Chapter 16 #2
Evelyn and I started to make our way down to where guests were mingling around the fire pits for warmth when I saw her.
The long, white dress glimmered against the firelight.
The faux fur that lined her white gloves was accented with gold thread, which caught the light as she tucked a small strand of hair behind her ear, giving the illusion of a halo above her head.
The neckline of the gown stopped right below her breastbone, and I had to give myself a quick talk to make sure my cock didn’t stand ramrod straight. I was instantly taken back to the closet of the hotel suite—except the white dress she wore that night had barely covered that supple ass.
As if she could sense my presence, Birdie turned her gaze to where I stood at the top of the staircase and gave me a small wave.
I responded with a nod and counted to ten, hoping that would help soften the current problem in my pants.
Evelyn started down the stairs, and I had no choice but to hold tight to her arm and help her.
Oliver, standing at Birdie’s side, looked up to where she had waved and motioned for us to join them. I took a deep breath and hoped that my black pants would hide any indication of what I was feeling below. I started running through the script I kept from when this happened as a teenager:
Grandpas in Speedos. Political economics. Chili beans. Stoichiometry.
Thankfully, I could feel my cock start to deflate as we approached.
Birdie glanced from her conversation with Oliver and locked eyes with me.
The pure white wool of her coat brought out the specks of copper and chocolate in her hazel eyes.
I couldn’t help but stare into them; they were captivating.
My gaze traveled down to her red-painted lips as I remembered what they had felt like against mine.
Birdie dipped into a quick curtsy when she realized who was at my arm. I wondered if I had the same effect on her as she did on me.
“Your Highness,” she greeted Evelyn as she came up from her curtsy.
“Hello, Bernadette. You look stunning, my dear. Doesn’t she, boys?” Evelyn looked at Oliver and me.
“She does,” Oliver smiled, looking at me.
“Yeah,” was all I could get out. My mouth had gone dry from being near her. I knew I needed to push these thoughts and feelings down.
“Birdie was telling me that she and a couple of the other women met the Golden Gals in town on Saturday,” Oliver said.
“Oh lord, I can only imagine how that went.” Evelyn threw back her head in laughter. “Those ladies have been a menace to the crown for years.”
“Says the woman who used to run around with them before she became queen,” Oliver laughed, rolling his eyes. Evelyn had the biggest smile on her face.
“You did?” Birdie exclaimed.
“Yes. Polly and I have been best friends since we were in nappies.”
“That’s so sweet. It must be nice to have such a long friendship.”
“There were a few years that were rough right after I got engaged to Francis. I felt like their protests, sit-ins, and utter disregard for the crown were personal attacks on me. But after a few years and one big mediation session, things fell back to normal. Or at least, normal for those old bats,” Evelyn said with a wink.
“Oh, I definitely need to hear more about this,” Birdie said, looking between Evelyn and Oliver.
“Where should I start?” Oliver scratched behind his ear.
“Well, one of my favorite stories is in the nineties, the Council had a few different bills they were contemplating. But one that didn’t get passed would have removed sales tax on feminine products.
The Golden Gals were very upset, so they covered themselves in red paint, came to the state building, and marched outside for hours while chanting, ‘Pussy power,’ and wielding signs that read ‘Fight like a girl’ and ‘Grow a pair’ next to a drawing of a uterus.
The Council asked them to stop and told them that they would hold a special meeting if they would just go home.
The Golden Gals weren’t having it and said they wanted to be a part of the meeting.
They ended up getting the bill passed the next day. ”
“Well, it’s official. I love them!” Birdie grinned.
“And that’s just one of the many protests they’ve organized over many years,” I added.
“One time they…” Oliver’s voice trailed off as his gaze zeroed in on a beautiful blonde in a forest-green dress. We all looked to Adelaide as she walked up the steps from the garden.
“Hi,” she smiled as she joined our circle, giving Evelyn a curtsy.
“Adelaide, darling, you look magnificent,” Evelyn smiled, grabbing Adelaide’s gloved hands and looking her over.
“Thank you, Your Highness.” Adelaide’s cheeks glowed a faint pink.
“When we were dress shopping, the shop owner said that Adelaide looked like you from the 1959 state dinner in that dress,” Birdie said, smiling proudly at her friend.
“I was just thinking about that exact night.” Evelyn smiled wistfully. “That was a night I will remember for the rest of my life. Francis and I also had to get married because of the marriage decree. And, speaking of the Golden Gals, they were there that night as well.”
“Gram, please don’t tell that story. I don’t need my suitors getting any ideas,” Oliver groaned.
“Well, I must hear it now,” Adelaide said, a sparkle in her eye.
“Let’s sit down and I will tell you everything. I need to get under a blanket,” Evelyn said, rubbing her hands together to warm them.
Linking my arm with hers, I led Evelyn to one of the couches and held out my hand as she lowered herself into the cushions.
“Here you go,” I said as I grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and laid it across her lap.
She swatted me away and adjusted the blanket. “I may be an old bird, but I can cover myself up. Your chivalry is too much sometimes, Knox.”
All I could do was smile. I was a gentleman, but caring for Evelyn was more about love than chivalry.
“All right. Now that I’m settled, let me tell you about the night of that state dinner.
Francis was about to become king and needed a wife, just like our Oliver here.
My father ran one of the country’s largest law firms, and they decided that merging the royal family and my own would benefit everyone.
