Part 3
"So, Wilkes," Clarisse took his hands and drew him over to a settee. "Tell me about Nanny."
"She WILL be all right, do you think?" his worried gaze followed Nanny's unsteady progress down the hall.
"Charlotte will look after her. My assistant is MOST efficient. Now ... Nanny?"
"Well, you know I live on the top floor of the Plaza Hotel? Nanny lives in a suite on that floor, too ... with her six-year-old charge, Eloise, and Eloise's mother occasionally. It's really because of Eloise that I came to know Nanny better. She is a remarkable child. Why, it was Eloise who first arranged for Nanny and I to have tea together! She actually had someone write an invitation to Nanny and signed MY name to it!"
Sir Wilkes continued his story, to Clarisse's delight. As she listened, Clarisse reflected that Wilkes had indeed changed. Yes, he was still shy, but Nanny's obvious adoration of him had instilled a bit of self-esteem and even some self-confidence into the man that Clarisse had never seen before. When Wilkes spoke of their 'date' watching the movie, Nanny's wine spilling and his feeble attempt to help mop her up much to Nanny's horror, Clarisse began to chuckle. Upon hearing of Wilkes' surprise under the Christmas tree at Nanny calling him 'Willy' and kissing his cheek, Clarisse's rich laughter pealed out.
Joseph, standing correctly by the door, had been covertly watching the two. At the sound of Clarisse's laughter, he drew himself up straighter and clenched his jaw. Confound the other man! What could he be saying to bring laughter back into Clarisse's life? Joseph hadn't heard her laugh so heartily for YEARS! The man had changed since Joseph had first met him. From almost pitying Sir Wilkes for his extreme shyness, Joseph now found himself resenting the past that Sir Wilkes shared with Clarisse, a past he could never share. Nanny was forgotten as Joseph inwardly glowered at his Queen interacting with her old friend.
O o O o O o
"Have you ever seen a dead man walking? Charlotte, Sir Wilkes is a dead, dead, DEAD man! Oh my Lord, how COULD he not have told me?" Nanny raged, after sitting down and accepting the painkillers Charlotte had brought her.
"Don't worry about it, Nanny," Charlotte soothed her. "No one else knows. I won't tell anyone."
"Aoww, it's just my luck!" Nanny slipped off her pinnacle of anger and looked mortified. "I should have realized, for sure, sure, sure! I can't face her again! I should have curtsied or something, not shaken her hand!"
"Actually, Nanny, she DID say she didn't want to meet you as the QUEEN ... she WANTED to be just 'Clarisse'." Charlotte chuckled. "You know, I even wondered if she meant she really, really liked Sir Wilkes."
Nanny stared at her. "Liked him?"
"Yes. You know ... wanting to be 'Clarisse' for him instead of the Queen. They have been friends since they were children, after all. Maybe they were even in love once, long ago, and she is hoping to renew that?" Charlotte mused.
Nanny moaned and collapsed back in the chair, putting her hand to her head. Yes, she was a little testy because Sir Wilkes hadn't told her the complete truth ... but that didn't mean she wanted to LOSE him to another woman! Not, of course, that she had ever had him to lose, except in her dreams, but still ... Nanny moaned again. It had been impossible NOT to notice that she and Queen Clarisse very, very, very vaguely resembled each other and Nanny found herself wondering if perhaps that was the only reason Sir Wilkes had ever spoken to HER ... because he had been carrying a torch for Queen Clarisse all these years!
"Nanny? Should I fetch the doctor?" Charlotte sounded worried.
Waving feebly, Nanny didn't open her eyes. "No, no, no. I'll be all right." It was nonsense to even think that she could, in a way, possibly remind ANYONE of the very poised and elegant Queen Clarisse!
"Tell you what. Your suitcase is here. Why don't you have a shower to freshen up, then just rest for a bit? You ARE going to have some maids, but I'm afraid they don't start until tomorrow, however I can help you this evening, if you wish. Can you stand? Do you need help for your shower?"
Nanny sat up suddenly and took Charlotte's hands, staring her directly in the eyes. "You are a dear, sweet girl, Charlotte. Why are you being so, so, so nice to me? I'm ... I'm nobody!"
