The following morning.
At The Palace.
"Shades have you seen Mom or Joe?" Pierre asked coming down the stairs
"not since last night, Prince" Shades answered
"hmm ok" he said walking into the kitchen "Charlotte, please tell me you have seen Mom? or even Joe this morning?"
"no I haven't, why?" Charlotte asked
"well because she's due to have a meeting in like a half hour and she's not here, I went to remind her in the suite where she and Joe normally have breakfast and no one was there" he said getting some coffee
"well maybe they went for a walk?" Charlotte wondered
"I don't think so" he said sitting down "their bed hasn't been slept in"
"how do you no?" she asked
"because it still has the papers on the bed that I put on there last night, in the same place too" he said looking at her "should we send out a search party? they have never disappeared without telling anyone before" he said worried
"leave it a while and see if they turn up, if they haven't by noon then we will" Charlotte nodded "but she's with Joe so she will be safe I am sure" she said looking at him
"I hope your right, Charlotte" Pierre answered
Meanwhile In A Hotel Room, Somewhere In Genovia.
Clarisse came out from the bathroom with a smile after seeing Joe was awake "good morning" she smiled walking over to the bed
"are you dressed already?" he asked sitting up on the bed
"of course" she said putting her watch on "we have to leave soon, I have a meeting at the Palace in 25 minutes" she chuckled "I am already going to be late as it takes 20 minute's to drive home" she moved and sat on the bed
"are you ok?" he asked "I mean you don't regret last night do you?" he ran his hand up his arm
"of course not, do you?" she said looking at him
"nope" he kissed her "as long as your happy, then I'm happy" he smiled
"well I am happy" she nodded looking at him "now come on you, we need to get going?" she said standing up and slipped on her shoes
"ok" he watched her and chuckled
"Grammy" Amelia said rushing over as they came in the door
"hello darling" she smiled bending over and gave her a hug "I missed you" she kissed her then hugged her again
"missed you too" she smiled looking at her "Uncle Perry been looking for you" she smiled and ran off
"ok" Clarisse chuckled watching her then stood up
"where have you been?" Pierre said appearing in the hall "the Prime Minister is waiting for you and he arrived in a mood so I hate to think what it's like now"
"well he will have to wait some more as I need to have a shower and get changed" she answered heading towards the stairs
"Mom, you can't?" Pierre said watching her "he's waiting"
"of course I can" she answered "I am the Queen after all" she laughed heading up the stairs
When the meeting was finished the Prime Minister left, in an even worse mood than what he was when he arrived, Clarisse couldn't help but chuckle to herself. She finished signing some paper work when she heard a knock on the door, she lifted her head with a sigh.
"come" she said looking towards the door to see who it was coming in when she saw who it was she put the pen down and stood up "what are you doing here?" she said
"please, I wondered if we could talk?" Mary said "I promise I won't start, I just want to talk"
Clarisse looked at her for a few seconds then found herself nodding "please" she said extending her arm to the chair "sit down" she watched as she headed over to the table "can I get you anything? tea? coffee?" she asked
"no thank you, I won't be staying long" Mary said sitting down
"ok" Clarisse watched her sit down then she sat back down in her chair "so what do you want to talk to me about?" she asked resting her arms together on the table in front of her
"well first I just want to say, thank you for letting me talk to you" Mary said looking at her as Clarisse nodded once
"does Joseph no that you are here?" Clarisse asked
"oh gosh no" Mary shook her head
"how did you get in then?" Clarisse asked
"Paul I think, I said I wanted to see Joseph about something" Mary answered "and after I have talked with you, I shall go and see him"
"ok" Clarisse said taking of her glasses and rubbed her forehead "so what exactly is it you want to talk to me about?" she asked again
