A Private Island, Belize
February 2017
Lose myself in palaces of sand
With a content sigh, I close my eyes. I can feel the warm sand beneath me and the hot sun on my back. I have the sound of gentle waves in my ear and the taste of salty air on my lips. In short, I'm in paradise.
That is, until –
Until a dark shadow falls over me.
"You're blocking my sun," I inform Ken without opening my eyes or moving in any other way.
He chuckles and steps to the side, allowing the sunshine to warm my back once more. I don't look, but I feel his presence by my side as he sits down next to me on the sand.
"I take it you're enjoying yourself?" he asks, sounding a little amused.
"It's Heaven," I sigh, finally cracking an eye open to look at him. "Can we never leave, please?"
Ken shrugs, grinning. "Sure. I'd have to sell a palace or two to afford it, but if you want to stay here, who am I to say No?"
"Quite right," I agree with a satisfied smile and let my eyes flutter shut again.
'Here' is a tiny island some twenty miles off the coast of Belize. It's only big enough for a villa, a little pool and a small beach, but it's gloriously private. In front of us, there's nothing but the wide open sea and the little island behind us that houses the very discreet staff is well-hidden by palm trees. Being here, we could really be the only two people on earth.
The Belizean government has been awfully accommodating to ensure that nothing and no-one disturbs our solitude. They established a no fly-zone above our island and forbade ships and boats from coming within shooting range of a long lens camera. I'm hazy on the details of how those rules are enforced, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the local navy or coast guard is involved.
Ken's PPOs, for their part, split their time between the staff island and a speed boat that circles around us in the distance. We only see them when we leave the island to go deep sea or spear fishing (which I'm better at than Ken, much to my triumph) or kayaking or snorkelling among the barrier reefs surrounding us. There's also a small and unstable looking catamaran that Ken is itching to try out, plus the opportunity to go scuba diving in a marine reserve, but that just sounds needlessly complicated and potentially dangerous as far as I am concerned. (Beckett agrees with me.)
In short, there's nothing to disturb us in our little paradise, which is as unusual as it's welcome.
Turning on my back to allow the sun to tan the other side of my body, I hold up a hand to shield my eyes and peer at Ken.
"If we stayed here, wouldn't the British send up an armada to get their future king back?" I enquire.
Ken laughs. "The armada was Spanish", he reminds me. "We beat it."
"Of course you did." I roll my eyes
"We do rule the waves," he points out, looking a little too pleased with himself, and starts humming softly. After a few notes, I recognise the tune as Rule Britannia, because really, what else would he choose?
"You used to rule the waves," I correct him. "What's betting you don't have the largest navy in the world anymore?"
I don't allow him to speak, instead sitting up and reaching for my phone. There's no mobile connection here, but the villa has wifi and while we only use it rarely, I do have a point to prove.
However, before I can ask google which country has the biggest navy these days, I see that I've received a message from Di and decide to quickly check it. The moment I open the message, the picture of a man appears on my screen. He's very handsome and grins winningly at the spectator.
Ken, who has scooted closer to look over my shoulder, raises both eyebrows. "Is there anything I should know?"
Turning, I give him a peck on the lips. "He's no competition for you," I reassure him. "He's just a potential donor for Di and Nia."
If possible, Ken's eyebrows rise even further. "They send you pictures of the donors they're considering?"
"Uh-huh." I nod. "We got talking about their plans at the wedding and they asked whether I could give them my opinion."
"So you just…" he trails off, gesturing.
"I look at pictures of fit, handsome men and find something good to say about each of them," I explain, biting back a grin.
"Why do you say something good about everyone?" Ken wants to know. "Doesn't that defeat the purpose of asking for your opinion?"
Smiling, I pat his cheek. "Indeed it does, which is kind of the plan. This Di and Nia's child, so it's their decision alone. By only saying good things, I render my opinion to be utterly useless, thus ensuring that they listen to themselves when it comes to making the choice."
"That… that is very clever of you," Ken remarks after a moment of mulling that over.
I laugh. "Ever the voice of surprise!"
"Of course, I always think you're clever!" he's quick to clarify. "I didn't mean to imply otherwise."
"I know you didn't," I reassure him. "I was only teasing you."
