Author's note: this chapter takes place immediately after ´A royal welcome´. How could it not?
Chapter 9 – A golden future
Joe felt sick. He placed his hand on his midriff.
Clarisse's heels click-clacked de-files-me. Her fingers touched his cheek to make him look at her. He didn't give in. He recalled the words of love they had exchanged in the past. No more.
Clarisse more or less dragged his face toward her. Her eyes were fuming.
´The people who say those hateful things don't know you! And if you for a moment believe that I now think that you are beneath me, you don't know me!´
Joe wrapped his good arm around her waist, rested his head against hers and inhaled her lilac scent. Home.
´I'm sorry,´ he whispered.
´Sh,´ she said.
Joe relished their re-found closeness until it registered on him that it might not be just his broken arm that prevented Clarisse from leaning against him. He tensed and Clarisse took a small step back.
´We're not done talking are we?´ Joe asked. He read the answer in Clarisse's eyes. Needing to have some sort of control he gestured toward the couch. Clarisse followed his suggestion and she seated herself. Joseph remained standing.
After a moment when the only sounds were the ticking of a clock and Maurice's breathing Clarisse said: ´The gossip has an impact beyond people thinking they have a say about my private life.´
Since she seemed to wait for him to reply, Joe nodded.
´The vast majority of my people feel that I should not have a partner. ´
´Do you want to appease them?´ Joe gruffly said.
´No I don't. But there's a but.´
Joe made a gesture with his head to tell her to continue.
´No one can know about us.´
Joe sighed. ´As I told you, we will continue to be discrete. There's nothing to worry about. And when your son becomes a King, well, there's no-´
Clarisse interrupted him: ´Queen-Regent or not, people want me to remain a widow.´
´Once Philippe is King you will be allowed to be free.´
´Parliament was quite clear about it. As things stand at this moment - ´
´We'll see about that.´
´And what if I'm right?´
Joe didn't reply. He turned around to stare at the blue TV screen which asked Bitte legen Sie eine abspielbare Disk ein.
´We never discussed our future Joseph. I neglected to do so. I was selfish. I didn't want to be merely content, I wanted to be happy and for that…´
Tick- tack said the clock. Tick-tack.
´I need you.´
Joe, moved by her admission, faced her again.
´We lived in the moment Joseph. And with what is going on, our future may look bleak.´
´No it won't mi amor. In a few year's time we'll be together for all the world to see.´
´The way things stand now me having a partner will harm the monarchy.´
Tick-tack. Tick-tack. Tick-tack.
´And we wouldn't want that now would we?´
´Joseph…´
´Be frank Clarisse. What are you saying?´
´We might never be a couple.´
Tick-tack. Tick-tack. Tick-tack.
´To me, we are a couple. You made us a couple. But now I understand that the country has a say in it.´
´Not if we are careful. And we have been careful. Nothing needs to change.´
´If nothing had changed, we wouldn't have this conversation! You would be leaning against me and comment the acting. And why not, being quite the actress yourself!´
Clarisse picked up her glass of wine and put it down again.
´You know the employer's lines by heart as well as the lover's lines.´
´You act along Joseph.´
´What if I had not remembered? Would you have told me?´
Clarisse was silent for a long time and Joe thought that she wouldn't reply his question but looking him straight in his face she said: 'I'm not sure.'
Joe felt his jaw tighten.
´It may be dangerous to present facts to people who don't recall them,´ Clarisse said. Her voice sounded higher than usual.
Joe snorted.
´You realise this is about turn a different corner and we never would have met, don't you Joseph?´
´No need to discuss it for it is a road untraveled? I do think we need to explore it.´
´Feel free,´ Clarisse dared him.
´You would not have reminded me of us. Ever.´
´After that article it was convenient that you didn't remember.´
Clarisse looked at him as if to invite him to admit that her reasoning was logical.
´Dios mio!´
OoOoOoO
Joe woke from a nap and discovered he was lying on his couch. Several magazines, papers and envelops that been piled up before he went to see Clarisse were spread all over the floor. While he wiped some saliva from the corner of his mouth his eye fell on a folded piece of paper that had been shoved underneath the door. In the few steps it took him to reach it he made up that it contained an apology and a declaration of love from Clarisse. Feeling better instantly he unfolded it.
