Chapter 11 – Slowly going nowhere
At dinner Sebastian Motaz told his wife about a staff member of his who'd been hospitalized while on a holiday in Jordan. Mrs Motaz expressed her sympathies, but when her husband contemplated yet again about how fragile one's health is, she merely hummed and asked him: ´Will Mr Romero join Her Majesty on her state visit or not?´
Sebastian made a throatily sound which made Sheila conclude that the meeting between Queen and Prime Minister had not been an easy one and that the much discussed head of security would travel to the Netherlands.
´I told her that several MPs had asked me to bring up the topic and that I could see why they were worried: the gossip magazines and some papers as well don't let their readers forget about the marriage -´
´I do hope you phrased that differently.´
Motaz nodded and said: ´She told me that several MPs are stakeholders of the company that publishes those magazines. I reminded her that since Mr Romero is working part time, it might seem strange to bring him. She said that as long as his arm is still healing he won't act as her bodyguard but that he can very well handle his job as head of security.´
Sheila gestured her husband to pass her the salad.
´Here you are dear. Jean then said that perhaps we should let everything depend on his arm: bring him when his arm is no longer in splints and let him stay in Genovia when it still is. I rather liked the suggestion. She didn't.´
´What did she say?´
´She said that the head of security always accompanies her when she goes abroad. She added that if he joins her the gossips will say that she can't bear to be separated from him and that in case he stays in Pyrus they will say that her mind always drifts off to him. It's a win-win scenario for them, she said.
´And she's right. It's such a shame that she has to stand all this. They are just friends.´
The Prime Minister's wife was his confidante, but Sebastian had kept Mr Romero's outburst in the Queen's office to himself. Sheila was discrete, but even she might accidentally reveal what should be kept a secret. Are we married? Is it a gossip or are you dumping me? Seeing the toughest man he knew cry like a child had shocked Sebastian and as a result Miss Kutaway's explanation had seemed logical at first.
Sebastian took a moment to clear his mouth and said: ´I do hope they are still friends.´
´What do you mean?´
´Charlotte Kutaway told me that on the previous two Saturdays she went to a film festival with Mr Romero.´
´So?´
´Saturday used to be the DVD evening for Her Majesty and Mr Romero.´
´A festival only comes once a year.´
Sebastian shrugged. ´She seemed a bit tense.´
´Annoyed by your and Jean's suggestions perhaps?´
Sebastian chewed his potatoes.
´Nervous for the state visit?´ Sheila suggested.
´To her friend's country? Jean is nervous all right. It's his first visit as a Minister.´
Sheila didn't care much for Jean's anxieties. ´Maybe the Queen asked Mr Romero to bring her aid to the festival: that way people might think that instead of being married to her he's dating Miss Kutaway!´
´If that was her plan, it wasn't picked up, was it? No paper or magazine mentioned it.´
´For a bodyguard and a secretary won't feed gossip.´ Sheila sighed. ´Why do you think she is tense?´
´It's been hard on her. Tittle Tattle is quiet now, but that Penworthy woman can't get enough of the whole thing. The Luna affair wasn't half as bad compared to this.´
´Speaking of which: has Jean suggested Queen Beatrix to hide her head of the military house?´
´He is not suicidal dear.´
Sheila nearly spit her wine. Sebastian merely smiled while she laughed. He wasn't sure about the nature of the relationship between Her Majesty and her head of security but even if they were just friends, he would welcome it when a battalion of photographers would catch the Dutch general glancing at Queen Clarisse with the same appreciation he had shown her months ago.
OoOoOoO
When it came to places to make love to Joseph the Queen had never considered the castle. It was therefore illogical to look at her bed and think that he shunned it.
´But he does,´ she whispered. ´In a way he does.´
She understood that Joseph needed time to think but she was sorry that it was easier for him to set his thoughts straight when she wasn't near. A shiver ran down her spine when she pictured his options. If there was no us in the future, would he even stay?
She caressed the wooden bed frame and walked to the bathroom where she tried to brush her teeth with her left hand. It wasn't the first time she did it but it wasn't getting easier. Taking over the toothbrush with her right hand, her other hand wiped away a tear.
OoOoOoO
Teballi, walking next to his boss, wondered aloud whether something was wrong. Why after all would the Queen have rescheduled their meeting? Joe knew all too well why she had done it. A week ago Teballi had dutifully reported to Her Majesty that after working for the entire morning Mr Romero was too tired to attend the security meeting regarding the upcoming state visit. Today he would have done the same, if only the Queen had not sent word at nine in the morning that she expected to see them in ten minutes.
