Chapter Nine
The next day Helena decided to celebrate her little victory and spend the morning outside in the gardens with her children. She put on a huge white hat, then she picked up Robert and ordered the nannies to bring the twins after them. However, her brother-in-law stopped them at the top of the stairs.
"Who is it if not my favourite sister-in-law?" – started Cyrus sweetly, then he added more seriously. – "Robert!"
"Uncle Cyrus." – the little boy returned his greeting in the same tone.
Helena shook her head as a sign of disapproval.
"She is mad, isn't she?"
"Who?" – asked Cyrus as if he didn't know who she talked about.
"Your mother." – answered the Queen and she rolled her eyes.
Her brother-in-law smiled at her super-satisfied.
"Furious."
"You shouldn't enjoy this so much." – sighed Helena. – "Now cover for me, I don't want to meet her. Come on, Robert."
She grabbed her son's hand and she was about to make her way out of the Palace, but it was too late. Suddenly the Queen Mother showed up at the bottom of the stairs.
"Good luck!" – said Cyrus happily and he disappeared as fast as he could.
The Queen thought about running away as well and she slowly began to back away from the stairs, but Robert sabotaged her plan. He pulled his hand out of hers and ran down to his grandmother.
"Don't you dare walk away from me, Helena!" – cried the Queen Mother when she finally reached the top of the stairs.
"Good morning to you too, Gloria!" – said Helena, trying to strike a friendly tone, though she knew that it was pointless. – "Robert and I just headed out for a stroll with the twins, can't we talk later?"
"How could you do this?" – shouted Queen Gloria furiously.
Helena looked nervously at Robert, who was playing with and under her skirt.
"Please, Gloria, not in front of the child." – she warned her mother-in-law.
The Queen Mother ignored her words and continued in the same voice.
"If you wanted Fashion Week so much, why didn't you ask for it?"
Her daughter-in-law snorted in disdain.
"Because you would have given it to me just like that. We both know you wouldn't."
"So you went behind my back." – the Dowager Queen drew the conclusion.
"So I went behind your back." – echoed Queen Helena then she added hypocritically. – "Why does it bother you so much? You don't even care about fashion."
"You treacherous snake!" – cried the old queen.
All three of them stopped for a moment. Helena saw the confused look on her son's face so she bent down to him and asked in a joking tone:
"What does the snake say, Robert?"
"Sssss." – hissed the little Prince happily.
Queen Gloria sighed tiredly.
"Very funny." – she said sarcastically. – "I know that Cyrus is helping you, but you won't get away with this. You are choosing the wrong brother."
"I don't know what you are talking about." – answered Helena innocently.
Her mother-in-law raised her index finger as a sign of warning.
"Be careful Helena, it could cost you everything."
"Is this a threat?" – asked back the younger queen and she took a step closer to her.
"I love both of my sons, but I never hid the fact that Simon is my favourite." – explained Gloria. – "I would even let him marry for love. That girl, Dominique wasn't my first choice, but he loved her so I gave them my blessing. Frankly, I was a bit relieved when she died, although I didn't believe for a minute that it was an accident. Anyway, she was a very headstrong girl. Nothing was good enough for her. She wanted to change everything… this palace, England, the whole world. After she died, I wanted to make sure that I don't make the same mistake again. So I made a list of possible girls for Simon, all very young, obedient, impressionable and they all had a great deal to lose."
Little Robert got bored and he tugged at his mother's skirt.
"Mommy, can we go now?" – he asked impatiently.
"Just a minute, darling." – replied the Queen and she stroked his hair. – "Your grandmother is telling a long tale, let's hope she is getting to the point soon."
The Queen Mother looked at her angrily and she continued her speech.
"The point is that we paid a rather large amount of money for you after the wedding that you never paid back. Your father wanted to, but his illness prevented him from doing that and since then your family's whole living depends on the Crown."
"I'm well aware of that." – remarked Helena with ease.
Queen Gloria nodded in satisfaction.
