Chapter 2 - A BC conversation
The estate would have made an nice park for many a town and the house was an ancient four store mansion. But can a Queen be blamed for describing it as ´not very large´? The gloomy house was situated in a forest and surrounded by a lawn with herbaceous borders. Its exterior hadn't changed much since the first owners had lived there but inside it was bright and elegant and very 20th century. It was divided in two parts: one for a family and the other for their servants.
Beatrix and Clarisse enjoyed each others company and their privacy, which they had so little off. Clarisse felt completely relaxed. She had taken off her shoes and rested her legs on the couch. Her friend, curled up in a chair, smiled at her.
´How long ago is it now?´
´Too long,´ Clarisse admitted, ´how did you find this place? It is lovely.´
´That is quite a story, all you need to know is that it ended up in the two of us sitting here.´
The ladies looked outside at the sound of rain. It was still warm and they didn't feel like closing the windows. Remembering that Beatrix had met the newly installed president of France when opening a exhibition of Dutch masters in Paris, Clarisse asked her opinion of him.
´He is desperately trying to hide that he is from a working class family. There really is no need for that. He would do better to hide his mistress.´
Clarisse smirked. ´This sounds like gossiping B.´
Her friend winked. ´The French will of course not object to him having a lover, but she is as elegant as a duck on land, and brainless too. It is as if her brain is cleft in twain and each half is put up front.´
Clarisse laughed. ´I am going to meet the Russian president next month. You've met him. What is he like?´
Beatrix looked at the ceiling before answering verbally. ´He is an old communist who would rather avoid meeting Queens, foolish women all of them, who should not be allowed to discuss politics.´
´Wonderful,´ Clarisse sighed, ´and you are a reigning Queen!´
´You have more political power than I have C.´
´True, but a small amount of power can be balanced by a lot of influence.´
Clarisse grinned at her friend. Beatrix laughed and said: ´You are beautiful, the comrade will forgive you for being a Queen as long as you don't pretend to be an intellectual.´
´Men!´ they simultaneously exclaimed.
OoOoOoO
Joe sighed with contentment. He would have to sleep in a musty room. Above the stables. With Vilais. He didn't care. Without her knowing it, he was guarding his Queen. It rained, he had no shelter, but he didn't care.
Last Monday the whole castle had learned that the Queen was to spend the weekend with a friend. Joe knew he hadn't been the only one in the Castle thinking that the date Her Majesty was looking forward to so much, was of a romantic nature, but he had been the only one who had misbehaved as a result of that. It was worse enough that he had talked to her in a raised voice, one he normally used when his men had acted irresponsible. Today he had said something to her, immediately before stepping outside to face Her Majesty's mysterious friend 'B'. It wasn't until he saw that 'B' was not a man that the full weight of his remark had hit him. Even so, after having spent days picturing his Queen with a lover, finally knowing the identity of her companion had made him want to jump in the air, shouting joyful nothings. Shame and utter relief can coexist perfectly fine.
His Queen had embraced her friend and he had stared. He had thought his face to be expressionles but when the Queen of the Netherlands had cast him a glance there had been a flicker of amused understanding in her eyes. Joe felt uncomfortable about that but he liked her for not being his Queen's beloved and for making her laugh without reserve.
OoOoOoO
´How are the girls?´ Clarisse asked.
´Blossoming. The papers tell me that my youngest is in love.´
´Oh?´
´Yes, with a charming witty German count. I met him and I would swear he is gay. Well, if it works out, I will have to adjust my idea and make him bi-sexual.´
Clarisse laughed.
´I am quite sure though she uses sweet Max as a distraction for the press. Which means she's hiding someone.´
´Now, who does she remind me off?´ Clarisse mused.
Beatrix smiled: ´I know, like mother like daughter.´
They listened to the wind gathering strength.
´Philippe is still single?´
Clarisse nodded. After a small pause Beatrix continued. ´I long to see Louise's little girls every day but if I manage to meet them twice a month I am happy... Why don't you just visit Amelia?´
´Helen made it clear that she will not have it until the girl is mature. If Philippe agrees, how can I not?´
Clarisse felt obliged to say something nice about Helen: ´She sends pictures a few times a year.´
´Pictures you can't frame because someone might see them.´
Beatrix padded her friend's knee and made them tea.
By the time Beatrix had finished, Clarisse had dried her tears. She gave her friend the latest pictures of Amelia, requesting to see photographs of Aletta and Sophie. They admired each others granddaughters and placed the pictures on the mantelpiece.
It still rained. Beatrix mentioned that she liked to ride in a forest after a refreshing shower. They discussed horses and the ride they would make the next day. Their stable-staffs became the next topic and after that they talked about their personnel in the palace. Beatrix wanted to know if Clarisse had managed to lessen yet another nobleman's involvement at the Genovian court. Clarisse smiled like a naughty angel. Beatrix laughed.
