Chapter 8 – C stands for cogitation
´Do you know you've made it to Hello, OK and Paris Match?´ Prince Philippe asked his mother.
´That makes my day darling,´ the Queen replied. She had put her son on the phone's speaker for she had signing to do.
´Do you realise this is the first time that people speculate about you having an affair instead of me?´
The Queen could tell that her son was smirking.
´So Mother, did you have a nice time with the "handsome general with whom you make such an attractive couple"?´
´The Genovian Daily is not your newspaper darling.´
´I know, but I couldn't resist citing that line. Did the Members of Parliament mention the pictures?´
´Viscount Mabrey did. He went as far as asking me whether the man on the pictures was my, and I quote, "lo- beloved".´
´Bastard.´
´I am not going to tosh you for that.´
´Was it that bad?´
´I felt insulted. Mabrey implied that should I have a "partner", I'd let him run the country.´
The prince laughed out loud.
The Queen glanced at the picture Beatrix had made of the two of them, while holding her camera at arm's length.
´Do you laugh at the idea that I would let someone else run my country or do you laugh at the thought of me having a partner?´
´Both Mother.´
The Queen put her pen down.
´I mean, how dare he even suggest it?´ her son continued. ´How was aunt B doing?´
The Queen realised she would not only have to work the Members of Parliament, but her youngest son, and possibly Pierre, as well.
She didn't comment the change of subject and, picking up her pen, told Philippe that her friend was fine and that she and herself had bought the Spanish mansion.
OoOoOoO
It had been a fortnight since they had returned from Spain and Joe kept telling himself that it happened more often that weeks passed without her speaking, really speaking, to him. She was the Queen, he was her head of security and there was work to be done. But after what happened in El chalet, after what was said by the Viscount, after the articles and after Genovian Daily's 'From our readers' pages having been filled with letters about whether or not the Dutch general was a "friend" of Her Majesty, and whether or not is was appropriate for King Rupert's widow to have a friend like that, he, Joe, would very much have liked the woman who had cupped his cheek and sent shivers down his spine when she'd touched his neck, to have talked to him like a friend. Just a friend. If he would be your own servant it would be even worse.
OoOoOoO
After the pictures had been published Her Majesty had acted the Ice Queen in the presence of the press. Even toward her closest courtiers and especially toward Joseph she had been distant knowing she was being watched. At least – and at last – it worked: the eager journalists had to admit that hers was not the attitude of a woman in love. When even Miss Penworthy had moved on (focussing on a popular soap star who'd adopted a Russian orphan), the Queen had relaxed and she had re-entered her habit of taking a walk in her gardens when Joseph was guarding her. During one of their walks she made a remark about the lunch-meetings with Members of Parliament she had initiated.
´It will be impossible to ignore the Viscount,´ she said. ´I already know how he feels about certain subjects and I dislike repetition as much as I dislike my appetite being ruined.´
Joe dared not ask the Queen why she had started to invite the Parliamentarians for she never discussed politics with him. He made a mental note to talk to Charlotte. Her Majesty didn't know how to continue the subject for Joseph merely nodded without looking at her. She decided it was time to get back to work.
OoOoOoO
Charlotte eagerly accepted Joe's invitation to go to 'Clementine', an art-house cinema in Pyrus. Afterwards they had a drink in ¿ya le atienden?, a grand café in art deco style. Joe explained that the Kung Fu scenes in the Japanese film they'd just seen were very good. Charlotte shrugged and said she thought it was weird that each time the hero fought someone, it started to snow.
The owner of the café was a proud monarchist and a portrait of the Queen and the late King graced one of the walls of the establishment. Joe had made sure that Charlotte was facing it. The portrait triggered her to introduce a topic that she knew would arouse Joe's interest even more than the significance of white flakes falling.
´I'm glad she is more relaxed now,´ Charlotte said, making a gesture toward the portrait. Joe politely followed her gaze.
´The whole Luna affair must have upset her more than she cared to admit,´ Charlotte continued. ´She didn't even raise an eyebrow when she first saw the pictures, but after the meeting with Parliament...´
Charlotte, seeing a warmth in Joe's eyes that was always present when they talked about their employer, bent toward him. ´And now she is inviting the MPs for lunch. I had to bring her the files of every one of them and she spent hours making groups.´
Joe had expected Charlotte to have dealt with the details. ´Is there an agenda?´ Joe asked.
´Not that I know. I think she just wants to talk to them in a less formal setting. I think that her friend, you know, who invites her own MPs to discuss topical subjects, gave her the idea, but the cook -.´
´So she didn't tell you why she wants to talk to them?´
´The cook guesses that she wants to make it absolutely clear...´ Charlotte looked around and, confident that no one was eavesdropping, continued in a whisper, ´that the general wasn't a "friend". And that something like Genovian Daily suggested will never happen.´
Joe disliked the idea for several reasons, one of which he mentioned aloud: ´It has already been made clear that Coligny was a bystander. The MPs should trust her. I doubt she feels she has to reassure them again.´
Charlotte shrugged.
OoOoOoO
Meanwhile the Queen was on the phone with her Dutch friend, telling her about the four men she would invite to accompany Mabrey.
´Three conservatives, a liberal and a socialist,´ Beatrix summarised. ´Don't you think you'll be outnumbered?´
´No, I don't. Jalva likes me. Picard hates the eel. Moreover, his heir married a flower-girl and he is perfectly happy with his daughter-in-law. Chirac supported me in Parliament when I said that everyone should be able to choose his own friends. And Sortof was a poor foreigner when he married the daughter of the mayor of Lupa.´
Beatrix hummed approvingly: ´So there might be fish on the menu: bon appetit!´
Clarisse laughed. ´Is there any progress at the estate?´
´The workmen are on schedule,´ Beatrix replied, ´and we should be able to spend the first weekend of September there, just as we planned.´
´That would be lovely.´
OoOoOoO
A few days later, during a walk in her gardens, the Queen told her head of security that she and her sons had discussed something the host of TV's Show News had said: that she was incapable of loving.
´I know I can act the Ice Queen but that remark was insulting.´
´It was,´ Joe confirmed and he gave her a warm smile. ´How did Their Highnesses respond?´ he inquired.
´They both assured me they felt very much loved by me and that they knew that I had loved their father.´
Joe nodded.
´But Philippe still laughed at the thought of me having feelings for another man,´ the Queen said. ´So there's work to be done.´
She said it casually, not looking at him, but her words erased the Viscount's line from Joe's memory.
OoOoOoO
The Queen knew that the Members of Parliament had agreed when the Viscount had condemned her having a relationship with a servant. She knew that in the eyes of her people that was all Joseph would be: a servant. Not a shoe-polishing, plate-carrying kind of servant. A servant with a gun. But a servant nonetheless. They didn't know that he was caring, loving, witty, intelligent, protective and discreet. They would never know that his nearness made her skin tickle and that he made her feel alive. Feminine. Sensual. Cherished.
Beatrix had been right when she'd said that she, Clarisse, had loved her husband. Rupert had been kind, generous and supportive. He had also been a loving father. She missed him. She had been his Queen, the mother of his sons and his best friend. She had been content with that. But now... She had thought about it for weeks.
She wanted more. And since the weekend at El chalet, she no longer felt guilty about it. She had made up her mind. She wanted to be a lover. She wanted to be loved. She wanted passionate nights. She wanted Joseph. And if she wanted something, she got it.