"You're Queen Clarisse's guest," Charlotte said gently. "You're NOT nobody, Nanny. If I may ask ... is your name really Nanny?"
Smiling crookedly, Nanny nodded. "It is, that. I also AM a Nanny, to a six-year-old girl. It's HER fault I'm here, you know."
"I beg your pardon?"
Nanny told her story to Charlotte, beginning with how she had secretly watched Sir Wilkes for days before Eloise had taken a hand and contrived to have them speak. Charlotte quickly and efficiently hung up Nanny's clothes while she listened, and if she wanted to laugh at any parts of the story, she heroically managed to suppress it. Then she urged Nanny to have a quick shower, and when Nanny came out of the bathroom clad in her dressing gown, Charlotte sat beside her while she stretched out on the bed.
"Tell me about Queen Clarisse," Nanny asked drowsily, and Charlotte obliged. Her soft voice relaxed Nanny enough so that the older woman drifted off to sleep.
O o O o O o
"Nanny? Nanny, are you feeling all right?"
The husky voice whispering in Nanny's ear was so unexpected in comparison to Eloise's usual shrill shriek to awaken her that it took Nanny a few moments to grope her way out of the mists of sleep. When she realized that Sir Wilkes was hovering over her, Nanny gasped and shot up, narrowly missing hitting him in the nose as she did so. She gripped her dressing gown together at her throat and squawked, "Sir Wilkes! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?"
"I'm sorry!" he jumped back, and his hands twisted together nervously. "I ... I was just wondering if you were coming down for supper. Clarisse sent me to ..."
Nanny took a couple of deep breaths to try to slow her racing heart, and after realizing where she was, she said, "Yes, and speaking of the Queen ..." her voice trailed off. What did she think she was going to do? Rail at him for not telling her, and letting her make a fool of herself? But what if he hadn't even NOTICED she had not addressed Queen Clarisse as such? Wouldn't that mortify her even more? Charlotte had tried to assure her that no one else had likely noticed, but ... She looked at Sir Wilkes again. He was looking politely encouraging, as if waiting for her to finish. She saw no trace of apology in his open gaze, nor embarrassment. Now Nanny realized that it probably had never occurred to him to inform her that the friend he was going to see was the Queen of the country. "Never mind," she muttered at last.
"How ARE you feeling now, Nanny?" Again he anxiously questioned her. "More rested? You WILL be able to come down for dinner, won't you?"
Before Nanny could answer, a tap came at the door, and Charlotte poked her head in. "Nanny? Do you ... oh, Sir Wilkes! I'm sorry! I didn't realize you were here!"
Blushing furiously, Sir Wilkes backed away from Nanny's bed, bumping into a chair and almost knocking it over. "I'll just, er, go on down ... or, er, do you want me to wait ...?"
Nanny couldn't help it. Winking at Charlotte, who gaped at her, Nanny drawled, "Why, Sir Wilkes, I would much rawther you wait for me ... in your own room, of course."
"Oh, yes, er, of course!" Overcome with shame at having been caught in such a compromising position, he inched past Charlotte and thankfully made his way to his own room, wiping his brow with his linen handkerchief, and trying to ignore the faint giggles he heard emanating from the next room.
Meanwhile, Charlotte picked out a skirt and top for Nanny to wear and began brushing the other woman's hair. "I'm afraid I'm not much of a ladies' maid, Nanny, but I'll do my best. Hair dressing and that sort of thing weren't exactly taught to me in the Genovian Attaché Corps, and I haven't learned much more in that line since working for Queen Clarisse."
"When DID you come?" Nanny asked, interested.
"Shortly after King Rupert, may he rest in peace, passed away, Queen Clarisse was trying to do too much. So Joe was the one who convinced her ..."
"Joe?" Nanny stiffened at the name.
"Yes. Joseph. You know, you met him ..."