´Your head of security is rather persistent, isn't he?´ Beatrix casually remarked.
´Yours wouldn't have agreed to let you go alone either, would he?´
´True. But then, they are not quite alike.´
´What do you mean?´
´Well,´ Beatrix carefully said, ´my head of security is not in love with his Queen.´
Clarisse studied the flowers on the side table.
´C?´
´Nonsense!´
´Clarisse, don't tell me you are fooling yourself. It didn't take me ages to find out. You must have noticed how he looks at you.´
Clarisse walked to a window. Beatrix patiently waited. She had seen her friend and her friend's head of security on several occasions, the first time when Rupert was still alive, and the way the bodyguard looked at his Queen had not escaped her. At first she'd thought it was admiration for Clarisse's beauty, but later she'd decided that the man in black might be in love. Clarisse would never break her marriage vows and Beatrix had known that the head of security didn't stand a chance. Now however... In Clarisse's second last letter to her Dutch friend, Joseph had made his appearance thrice.
´He is my bodyguard, of course he looks at me.´
´Lovingly?´
´Tosh!´
Beatrix poured her friend another cup of tea and handed it to her. ´I think he was surprised to find that I was a woman.´
Clarisse shrugged. ´I told him I was going away with a friend. No more. He found out that I called you B.´
´Was he jealous C?´
Clarisse took a sip of her tea and made a face, for she had forgotten to stir. ´Just before you arrived, I checked my bag, and Joseph glanced at it.´
Beatrix looked questioningly. Clarisse fingered at her spoon, bit her lip, eyed her friend and started to blush. ´He said that he hoped I had taken care of protection.´
OoOoOoO
A bird sang, welcoming the sunshine. The thoroughly wet guard in the garden heard an exclamation from the house, followed by laughter.
OoOoOoO
´I didn't even get it at first! He had been nagging about security for days... Protection!´
Clarisse's blush increased.
Beatrix wiped away a tear and managed to say: ´He is your body's guard...´
Clarisse didn't know if it was Beatrix's infectious laughter, or her own nervousness, but she couldn't prevent herself from laughing even though she didn't think Joseph's remark had been funny. After a while the friends recovered and they sat down again, with a glass of wine Clarisse had poured them.
´What should I do B?´ Clarisse sighed.
´That is all up to you sweetheart. You are attracted to him, aren't you?´
Clarisse made no reply at first and when she did she merely nodded. Beatrix didn't hurry her.
´But he's my... What will the people say? And the boys?´
´He is your devoted admirer. The people? They need not know. As for your sons, they are adults, they can cope with it.´
Beatrix studied her friend, who stared at her hands. ´Clarisse, it is nobody's business if you fall in love or even have a passionate affair. ´
´B, I am past sixty,´ Clarisse said miserably.
´Tosh! You have blood running through your veins and a skin that tickles when he is near...´
´B...´
´I'm right am I not?´
Beatrix's soft question was answered with a shy smile that made Clarisse's eyes glance. Beatrix was moved but when she spoke she sounded matter-of-factly. ´Your first step is to give yourself your blessing for being attracted to him. And if that is all you need: fine. It is all up to you.´
´Yes,´ Clarisse agreed. ´And who says he wants more anyway?´
´Right,´ Beatrix supported her, thinking And Livingstone would have settled for a trip to Bath.
They entered different subjects but when Clarisse said: ´So you think it would be all right?´ Beatrix knew she wasn't revering to the Prime Ministers they were dissecting.
´You loved Rupert but he is dead: you will not play him false. Why deny yourself the pleasure of being in love? Why suppress the joy to know someone caresses you without even touching? And it is not as if it would turn you into a new Elizabeth I. Joseph is not 40 years your junior.´
´No,´ Clarisse agreed, glad that her friend mentioned her late husband. For now she didn't contemplate Beatrix's second rhetorical question.
´Step by step and que sera sera,´ Beatrix shrugged. ´Who knows -´
Clarisse stopped her from finishing her line: ´Isn't it time to change for dinner?´
Beatrix, for now satisfied with Clarisse's response, let her of the hook. After all, she had the whole weekend.
OoOoOoO
One of the reasons the Dutch Queen was happy to have found ´El chalet´ – as the mansion was known by the locals – was the Michelin rated restaurant in the nearby village. She and Clarisse spent the evening there, much to the liking of the Dutch guards that accompanied them. Their Majesties, knowing someone might hear them talk, restricted their conversation to subjects like art, ballet, books and – very odd – cooking.
´I hate it when people assume that when we are on holiday I'm doing the cooking. Woman? Kitchen!´ Beatrix said.
