Chapter 8
They had a wedding date.
They had a plan for a short press conference the next day.
Frederick would not be in attendance.
The palace spokesperson would handle the press, a job Frederick was only too happy to let someone else handle.
After the PR team left, Frederick found himself alone with his wife.
“I’m sorry we sprung all of that on you,” he told her as he took their dinner dishes and put them away. “How was your day? Everything went well on set?”
Elise nodded and yawned at the same time.
“Sorry,” she said through the yawn. “It’s been a long day, and I can’t wait to get to sleep.
I wish I had tomorrow off so I could sleep all day, but that’s highly unlikely to happen for at least a couple of weeks.
We’re shooting every day, but I’ll get to have a morning off in a couple of days so I can at least sleep in. ”
“How much longer are you shooting in Southern Santiero?” He sat back down in the chair next to her.
“About three weeks. Then we’ll move on to the other shooting location. We’ll be there about three weeks then I should be done, barring any reshoots.” She tried again to suppress a yawn - and failed.
Frederick stood and held out a hand to her. Elise accepted it, and he supported her as she stood.
“I’ll let you get some rest. If we hadn’t needed to go over the press release today, I wouldn’t have bothered you.” He reached up with his free hand and brushed a bit of hair off of her face.
She swayed a bit until her forehead came to rest on his chest. “Thank you. I wouldn’t have expected to be so tired today, but I am.” She wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned more heavily against him. “I am glad you came by though. I’m always happy to see you.”
He chuckled. “That’s good, because after the wedding, you’ll see me all the time.”
Elise moved back just enough that she could look up at him. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Before he realized what was happening, she’d raised up on her tiptoes and brushed a kiss against his cheek, just barely catching the corner of his mouth.
“Good night,” she whispered but didn’t move away.
“I don’t know when I’ll see you next.” Frederick dropped her hand and wrapped his arms around her. “It could be a while, though I hope I’ll see you before you leave town.”
“I’ll make sure we find a time.” Her arms looped around his waist. “I bet travel won’t be nearly as comfortable as on our way here.”
“Probably not, but once we’re publicly married, you likely won’t travel any other way very often.” He tightened his arms around her. “It’s a perk of being queen.”
“No long layovers or missed connections? I can live with that.”
After another moment, Elise stepped back, letting go of him as she did.
Frederick wanted to kiss her but instead decided just to give her a kiss on the cheek like he had several other times.
They said their goodbyes and he left her to get some rest. He was shown out a back way, down a freight elevator, to his waiting vehicle. As soon as he fastened his seat belt, the vehicle started for the palace.
Typically, he ended up working while riding in a vehicle, or at least looking through notes on one thing or another. Not this time. This time, he stared out the window, watching as his hometown passed by. How long had it been since he’d simply enjoyed the view?
Too long. He needed to remember that his job wasn’t just to make decisions, but to act in the best interests of his people.
How could he know what that was if he didn’t spend time knowing what was going on in this city?
Or the rest of the country? He needed to find a way to spend time out among the people. What would that entail?
When he made it to his office the next morning, that was the first thing he discussed with George.
“A tour of the country,” George mused. “Perhaps for your honeymoon? It would also assist Queen Elise in becoming familiar with Southern Santiero. It would be a good way for the people to get to know her as well.”
He made an excellent point. “See what we need to do in order to make that happen. Perhaps we can take the yacht for part of it, sailing between islands.” It had been a while since he’d been out on the yacht, and he missed the open ocean. “That would be my preference.”
“Does the queen get seasick?” George asked.
“Good question.” Frederick reached for his phone and sent his first text to Elise. He’d been meaning to send one the last few days, but he never thought about it at a good time when he had a minute to send one.
Her response came quickly.
“She doesn’t get seasick.” That was a relief.
“Start planning the trip. I would like to spend a few days with my mother, if at all possible. It will be good to see her without an agenda pushing me on my way.” It would also be good for his mother and Elise to get to know each other.
If anyone could related to Elise’s new role in life, it was his mum.
“Very good, sir. I’ll get started on it later this afternoon.
We do need to have a meeting with the queen with regard to the wedding as soon as possible.
If we can’t make it work with your schedule, the event planner can meet with both of you separately.
I’ve not planned a wedding, much less one for the monarch, but I would imagine her dress needs to be chosen quickly to ensure plenty of time to complete it. ”
“I hadn’t thought about that.” But it made sense.
He’d wear one of his uniforms, most likely.
That was easy enough. “Please have her coordinate with Elise as soon as she can. We will also need to meet about everything else that goes with a wedding, won’t we?
Flowers, photographers, musicians, all of those things.
” Frederick preferred to let someone else handle all of those things for most events, but this was his wedding.
He needed to be more involved than he typically would be.
After discussing a few more items, George left the office, leaving Frederick alone to get work done. He had a Council meeting early the next week as well as meetings with members of Parliament over the next few days. The work of a monarch didn’t stop for much.
Not even planning a wedding.
Planning a wedding while starring in a major motion picture had to be one of the craziest things Elise had ever even considered, and would have been even if it wasn’t an adaptation of a beloved musical.
At least she wouldn’t be doing most of it on her own.
She’d be presented with options and asked to choose the ones she liked best, but the pressure would still be enough to stress her out.
No one knew she was planning a wedding either.
The meetings would be held in her hotel suite either before call time or after she returned in the evening. Her first real meeting would happen as soon as her driver returned her to the hotel. And this meeting would be one of the most important of the whole thing.