"well I wanted to apologize for what I said yesterday, it was very wrong of me and after Joseph had words with me last night then Robert this morning I came to my senses" she said looking at her "I am very sorry Clarisse, for everything... I was out of order and should have seen that you make my son happy" she nodded "and that he makes you happy, see Robert pointed out to me all the times you was photographed with King Rupert and you didn't look happy at all, then since you began the relationship with Joseph you changed and could see it in everything you did" she paused "only I couldn't and I am sorry for that" she paused as Clarisse just looked at her "and for saying that the baby was probably Rupert's was wrong too, I hurt Joseph by saying that and I know I hurt you too" she looked at her "I know its going to take a while to move on but one day I hope that you can forgive me" Mary asked
Clarisse shrugged "one day, maybe" she said looking at her "you hurt me and all I wanted was for us to get a long"
"I know that now and I am sorry" she said looking at her
"I love your son with all my heart Mrs Romano" she looked down "in fact so much so" she said looking back up "we nearly got married last night"
"what?" Mary gasped
"we got to my friends house who was going to marry us and I changed my mind, not because I don't love him, far from that as I can't wait to marry him but because it just didn't feel right" she said looking at her "I wanted my family there, and his too including you" she looked down for a second as Mary looked at her "he has had my heart since we was 17 years old, and he will forever have my heart" she nodded slowly
"I understand, and I must admit that was a shock when you told us that yesterday as we had no idea" Mary said looking at her "oh we knew he had a first love but he never told us who, he just said she had to move away then he started working for you, we never heard of it again till yesterday" she half smiled "he was a very private person growing up, didn't share much at all" she nodded a little looking back at Clarisse
"I love him so much Mrs Romano" she said looking at her "he is my life and I can't wait to become his wife and have his baby"
"I know" Mary nodded "well you have my blessing" she whispered
Clarisse looked at her in surprise "really?"
"yes, really" Mary nodded "I just wish I had seen it sooner"
"well thank you and thanks for coming and talking to me today" Clarisse nodded
"thanks to you for seeing me, after yesterday I expected you to throw me out" she said standing up
"I nearly did, believe me" Clarisse answered
"I wouldn't of blamed you, I deserve it" she said looking at her "I am going to talk to Joseph now, thank you again" she said and headed over to the door
Clarisse sat and watched her walk out her office, and slumped in her chair for a few minutes with a sigh then grabbed her jacket and went for a walk around the gardens to think about everything. As she headed over to the stables Pierre stood on the stairs watching her.
"Hi Pierre" Joe said coming out the door
"hi" he said still watching Clarisse then looked at him "she seems lost?" he said looking back towards Clarisse
Joe looked then looked at Pierre "she does, I will go and talk to her in a minute" he said putting his hands on the wall of the stairs and took a deep breath
"whats wrong? you haven't fallen out have you?" Pierre asked standing next to him
"oh god no" Joe said shaking his head and looked at him "we had a visit from my Mom"
"oh" Pierre said looking out at the gardens "did she start again?"
"no" he shook his head "she gave us her blessing actually"
"wow really?" Pierre exclaimed looking at him
"yea it took me by surprise and Mom said it did Clarisse too" Joseph said looking at him then turned resting back against the wall "I want to ask you something" Joe looked at him
"of course, ask away" Pierre nodded stepping back and folded his arms
"when me and your Mom get married" he looked at Pierre as he nodded "will you be my best man?"
Pierre smirked "really?"
"of course" he nodded "I can't think of anyone better"
"then yes I would love to" Pierre smiled shaking his hand "thanks for asking, I am honored"
"great, then you need to keep hold of this" he said taking a box out of his pocket and looked at it for a second then handed it to him "keep it safe, and make sure it isn't somewhere where your Mom can find it"
"ok" he said looking at the box then back at him "can I have a look?" he asked being curious
"of course" he answered turning around again and rested his hands on top of the wall in front of him and scanned the gardens quickly
Pierre slowly opened the box "holy moly, wow" Pierre exclaimed as Joe looked back at him with a chuckle "that is beautiful" he said about to take it out but changed his mind and closed the box "where did you get it?"
