Part 8

The café at the corner of the village wasn't a top-class establishment. There were no fancy designs on the napkins, ketchup bottles stood on the table and the tea came in a metallic teapot. Yet Clarisse hardly even noticed, she'd woken late with a heavy head and been irritable ever since. Try as she might she couldn't shake the feeling that had settled in her stomach, something like a lead weight.

"Darling I do wish you'd cheer up, you're going to put me off my lunch." Rose said before biting into her sandwich.

"How did it all go so very wrong?" Clarisse said absently toying with the salad on her plate. "January was wonderful, perfectly wonderful."

"How so?" Rose asked refilling both of their teacups.

"It just… well, I was enraptured, he was. We couldn't get enough of being together, sneaking around never even occurred to me as being a negative thing I just needed to see him, be alone with him. Each morning he took breakfast in his suite and every Wednesday, my morning off, I would eat with him. Nobody noticed, nobody questioned. It was arranged as the time I met with the King for briefing, nothing more."

"And what did you actually do?"

"You can take that look off your face," she smiled as she lifted her teacup to her mouth. "We talked about place settings of course, and his preference for white plates instead of patterned… in between brushing up on our kissing technique."

Rose laughed heartily and received a few odd glances from other restaurant goers as she did so. "Kissing techniques indeed." She leant across the table folding her hands together conspiringly. "Tell me, just how good a kisser is the King of Genovia?"

"Rose, keep your voice down." Clarisse chided but couldn't hide the smile that crossed her features. "Very good actually."

"Only good?"

"I'm not telling you anything more if you don't get rid of that dirty mind."

"All right, all right I'm sorry. Now tell me, in between kissing, what else did you do?"

"We talked, shared things, hopes, dreams, our pasts, childhood… everything. We danced, in his room, late at night when the palace was quiet. We laughed together. Swapped books, listened to music, everything one would expect. Only somehow with him everything was much more profound, much more important and sacred. As if it might end at any moment and I wouldn't have done enough, wouldn't have given him enough."

She glanced down to the table, at the chintzy patterned tablecloth. "I forgot who I was with him, as he did with me. Or rather I was more myself than I'd ever been."

She smiled broadly, trying to hide it by biting down on her bottom lip. "One Sunday there was a note beneath my door, asking me to join him for a ride to the lake. I went of course, he even let me ride his new prized possession, can you imagine a quarter of a million pound racehorse and I was cantering down by the stream! It was still cold but the ice had melted and everything smelled fresh and wonderfully new. I don't know how he arranged it all, especially without revealing whom his guest was, but we arrived at this secluded spot just after lunch and there was a table and chairs and food all prepared… even wine. It was all obviously so romantic and, just perfect, but the thing that stayed with me was the thought that he had taken such time and effort to plan that for me. The image of him sneaking down the staff halls at god knows what time in his pyjamas to slip that note beneath my door."

She smiled again, less joyfully this time. "I wish things…" she shook her head. "Well they never could be easy."

"So how did it go wrong?" Rose said gently.

Clarisse shrugged her shoulders. "As things do we ran into differences."

"How so?"

"It was his son actually, of all things, his son."


Clarisse was laying on the chaise lounge, her shoes had been removed and Joseph was expertly massaging her very tired feet, staring into space as he did so.

"I was wondering about Thursday, I know you're away Wednesday and Thursday but according to the diary you should be back by the evening. We could have something to eat together, to make up for our loss of ritual breakfast."

She waited for is response but none came.

"I could arrange a late night picnic, I know it's the middle of February and still cold out so don't laugh, we could have it in here. A carpet picnic. What do you think?"

Again she waited.

"Joseph… Joseph are you listening to me?"

He snapped out of his daydream and looked up at her. "Yes, yes my dear I always listen to you."

"Something's bothering you."

"No."

"Either something's bothering you or my company is getting dull."

He smiled and squeezed her foot. "Certainly not that." Kneeling up he leant over her and kissed her lightly. "Would you like a drink?"

"We have wine."

"I need something stronger." He said as he got to his feet and moved to the liquor cabinet. "Can I get you anything?"

"No thank you I need to be up early and it's late already." She turned and placed her feet back on the floor watching him down a whisky then quickly pour another measure. "Joseph this isn't like you, what's wrong?"

"I…" he gazed across at her, "It's difficult for me to say this but I'm not entirely sure how to broach the subject."