It was a note from Charlotte offering to drive him to the hospital for his Sunday morning appointment. Joe turned the paper around to see if Charlotte had used the back side of a scribble Clarisse had sent him.
´Damn!´
Joe wanted to tear the note apart but he had to settle for making a ball of it and throwing it away.
´Convenient!´
Was it only fifteen hours since he'd woken up in Spain? The first part of his journey to Genovia had been filled with recollections of Clarisse seducing him at El Chalet. Then he had realised how she must have felt knowing he didn't know about them and he had daydreamed about showering her in kisses to make up for their lost time and her loneliness.
In the train with destination Pyrus he had read an article about the Queen's choice for a husband and his mood had deteriorated after that. Joe got angry all over when thinking of the welcome he had received but when he spotted a paper ball lying on a window-sill he forced himself to calm down. Charlotte had been happy to see him. Joe called his colleague and found out that she wanted to visit a gallery in Antiem to see a painting she'd spotted before. Pleased to learn that she wasn't merely acting as a chauffeur he accepted her kind offer.
OoOoOoO
When he and Charlotte were together the topic that always got mentioned sooner or later was their boss. All the way to Antiem Joe chatted about his holiday and his family. Charlotte felt privileged.
´Why don't we have lunch together before we return,´ she suggested when Joe got out of the car.
Lunch meant more chit-chat and Joe didn't know what to talk about anymore. The prospect of not yet returning home was to his liking though and he reasoned that he could always tell Charlotte about his visit to the doctor.
´Let's do that.´
´The admiral's cocked hat?´
´At The Market right?´
Charlotte nodded.
´Fine,´ Joe said.
´Great! See you in an hour then? And good luck Joe. I hope your doctor will let you go back to work.´
Joe gave his colleague a smile and closed the passenger door.
OoOoOoO
One of the first things Joe did after entering doctor Valera's consulting-room was to apologize for his behaviour at the phone. His charm had an immediate effect on the physician, who had some patients who were more rude than Her Majesty's very own bodyguard. With a smile she started her checklist.
Joe answered her questions truthfully and as a result the doctor told him that it was best if he didn't go back to work just yet.
´Spend time outside. Walk, rest. See if your concentration improves. Come back this Friday and we'll see how you're doing. I'll check your arm then also. Is that OK with you?´
Joe had mixed feelings about the doctor's verdict but he nodded his consent.
OoOoOoO
When Joe entered the lunchroom Charlotte was reading an American glossy and she reached out for the espresso in front of her. From the way her fingers retreated Joe concluded that she hadn't been waiting for a long time.
´And?´ was the first thing Charlotte asked him when he seated himself opposite her. She stuffed the magazine in her bag.
Joe told Charlotte what the doctor had said.
´It's for the best Joe!´
A waiter showed up to take their orders. Charlotte asked for club sandwich "Deep Sea" and Joe ordered the same. He had the feeling the waiter was staring at him.
´Is something wrong?´ Joe asked him.
´No sir!´
´Some people in town eyed me too,´ Joe told Charlotte after the waiter had hurried away, ´One doesn't see a filthy commoner every day right?´
´Oh Joe,´ Charlotte said with a sigh. ´I hoped you hadn't read all that stuff. You know that no one who knows you thinks that way about you do you?´
´Meaning most people do feel I'm a piece of shit.´
´Don't say that!´
Joe toyed with the unlit candle on their table. Charlotte tried another approach: ´I'm surprised you care for their opinion,´ she playfully said.
Her colleague sat back. ´I don't,´ he said. It's just so dumb. The internet is like a ventriloquist. Democratic power player: right!´
Charlotte, running out of options as to how to deal with this Joe, inhaled the scent of her espresso.
´I didn't know you drank coffee.´
´At work I usually drink tea. I like tea, I do.´
Joe raised his eyebrows.
Charlotte bent toward him. ´I never drank much tea before I started to work for her. I guess - ´
´Say,´ Joe interrupted, ´I forgot to ask: did you still like the painting you went to see?´
´Would you believe that I walked straight passed it?´
´Other art caught your eye?´
´Yes it did. And it was less expensive too.´
Charlotte brought her cup to her lips and whispered over its rim: ´It was six!´
´Hundred?´
Charlotte made a face.
