scott HAD been in Charlotte's room late last night ... and Charlotte had blushed when speaking about him to Mia. Clarisse rather hoped that something would come of this possible romance, as Charlotte deserved the same sort of happiness that she herself had found with Joseph!
To be Continued ...