He breathes a visible sigh of relief, which is really rather sweet.
"Now though," I continue, waving the phone in front of him, "we need to say something nice about this one. He has a great smile, but I'm not sure whether he had work done on his teeth. What do you think?"
Ken casts a critical look at the picture on my phone. "Looks like veneers," he confirms.
"I thought so." I nod, satisfied at being right, before typing a quick reply to Di. In keeping with my strategy to only say good things, I make sure to mention the handsome eyes and the good height, but steer clear of the subject of dental work.
When I toss my phone aside again, I look up to find Ken frowning at me.
"What is it?" I ask and reach out to poke a finger in his upper arm.
He shakes his head, but then speaks anyway. "Oh, nothing, really. It's just… you know… doesn't this feel awfully like catalogue shopping to you?"
"Hmm…" I consider his words for a moment. "You aren't wrong, I must admit. It is a little like catalogue shopping, or more like online shopping, I suppose. If it helps though, I'm reasonably sure that Mr Veneer gave his permission to appear in said catalogue."
"One would hope so," Ken agrees. The frown doesn't lift, however, and after a few seconds, he muses loudly, "What do you think makes men decide to, you know…
"Become donors?" I finish when he breaks off. "I don't know. You tell me."
"What?" he splutters. "I've never… I wouldn't… I didn't…"
I laugh. "Of course not. You couldn't if you wanted to. Got to keep the royal bloodline exclusive, right?"
"Something like that," he replies, sounding a little grumble-y.
"You are, however, a man," I add, ignoring his remark. "As such, you're better equipped to guess why men become donors."
Knowing what's good for him, Ken forgoes the cheap boasts about how he is all man and instead moves on to trying to answer my question. "They might be wanting to help people who otherwise wouldn't be able to have children?" he speculates.
"That's certainly what Mr Veneer wrote in his self-description," I tell Ken and gesture vaguely in direction of my phone.
As if noticing that we're talking about it, the phone spring alive in that very moment, the screen flashing to announce an incoming message. (I need to remember to switch off the wifi after use, because apparently, just turning down the volume isn't enough.)
"Another donor?" Ken wants to know, eyebrows creeping up again.
"If anything, it would be a potential donor," I correct him. "For now, they really just need one donor for one child. The plan is that if Di has this baby, Nia will have second one in a few years, but because they're looking for physical resemblance to both mothers, they need a totally different type for that."
"Someone Irish," Ken suggests.
"Irish sounds like it should fit the bill," I agree. "But anyway, the message isn't from Di. It's from Seraphina and… oooh, wedding pictures!"
Seraphina's wedding to Huan is, after all, the reason we're this side of the Atlantic in the first place. Seeing as her family is American and his is Vietnamese, the question of where the wedding would take place opened up a whole Pandora's Box, so instead of trying to solve that equation, Seraphina convinced her father to spring for an all expenses paid destination wedding at a resort in Aruba. (Nia and I also speculated that Seraphina was glad to escape the big society wedding in the Hamptons that her mother would otherwise have organised. Seraphina didn't confirm our theory, but also didn't deny it.)
It was a lovely wedding and a much appreciated opportunity to escape grey and rainy London in the middle of February. Seraphina was deliriously happy and at the reception, I spent a fun evening sipping cocktails with Di and Nia while watching the mother of my ex-boyfriend Tristan fall over herself to try and make Ken cough up the name of an eligible earl for her daughter. Yseult herself stood next to her mother, blushing bashfully and fluttering her eyelashes, so much so that even Tristan had the good sense to be embarrassed for her.
We talked for a little while at some point, Tristan and I, and after he relaxed, he was his usually bright and funny self, making for an enjoyable conversation. When I introduced them, Ken and Tristan also got along fine, which naturally led to me later teasing Ken about how he felt much less threatened by the Yankee than by the Frenchman. In response, he fed me a forkful of wedding cake to make me shut up and then proceeded to twirl me around on the dancefloor until I was so dizzy I forgot what I was talking about.
With Seraphina married and waved off to her honeymoon, Ken revealed his surprise for me when, instead of getting on a plane back to London, we flew to Belize City instead. He refused to name our destination even as, after deplaning, we proceeded to get into a helicopter that brought us to a place called Placencia, where a boat awaited to bring us to the island. It was, I must admit, the perfect surprise and even though I know I'll be pulling double shift at work for two weeks after our return to make up for the time lost, that's a small price to pay for a week in paradise.