"Joe!" Nanny gripped the dressing table with suddenly nerveless fingers, feeling as if she were hurtling back through time to when she had been a very young, frightened eighteen-year-old. "Of course ..." No wonder Joseph had looked familiar. Oh, he had changed physically in the last fifty years, but so had she! "Joe ..." she whispered again.
"Nanny? Is something wrong?" Charlotte put the brush down.
Coming back abruptly to the present, Nanny shook herself. "Oh, no. No, nothing's wrong at all, all, all. I'll just put my hair up ..." Skilfully she twisted it up, and stuck in her hairpins to keep it in place. "I'm not used to having a ladies' maid anyway, that's for sure, sure, sure! I'm usually the one helping Eloise ... although she DOES help tighten my corset sometimes. There, I'm ready. Shall we go?"
"Corset?" Charlotte looked stunned.
"Never mind. You wouldn't know about them, you're slim enough. Now me ..." Nanny patted her hips, and grimaced. "Not nearly as slim as you ... OR Queen Clarisse! How old is she, Charlotte?"
"Her Majesty was born in October, 1935."
"Really?" It was Nanny's turn to look surprised. "So was I! Good heavens, we're the same age!" She took one more look in the mirror and sighed. Perhaps the difference she could see was due to their life's circumstances? "Maybe I'm not ready to go down. I'm not sure I'm really ready to face her. Imagine not knowing she is a queen, for Lord's sake!"
"Don't be silly, Nanny," Charlotte smiled bracingly. "You can face her. Come on."
Charlotte knocked on Sir Wilkes' door and stepped back, so that when he sheepishly opened it, he was face to face with Nanny. Keeping his head down so as not to meet her eyes, he asked humbly, "May I escort you down for dinner, Nanny?"
"I would be delighted, Sir Wilkes," she spoke in her best accent, and took the arm he offered her.
Charlotte, smiling sympathetically, slipped away to the kitchen and her own meal. Nanny should be fine now.
O o O o O o
When they reached the dining room, Nanny and Sir Wilkes found Clarisse speaking with Joseph. Nanny found herself studying the other man as best she could over dinner, considering she was half listening to the conversation between the Queen and Sir Wilkes, and half eying Joseph as he stood at his post by the door, her memories of the past growing stronger. It was hard to find the scrawny, streetwise, exuberantly happy, black-haired youth fond of wearing the brightest possible colours in the fit, inscrutable, dangerously sexy-looking almost-bald man dressed in black who, according to Charlotte, was one of the most highly-regarded man in the country.
No longer could Nanny imagine throwing herself into Joe's arms the way she had back then ... teasing him to kiss her. No longer could she imagine him grinning down at her as she lay in the circle of his arms, happier than she had ever been in her life before. Joe had been so very special ... and she had thrown all that away! Nanny looked down at her plate, pressing her lips together firmly, determined to forget Joe as he had obviously forgotten her. His eyes never strayed to her. They were fixed on the Queen and Sir Wilkes in turn. She found herself wondering just what he was thinking. There was an expression in his eyes that did not quite match his impassive face.
"Nanny? Are you all right?" Clarisse's soft voice broke into Nanny's thoughts.
Nanny jerked upright, and her hand caught her wine glass, making it teeter. Horrified, Nanny managed to catch it before it actually upset over the table cloth and the dessert in front of her. She then quickly took a large mouthful, in the vain hopes of pretending she had just been dying of thirst and was not clumsy, but the wine burned down her throat and she choked. Snatching up her napkin, she coughed into it, her eyes streaming with her efforts to hold everything in. A small part of her brain was curling up in mortification at her actions. Oh, KNICKERS! "Please," she mumbled, "do, do, DO excuse me!"
She registered that it was Joseph's hand under her elbow, helping her to her feet, Joseph who assured Queen Clarisse and Sir Wilkes that he would see that Nanny was shown to her room by one of the maids, Joseph who guided her out of the dining room. Even without knowing it, he was still rescuing her. Nanny, had she had any energy at all, would have smiled at the irony, but she was too, too, too exhausted by the long flight and all the emotions she had gone through since her arrival in Genovia. Tomorrow she would be herself again, and things would be different. She hoped.
O o O o O o
To Be Continued ...