Genevieve
If I had to put on a dress and attend one more party I swear I was going to scream. I’d been back in Saint Marenne for three weeks now and there’d been some damned event every day. I’d never been the most social person to start with, but now I was in full introvert burnout.
“Why so glum, chum?”
I smiled as my sister stuck her head in the library and greeted me with one of the little rhymes we used to tease each other with when we were kids.
“I’m partied out.”
Evangeline walked in and plopped down on the couch across from me with a deep sigh. “You and me both, kid.”
My sister was only three years older than me, but after less than two weeks as the official queen she seemed much older.
“How are you doing, really Angie?”
My sister got up, closed the door, then plopped back down on the couch, slouching down and setting her feet on the coffee table in a position that was definitely un-queenly.
“I knew it was coming, me being queen. But I thought I had longer to prepare. Dad’s retirement took me by surprise. It’s a lot, running an entire country.”
“What can I do to help?”
“Leave.”
My head whipped up to stare at my sister. “What?”
“You’re miserable here Genny. Anyone with eyes can see that.”
“There’s only one other person who’s called me that,” I said sadly.
“Tell me about her,” Angie said. “That’s an order from your queen.”
My sister had broached the topic of Carrie a few times before. She’d pieced together enough from what she’d heard about my parents’ visit to understand that Carrie was important to me.
“I love her,” I said softly. “But I don’t think she feels the same.”
“How do you know?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Start at the beginning then.” She walked to the corner of the room and poured us each a drink from the bar. “Don’t leave anything out.”
I spent the next hour telling my sister every detail from my time with Carrie from watching Ride or Die to hiking to working catering jobs.
“I just can’t picture you serving cocktail wienies,” my sister laughed.
“Hey, I did pretty well after I got the hang of it.”
“And how was the sex?” my sister asked, noticing that I’d left out any mention of our sexual escapades. “With that much heat between you, please tell me you explored the physical side of your relationship.”
“We explored it all right,” I said primly. “And it was…”
When I paused my sister supplied, “Disappointing? Mediocre?”
I burst out laughing. “Hotter than anything I’ve ever experienced. I’ve never come that much in my life.”
Angie made a show of fanning her face. “I’m so jealous. I’d like to have some orgasms that aren’t self-administered but if having a father who’s the king wasn’t enough of a cockblocker, being the most powerful woman in the country would do it.”
It was the first time my sister mentioned wanting more than the casual encounters I knew she enjoyed when she was out of the country.
“Seems like Mom and Dad should have found you a husband before they tried to pawn one off on me,” I said. “Maybe Hans is still available.”
My sister laughed. “That guy is so milquetoast he probably couldn’t find a clit with a diagram and verbal directions.”
We both started laughing uproariously. I brought the whiskey bottle over and poured us another shot.
“Let’s get back to you,” Angie said, throwing back more of her whiskey.
“You had a lot of fun with this woman, you had the hottest sex of your life, and you fell for her fast and hard. Let’s assume for a minute she feels the same way about you, because I find it hard to believe that you’d not clue into it if she wasn’t, not with how astute you are about people.
So what is she afraid of? What concerns would she have? ”
I started counting reasons off on my fingers.
“I’m a wealthy princess and she’s a normal middle class American who lives simply.”
Angie shrugged. “That’s not insurmountable. Lots of royalty marry the so-called commoners, especially when they’re lesser royals. No offense. I mean, you’re second in the line of succession, but as soon as I pop out a kid, you get bumped.”
I wasn’t sad about that, truth be told. And my sister knew that. She wouldn’t say it so casually if she believed I would be upset about it.
“She hates pomp and circumstance.”
“So do you.”
“Plus she’s like twelve years older than me.”
Angie sat up straight and pointed at me. “Ding ding, we have a winner.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s one thing for you to be a wealthy royal, but you being so much younger than her also means she might think you don’t know your own mind yet. She’s probably thinking someday she’ll be this fifty-something menopausal crone, and you’ll still be young and pretty and rich.”
“Aww, you think I’m pretty?” I joked.
“Shut up. You know you’re gorgeous, don’t fish for compliments. What if we flew her out here to show her that she belongs in this world with you?”
“She would hate that,” I said. “Besides, Mom and Dad barely said two words to her when they were sitting in her kitchen and drinking her damned coffee.”