´I know, it is a stupid idea. I never even liked to cook. When I was a student - I suppose that was the only time you had to cook for yourself as well?´
Her friend nodded.
´In those days I would eat potatoes, docile vegetables and tame meat.´
Beatrix laughed: ´Likewise!´
´But somehow people get excited by the thought of a...in a kitchen. If we were men, they wouldn't ask if we could cook and bake, would they? Except when they had heard a rumour about us being gourmet cooks.´
´Speaking of which, the chef of this place knows how to handle fish. It was excellent.´
Clarisse saw the host approaching them. She thought it might be wise to use their incognito names.
´Did you rent the mansion only because of the restaurant Joanna?´
´No but I must admit Marie, I rather like having it near.´
´Was everything to your satisfaction madam, madam?´
They replied affirmative and asked the host to give the cook their compliments. The host thanked them, somehow feeling that a compliment from these ladies was praise indeed.
When they came downstairs, some musicians were about to play. The ladies joined the guests who had gathered around them. Beatrix noticed that several men glanced at Clarisse, who looked gracious as always.
The guards took unobtrusive positions near their Queen and her royal friend.
The ladies were used to hearing the best of the best perform for them, but although these musicians were no professionals, they listened with pleasure. Beatrix got someone's elbow in her waist and almost giggled when its owner only gave a growl for an apology. She looked to her right, to share a laugh with Clarisse, but her friend had closed her eyes and enjoyed the mesmerizing guitar music.
´That was quite a new take on Vivaldi, wasn't it?´Beatrix remarked after the applause faded away.
´Indeed, but they made it work,´ Clarisse replied.
´I noticed that you liked the music,´ a forty-ish Spanish man said to her in English. ´You are English yes?´
´Do we sound English?´ Clarisse smiled.
´Oh yes! You speak the Queen's English.´
The Spaniard didn't understand why the ladies smiled at each other. Not that he minded: they did it charmingly. He now knew their nationality, but he wanted to find out more. After making a few remarks about the music that showed his lack of knowledge on the subject, he used the fact that the blonde lady touched her hair to retrieve information. ´That is a beautiful ring seňora. It befits its owner. Is it a family piece? Please forgive me, but I notice these things.´
´It has been in my husband's family for many years.´
´Ah, your husband is here as well?´
The man looked around as if he couldn't wait to meet him.
´It's just the two of us,´ Beatrix revealed.
´Ah! The ladies wanted to enjoy themselves alone, si?´
´Absolutely. We needed to catch up for we hardly ever see each other.´
´That is such a shame! But now you are here. If there is anything I can do for you? There is a little town near by which will be even more beautiful when you walk its streets. I, Juan Soares, will be very happy to give you a tour.´
´No no, if there is a man fit to show the ladies the surroundings, it is I, Carlos Sevilla.´
A tall man with a Roman nose kissed Beatrix's hand and then Clarisse's. ´At your service seňora, seňora.´
´Carlos old friend, my offer stands first.´ Juan gave Carlos the evil eye.
´The first, the second, does it matter?´ Carlos replied. He saw the sparkle in the brunette's eye.
´I know what you are thinking seňora.´
´Do tell me sir.´
´You think: two ladies, two gentlemen, that would be perfect.´
´Normally I would say 'si' however, this weekend I have to say 'no'.´
Carlos asked her if she spoke Spanish. When she smiled and replied that she didn't speak the tongue as good as a native did, the men were somehow convinced that she couldn't say more than si, no and por favor. And they figured that her friend, a blonde after all, didn't speak the language either. Carlos smiled at his friend and in his native tongue said that the blonde had an impressive bosom and lips that were made to be kissed. Juan replied that her ring must be worth a large Mercedes and that Carlos was out of her league. The brunette, who wore a fake emerald, was just as charming as her attractive companion, he consoled his friend.
´Que?´ Beatrix said. She had no difficulty hiding that she had understood every word. Clarisse looked as blank as the Holy Virgin.
´I was telling my friend that we really should persuade you to come to the town, for it is impressive and he replied that the four of us could have lunch at Mercedes, where the food is nearly as good as it is here. His niece Esmeralda was the decorator and it is an attractive place.´
Clarisse liked the way seňor Sevilla managed to include the car brand and the name of the rather expensive stone on Beatrix's finger in his translation. Beatrix too appreciated the effort and amused herself by imagining how Joseph would have responded to the gentlemen's conversation.
´Alas sir, this weekend we will spend together. Just my friend and I.´
´And we need to get up early tomorrow, we really should leave,´ Clarisse contributed.
´You are right. Gentlemen, it was a pleasure.´
The ladies left, to the gentlemen's sorrow.