"Good. Then you understand that it's better if the King doesn't find out that you are not the blushing girl he thinks you are, but a petty liar, who is plotting against his beloved mother."
Helena was ready for a counterattack, but the sudden appearance of her husband stopped her before she could answer.
"What is going on here?" – asked King Simon. – "The whole palace resounds from you."
"Nothing unusual. Your mother is yelling at me in front of Robert." – answered Queen Helena willingly.
The King looked at his mother in disappointment.
"Is this about that stupid article?" – he sighed resignedly.
His mother didn't want to give up so easily and started to defend herself.
"Your lovely wife did it. She wanted the Fashion Week, she wants all my charities…"
"Stop it, Mum!" – cried Simon then he turned to his wife. – "Is this true?"
Helena decided to give the innocent. She knew that her mother-in-law was wrong about Simon's perception of her and he certainly did not see her as a 'blushing young girl', so she had no choice but to deny completely.
"No, it wasn't me…" – she started – "It's true that I spoke to a journalist, but I didn't say anything. He may have mentioned a spreading rumour about the Queen Mother's retirement, which I denied of course and that was it. Unfortunately, the Fashion Show wasn't my idea, he completely made that up, though I think it would be great."
"A Fashion Show in the Palace, it is ridiculous… I release a statement and I deny this whole nonsense." – said Queen Gloria firmly.
"So there is no problem." – concluded the King and he smiled at the two women.
His wife looked at him desperately, but luckily the next moment her assistant rushed over to them.
"Actually, Your Majesties…" – she started breathless.
"What is it, Rachel?" – asked King Simon.
Rachel waited until her breathing returned to normal, then she continued:
"I just talked to at least twenty fashion designers including Alexander McQueen and Norman Hartnell in the last hour who all wanted to know if they can be part of the Queen's Fashion Show. It is all over the news now."
"She is bluffing." – snorted the Queen Mother simply.
At that moment her other son, Prince Cyrus approached them and confirmed the words of the assistant.
"She is not. Turn on the TV. The BBC claims that they bought the exclusive rights to broadcast the event."
"It's not possible…" – stammered the defeated Queen Gloria. – "The BBC wouldn't risk telling a lie like this. Their reputation is on the stake. It doesn't make any sense."
None of them wanted to say it out loud so Cyrus stated the obvious.
"At this point we can't do anything, but confirm this rumour."
"Are you sure you can do this?" – the King asked his wife and since she silently nodded in agreement, he turned to the Queen Mother. – "I'm sorry, Mum."
The conversation was officially over. King Simon pulled his brother aside to talk to him about another urgent matter, while their mother used the opportunity to humiliate Helena again.
"You can't stage a Fashion Show." – she said. – "You haven't got any talent or experience. You are young and pretty, prettier than that Dominique girl, I admit it, but that's all you have. You will fail."
Queen Helena didn't let herself intimidated by her mother-in-law.
"Do you know what makes a backup like me so dangerous? She learns all the roles by heart so she could take anyone's place." – she said, then she walked away with her son.
Before getting outside, the Queen beckoned Rachel.
"Where have you been?" – she hissed angrily when they were far enough from the others. – "If Gloria released that statement, all our work would have been for nothing."
"You don't know?" – she asked in surprise.
Helena shook her head.
"What?"
"She did write a statement this morning that she gave to the BBC." – she said with great emphasis. – "I had to improvise and convince them that it's better for them if this Fashion Show becomes a reality than if it's not."
"That's why they say that they got the broadcast rights." – remarked the Queen after putting the pieces together.
"Because they did." – her assistant confirmed proudly.
"Then we'd better get started to organize that fashion show." – cried Helena excitedly and the two women smiled at each other.
Once they were out in the gardens and the nannies brought the twins as well, Helena sat down under a big tree with Robert.
"Can we take them out?" – asked the three-year-old and he ran excitedly to the union jack double stroller.
"Of course, just let me help you." – his mother hurried after him when she realized that Robert was trying to take the babies out on his own.
Eleanor and Liam weren't too happy about the intervention, especially after they were placed on their stomach instead of their back.