"All right." She said slowly folding her hands in her lap. "Is it my staff?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Well if you think my work has deteriorated."

"No, no, don't be silly."

She ignored the 'silly' comment and decided to move on. "Something with parliament then perhaps."

"No my son." He said sharply.

For a few seconds he stood with his back to her in silence, then he shook his head. "I'm sorry, this has nothing to do with you."

"If you're upset and want somebody to talk to then it has everything to do with me does it not?"

He sighed and relented turning to face her. "Philippe has met somebody in America, wants to marry her."

"Well… that's wonderful isn't it?"

His eyes narrowed. "Not really. She's pregnant."

"Well then he should marry her, especially if he loves her."

"He does, very much I believe."

"Then what's the problem?"

He took another deep breath and downed the rest of the whisky. "The problem, Clarisse, is Pierre won't be taking the throne, he's joining the Church therefore Philippe will be my natural successor…" he had begun to pace. "I can't have the future King of my country married to some common American girl just because he made a foolish mistake."

She waited for a moment, catching her breath, going over his words in her mind. "Excuse me?"

"Don't look at me like that." His voice sounded emotionless.

"Some common American girl?"

"Clarisse, don't."

"No, you don't. This girl has a name, how can you assume she's some cheap foolish mistake?"

"Because she is, she's normal, no titled family, divorced parents, an artist, a free spirit."

"Then what am I Joseph, I'm not from any titled family neither."

"That's different." He said frustrated.

"How so may I ask?"

"Because you will never be…"

He stopped mid-sentence and stared at her, then turned away sharply instantly regretting the words.

"Because I will never be what Joseph? Never be Queen right, never be your wife, never be more than some foolish common English woman who foolishly believes some pompous King is more than what he seems."

She grabbed her shoes from the floor and stormed across the room heading for the door.

"Clarisse, don't leave, come on I didn't mean it."

"Yes you did, you did. That's what's terrible about it… I've been blind enough to overlook the fact that I am just some common person to you, I'm good enough for the odd secret fondle but nothing more."

"You know that's not true."

"You just proved to me that it is."

"No I didn't, I was speaking about my son, I want the best for him."

"You're making it worse, how can the best not be the woman he's in love with?"

"Duty…" he offered weakly.

"Fuck duty!" She screamed. "To hell with duty, what about his heart? You force him to abandon this girl you'll break his heart. Just as you're breaking mine."

"Darling." He reached out to touch her face but she backed away. "Clarisse, I never meant to hurt you, you are so very important to me you know that."

"Not as important as your country."

He breathed deeply. "You would never ask me to put you before my duty."

"No I wouldn't, I couldn't. But the fact… the way you've spoken this evening has shown me a different side to you, a ruthless selfish side that would allow age-old ritual and so-called duty to stand in the way of a young man's happiness. I think that is something you need to think about your majesty."

He stuck his hands in his pocket and raised his chin defiantly. "Then perhaps I need space to think about that alone."

"As you wish." She said with as much dignity as she could muster before leaving the room.


Pushing her half-empty plate away Clarisse sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "We didn't speak for two days, avoided each other like school children. Then he went away on some trip, I don't remember where. Was supposed to return on the Thursday night and I had planned, resolved to go and speak with him, clear the air as they say."

"But?"

"But, he didn't return, he extended the trip and stayed away until the following Tuesday, no phone call, no message, no note. I'm not sure why I expected things to be different. It was I after all who predicted he would use me until he was bored, that it was a passing fancy… that the King always got what he wanted then moved on again." A gasp caught in her throat and she bent her head forward hiding her face.

"Clarisse, shall I get the bill?"

She nodded without looking up. "Yes, please, I…" she raised her head steadily reaching for her handbag. "I need some air, I'll wait outside."

"Yes, go, I'll be a second."

Clarisse crossed the road outside the café and leant against the stonewall hoping the high breeze would rid her of the tears. The farmer was moving his cows from one field to the next; she watched the slow deliberate movements, how long it took for such a simple task to be completed. It would drive her insane, no patience; she always demanded things there and then.

Rose rested her hand on Clarisse's shoulder. "Shall we walk for a while?"

Shaking off her melancholy she turned back to her sister. "Don't you need to be getting home, you were away all yesterday and last night."

"Martin can cope for a while."

"He must know something is wrong."

Rose nodded smiling. "Yes, he's not a complete philistine. Yet he knows when to let things be."