Her dress.
Elise knew she needed to choose a Southern Santierian designer, but she wasn’t familiar enough with her new country to have any idea who to choose.
New country - that thought reminded her that she needed to contact her parents to make sure they knew before her identity was shared with the public.
As the vehicle drove through the streets, she sent a quick text to her parents asking them to come to Southern Santiero and visit her on set.
It wouldn’t be the first time they’d done so, though they hadn’t come to her last two movie sets.
Her mother replied almost immediately and said they’d be there as soon as they could get a flight. She’d have talk to Frederick and ensure he could be there when she told them their daughter was a queen.
Which, by necessity, meant their son-in-law was the king of the country they’d spent so much time in when she was a child.
They’d never met him before. They’d seldom met any of the men she dated. The biggest reason they never did had more to do with how serious the relationship was - or wasn’t - as the case may be. She’d never dated anyone seriously enough for it to matter.
But now she was married, and they definitely needed to meet Frederick soon.
When she reached her suite, the event planner had already arrived. With her was one of the premiere designers from Southern Santiero. Elise knew that much even if she couldn’t remember the designer’s name.
They both curtsied, something that would take some getting used to for Elise, though she wondered if she ever would.
For the next twenty minutes, they discussed her dress. While the designer moved to another part of the room to start some sketches, Elise and the event planner moved on to other aspects of the wedding.
Elise felt like she’d been thrown into the deep end and didn’t know how to swim.
She asked the event planner for her recommendations and what her rationale was for each one. That would help when she needed to plan events on her own. She didn’t want to offend the people of Southern Santiero because she chose the wrong flower.
After another hour the designer returned.
“I have several designs I think you may like.” She flipped open the sketchpad to the first design.
Though gorgeous, Elise didn’t think it fit what she wanted and said so.
“I suspected you might feel that way, but wanted to give you several options.” She flipped to the next one, telling Elise about it as she did.
Elise felt the same way about that one. Gorgeous, but not right.
But the next one…
A gasp escaped before Elise could stop it. “I love it.”
The designer grinned. “I thought you might. The silhouette will look amazing on you. The detail around the veil will incorporate designs from Southern Santiero, but also some from Eastern Novigradia as a nod to your heritage.”
A thought crossed Elise’s mind, making her frown, but this didn’t seem like the time to bring it up. She pulled out her phone and made a note to discuss it with Frederick later in the evening.
“Is everything all right?” the event planner asked.
She nodded. “Yes, just something I need to ask Frederick about.” She returned her attention to the designer. “This is the one.”
“I do have one more to you,” the designer told her. She flipped the page to another design Elise thought someone would love, but wasn’t for her.
“The other one is perfect. I love it.”
After a few more minutes of discussion, the two women left the suite, curtsying once more as they did.
Elise texted Frederick and asked if he could call her in the next few minutes so they could talk before she went to bed. Her phone buzzed almost immediately.
“Good evening, love.” His voice over the phone made her feel warm and safe. “How did your meeting with the planner go?”
“Very well.” She settled in against her headboard with her blankets pulled up to her waist. “We picked a dress and discussed a number of other things with regard to the wedding.”
“I’m glad.” She could hear what almost sounded like relief in his voice. “I know that sort of thing can be difficult, especially when we’re on such a tight schedule.”
“There is a couple of things I want to talk to you about.” The nervousness was likely unjustified, but she felt it anyway.
“What things?” He only sounded puzzled, not annoyed. She took that as a good sign.
“My parents, for starters. I need to tell them - we need to tell them. I already asked them to come to the set, so they’ll be on their way as soon as they can make arrangements.” That was the easy one.
“I look forward to meeting them.” He didn’t go on but seemed to wait for her to do so.
“The other thing is…” Elise took a deep breath. “Is there any issue with the fact that I’m not from Southern Santiero? I’m not one of your people. Are there any legal issues - or even cultural ones - to be aware of?”
“That’s a great question.” He still didn’t sound annoyed.
Elise took that as a good sign.
“Because you’re from one of the Quad Countries of the Sargasso Sea, there’s no legal issues.
If you’d been from somewhere else there might be, but as it stands, you’re fine.
Culturally, I don’t think there will be any problems. The biggest thing will be if someone, likely one of the women I met with, decides they would have been a better fit and therefore you shouldn’t be.
” He tapped a pen or something against a desk as Elise waited for him to go on.
“I don’t think it will be a problem, though. ”
The announcement had gone out as planned.
There had been some backlash against the timing, and it seemed as though there would be very little patience when it came to announcing the identity of the new queen.
If only they could make it to the end of her stay in Southern Santiero it would be best. When she left the country, she’d be on set in a remote area with no population to speak of.
It would be safer than going back and forth in the capital city.
“That’s good to hear.” Elise meant it, though it still didn’t put her worries completely to rest. She doubted anything would until they actually lived through it.
“I hate to cut this conversation short, but is there anything else we need to discuss? I’m happy to answer any questions you have, but I also have a late meeting this evening.” She could hear the annoyance now in his voice, but knew it wasn’t directed at her.
“That’s all.” Even if she had something else, Elise didn’t know that she’d bring it up at the moment.
“Then good night, love. Sleep well.” The call disconnected.
Love. He’d called her that twice.
Elise hoped before long she’d know for certain he meant it and not just as a term of endearment.