A/N: Hey all! I just wanna say a quick thank you to you all for reading the latest chapter and an even bigger thanks to bee-327 and Chelsietx for taking the time to leave me such lovely reviews. It's much appreciated and always will be. Thank you so so much.
Here's the next chapter for you all. Please enjoy…
After talking with her sons the following morning about the situation that she had found herself in, Queen Clarisse reluctantly left them to read in the library and slowly made her way to her office with Joseph following two steps behind. She would have normally walked side by side with him, but not today. Her mind was elsewhere and she knew that he knew, and understood, because even though he had made it clear that he was there for her, he had given her her space without even having to ask. He just knew. Like he always did.
Of course she would have preferred, and would have done anything to have stayed with her boys in the library, to spend the day with them doing whatever they wanted, but instead she was meeting with her mother in her office to go through the list of eligible gentlemen that her assistant, Charlotte, had put together for her in the hope that one of them would catch her eye and be a suitable match to become her husband.
"Sorry I'm a little late, I was hesitant in leaving Pierre and Philippe," Clarisse said as she entered her office, and leaving Joseph to close the door behind them, she walked across the room towards her mother sitting at her desk as she and Charlotte both got to their feet upon her arrival.
"That's okay, dear," her mother, Béatrice, said as Clarisse stood next to her and reached her hand out onto the side of her arm while leaning closer to kiss her cheek. "How did they take the news?"
"Well fortunately for me, I didn't have to break it to them this morning because Philippe being Philippe ease dropped on mine and Joseph's conversation last night in the garden. We did talk about it a little last night after the party, but we discussed it in more detail this morning." She said and glanced over at Joseph taking up his usual position beside the now closed door and remembered what her sons had said the night before, that she's a Queen, she could marry anyone she wanted, before she looked back at her mother with a small shake of her head. "They seem to be taking it well, but I guess time will tell."
"Well that is good news," Béatrice nodded.
"Yes, I guess," Clarisse shrugged and glanced at the file her assistant had put together for her on her desk before reaching across to pick it up. "But I don't know mother, I'm in two minds whether I should just abdicate and let Valérie take over. At least she's already happily married and therefore won't have to go through this in an attempt to find a husband."
"Oh darling, I know it's hard, but don't do that. Don't abdicate," Béatrice said, and Clarisse looked back up at her. The file now open in her hands. "We will find someone, and everything will work out just fine, you'll see."
"But what if I end up picking someone who turns out to be the exact same as Rupert was? I can't put Pierre and Philippe through that, and at the end of the day, they need to come first," Clarisse said and shook her head as she began to slowly walk around her desk.
"I know they do, and rightly so too," Béatrice nodded and put her hands together in front of her as Clarisse stood behind her desk and looked across at her, "but let's have a look at this file that your lovely assistant put together for us first to see if we can find someone suitable. We have, what, thirty days?" She asked, and Clarisse nodded. "You never know you might be surprised and find someone who is nothing like Rupert and who'll take care of you all."
"I don't know, mother," Clarisse said and looked down at the file in her hands before closing it and dropping it down on her desk and looking up at her mother. "Maybe it's time to move on. Have a fresh start with the boys somewhere away from here."
"Please darling, don't give up. Not yet," Béatrice said as she studied her eldest daughter a moment. "Do you remember what your father used to say?"
Nodding, Clarisse pressed a hand to her stomach and looked down at a photo of herself and her late father from her wedding to Rupert sitting on her desk for a long moment. Her dear father, oh, how she adored him. He was her best friend and she was completely heartbroken when he passed away. But she had made a promise to him. A promise that she would reign for as long as god would allow, or until her first born was ready to take over. A promise now she was finding difficult to keep. Given the circumstances of the last year. But she didn't want to let him down. She wanted to keep her promise, if she could.
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." Clarisse said softly and slowly looked back up at her mother as she nodded with tears in her eyes.
Standing guard just inside her office door, Joseph couldn't tear his gaze away from his Queen as she stood a moment longer behind her desk before finally sitting down in her chair with a sigh. He knew this was going to be hard for her, going through the list to find someone suitable and caring enough to not only become her husband but to become stepfather to her sons, too. And there wasn't many men out there who fit the bill, so to speak, especially in these circumstances. But like he had told her the night before, he would be with her every step of the way and if, whoever she picks, ever did hurt her, or her sons, then they would have him to answer to.
"Alright, let's do this," Clarisse said and opened the file on her desk as her assistant sat back down in her chair at the end of the Queen's desk.
"Oh your father would be so so happy to hear you say that," Béatrice said as she sat down in her chair and pulled her tissue from the strap of her watch, to dab her tear filled eyes.
"Can I ask why you seem reluctant for Valérie to take over?" Clarisse asked as she rested her arms down on top of the file on the desk in front of her and looked across at her mother.
"Well because," Béatrice hesitated and shook her head a little as she looked down at the tissue in her hands for the briefest of moments before looking back up at her daughter. "Of course she will make a great Queen, but she isn't you, darling. You were crowned after your father passed away as his first born, just like it had done for him and generations before him. And I, if I could, in honour of your wonderful father, would like to keep it that way. Keep it going through the reigning monarchs first born."