"Can I see?" Ken asks, meaning the wedding photos, and scoots closer to get a better look at my phone.
I shift to give him better access, while scrolling through the pictures Seraphina set. There are several beautiful shots of her and Huan, followed by one of the entire wedding party, including me as a bridesmaid. (And no, I don't need reminding how often I've already played bridesmaid by now, thank you very much!)
"This is a nice one," Ken comments when we come upon a picture of the two of us. It shows him standing behind me, his arms around my waist, and both of us smiling at the camera.
"It is," I agree. "I'll ask Seraphina to send us a high-res version so we can have it developed."
"Good idea," he commends.
We've reached the last photo (one of Ken and me dancing that I didn't notice anyone taking at the time), so I switch off the wifi and put the phone aside. Ken nudges me to make more space for him on my towel, before lying down and pulling me with him. It's a tight fit and I find myself half on the towel, half in the sand, so I crawl to cover his upper body with mine, putting my elbows on his chest and my chin in my hands to look down at him.
"Comfortable, are you?" he asks, smiling and masking the fact that my elbows poking into his chest can't make this very comfy for him.
"It's alright," I confirm, but then, relenting, I move my arms and snuggle against him instead, my head cushioned on his chest. He raises a hand to lightly stroke my back and briefly nuzzles his nose into my hair.
"Now I'm truly comfortable," I inform Ken and feel his chuckle run through both our bodies.
It is an improvement even to my earlier situation before he joined me, because in addition to the feeling of the sun and the sound of the waves and the taste of the air, there's now also the smell of his skin, which adds to make the entire moment even cosier. I feel a little drowsy and briefly consider taking a nap, but then remember that Ken took a call from England earlier. (Even in paradise, they have to be able to reach him.)
"Any news from home?" I ask, raising my head slightly to look at him.
Ken looks thoughtful, but then shakes his head. "Nothing you need to worry about."
Of course, there's no better way to pique my attention than this one.
"Tell me!" I demand and poke a finger into his side for good measure.
He smiles. "There's really not much going on," he assures me. "Persis is hard at work for the summer tournaments and Dad has been to open a new Cyber Security Centre yesterday. Mum was away on a UK-India culture thing when I called."
"I'm so glad they're out and about again," I remark with a content sigh. Leslie and Owen slowly started taking over public duties again this year and though neither of them is doing the workload they used to, it's such a relief just to know they're well enough to be out in public at all – and I know that all of the UK agrees with me on that point.
"Me, too," Ken agrees. "Very, very glad."
Stretching slightly, I kiss his cheek, before laying my head back down on his chest. His hand moves upwards to play with the tips of my hair.
"Anything from Teddy? How are the wedding preparations coming along?" I enquire after a moment of silence.
"Quite alright, from what I gather," Ken replies, sounding a little disinterested. (Men and weddings, I'm telling you!)
"That's nice to hear," I remark. A second passes, before I laugh softly. "Sometimes, I still find it hard to wrap my mind around the fact that Teddy is truly getting married."
Ken joins into my laughter. "The thought is a little surreal still, isn't it?"
"A little," I agree. "I mean, I wish him and Amy all the best and I think they will be happy together, but… it takes some getting used to."
There's no immediate answer from Ken and when I crane my neck upwards, I can see that he looks thoughtful. "What makes you be sure that they'll be happy?" he asks when he feels my eyes on him. "I mean, not that I want anything different for them, but… I guess I still don't know Amy very well and you spent more time with her, so I'm just wondering…"
It's a good question and I take my time to mull it over before answering. "It happened quickly and I still think a little more time would have made things easier for them long-term, especially when it comes to communicating openly, but ultimately, I think they're well-suited. They're both kind and positive people with a similar sense of humour and a shared romantic side. Admittedly, Amy is a bit naïve, a bit sheltered and maybe a tad bit spoiled, but that might just be her age. She'll get more experience as time passes."
"Do you think she'll do well with the job?" Ken enquires and I know that when he says 'job', he means to ask whether she'll make a decent princess.
