August 2027: The Coronation Part IV.
Along the street, Thad was sitting in the kitchen of Nick and Jeff's house, watching a television documentary on the Coronation of the late Queen, Caleb on his lap, sound asleep. The pageantry of the ceremony was being explained, the black and white footage interspersed with interviews with the handful of people still living that had been there on that day in June 1953. That group was indeed small, but one of them was the youngest of her cousins, the Duke of Gloucester, who would be at the Coronation of her son as well. There was naturally a photograph of the man in question on the day of that long ago Coronation, dressed in a kilt, and that made Thad smile.
Despite being the cousin of the late Queen, he was only four years older than the new monarch himself; the King had been at his mother's Coronation of course, but his younger sister had not been, far too young for the event which had her brother bored and yawning between his grandmother and aunt. Her only appearance in the film was at a window as the carriage left to take her mother to the ceremony, and on the balcony at the end. Now, however, the Princess Royal had a major role to play, something that the late Queen's sister had not enjoyed back in the 1950s, a time when men dominated the whole of the proceedings.
There was a rumour that she would be on horseback after the event in the procession, not in a carriage like the rest of the family; it was not a total surprise when you recalled that she had competed for her country in the equestrian events of the 1976 Olympics. She had not been amongst the medal winners, but her daughter had achieved that in her own turn. Thad had to admit that he had a great admiration for Princess Anne; she was dedicated and hard-working, the notion of duty that her late mother had instilled into her children strong. Her own two children had never been Prince and Princess, as she had known that due to the way succession to the throne had worked in her day, her younger brothers and their children would succeed them. In many ways, she was the perfect example of a 'spare', supporting those around her in all they did, and many other people could learn from her example.
As the program came to an end, he felt the familiar draught, and looked up expecting to see his husband in the room; to his surprise, however, it was Seth. "I hope that you aren't too disappointed that it is me that has come to see you," the newest of the angels began. "Wes was all set to come himself, but then he was summoned to see Elizabeth over an issue that has arisen. It isn't anything major, but it has to be dealt with now, so that does mean that he won't be able to join you tonight."
"I am never disappointed to see any of you," said Thad with a smile. "True, my husband brings with him the added bonus of snuggle time, but I think that Caleb might have objected to having to move for that to take place."
Seth laughed at that, then took a seat next to Thad on the sofa. "Wes was coming tonight to inform you that there is someone that might be about to join our little circle that can see angels, but unfortunately the person in question is not the one that you would wish for most…"
Thad nodded, knowing that Ollie was unlikely to ever join their happy band. "I am not surprised, and I have doubt that will ever happen. A combination of my parents' attitude to all things connected to religion and heaven, plus the practical rigours of medical school seem to be enough to kill any chance stone dead. I take it that it is someone that I know though?"
"Shall we just say that Blaine had a few words to say to the lady in question today in the dome of St Paul's…"
Thad thought for a moment, then exclaimed, "His mother! Well, that is a shock, and no mistake, given all that has happened in the past. If she can be persuaded, then maybe Ollie isn't a total lost cause after all…"
Seth smiled at the excited look on the face of the Head Warbler at that prospect. He knew that Thad was close to his brother, but he was also privy to one of the biggest secrets that existed within their circle of friends, namely that the man in front of him was a father. It had been revealed to him by accident; Wes had left the file that was kept on his husband lying open on his desk when he was summoned to an emergency meeting by Elizabeth, and Seth as his assistant had come into the room, saw it on the desk and went to put it away. As he closed it, he saw the name and the word yes in the box regarding children; he knew that he should have immediately closed it and convinced himself he was mistaken, but his curiosity had been peaked, so he re-opened it and read the lines below the word yes. He had been standing there with his mouth wide open and the file in his hand when Wes came back into the room…
Wes had not blamed Seth for looking, blaming himself entirely for leaving the file on the desk in the first place. As the younger angel had shivered in fear, Wes had taken the file from him, put it back in the cabinet, then sat him down. He told him the whole story, then swore him to secrecy. "Elizabeth knows, but she is the only other angel we know that does. In the mortal realms, Trent managed to do the math, and came up with the correct answer whilst Michelle was pregnant, but what he suspects has never been confirmed in words by Thad or the lady herself. They both know that the other side knows, however. For Ollie's sake it has to remain a secret; you know how men can be about these things…"
"I won't tell anyone, I promise, least of all your husband," Seth replied. "If it does ever come out, then I will act as surprised as everyone else will be."
