Turning fully to her husband, Clarisse let out a sigh and closed her eyes for the briefest of moments before turning and walking back out of the suite. "Grandma?" Mia said, taking a step forward to follow her but stopped when Joseph put his hand up.
"No Mia, I'll go," he said softly and turned to the door, "Clarisse, wait," he exclaimed, hurrying out of the suite after her, and closing up the door behind them.
Stopping in the hall, Clarisse turned to him and put a hand up onto her forehead, her other hand on her hip. "I knew something was going on. It all makes sense now, of course, it does." She nodded.
"What makes sense?" Joseph asked and watched as Clarisse lowered her hands and looked at him.
"All the little things that have happened, you both slipping up in the foyer earlier this evening when you said you would see Mia later and how she reacted, and then when I asked you what that was all about you said you didn't know what I meant?" She said and put her hands on her hips as Joseph nodded. "The message to Shades when we were getting ready to come back. It wasn't to Shades at all, was it? It was to Mia, letting her know that we would be here soon."
"Okay, I am guilty. I did slip up in the foyer, and it was Mia who I messaged," he said as he slowly walked over to stand in front of her.
"And your reluctance just now, when I tried to undo your trousers?" Clarisse asked as she studied his face.
"Yes, guilty of that too," he nodded. "But in my defence, I was being sincere then. Any member of staff could have come through this hallway at any moment, and I really didn't want them to see me with my trousers around my ankles, or worse, see us engaged in anything other than kissing, like it nearly very did, given the chance," he said with a mischievous smirk and watched as she couldn't help but laugh, knowing how right he was, and shook her head before looking back up at him more seriously.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Clarisse exclaimed as she looked up into his eyes.
"Because I was sworn to secrecy, that's why," Joseph said, watching as Clarisse turned her head to the side. As if she was mulling over what had happened. "Please don't be mad."
"I'm not mad," Clarisse said and shook her head.
"You are mad," he said and reached his hands out, slipping them under her jacket and onto her sides. "I know you and I know when you are mad."
"I am not mad," Clarisse said again, more sternly this time, as she averted her gaze to him.
"You are, I can tell," he smirked.
"Alright fine, I am a little mad, yes, but I'm more embarrassed than anything," she said and finally looked up at her husband. "I'm embarrassed over what they saw. If I had known that they were in there waiting for us I wouldn't have behaved that way. But what about you? You may have been reluctant when we first got to the door because you knew. But you really didn't help in the end."
"I know I didn't, and that's because I got so caught up with the need to be with you, like you were with me, that I forgot where we were and what was waiting for us," he said, a small smile forming on his lips as she put her hands up onto his arms. "But there is absolutely no need to be embarrassed. They are grown adults and know already what we've been up to. They aren't silly."
"I know, but," Clarisse said, feeling her cheeks burning as she once again looked away. "It's my granddaughter and son in there, they didn't need to see me like that. They didn't need to see us like that."
"Maybe not, and yes I know all this kind of attention is different to you, that it's new too," he said, smiling down at her, her face still turned away, "but there is no need to be worried about what they think. Mia has already told you that."
Turning her head to finally look back up at him, Clarisse took her bottom lip between her teeth. He was right, she knew he was. But it didn't help how she was feeling. "I thought, now that we are married, that they might see us, you know, maybe snuggled on the sofa, or perhaps walking hand in hand or even sharing a quick kiss here and there. I really didn't want them to see us being that intimate and kissing the way we were with our tongues down each other's throats, and you groping my bottom. Oh god, they saw you groping my bottom," she exclaimed and put a hand up to cover her eyes as Joseph chuckled. "They really didn't need to see that. And they wouldn't have seen that had I known they were there," she said and let out a sigh of frustration as she lowered her hand from her face and looked away once again.
"You really need to stop worrying," Joseph said softly, trying his best to reassure her. "I'm not."
"I do though, and I will continue to do so," Clarisse said as she looked back up at him. "It's not the image I wanted them to have of me. Being so amorous."