"it was my Grandmothers, my Mom gave it me today" he said looking back at him
"wow she really has accepted her hasn't she?" Pierre asked patting his back
"yes she has" he said looking out at the gardens again "I can't wait to give it to her" he nodded a little "I just hope she will like it"
"oh I can tell you now, she will love it" he said having another look then looked at Joe and smiled putting the box in his pocket "and don't worry it's safe with me"
"thanks Pierre" Joe nodded a little "well I am going to go and check on your Mom, be back later" he said heading down the stairs.
He slowly walked over to the stables where Clarisse was heading. When he reached them he stopped hearing her talking to someone, he peered around the wall and saw her with her horse giving her a bit of carrot then rubbed her nose. He slowly walked over to them and put his hand on her back.
"are you ok?" he asked and gave her a kiss
"yea" she nodded still rubbing Sugars nose "I really miss riding her" she said giving her another bit of carrot
"I think she misses it too" Joe said rubbing Sugars neck "but don't worry the staff are making sure she gets her ride everyday" watching as Clarisse ran her hand up between Sugars ears and took one in her hand gently rubbing it
"I am glad shes getting her ride" she smiled giving Sugar another bit of carrot then looked at Joe "did you see your Mom?"
"I did and she's given us her blessing" he smiled
"indeed" she smiled back for a second then brushed her hands of "see you later Sugar" she smiled taking Joe's hand as they started walking slowly away "I think we need to go shopping?" she smiled looking at him
"what for?" Joe asked as she stopped "Clarisse?" he asked looking at her
"as" she said putting her hands on her bump "this bump is getting bigger, I need to get some cloths that are going to fit" she giggled as he stepped closer putting his arms around her shoulders and kissed her
"that we can do right now" he smiled as she put her arms around his waist "but what if people saw you buying such cloths" he said studying her face
"Oh I don't care anymore, they need to find out soon anyway" she smiled
"ok come on" he said and they started walking towards the Palace as he left his arm around her shoulders
"yay" she chuckled taking his hand as it rested over her shoulder
"god I love you" he smiled leaning in and kissed her as they carried on walking slowly and he placed his hand on her bump
They headed back to the Palace as Pierre watched them, Joe chuckled and nuzzled Clarisse's neck as they carried on walking back making her laugh out and put her hand on his torso.
They let Pierre know where they was going, Joe grabbed his keys and they left, taking Amelia with them.
After a few hours they came home, going straight for dinner with everyone else. Then Clarisse and Joe headed up to their suite, as Joe sat reading on the bed Clarisse had a soak in the bath.
Joe looked up seeing her come from the bathroom rubbing her hair with the towel "did you have a nice bath?"
she looked over at him with a smile "I did, thank you" she sat down at her dressing table "you reading again?" she smirked
"of course" he said looking back at the book as she started brushing her hair
"I was thinking" she said standing up and walked over to the bed as he looked up again
"hmm what about" he asked closing his book as she climbed on the bed next to him
"the wedding" she said brushing her hair again "when shall we get married?"
"well" he started while putting his hand on her back "how about the day before your birthday" she looked at him "this year"
"but" she stopped while thinking a second then smiled "ok, why not" she smiled and lent over and kissed him
"good" he smiled as she sat back up "see I know you like to celebrate your birthday every year" he said rubbing her back again "and if we got married the day before it, it would be a double celebration every year" he chuckled
"I do like your thinking" she smiled putting her brush down
"oh" he said leaning to the side for a second and grabbed a gift bag "while you was busy when we was out shopping me and Amelia managed to get this for you" he said handing her the bag
"aww thank you" she smiled looking inside to see a winnie the pooh teddy "aww" she took it out
"its for the baby, from Amelia" he smiled
"awww the baby's first teddy" she chuckled "thank you" she lent over placing her hand on his thigh "I love it" she whispered and kissed him a couple times then moved and snuggled up to him "can't wait to find out what we are having" she smiled still holding the teddy
"neither can I" he smiled against her hair "I think it's going to be a girl"
"I bet its a boy" she said tipping her head back and looked up at him
"a boy would be nice, but a girl would be better" he lowered his head "a mini Clari" he smirked and kissed her
They spent the rest of the night talking about the baby and the wedding.