“I had zero desire to get married. I loved the life that I lived, out of high society. My mother had badgered me for years about attending dinners and dances, but I preferred staying home to read or riding horses with my friends. My father gave me no choice, and I was very resentful about his decision.”
She adjusted the blanket on her lap. “What’s funny is that, looking back on it now, I wouldn’t have changed anything other than taking the opportunity to meet Francis sooner.” She smiled, briefly lost in her memories.
Around the fire pit, Adelaide and Birdie watched Evelyn with doe eyes, entranced by her story. You could practically see the wheels turning in their heads, planning out their own love stories.
“Francis and I had been engaged for two weeks by the time the state dinner rolled around. It was our first royal event since announcing the engagement. I had sat in my room for three days at that point, refusing to do anything with him. I hated life and didn’t want to be queen.
I would stay up late at night, reading through my father’s law books and trying to find a loophole to get out of the marriage arrangement.
Then I moved on to trying to figure out how I could run away and live in some mountain cabin and survive by myself, even though I had zero experience being on my own.
“But Francis was a kind man, and he knew I was having a hard time. He offered the olive branch of inviting my friends to the dinner so I had someone with whom I could talk and mingle.”
Birdie and Adelaide looked at each other. Birdie gently bumped Adelaide with her shoulder as they shared a smile.
“The night of the dinner arrived, and I hadn’t seen Francis in a week. He had no idea I had concocted a plan to get the hell out of dodge and fly to Switzerland. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when I got there, but I would figure it out.”
“Why Switzerland?” Birdie asked. She was leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, her gloved fingers laced together, completely entranced in the story.
“I had found in Papa’s books that Switzerland had made a treaty to house any refugees from Wexstone when the war broke out in previous years. They refused to deport anyone who came there to find solace.” Evelyn smiled ruefully. “I thought I had it all figured out at eighteen years old.”
“Oh gosh. I can’t imagine what I would do at eighteen, knowing the things I know now and the things I didn’t know at that age,” laughed Adelaide.
“Exactly,” Evelyn replied. “The night of the state dinner, I pulled Polly and Hilda aside and told them my plan. Polly had just gotten her pilot’s license, and she said she could get us a plane. We just had to find a way to sneak out of there.”
“I still don’t know how you slipped security,” Oliver laughed.
“And I will never tell any of you because I love you and want you to always be safe.” She patted Oliver on the cheek.
“So did you end up getting to Switzerland?” Birdie asked.
“Yeah, what happened with the plane?” I smiled at Evelyn, knowing exactly what had happened.
Evelyn let out a laugh.
“We were able to give security the slip and Hilda found a chauffeur who drove us to the small airfield in the back of the palace grounds. I still don’t know how she got the keys, but Polly unlocked this little puddle jumper and we all quickly climbed in, skipped the safety check, and got going so no one could stop us.
Well, Polly kept feeling resistance, and I looked back and there was a banner trailing the plane that read, ‘Congratulations, Prince Francis and Evelyn.’ As we flew over the palace, everyone outside started cheering and celebrating, and that’s when they noticed I was gone.
“A few minutes later, Francis came over the radio and let Polly know that if she didn’t return me and the plane, she would be an enemy of the state and that the poor chap she took the keys from would lose his job.
She was all for still flying me to Switzerland, but I couldn’t do that to my friend and the man who worked at the airfield. ”
“Oh my gosh!” Adelaide exclaimed.
“Those are some great friends!” Birdie laughed.
“After that incident, the Golden Gals weren’t invited to any more events and we grew apart for a few years.
When I had Leroy, I had the baby blues very badly; we didn’t understand it very well back then, and Francis tried everything to help.
He called the girls to the palace, and they helped as much as they could.
They weren’t the answer, but they really did help.
Having them back in my life healed a little part of me. ”
I watched as Adelaide grabbed Birdie’s hand and they gave each other a smile.
I had seen how close Birdie and her friend Sam were.
I could understand how it must be for her to be away from her best friend—I had felt that when Oliver went away to university.
I was happy that Birdie was making a friend here, especially someone who understood what she was going through.
“But just because I was queen does not mean they stopped causing a ruckus,” Evelyn chuckled.
“Another of my favorite stories when I was a kid was when my father announced some new farming plan. They showed up and started throwing bruised and battered fruit at him. I had never seen security move so fast in my life. I remember that a strawberry hit him straight in the chest and he thought he had been shot,” Oliver laughed.
Evelyn grinned. “I remember that. They were mad about all of the fruit for export being so heavily monitored and so much of it going to waste.”
“I mean, they had a good point,” I interjected. My mom had used those bruised and battered fruits to make the best jams and jellies.
“They did,” Evelyn agreed. “And that’s when Isobel suggested that the Council move some money around and invest in jam production. It gave us another export and cut down the waste from the orchards.”
“Wow. That’s so smart of Queen Isobel,” Birdie breathed.
“She is brilliant, that daughter-in-law of mine. That’s why, even though many chastise the marriage law, it’s so crucial to have two heads instead of one.
Where one is weak, the other is strong. Where one lacks, the other is sufficient.
It’s so important to have two people who can balance each other out. ” She looked at Adelaide and Birdie.
What did Evelyn see when she looked at them? She had a sense about people, and I wanted to get inside her brain and pick apart what she was thinking when she surveyed the women.
Who did she think would best complement Oliver?
Deep down, I hoped it wasn’t Birdie.