For the past weeks Joe had seen the Queen as a combination of pixels on a monitor or in a picture and it was a bit of a shock to see her live, in full colour. She welcomed them charmingly, thanked them for their timely arrival and gestured Teballi to sit on the left chair opposite her desk. Joe took the other chair. Her Majesty inquired after his health. He replied.
The first point on the agenda was handled by the Queen and Teballi. Joe's mind was elsewhere: he had a good view on the pictures to Clarisse's right. One of them showed her late husband and her sons and another showed her and several crowned heads but Joe's eye was caught by a large picture of Queen Clarisse and Queen Beatrix.
´Is something the matter Joseph?´ the Queen's voice interrupted his thoughts. She glanced over her right shoulder. ´Oh,´ she said as if she'd made a discovery, ´Perhaps you haven't seen it before?´
´No, I haven't ma'am.´
´But you remember it, don't you?´
Teballi would think that the Queen was checking whether his boss's memory really was up and running, but Joe knew better.
´It shows you and the Queen of the Netherlands re-opening El Chalet,´ he said.
The Queen nodded. ´We had a lovely time there.´
Teballi would assume that we meant the Queen and her royal friend. Joe knew it meant Clarisse and Joseph. As for lovely… Making love to Clarisse had been lovely. If lovely also meant mind-blowing and heavenly and pass-.
Joe broke off his trail of thought. It took a few moments before he caught up with the topic at hand.
OoOoOoO
The Queen visiting a community centre in a small town normally didn't make it to the national newspapers, even if said centre celebrated its 50th anniversary. The chief editors of both Genovian Daily and New Antiem Times had been told by a reliable source that Mr Romero would re-appear on the occasion and as a result the Queen's arrival wasn't covered by local media only. Photographers were not allowed inside the community centre but members of the writing press were. Mr Alba and Mr Mercier, though working for rival papers, had found each other and like two men of the world they commented the fact that the invitees were nervous. When the royal limousines arrived people used their elbows to secure a good spot near a window.
´She's wearing Dietrich pants and a bolero. Very elegant,´ a woman who stood near the journalists told her smaller friend. ´So many photographers: it must be painful to her eyes. Oh look, isn't that Joe Romero?! Poor man, can't be nice for him, can it?´
´Not for her either Brigitte,´ Brigitte's friend said.
´No. But she is used to that kind of crap. Oh, there she comes!´
The Queen entered the building and Alba and Mercier observed that she had a way to make people feel comfortable. They noticed that Mr Romero quietly stood aside, occasionally communicating with his men. Several people looked at him and then started chatting among themselves, but his expression remained unreadable. He looked at the Queen from time to time, but only when a new group of people was introduced to her.
A woman wearing a T-shirt with the text L'union fait la force golden jubilee came over to see Brigitte and her friend.
´And? And?´ Brigitte asked her.
Beaming with joy the woman said: ´It was fantastic. She is so kind! And she even knew that my grandfather was one of the initiators of the centre!´
She continued talking about Her Majesty until she noticed an old lady addressing a balding man dressed in black. ´That's him, isn't it?´
´Yes,´ Brigitte said without the excitement that had coloured her voice when she'd first spotted the bodyguard. ´And he's on duty; that old tart should leave him alone. Oh, look: he's sending her away already. Nicely done.´
The three invitees and the two reporters all glanced from Romero to their Queen.
´No, they're definitely not married,´ Brigitte concluded. ´I really hope the media will leave her alone now. It lasted long enough as it is.´
Brigitte's friends couldn't agree more.
Mr Alba and Mr Mercier, who normally covered sessions of Parliament, keenly felt that their assignment to spy on the Queen and Romero was beneath them.
´The voice of the country spoke,´ Mr Mercier whispered to his colleague.
OoOoOoO
The clock stroke five times and Maurice walked to the terrace doors.
´I know,´ his Mistress said, ´It is time for our walk.´
So far she had not run into Joseph in the gardens. She had feared that he kept away from her as if to say "We're done" and she feared to walk into him and be told that he would leave her. She had not cancelled the walks though. After returning from the community centre and in the presence of her aide-de-camp and her lady-in-waiting she had told Joseph that if he had issues with his working schedule he should not hesitate to tell her so. It was a hidden invitation to come to her office but he hadn't shown up.