"What, the image of you being madly in love you mean? Clarisse, you are human, and in love. We both are. They expect it." Joseph said matter of factly and looked into her eyes. "You can't hide it forever."
"But that sort of thing should be kept in the privacy of our suite, nowhere else," Clarisse said and watched as Joseph shook his head. "Or when no one else is around like I thought there wasn't."
"Like us making love outside, you mean," he laughed and watched her close her eyes, the thought that her granddaughter, or her son, could have caught them in a much more compromising position than they were in when they stumbled through the door just a short time ago. "Being here at the palace with all your staff, anyone could have come along then too."
"I know," Clarisse said, her voice barely a whisper, and opened her eyes to look back up at him as he laughed. "It's not funny, Joseph, that was different. Yes, there was a chance someone could have come along, but we knew that they wouldn't. Not when they all knew we were there."
"Not necessarily, someone could have still come along," Joseph said and watched as she looked away. "Then what would we have done?"
"It doesn't bear thinking about," Clarisse said and put a hand up onto her cheek at the thought of their carefree, spontaneous behaviour out in her rose garden.
"I have just realised something, and please correct me if I'm wrong," he said, looking into her eyes as she lowered her hand from her cheek and placed it back on his arm. "You have spent most of your life as Queen, had to follow strict rules and live a life in a world where public displays of affection were frowned upon among Royalty. You had an image to uphold day in and day out. You couldn't live a carefree life without fear of it being reported in the papers the next day that you were either losing your marbles or it being made out to be some great big scandal. And then, of course, you were married to a man who didn't know what affection was if it slapped him in the face," he said and smiled as she laughed a little. "You are not that person anymore, Clarisse. You are now the new carefree Clarisse, that going from our earlier escapades out in the rose garden, is starting to live her life the way that she wants. And how she wants."
"You're right," Clarisse nodded and smiled up at him. "It's because of that, why I'm worried so much, it's been drummed into me my whole life. Well that and being the age we are. Should we really be behaving that way at our age."
"Hell yeah we should, we are allowed to act and behave any way we so please," Joseph said and they both laughed. "As I said earlier, love knows no bounds. And after all, age is just a number."
"Oh I love you," Clarisse said as she looked up into his eyes before reaching up to kiss him. "You always know the right things to say."
"And I love you too," he smiled and studied her face a moment. "We will just have to make sure that we are more careful in future."
"Oh you can count on that," Clarisse laughed as Joseph smiled at her.
"Come on, shall we go back inside now?" He asked and watched as she took a deep breath.
"Must we? I would much rather it be just the two of us," Clarisse said.
"I know, I do too, but it's just a little something Mia wanted to do for us since we missed the celebrations last night. She wanted us to have a little party, our own wedding reception, with only her, Pierre, Lilly, Charlotte and Nick," Joseph said as he snaked his hands from her sides to her back. "I promise that it won't be for long, then once they have gone we can get back to what we started."
Biting her lip and tilting her head to the side, Clarisse looked up at her husband a moment and nodded. "Alright, but I need to put my shoes back on first."
"Okay," he smiled and took a step back, slipping his hands in his pants pockets as he watched her walk back over to the door where her shoes were and put her hand up onto the doorframe to balance herself while carefully slipping her feet into her shoes. "Oh, while I think of it, remember to leave your scarf on when you take off your jacket," he said and walked over to her as she turned back to him.
"Right. Leave scarf on," Clarisse nodded, making a mental note to herself, as he stood in front of her and reached out for her hand, bringing it up to his mouth to kiss the back of it before stepping closer and giving her a quick kiss. "Actually you know what, no, I'm going to take the scarf off. This is my life now, so they better get used to it."
"Attagirl," Joseph laughed and they made their way back inside.
But walking through the door and seeing everyone in the room rise to their feet and look over at them she quickly changed her mind. The scarf, for now, was staying safely around her neck. Smiling, she leant to the side and whispered to her husband. "Maybe later."
"Okay," Joseph whispered back and smiled, knowing exactly what she was referring to.
Thoughts? Please do let me know ;) it's much appreciated.