"I think she could be quite good at it, yes," I state after a moment of deliberation. "She'll need more support to fully understand what's expected of her, but she's friendly and curious by nature and to be honest, she's also a bit of a teacher's pet. She strives to do well and wants people to approve of her, meaning she's willing to put in the work to achieve said approval. All of that should serve her well, I think. Plus, of course, she was raised in a somewhat conservative environment, which isn't a bad thing in this case."
"You mean it comes in handy when marrying into my backwater family?" Ken teases.
"Precisely," I confirm loftily. "Your succession laws alone are as archaic as it gets. They haven't been updated in centuries and let me tell you, it shows!"
He grins. "An advocate for female primogeniture, are you? Should I get you a nice green-white-and-purple hat for your birthday, so that you can more easily announce your opinions to the world?"
"What I really want is female ultimogeniture, as I've already told you," I inform him. "And you can't tease me with the suffragettes' colours. On the contrary, I shall wear them with pride! In case you forgot, I'm a granddaughter of Bertha Shirley, who, by the way, makes the most compelling case for equal succession rights."
"Oh?" He asks, prompting me to continue.
I move a little so I can prop myself up and look down at him. "Who was the last British king to leapfrog is older sister?"
Ken frowns in thought. "Let me see… I'm firstborn. My father's older sister died before he acceded to the throne, so he would have become king anyway. My grandmother's only brother was stillborn, ensuring her accession. King Victor was the first child, just like me. Which leaves us with… Edward VII."
"Indeed." I nod. "He became king instead of his older sister Victoria and look at the price the world paid!"
In response, his thoughtful frown turns into one of confusion. "I'm not sure I understand. Edward was a serial philanderer and more interested in partying it up than ruling or representing the country, but he wasn't a disaster as king. He really never got enough time to make much of a mark either way."
"I'm not taking about him," I reply dismissively. "I'm talking about her, Victoria. Tell me this – if she had been heiress to her own throne, who wouldn't she have married?"
A moment passes, before Ken's forehead smooths out as he realises where I'm going with this. "She wouldn't have married a man in line for his own throne, so her wedding to Frederick of Prussia wouldn't have happened, on account of him being heir to the German and Prussian thrones."
"Very good," I praise him. "And without that marriage, who wouldn't have been born?"
This time, the answer comes as quick as a pistol. "Wilhelm II, last Emperor of Germany."
"Exactly," I confirm. "And without him, there might not have been World War I, without which there might not have been World War II, so if absolute primogeniture had been a thing in the 19th century, the world could have been spared an awful lot of hassle. England really has a lot to answer for there, if you think about it!"
For a second or two, Ken stares at me, a look of incredulity on his face, before he breaks out into laughter. "That," he declares between laughs, "is the most compelling case for equal succession rights that anyone has ever made to me."
I smile smugly. "Grandma Bertha says to feel free and steal it to make it to your father's parliament. Oh, and if you want the power point presentation, give her a call."
The mention of an actual power point presentation seems to amuse Ken even more. (It exists though. I've seen it!) "So, from what I gather, we shouldn't be looking to Amy and her conservative upbringing to modernise our crusty old system, but Grandma Bertha sure sounds like she's our woman."
"She'd love the job," I agree. "Though if you aren't careful, she might end up modernising the system by abolishing it completely."
"Consider me warned," Ken replies and leans forward to kiss the tip of my nose.
I wrinkle my nose in response, but do so with a smile, before snuggling back into his side. His arm sneaks around my waist and pulls me a little closer, his fingertips lightly grazing over my bare skin. My eyes flutter shut almost of their own accord.
It's exceedingly comfortable and once more, I entertain the possibility of falling asleep right here and now, but I haven't yet extracted all the information I need, so instead I open my eyes again and enquire, "I meant to ask… When you two talked, did Teddy say anything about how Amy is doing? She was struggling a bit with all the changes in her life when I last saw her."
Ken hums thoughtfully before answering, "He didn't say it in so many words, but I think the attention is getting to Amy. It was exciting at first, but now, it's…"
"Growing old very fast," I finish, not phrasing it as a question. After all, I know all about what it feels like to suddenly have a gaggle of paparazzi follow your every step. And I had the advantage of being abroad and 'only' a girlfriend when my connection to Ken was revealed!