Folding the paper she'd been reading she rose to take Maurice out. She was content with the way the media had covered Joseph's reappearance. It was mentioned that he was present, but only Genovian Daily showed a picture of him and New Antiem Times even had a background story about the importance of community centres.
The Queen took her usual route. It led from the rose garden into the English garden into the forest and back to the castle via the kitchen-garden. Clarisse could already see the reflection of sunlight on the green house at the edge of the forest when Maurice barked in a special way. It took her eighteen steps to reach a clearing where she saw the man her dog had sensed already. He had his back to her and used a trunk to step up and down and up and down.
Clarisse was sure that even if Maurice hadn't announced her arrival, Joseph had sensed her presence. He always did. It was one of the things about him that made her feel special.
´Hello Joseph.´
'The stubburn man stopped exercising as if he'd only just realised her presence. He turned around and greeted her. Clarisse walked toward him, followed by Maurice.
´Will I ever be able to introduce you to my family as my partner?´ Joseph whispered.
When Clarisse remained silent Joseph picked up a branch. Maurice barked, ready to play. Joseph, using his left arm, threw the branch, the dog retrieved it and as the three of them walked toward the castle, this game was repeated. Clarisse had just found courage to speak when she spotted a gardener.
´No Maurice, no more throwing,´ Joseph said. ´Her Majesty won't have you ruin the plants.´
OoOoOoO
Another gardener later on told the cook that the Queen had asked Mr Romero how his arm was doing and that he had replied that it felt fragile and that the Queen had said that things of value are always fragile.
´Things of value are fragile,´ the cook softly repeated. ´And an arm is a thing of value. I never realised it but it's true.´
´Mr Romero thought so too. He said he was happy that his arm could be mended.´
´Indeed! What did she say?´
´That many things can be mended, if only you don't mind an imperfection here and there.´
´Like that vase in her office! Of course you've never seen it, but it's from Iceland. The president of that country gave it to her and a butler accidentally broke it, but she wasn't angry or anything, she said that a little glue would do miracles. Did you hear what Mr Romero replied?´
´When the vase was broken?´
´No! In the garden!´
´Oh right. Well… don't think he said anything.´
´He probably nodded. For he too is wise. Well, I'm glad that the papers are no longer obsessed by them. There's a nice article in Pyran Courier about the friendship between the Queen and Queen Beatrix. I think the Queen will enjoy seeing her.´
OoOoOoO
Several courtiers waited for the Queen to arrive for the final meeting before the state visit.
´It really is kind of Her Majesty to allow you to stay in Genovia to look after your sister and niece,´ viscountess Margoli told Miss Kutaway. ´When I was born my father served overseas as well, but naturally my mother had a nanny and maids to help her.´
´I'm sure you're going to do just fine acting as the Queen's secretary,´ Charlotte soothingly told the lady-in-waiting. ´After all you only have to perform the basic tasks.´
´Have you brought pictures of your niece with you?´ the viscountess replied. She had been told that the baby was rather ugly.
Charlotte proudly passed photos of her niece in her sister's arms, her niece in her arms, her niece in a cradle and her niece in a cradle with a stuffed animal. Caroline Margoli's mood improved for the baby was indeed unattractive. She handed the pictures to count Rossano, the head of the military house.
´I meant to ask you Mr Romero,´ the Viscountess said, ´Normally your second-in-command remains in Genovia when Her Majesty goes abroad.´
After a moment's silence Joe replied: ´Your question being?´
Hearing the sound of high heels nearby the lady-in-waiting hasted to say: ´I wondered if his coming along means that you're planning to retire.´
´I'll just put these here shall I?´ the head of the military house said as he placed Charlotte's pictures in front of the empty chair to his right.
The Queen entered, seated herself next to the count and motioned everyone to sit down.
´Oh, you've brought pictures of Juliette,´ she said to Charlotte.
Charlotte smiled brightly. ´That's my sister ma'am,´ she redundantly said as she gestured toward the top picture.
´She's obviously very happy,´ the Queen remarked.
Joe struggled with himself: was it appropriate to make his point here and now?
´I'm not retiring yet viscountess,´ he said at the same time the Queen fondly commented Juliette's bright eyes. ´But I think that prince Philippe's coronation would be the moment for me to leave.´
The Queen didn't comment the next picture. Looking at the third picture she said: ´Juliette has a fine head of hair.´
´So had I at that age Your Majesty,´ the bald count revealed with an uncharacteristic sense of humour. ´It proves that one can't predict the future.´