Recalling that promise to Wes now, he came back to the present and said to Thad, "Stranger things have happened, but as you are only too well aware he will have to be in the right frame of mind and will have to want to believe in all of it. Pam is currently in a situation she never even contemplated herself being in, and meeting people that her son would have wanted to meet given the chance. That has stirred up her memories of Blaine; she realises that he would have been so excited to see her at the Coronation. Standing there, surrounded by the glories of St Paul's Cathedral, she was able to return to the Christian beliefs that she was raised with on top of that. Blaine saw his opportunity, and went for it…"
As Thad relaxed back on the sofa, full of happiness for Blaine and indeed his mother, across in Murray Hill many people were just arriving home, those with careers in medicine or the arts. Mason was the first of that group to reach his front door, and he entered the house to find Jane alone in the sitting room, their son sound asleep in his bed. Before he could ask, she said, "Your sister is out on a date with Matthew; they were having dinner with his mother."
Mason nodded, knowing that at first, the relationship between his sister and her future mother-in-law had been a fraught one; Matthew's mother thought that Madison was far too old for her boy. It had taken time, but his sister had managed to win Mrs Johnson over; she realised that her son was happy with her and decided that she should give them her blessing. Mason wished that he could say the same was true about her relationship with Matthew's sister, but you couldn't win them all first time… Turning to his wife, he asked, "How was your day?"
Jane shrugged, and replied, "Much the same as ever if I am being honest with you, but that is going to change. My boss called, and they want me to go back into the office a couple of days a week as of next month. There is an excellent creche facility in the building, so that will free us from any worries over childcare. Now, more importantly, how did your audition go this afternoon?"
Mason smiled, and replied, "Extremely well, or at least I think so. I was quite startled at first when they introduced one of the panel as the actual grandson of the author of the play, but he was one of the most impressed of them all at the end of my piece. They have promised to let me know before 3pm tomorrow; however, before I left, they asked me for confirmation of the date on which I could start, and that is usually taken as an extremely good sign in these things. I can honestly say that this part is one of the most exciting prospects I have had in a long time, because it is for a lead role in such an iconic play…"
Jane nodded, fully aware that this was a really big deal for her husband; they had actually seen the show in London, but until now it had never been performed professionally on Broadway. The announcement that was about to change had caused fever amongst so many in the theater community, the parts amongst the most coveted in decades. The discussion had even seen Sebastian weighing in from Ohio, lamenting the fact that he was not there, and indeed threatening to come out of retirement if required to play one of the major parts…
Not far away from Mason and Jane's home, the next home that evening was Roderick, tired but happy after a successful day both in the classroom and on the hospital wards. He had taken a set of exams the previous week as part of his move to the next level up in his nursing career, and the results had been fed back to him and the others in the group that morning. He had passed with the highest marks in the class on all three papers, and once the series of ongoing practical observations was complete, he should be able to qualify as a Nurse Practitioner, the next step up from his current role as a Registered Nurse. There were several vacancies for that role in the hospital he worked in, and he had been promised one would be his in the department he currently worked in.
At the same time, he was continuing to write his regular column for the nursing journal; it had always been popular, but it had become an even bigger deal when his words had been quoted by the Vice-President herself at the recent launch of the next phase of the overhaul of the health care system in the nation. That his column might be useful had been a suggestion from Trent to the lady in question, but she had written the speech herself.
Of course, that had started a flurry of work offers for Roderick, with several of the other major medical journals contacting him and trying to get him to move over to them, but he had declined them all. It had given him great satisfaction to do so in one case, as the publishing house behind it had been one of those that had not even bothered to acknowledge his application to them when he had been trying to pursue a career in journalism.
He arrived home to be greeted by the dog, and then by his smiling wife. She let him hang up his jacket, then guided him into the kitchen where she had a light supper ready for them both. "I have two bits of news for you this evening," Hillary said as she sat down beside her husband at the table. "Firstly, Barnaby has arranged a day for the suit fittings for the groomsmen, and he hopes that you will be free on the date in question. Secondly, I went to my doctor this morning, and he confirmed my suspicions that we are going to be parents early in the New Year…"
"Did Barnaby say when the suit fit… Wait, what did you say!?", exclaimed Roderick, who had barely been paying attention until then.