"Sss… It's for your own sake." – tried the Queen, but it was pointless.
However, the presence of their big brother, who lay between them, quickly calmed the twins down.
"You are a natural." – said Helena in amazement to his son.
A little bit later she saw her husband approaching across the lawn.
"I'm so glad you could join us, darling!" – she cried and she gave him a deep kiss.
"Wow, you are happy." – remarked the King, who was surprised by the passionate greeting.
The Queen playfully shrugged her shoulder.
"It's a beautiful day, I waited so long for the sun to come out."
"Do you mean for real or metaphorically?" – asked Simon suspiciously, but he also remained in a playful tone.
Helena who divided her attention between him and the children couldn't follow his thread.
"What?" – she asked indifferently while she managed to prevent her older son from feeding his sister with a dandelion.
"You wanted this Fashion Show." – continued the King. – "I saw it in your eyes. Do you have anything to do with it?"
"Do you really want to know?" – asked back the Queen innocently.
King Simon sighed and shook his head in disappointment.
"I know you deserve this. You are a professional when it comes to clothes, I realize it every time I wait hours for you to get dressed. But… there is no need to lie and scheme behind my back, Helena. I didn't know that being a queen means so much to you, but I will talk to my mother and we discuss her new status when I returned."
"Returned?" – his wife looked at him in surprise.
"The Canadian tour. I postponed it because of the birth of the twins, but I have to go now." – explained King Simon.
Helena placed her head on his shoulder as she asked:
"When?"
"In two weeks." – came the quick answer.
"I want to go with you." – sighed Queen Helena.
"You can't." – replied the King and he added. – "The people wouldn't approve if you left the babies for three weeks."
Helena knew that her husband didn't care about what the others thought about them. He only said that because he believed it was a convincing argument for her.
"It's not the people… You are the one who wouldn't approve." – she said resentfully.
Simon looked at her as if she was a child and he remarked with ease:
"We already discussed this. Besides, it lapsed anyway because of your Fashion Show."
"…which you will miss entirely." – the Queen added to his sentence.
"I will watch the broadcast wherever I will be by that time." – promised her husband, then he said: – "But I beg you, my love, don't argue with my mother."
"I can't promise anything." – Helena said phlegmatically. – "Don't you think that it would be better if she moved to one of the other palaces?"
King Simon shook his head.
"She is the Queen Mother, it's not that simple."
His wife pulled away from him.
"It's not that simple because she is your mother."
"What?" – he asked in confusion.
"It wasn't so difficult for you to banish my mother." – Helena snapped at him.
The King didn't understand how they ended up talking about the Duchess, but he replied as honestly as he could.
"I assumed that you would be happy about it."
However, his innocent tone just made his wife even more angry.
"Because you just assume things and never bother to ask if you are right." – she shouted.
"You… You asked me to give her a title and an estate." – he shouted back.
Helena rolled her eyes.
"Yes, a small one with a holiday home."
"I'm sorry that I'm so generous with your family." – Simon replied in a sarcastic voice.
"Generous? Is that what you call generosity?" – asked Helena with a bitter laugh. – "You sent my mother away to the other end of the country while you don't let yours move into the house next door."
They both remained silent for a while. Simon was about to say something, but his son interrupted him. Until that moment Robert quietly watched his parents, but now he took advantage of the sudden silence.
"Can we see the little dogs now?" – he asked shyly.
Simon and Helena looked at each other, ashamed. They never fought in front of Robert before.
"What little dogs?" – asked Helena with a forced smile.
"Katie said that one dog had little dogs." – the Prince informed her.
The twins became fussy and simultaneously burst out crying. Their parents looked at them, then at each other and they said in the same time.
"I'll go."
"Why don't we find out whose dog it is?" – suggested Simon to avoid another quarrel and he turned to his son. – "Did Katie say which dog had little dogs?"
"Red." – came the firm answer.
"Ha-ha… She is one of my Irish Setters." – cried the Queen triumphantly. – "I'll go."