´Thousand?!´
´Yes. But I liked it and it seemed like a good investment.´
She took a sip of her espresso and put the cup down.
´I feel silly now. What do I know about art?´
Joe sensed where the subject was leading to and quickly asked Charlotte whether her sister had given birth already.
´No, she is due in three weeks.´
´You must be so excited.´
Charlotte smiled radiantly. ´I'm going to spoil that child, I know I will.´
With clever questions about Charlotte's future niece or nephew Joe covered the time until their food arrived. When they were done eating they had a cappuccino.
´When you wouldn't be what you are, what would you have become Joe?´
It took Joe a moment to understand Charlotte was talking about jobs, not personalities.
´I don't know. A soldier. An instructor at the military academy. A policeman.´
´A private eye!´ Charlotte contributed.
Joseph grinned. ´Perhaps a teacher,´ he mused.
´Really?´
´Some years ago there was a job fair at my former high school. I liked to interact with the children.´
Charlotte tilted her head. ´Yes. I can picture you entering a noisy classroom with teenagers standing on tables and throwing stuff at each other.´ Charlotte laughed. ´One of them would spot you and in the blink of an eye they would shut up, clean the mess and seat themselves.´
Joseph grinned and thanked Charlotte for her confidence. ´What about you? What would you do if you had to do something else?´
Charlotte replied instantly. ´Don't laugh, but I might start a travel agency.´
´Because you like to arrange things and make sure people lack nothing.´
´Yes!´
Joe opened his mouth to say more on the subject, but Charlotte didn't let him. ´This is nice, isn't it Joe? We should do this more often.´
OoOoOoO
On the way back to Pyrus Charlotte suddenly broke the pleasant silence by saying: ´My parents are looking forward to having a grandchild.´
´I can imagine that.´
´Me too.´
A traffic sign announced a petrol station in five kilometres. Charlotte checked her dashboard.
´It makes me… When you're with your family Joe, do you regret not having children?´
Charlotte cast a sideway glance. ´If you don't wanna answer that's fine.´
Joe didn't mind replying. ´It grew on me.´
Charlotte overtook a truck. When she was back on the right lane Joe said: ´You're young Charlotte.´
´But approaching the years of danger. I don't even have a boy-friend.´
´You can choose to be a single mother.´
´I'm not desperate. And it isn't the perfect picture I have in mind, so….´
Joe wasn't fooled by Charlotte's casual shrug. ´You'll find someone. You're pretty, kind, smart.´
Charlotte blushed.
´Who knows: you might find yourself a Dutchman wearing wooden shoes.´
Charlotte laughed. ´I doubt there are many Dutch who wear those things and if they do, it's to please tourists. We'll see in a few weeks' time. I hope you'll be able to be part of the state visit.´
´So do I,´ Joe automatically said. He yawned and closed his eyes which had the expected result: Charlotte dropped the subject and silently drove him to the castle.
OoOoOoO
Prince-consort Ernst of the Netherlands set the door to his wife's office ajar and learned that she was no longer on the phone.
´Lieveling!´ the Queen's parrot cried out as the prince walked by, ´Lieveling!´
´Clarisse had a lot to tell you.´
´Joseph's back. He remembers about them.´
´I'm glad for that!´
The Queen put her pen down. ´They had a fight.´
´About what?´
´He took offence of the mud that was thrown at him. And he is angry with C because she admitted that she wasn't sure whether she would ever have reminded him that they were lovers.´
´I see.´
The prince walked to a CD-player. ´I think most mud was thrown at Clarisse.´
´Absolutely. But she figured Joseph had a right to be upset. She didn't even tell him about her argument with Philippe.´
´About Philippe claiming that Joseph and Helen are in different leagues?´
The Queen nodded. Jack Jones started to sing and the prince pretended to sway someone around. He invitingly raised his eyebrows at his wife.
´Philippe seems so open-minded, but at times he's wearing blinkers,´ the Queen said, smiling because of her husband's happy expression. She glanced at the piles of documents on her desk and rose to step into Ernst's arms.