"Oh mother, I had no idea," Clarisse said as she watched her mother shake her head as she glanced down at the tissue in her hands once again before looking back up at her.
"You remind me so very much of him. You're headstrong and focused. Just like he was. It's in your destiny. In your sons destiny." Béatrice said, and Clarisse nodded. "But of course, you must do what you need to do. And if that means abdicating, then so be it. It wouldn't make us any less proud of you because we will always be proud of you. Remember that."
"Thank you, mother. That means so much to me," Clarisse said and lifted her arms from the desk while glancing down to the file in front of her before looking back up at her mother as she nodded. "Now, let's see if we can find a suitable husband so that doesn't have to happen, shall we?" She said and looked across the room at Joseph standing guard on her door a brief moment. Watched as he gave her a small yet reassuring nod.
"Okay, who do we have on the list first?" Béatrice said, dabbing the tears from her cheeks with the tissue before reaching out for the file that Charlotte had done for her too from where she had placed it on the chair next to her earlier and opened it up to the first candidate as Clarisse looked back at her then down at the file in front of her. "Sir Laurent Wilson, he's fifty and from Essex, England. And he has no hobbies..." she said as she studied the file a moment. "Just as well, he's too old for you anyway."
"He's only ten years older, mother," Clarisse said as she looked up across the desk at her mother, "remember Rupert was twenty years older than me."
"Oh no, that won't do. You need someone around the same age as you, or even someone younger this time. I mean, what if you want to have some more babies?" Béatrice said, looking up at her daughter.
"Mother, first of all, I'm not marrying anyone younger. Well, not that much younger, at least, I don't want a toyboy. And second, I'm forty years old, I think my childbearing days are over." Clarisse said and shook her head.
"Oh tush are they, your grandmother was forty-six when she had her last baby, so you have a fair few years left for childbearing and besides, this new husband might want to have a child of his own with you," Béatrice said and gave her a small smile. "That's why I said find someone around your age, not someone older, like Rupert was. Or this Sir Laurent Wilson is," she said, looking back down at the file before looking back up at Clarisse. "Wouldn't it be great having another child? Maybe it'll be a girl. I know how much you have always longed for a girl. A mini you."
"Sorry to disappoint you, mother, but if having another child didn't happen with Rupert when we weren't exactly being careful since after Philippe was born, then it's not going to happen now just because I'm going to be with someone else," Clarisse said with another shake of her head.
"You never know, darling. Rupert's age could have been a huge factor in why you didn't fall pregnant," Béatrice said.
"Mother," Clarisse exclaimed and rested her elbows on the desk while raising her hands up to cover her now very flushed face in them a moment before shaking her head and looking back across at her. "Can we move on to the next person, please? Before I lose my sanity."
"Yes, of course," Béatrice nodded and turned over the page of her file. "Maybe this one will be the right age for you."
Shaking her head, Clarisse turned the page and looked down at the file. "Okay this one is, Sir Andrew Harris, he's forty-seven and from London, England. His hobbies are fishing, travelling the world, and painting."
"This one sounds good," Béatrice nodded as Clarisse looked up at her. "At least he has hobbies, unlike the first one."
"Yes," Clarisse agreed and looked to her assistant sitting at the end of her desk. "Can you mark him as a possibility, please?"
"Of course, Your Majesty," Charlotte nodded and looked down at her notebook in her lap. To make a note that he's a possibility.
"Okay, the next one," Clarisse said with a sigh and turned over to the next page. "Lord Evan Anderson…"
For the next hour, they all sat going through the list Charlotte had put together and making a note on the possibilities while crossing out the ones that were a definite no. It was a tiring task, and Clarisse was just about to give up. Call it a day when the person on the next page caught her eye.
"Lord Louis Durand he's forty-five and from Pyrus. His hobbies include horse riding, dancing, and walking." Clarisse said and looked up at her mother.
"Oh, he sounds promising," Béatrice said and looked up at her daughter. "And he lives in Pyrus, too. So not far away at all. And you may have already met him at some point."
"Yes, I may have. Although the name doesn't ring a bell," Clarisse said and turned her head to her assistant. "But still, can you mark him as a possibility, and since he lives so close, send an invitation to join me for dinner one evening?"
"Of course, Your Majesty," Charlotte nodded, "I'll see to it right away."
"Thank you, Charlotte," Clarisse nodded and closed the file on her desk before removing her glasses and setting them down on top of the file, "I think that will do for now. I need to stretch my legs," she said, getting to her feet and looking across her office at Joseph still standing by her door. "Joseph, will you please accompany me on my walk?"
"Of course," he said and bowed his head.
"Thank you," she said and looked back at her mother, "I won't be long. We will resume once I return."
"Of course," Béatrice nodded and watched her daughter walk around her desk and over to the door as Joseph opened it for her. Smiling, she glanced across at Charlotte and then looked back at Clarisse and Joseph as they walked out of the room. Once the door had been closed behind them, both Béatrice and Charlotte looked at each other. "She wouldn't have to go through any of this if she were to only open her eyes and see she's already got someone perfect right there under her nose," she smiled.
Smiling, Charlotte nodded in agreement.
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