"Something like that," Ken confirms. "I think Ted is pretty worried about it. He wants to help her, but there's no controlling the press."
"There never is. And yet…" I trail of, a thought taking hold in my mind.
"And yet?" Ken prompts when I don't offer anything else.
I take a moment to organise my thoughts before replying, "I think I have an idea how I can take the heat of her, at least for a while."
"Care to share it?" Ken asks.
"Well, for one, once they find out about us having been on a 'romantic couples holiday' together, the engagement speculation should move the spotlight away from Ted and Amy for a few days," I elaborate, putting imaginative quotation marks around the romantic couples holiday. "And once that has blown over, I shall feed them some pregnancy speculation to gorge on for a while."
The moment the words have left my mouth and Ken starts coughing in surprise, I realise I could have put that more clearly.
"Are you…?" he stammers and when I raise my head to look down at him, I can see that his expression is completely dumbstruck. "Are you…?"
"I'm not," I assure him, rolling my eyes slightly. "Breathe, okay?"
He does take a few moments to take several deep breaths before trusting himself to speak again. "Okay." There's a beat as he considers what to say next. "I mean, not that that would be a bad thing, per se. It's just… with the timing and everything…"
His awkward stuttering makes me laugh. "Relax, Ken. It's okay. I get it. Royal bastards just make things an awful lot more complicated."
"Not that any child of mine ever would be one, but… yes, a pregnancy would complicate matters slightly," he agrees, smiling wryly.
Once more, I roll my eyes at him, but I do it affectionately. "Having settled that, do you want to hear about the rest of my plan?"
"By all means," he replies, looking like he's still recovering from the accidental shock I just gave him.
"I have a pap test scheduled next month, so I shall make sure someone gets a good photo of me entering the gynaecologist's office while wearing a baggy coat," I explain. "If that doesn't do the trick, I'll allow them to 'catch' me shopping for baby clothes a few days later. Add it up and it should dominate the news cycle for at least a week, giving Amy a bit of a break."
Ken seems to consider that for a few seconds, before I feel him laugh softly. "You are devious."
"I just learned how to play the system," I announce blithely.
"And you do it deviously," he insists.
I shrug, settling my head back down on his chest. "If you say I'm the devil, I guess the devil I will be."
"Not the devil, just devious," Ken clarifies as he kisses my temple and his hand resumes stroking my back.
"Since we established that, I shall be devious a little while longer and ask an impudent question, okay?" I enquire.
"No question you could ever ask me would be impudent," is his reply, his voice relaxed and easy.
"I'll remember that for future reference," I warn him,
He laughs. "You do that. And now, for the question?"
"Well…" I stall a little, drawing imaginary patters on his chest. "I was wondering how it makes you feel, having Teddy get married before you? You keep saying it's fine, but I just started thinking about it and whether it truly is fine."
Ken doesn't speak immediately and I know he's considering his answer, which I appreciate. One of the things I love about him is how he always takes my questions seriously and tries to answer them to the best of his abilities.
"It really is fine," he finally replies. "I don't begrudge Teddy his wedding and all that nonsense of him having 'beat' me to the altar is just that – nonsense. There's no rule that he has to wait just because he's the younger one. If anything… if anything, I'm a little envious because I'd like being married to you as well."
And the moment he says it, I feel my heart beating a little faster. With how well things have been going since we reconciled, I've been wondering when he might pop the question and let's be honest, this is as perfect a situation as it gets. We're closer than ever, we're on an exotic holiday and it's even Valentine's Day tomorrow! I mean, when, if not now? Mark also proposed to Tatty on their holiday last year and if Ken decided to take a leaf out of his friend's book…
But when Ken speaks again, it's not to propose. It's not even to ask anything. Instead, he merely tells me, "But no worries, I won't allow a little green monster to take over my life. I'm good, I promise. I mean, how could I not be, with the two us being in this beautiful place and you wearing a bikini as pretty as this one?" He's clearly teasing, telling me that we're not heading for any kind of serious question.
I swallow heavily and put a smile on my face before looking up to see him wiggle his eyebrows.