"I said that you should be a father in the first few months of next year, my dear husband. I haven't said anything until now because I know how much you want to be a dad, and I didn't want to raise your hopes and then have them dashed. However, the doctor says that all is progressing as it should be, and I should be delivering our baby sometime in late January or early February."
"That is pretty much what I thought you said," whispered Roderick. "We are going to be parents…" Then he pulled her into a hug, and began to smother her with kisses, which made her laugh…
When he finally stopped, she took a breath, then said, "There is just one thing that I want to do concerning our upcoming parenthood; I want us to keep it to ourselves until September. Barnaby felt that we upstaged his wedding by getting married in January, and the last thing I would want is for him to feel we did it again by announcing that we are pregnant. He took a while to get over the feeling that we overshadowed him by getting hitched; I don't think he would ever forgive us for upstaging him by telling the world we are expecting days before his big day."
Roderick smiled, and replied, "I suppose I can agree to that, and thankfully I have had some experience in keeping quiet when it comes to this sort of thing. This time will be harder, I admit, because right at this moment I want to scream the news of my forthcoming fatherhood from the rooftops…"
Hillary smiled at just how excited he looked, then went on, "In answer to your original question, the fitting is on Saturday at 11.30am; I know that you are rostered off that day so you should be able to attend. I will meet you for lunch afterwards and then we can spend the afternoon together before you need to get ready for changing to a run of nightshifts from Sunday."
"Yes, that will be fine, as all of the Coronation stuff will be over by then too, if we happen to want to watch it. Maybe we could go and have a look round the baby goods department in Macy's after lunch… I know that being parents won't be easy, because we both work, so we will need to start thinking about childcare and then there is the choice of a room for the nursery, and making it safe and secure…"
"There is time for that yet, and I am sure that we can handle it between us. I think that as long as we are better parents than mine were, our child should thrive…"
Not far away from the celebrating parents to be, the last person to reach home that night was Cooper; the crowds at the stage door wanting autographs from him had started the delay, but he had compounded it through his decision to pop in and see how Dex was settling in; he did so even though the young man had now been living in the apartment below his house for a fortnight. The younger man still appreciated his visits, as living on the east side of Manhattan was a totally different world to living on the west side. There was a much greater reliance on the bus for transport here, at least until the Second Avenue subway finally opened. That inconvenience was balanced out by the fact that the main public library was only a short walk away, along with Grand Central Terminal and the whole of Fifth Avenue… It was easy enough for Miriam to reach though, and Dex was seeing much more of his young lady, as some had predicted, now that Lawrence and Adam were living together…
His visit done, Cooper finally headed up the steps to his own home, his head still full of the news that the remainder of the run of The Sound of Music was now sold out. Given that Marley had defined her time in the show strictly, as she wanted to start a family with Ryder, the chance of an extension was more limited, although she had told Cooper in strict confidence that if she was not pregnant at the end of the month of August, then she would commit to doing another four weeks, and so on thereafter, thus keeping a steady drip feed of potential new dates if the producers wished for them.
The fact was that there was no question about it; Marley was the undoubted star of the show, his own role being much like everyone else's – a supporting one, at least in his own mind. The critics, of course, saw it differently, and the Tony that he had received for Best Actor in a Musical Revival that now sat in the sitting room next to his others was the indicator of that. The fact that the Best Actress in a Musical Revival had been Marley, and that she had been presented with the award by Dame Julie Andrews herself had pleased them all no end. The fact was that she deserved the success she was enjoying…
He entered the house, hung up his jacket, and headed straight for the sitting room, where he knew he would find his wife. Sure enough, Grace was there, her papers spread out before her on the desk as she fought for the rights of another woman. He took a seat beside her and kissed her gently, which made her smile. "I take it from the grin on your face that your reign as the King of Broadway continues unabated and unchallenged?" she asked jokingly, and her husband nodded in response.
"It was worth all of the effort I put into preparing for this role to hear the response of the packed audiences every night," he replied. "How was your day?"