OoOoOoO
´Good lord,´ Clarisse said when the doors of the car were closed.
´You almost needed protection C,´ Beatrix teased.
´B!´ Clarisse started to blush again.
Beatrix hoped that her friend wouldn't forget Mr Sevilla's remark about lips made to be kissed.
´When I am incognito,´ Clarisse said, ´I like it that people don't give me the yes Your Majesty, of course Your Majesty would you want us to lick your feet Your Majesty treatment. But sometimes being treated like a normal person is strange.´
´You mean being treated like a beautiful woman feels strange.´
´Why did you make them believe you don't speak Spanish?´
´I did not you English woman! I told the truth: I don't speak Spanish like someone who is born here.´
´B, you could fool the Spanish professor Higgins.´
Beatrix laughed. ´Still,´ she insisted. ´And they should not have gossiped.´
´People are sometimes tempted to speak freely.´
´They were tempted all right,´ Beatrix said and before Clarisse could respond, she continued: ´What is the strangest –´ She looked outside. ´I think we have reached the estate. ´
She contacted the driver to have her idea confirmed. The friends decided to walk to the mansion and Beatrix had the driver stop the car. Once outside she finished her question.
´That is easy,´ Clarisse replied. ´The strangest thing that happened to me while I was incognito, took place in Manhattan. The setting: our favorite hotel. I entered the lobby and the manager prevented me from going to my suite by asking if everything was satisfactory, you know what I mean.´
Clarisse looked at her friend. Beatrix knew what she meant. As always. No explaining needed, no nodding just for nodding´s sake. She knew. She briefly put her arm around Beatrix's waist. Beatrix fondly smiled at her.
´He was interrupted by a young woman, in her early thirties I think -´
Beatrix made a sound.
´I know, we're getting old if we describe 33-ish as young. This woman said I am sorry but I have to ask. Those are Manolos aren't they Miss?´
´Ha!´ Beatrix cried. ´There's hope for people in our age basket.´
Clarisse grinned: ´Would you let me finish?´
´Yes Miss!´
´The manager said do you know who you are addressing, but I told him it was all right and fortunately he was claimed by another guest. Young Woman had not heard a word we said, she stared at my feet in awe, muttering those are really Manolo Blahniks. Now imagine my bodyguards and aid standing nearby.´
The friends looked at each other and laughed. Clarisse continued, waving her hands as Young Woman had done.
´They are perfect. Just perfect. Are they from the new collection? I said they were not. You're from Europe, she realised and she asked if I had bought them in London. Or better still Paris, for she had always wanted to visit that city and what better reason to go there than to buy a pair of magnificent Manolos? Her enthusiasm was quite enchanting. I couldn't let her leave for Paris for naught, so I told her that it was a unique pair. She didn't believe me. I asked her how many collections she was familiar with. She smiled brilliantly and said: Every. Single. One.´
Beatrix could picture it as if she'd been there.
´But if you have never seen these, doesn't it prove that I speak the truth? She admitted it made sense but it was such a waste. And then she said sorry, sorry I didn't mean to say that you shouldn't have them. Oh! They are so beautiful! I thanked her and said that I was going to take the shoes walking again.´
´You cruel woman!´
´That sweetheart walked my Manolos to the elevator and glanced at them until the doors closed.´
Beatrix applauded.
OoOoOoO
Back in the mansion Clarisse made them hot cocoa. ´It's strange isn't it? When you are abroad and someone approaches you - ´ She carefully poured a mug with the hot substance.
´And you make your shield of Queenly demeanour become visible -´ Beatrix was handed a mug. ´Thank you, it smells delicious.´
Clarisse took over, while filling her own mug: ´Because you think he recognises you...´ she stopped talking, expecting Beatrix to prove that she once again knew what she meant to say.
´And all he wants to know are directions to the station or where you've bought your shoes...´
Clarisse smiled: ´You feel fooled...´
´As if you are in a play and he doesn't stick by his line.´
They clinked their mugs.
´And when the show is on,´ Beatrix mused, ´you know the shield, the mask are necessary but still...´
´You would want someone to see through it.´
´I am grateful Ernst saw through mine,´ Beatrix thoughtfully said. ´Let us conclude that all the world's a stage.´
´True. And right now, we are in the wings.´
Beatrix raised her mug.
´Here's to the wings!´
´Salud!´
OoOoOoO
In the village near El chalet, a young photographer named Xavier lived. He had an interest in expensive cars and his six year old sister Dolores had developed the same hobby. She had seen Fords pass and Limouns as well, and when her big brother came home from work, she ran toward him, and yelled about her discovery. He promised her he would take her to the old mansion, for that was the direction the cars had taken, to see if they could spot the vehicles.
´Now?´
´No Dolores, tomorrow.´