“They were upset about your disappearing act,” she reminded me. “It wasn’t your finest hour.”
“I know. I panicked. Then once I met Carrie, I was… distracted.”
“Oh you were distracted all right, but what you showed her and our parents was you running away from your problems like a wayward teen instead of facing things head on. If I were Carrie, I’d wonder if when things get hard in your relationship -- and things always get hard at some point, at least temporarily – if you’ll pick up and run. ”
Angie was right of course. I’d had multiple opportunities to reach out to my parents while I’d been at Carrie’s, but I hadn’t.
I knew that they’d be worried, despite my emailing my sister, and I also knew they’d be embarrassed by my disappearance from the event.
Not that it excused their behavior either of course.
But if I wanted my parents to treat me like the adult I was, I needed to act like one. A conversation was in order.
“You’ve already shown her you can at least get by in her world,” Angie said, drawing my attention back to her. “Maybe what you need to do is convince her to date you in Seattle on equal terms. Keep showing up for her, until she believes you won’t stop.”
“I’ve texted her a few times since I’ve been here,” I confessed. “She replies, but not right away. Her answers are brief.”
“You definitely need to go back to Seattle and get your woman.”
“What about Dad? He’s starting his treatment soon.”
“And we’re all here to support him,” she reminded me. “Another person hovering over him won’t make the cancer go away any faster. Besides, don’t you have a grown-up job? You can’t be away forever, or they’ll figure out they don’t need you.”
“You’re pretty wise for being one of the youngest queens in the world,” I told her.
“I know,” she smirked, then her expression turned serious. “The truth is, I envy you, Genny. You’ve got a job you like, a life in Seattle you like, you’re out taking chances and embracing life while I’m just following the life plan that was laid out for me since before I was born.”
“Are you not happy, Angie? Because I’ll smuggle your ass back to Seattle with me if you’re not.”
My sister smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I know what I signed up for, but this whole queen thing is going to be an adjustment.”
“Remember your time as queen is what you make of it. You have the ability to redefine the monarchy and change the role to something you like. And you have the freedom to find love too. Just because you’re the queen now, that doesn’t mean that you don’t have agency over your life.”
My sister flew across the space between us and tackled me into a tight hug. “I’ll miss you when you leave tomorrow.”
“I’m leaving tomorrow?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m your queen and that’s an order. You go back to Seattle and see if you can fix things with your caterer. But first, you need to have a serious conversation with our parents.”
She pressed a kiss on my forehead. “I just want you to live your best life, Genny.”
“That’s what I want for you too, Angie. Promise me you won’t lose yourself to duty and tradition.”
“I promise.”
I headed straight to my parents’ quarters, deciding that I’d avoided a conversation with them long enough.
“Can we talk?” I asked.
“You’re leaving.” My mother’s voice was resigned.
“Yeah, but we need to talk about what happened back in Seattle.”
I walked over to the mini fridge and pulled out a bottle of water before sitting on a chair across from them.
“I want to apologize for my disappearing act. I know it was a ridiculous thing to do, and I know you were worried.”
“Why would you do something like that, Genevieve?” Mom asked.
I shrugged. “I went outside to get a breath of fresh air, but when I saw the van, I acted on impulse. I was planning to go home after, but then I met Carrie and… well, I got distracted.”
“Distracted because you have feelings for that girl?”
“Yeah. And it was fun to just be a regular person for a while, you know? I have my anonymity in Seattle, but this was different. I know I’m privileged, and I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me, but it’s also a lot of pressure being Princess Genevieve.
It was nice being plain old Genny, part-time catering staff. ”
My mother shook her head like I was crazy, but there was no anger there.
“I’m truly sorry for how I behaved, but now it’s my turn to ask: why would you two do something so crazy like foist a fiancé on me?”
This time my father spoke up. “When I found out I was sick, I freaked out. I thought if you married you’d come back and be closer to us. It was…,” he cleared his throat like he was getting emotional, “it was wrong. We owe you an apology too.”
“We are sorry, Genevieve. But we acted out of love.”
“I know you did.” I got up to give each of them a hug. “But next time you decide to fix me up with some random royal, at least make it a woman.”
Mom perked up. “Should we…?”
“No Mom, my heart’s taken. I just need to convince Carrie that we belong together.”