"Not that interesting until this evening, when I was called from London by your mom. I was a little surprised, given that she had the overnight flight, and it was nearly midnight over there when she called, but what she said was even more shocking. In fact, I suggest that you take a deep breath before I tell you this…"
Cooper paled, took a breath, then said, "Please tell me that there hasn't been a disaster involving the Queen Consort…"
"No, she hasn't even seen her yet. She went out with my brother and his family to do a bit of sightseeing and they ended up in St Paul's Cathedral; to cut a long story short, she found herself on her own in the Whispering Gallery, and that was where she heard your brother talking to her…" Grace stopped then, and chuckled at the fact that her husband was staring at her, his mouth wide open. "She went to great pains to assure me that she was perfectly sober, but that is making her worried that she is actually going insane instead…"
"I don't blame her for that; I recall the first time I heard and then saw him as an angel, and it freaked me out. I guess that she called you knowing that you would tell me what was going on…"
"Oh, she spoke to Nick as well, and he apparently told her that he firmly believes in angels but did not commit to having heard or seen one himself. The good thing is that she will not be alone as and when things develop to the next level. I am going to send a quick message to Nick later and suggest that he tells Carole what has happened when she arrives in London; that way Pam will still have someone around next week when Nick is back here. It has obviously affected her and is playing on her mind, or she would have been in bed well before she called me up…"
Cooper did wonder if his brother would turn up to see him that night, to tell him what he had done and explain why, but he did not arrive. Instead, he decided to send his mom a message that she would see in the morning when she woke up; he told her that he loved her and that he was so proud of her for what she was doing now and all that she had achieved in the last few years. She was not just the happy and successful woman that he recalled from when he had been a small boy, she was looking much better and was at the pinnacle of her career, earning the respect of everyone around her.
He knew too that his father would be livid at her newfound success; he knew that his career and his standing amongst his peers had fallen markedly since his prejudices had been exposed and hitching his wagon to the Trump agenda had compounded that. Although he had no contact with the man anymore, and no regrets about that, one of Grace's colleagues had sources that kept them informed on what Jonathan Anderson was now doing. He had moved out to the Bible Belt recently, to a small town where his opinions were much closer to the norm. He had even managed to get himself elected to the town council, although he had failed to get onto the school board. The latter was still under the influence of the far right, however; the sort of people that questioned Darwin, saw thoughts and prayers as the answer to the issue of gun violence, and thought that drag queens were a bigger threat to their children than someone armed with an AK-47…
There was a part of Cooper that hoped that the news networks there would not bother to cover the Coronation, or if they did, that they would not mention that an American woman had been selected to assist the Queen Consort with her make-up for all of the events, particularly not by name; he supposed that even that might be okay if there was no picture accompanying it. The last thing he wanted to do was have to make a call to Burt to inform him that his father might be heading for London. Then a thought struck him; given the high security around the entire event, it was unlikely that his father would be able to get within a mile of his mom, and if he tried, he would be arrested and deported at the very least…
By the time that Cooper climbed into his bed, it was 1am in Murray Hill – thousands of miles away, his mother was receiving the alarm call that she had requested from the reception the previous day. She had spoken to her daughter-in-law just before midnight, convinced at that point that the events of the day had left her too tense to sleep, but as soon as her head had hit the pillow, she had nodded off. Having answered the call, she lay for a moment in the exceptionally comfortable bed, before sitting up and looking around her. She realised that she felt quite refreshed, and that Nick had been correct in his advice to stay up late and hence avoid the peril of jetlag. She got up, donned the robe that the hotel supplied, and checked her phone. She saw the message from Cooper, and she felt a little emotional for a moment, but then she saw the time, and put it aside. It was high time that she commenced her morning routine…
Habit had made her switch on the television to catch the news, but it was the BBC that she was watching here, the very British take on the events of the world getting her in the right frame of mind for the day ahead. At 6.30am prompt there was a knock on the door of her room, and that made her smile again; she had requested room service breakfast as she had an early start, and it was there at the exact second. She opened the door and let the young waiter bring it in and set it up for her on the table; he laid a linen cloth on it before he set out the cutlery and then the platters of food. There was no question of her having to tip him, as that was already covered. He left, and Pam settled down to her repast; eggs benedict with smoked salmon rather than bacon, croissants, a couple of Danish pastries, freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice and a pot of coffee. It was all done to perfection, and she enjoyed every morsel.
Breakfast over, she dressed carefully, and then checked the contents of her make-up box and purse carefully once more. Then it was time to head down to reception to await the car that would be collecting her just before 8am. The same staff were on duty on the reception desk as had been there the day before, and they greeted her warmly. She took a seat, and Lady Alice came over to her, and she obliged her by giving her a stroke as she waited for the text to say the car was outside. The moment it came she headed for the door, opened for her by the doorman, and saw a Bentley outside with a uniformed chauffeur. He smiled at her, then said, "Mrs Anderson? My instructions are to take you to the Palace, but with a detour via Westminster Abbey. Her Majesty thought that you should see where the Coronation will take place whilst it was empty of people…"
Thus it was that for the second day in a row, Pam found herself stepping inside a historic church, but this one was far older, the present building dating back to 1245, the site in use since the 10th century. It had been the scene of so many royal events; it had borne witness to at least 16 royal weddings and 40 Coronations, and was the burial place of 18 monarchs… She had been given a pass to wear on a lanyard by the chauffeur, who would wait outside for her, given that the security cordon was already in place, and normal visitors were now excluded until Sunday.