"If you're having unclean thoughts, kind Sir, I suggest you forget about them right this instance," I inform him, inwardly pleased with how light and joking my voice sounds.
"And why is that?" he challenges, his right hand already playing with the ties of my bikini top.
"Because," I stress the word, "we're on a beach, in case you didn't notice."
He looks unimpressed. "So?" His fingers have nearly succeeded in untying my top.
"So, sand!" I huff. "It gets everywhere!"
His hand stills as he considers my words. "You make an excellent point, m'lady," he announces after a moment.
"I usually – ahh!" I can't help a surprised scream as Ken, in one fluid motion, gets to his feet and picks me up as well, quickly moving towards the villa with me in his arms.
"No sand!" he declares proudly when we've reached the airy bedroom and I can't help laughing.
Carefully, he places me on the bed before crawling to lie next to me, one hand already sneaking behind my back to tug free the ties of my bikini. The bikini top falls away easily and for the next hour or so, I don't think about proposals or engagements. In fact, I don't think about anything at all – and to be honest?
It could be worse. Lots worse.
The title of this chapter is taken from the song 'Everybody Has a Dream' (written by Billy Joel, released by him in 1977).
To DogMonday:
Teddy has grown up in the same family as Persis and Ken did and he's shared many of their childhood experience, especially with Persis. Overall, he came out as the most well-rounded of the three royal children, but he's not perfect. So far, as we've seen him through Rilla's eyes, he's been ascribed mostly positive characteristics, but like everyone, he also has negative sides to him. For Teddy, I think that's a deep desire for complete happiness at all cost and an unfortunate tendency to try and overlook problems if he can. Because he's had a somewhat emotionally unstable childhood, there's a slightly pathological need to create a perfect family of his own - and that comes with an inclination to blot out any problems arising in his love life. He's the romantic to Ken's cynic, if you will. He is totally capable of stepping up if he needs to (as we've seen during Owen's illness), but as long as he doesn't have to face uncomfortable issues, he likes to glide through life without acknowledging them. He's not deliberately failing Amy or neglecting her, because he's far from a cruel person, but he is so convinced that he's found the Super Perfect Amazing Fairytale Love that it doesn't even occur to him that maybe Amy needs more support from him. He's vaguely aware that it's an adjustment for her, which is why he asked for Rilla's help, but as long as Amy doesn't show him that she's struggling, Teddy is comfortable in his belief that everything is just dandy. Once he realises that he's been unsupportive of her (as he's already starting to as per this chapter), he'll be shocked and dismayed, but he really needs someone to tell him so. And since it's part of Amy's personality that she doesn't want to cause anyone any trouble, she attempts to pull through on her own so as not to upset Teddy, which means that she actively tries not to tell him. It's a perfect conundrum and until one of them goes against their natural instinct, it can't be resolved.
Because Amy, you see, is a people pleaser and the fact that she mostly just reacts to what is happening around her does actually tell us quite a bit about her, I think. That's really just who she is. She's a more passive type, trying to mould herself to what is happening around her and to act in a way that wins the approval of others, hoping that no-one ever thinks badly of her. I know it would be more pronounced if she had a loud personality that would make her very present in all situations, but she just doesn't. You really get what you see with her right now, even if you have to look a little between the lines and do some interpreting, because Amy just isn't a character who makes herself very obvious from the beginning. Plus, of course, this chapter was Persis's chapter, not Amy's, just as the story is always Rilla's in the end. Delving too deeply into Amy's and Teddy's love story would take away too much of the focus from my actual main character, I think, and God knows I don't need any more distractions to make this story even longer! I promise that Amy has a purpose, but I never meant for her to draw too much focus away from Rilla's story. Amy is the catalyst for what's happening at the moment, but she's not the main protagonist, not even of the current arch. She will get her own sub-plot, but that will happen later on, so in case my explanation weren't convincing for you, I guess I just have to ask for your patience ;).
Speaking of patience, I can now safely commit to at least 135 chapters. I still haven't ruled out writing more, but I'm still weighing several options with regards to what my next writing project will be and when it'll happen. Right now, with everything going on in the world, it's just easier to stay inside this well-established universe rather than to have to build a new story from scratch, but maybe I will feel different once spring rolls around. Right now, my guess is as good as yours!