"Hmm, I wish I did."

"Tell me Joseph returned begging for your forgiveness."

"Hardly." Clarisse said glancing back as the Farmer completed his mission and locked the gate. She reached over and linked her arm with Rose's. "Come, let's walk back to the house, perhaps the fresh air will help clear my head."


It was Richard who signalled Joseph's return, she bumped into him in the main foyer around 7:30 in the evening. To be perfectly honest she was rather flustered to realise Joseph was back in the palace, so flustered in fact that she didn't even notice how agitated Richard was.

"Clarisse, sorry, wasn't looking where I was going." He said as he caught her arms.

"Oh it's fine, neither was I." She straightened herself up. "Did the trip go well?"

"Yes I think so, his majesty hasn't said much to be honest, he's up in his office."

"Nobody informed me he would be returning today."

"Nobody knew, he seems to be on a spur of the moment thing." He ruffled his hair and she noticed how tired he looked, much older than his forty-one years. "Listen I wanted to say, sorry if I offended you at New Year, too much stress and too much champagne."

"I had forgotten about it." She lied offering him a smile.

"Thanks. You're a good housekeeper Clarisse. Professional."

She wondered where the conversation was headed but took his words as kindness and thanked him. To her surprise he simply nodded and continued on his way down the corridor.

She watched him for a while then remembered where she was headed and went about her nightly checks. Finding everything as it should be she was prompt to the kitchen at 8:00 and had a cup of tea and attempted a sandwich but found she couldn't eat a thing.

Anxiety settled in her stomach leaving a rather sickly after taste. Joseph was back in the palace, which meant she couldn't avoid him any longer. Perhaps he would come and visit her that evening, it was about time they sorted things out, it was foolish and immature to simply avoid each other, and they couldn't keep that up forever anyhow. Besides, he claimed to love her, and if he really did, if his feelings were as strong as he claimed then surely he wouldn't let what they had slip away after one argument.

Clarisse sat in the kitchen for over an hour waiting for his appearance, she assumed he seek her out there reasoning that in the past it was where the usually bumped into each other. Yet when the clock struck 9:30 she gave up waiting and in fact was now desperately angry with him. Seething she decided then and there to put an end to this, whatever it was, once and for all.

Marching directly to his office she noticed the guards had been placed at the entrance to the corridor rather than directly outside the door. She walked straight past them, neither said a word to stop her, and, without knocking, pushed open his office door and barged on in.

Ceasing mid-step, her mouth wide open and poised to launch into her attack she stopped and froze. Joseph was on the couch, casually dressed he looked relaxed and at ease. He had one arm lounging on the back of the couch, he was turned sideways and smiling light heartedly at his companion. A young blonde sat next to him.

"I…" She floundered, trying to engage her mouth with her brain.

Joseph stood up quickly, his eyes clouding over. "Ah, Miss. Arcenciel. Well, right." He seemed a little nervous, she was too angry to notice. "Erm, Charlotte, this is my housekeeper."

The blonde on the couch stood up and held her hand out to Clarisse.

"Clarisse, this is Charlotte." He said reaching for her elbow guiding her forward.

"Charlotte, my excellent housekeeper." He said smiling. "I'm assuming she has important news for me."

"I er." She coughed, regained her senses, thrust her hand out to the other woman and shook Joseph's hold off. "I didn't realise you were back Sir, nobody informed me."

"I am sorry, last minute changes." He said not daring to catch her eye.

"Very pleased to meet you." The woman said, her voice was a little timid, American she assumed.

"Well, I'll leave you to it. Sorry to intrude." She wished she were able to smile, but her face wouldn't allow it. The muscles in her face seemed to have frozen and refused to obey her commands, she could barely form words.

Somehow she backed her way to the door and finally turned her face to meet Joseph's, he stared at her for a few seconds then looked away sharply and glanced at the floor. All the answer she needed was in that moment and she hastily exited the office and headed straight for her room.


A long shower and two glasses of wine later Clarisse crawled into bed yet she couldn't sleep, she didn't really expect to. Turning on the bedside lamp she moved to the desk and chair at the other side of the room and shuffled through the papers laid out there.

Work however didn't appeal and she quickly pushed it aside. She considered taking sleeping pills, it was getting on for 12:00 after all, but she'd already had alcohol therefore she was stuck. It looked like being a long night.


OOOHHHH! Please leave a review and let me know what you think so far. Thanks Rhonda