She entered via the main door and stood for a moment by the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, which had been the first of its ilk created in the world. From that spot she gazed around the building, the history resonating from its walls. She had seen the building on television back in January; she had watched along with billions as the late Queen's coffin had been carried past the very spot on which she now stood…
"It is definitely living history; she passed this spot back in 1953 too, on her way to receive the crown that her son will wear on Saturday…"
Pam froze for a moment, but this time hearing Blaine's voice did not startle her nearly as much as yesterday. As she began to walk up the aisle of the church, she could almost hear his footsteps alongside her own; they walked right up past the choir stalls and into the area where the coffin had been placed in January, at the spot where the transepts met the nave and chancel. There was a new carpet there now, which was covered by plastic mats to keep it as pristine as it could be until the Coronation itself. She noted that there were some marks though on the floor, two crosses indicating where the two thrones for King and Consort would be placed. A glance up to the altar showed her that King Edward's throne, the one in which the monarch would be crowned, was already in its place…
"It is amazing when you stop and think about it mom; every British monarch for centuries has sat in that throne and had the crown that cements them as the sovereign of this nation placed upon their head. This weekend the world will witness another person receiving that crown. Of course, the crown itself is not nearly as old as people think; the original as worn by Edward the Confessor was melted down in 1649, and this one constructed in 1661 after the monarchy was reinstated… Still, it is a moment in history, and you will be here, part of the whole thing. I am so proud of you mom…"
Pam found herself smiling, firstly at the impromptu history lesson she had just received, but even more at the fact that the voice she recognised as that of her younger son had just said that he was proud of her. She heard footsteps approaching then, and looking behind her, she saw a group of people approaching, carrying between them what appeared to be a large block of stone…
"Oh my, mom, you are here at just the right moment! That is the Stone of Scone, which was the stone on which generations of Scottish Kings were crowned but has been here in Westminster Abbey for every Coronation since the 14th Century; the throne was specially built to hold it. It normally resides in Edinburgh now but has been brought back here for this event with high security. It was stolen before the last Coronation by a group of Scottish students as a protest but recovered just in time; there are even more nationalistic Scots now, and they oppose the stone being here. Of course, some of them claim that this isn't the real stone at all, that the one they recovered was a crude imitation, but I know that it is the real one…"
"How do you know…" Pam began, then stopped herself as she realised that Blaine was not actually there, and it would look like she was talking to herself. He was not alive. 'He is an angel,' she thought. 'What is more, the two times I have heard him were when I was in a church. I can believe that he would be an angel, even if he did end his own life, because from what Cooper tells me, he was broken after Kurt died. I should have been there, and I will never forgive myself for being absent when he needed me most. I just hope that he knows how much I love him and wish he was still here…'
Pam suddenly realised that there was a clergyman before her, and she found herself in the company of the Dean of the Abbey. After introductions were made, he gave her a guided tour around all of the most important places as he went through the running order of the big event on Saturday for her, pointing out exactly where the Queen Consort would be sitting. As he did so she looked up, and saw for a brief moment a technician up on the top of the choir stalls, but then they disappeared again…
The Dean had seen where she was looking, and the shock on her face, and smiled. "She is up there installing one of the cameras for the BBC coverage on Saturday. It is perfectly safe up there, and indeed at the Coronation of the late Queen, I believe that there were people seated up there, the narrow ledge widened into temporary stands to accommodate everyone. This time we have a smaller number of invited guests, so that will not happen."
Pam nodded, but asked again, "But it would still be perfectly safe for someone to be up there for a lengthy period, say the duration of the Coronation, even now?"
"Oh yes; they would be hidden from everyone but would enjoy the best vantage point in the entire place," replied the Dean.
Pam nodded again and decided that she needed to pass on that information; it would be the ideal place for Jeff to be accommodated during the service, giving him a unique perspective from which to sketch. If nobody else was to be up there, he would have a great benefit…