Nobody in Particular(112)
What they don’t share—at least, not explicitly—is what they intend to say to William about all of this. From the looks on their faces, however—Father’s in particular—I am reassured William and I might never speak again. And, I believe, the Paget-Harringtons may be hearing from the two of them sooner rather than later as well. But not before we settle the more pressing matter before us.
“What happens now?” I ask. “Do you intend to remove me from the line of succession?” I swallow and draw a deep breath. “For what it’s worth, I do think Albert and Sukey would do well in my place.”
Mum recovers first. “Well, we aren’t there yet,” she says. I don’t allow even a hint of hope to touch my features. “Let’s see what happens now.”
“Yes,” says Father. He still sounds sad, but the anger has dissipated. “We must meet with parliament, and we need to ascertain the initial reaction from the public. You must prepare for the consequences, Rose. If parliament opposes your ascent, we will need to reevaluate the line of succession.”
“I know.”
“And even if parliament allows this, that’s not to say for a moment the people will. And if public opinion drops further—”
“I know.”
Father nods, then surveys me, long and mournful. “It is a shame,” he says, his voice breaking. “I very much wanted to see you serve this country, Rose. You would have done splendidly.”
This shakes me more than anything either of them have said until now. It is, I believe, the first time in years he’s shown any faith in my ability to perform this role well. Only for it to come now, when it’s far too late.
It does not, however, make me regret my decision.
“We will need to work through this together, as a family,” Mum says. “But we will work through it. Whatever the outcome.”
Father touches her upper arm, featherlight, and nods in agreement.
“Thank you,” I say, and, just for a moment, my brash confidence is missing, replaced by a note of fear. For all I had insisted I would bear the consequences, I think no small part of me had worried I would lose their love forever. It’s always felt like a fragile thing. Much more so than their love for each other ever has.
But perhaps it’s less conditional than I thought.
FIFTY-TWO
DANNI
“I’m so proud of you,” Mom says for the tenth time. “I’ve always been proud of you, you know that, honey. But gosh, you have gotten brave. My brave girl.”
Mom has been cleaning my room. She’s gone through and refolded all the clothes in my chest of drawers, and tidied the mess of papers on my desk, and made my bed so perfectly Harriet would be proud. I love her, and I’m happy to see her, but I am just about ready for her to meet Rose and go home so I can have my space back.
I’m pretty sure I’m bright red right now. “Not that brave.”
“Yeah that brave. How many times did you flunk an oral presentation in Boulder because you couldn’t speak in front of the class? Now look at you!” She looks me up and down, shaking her head. “I’ve had so many friends from home message these past few days. They’re proud of you, too. Oh, and the people online! They all love you. I saw one of those—what do you call it?” She snaps her fingers. “Articles on my newsfeed about you, and all the comments, oh. So many girls look up to you.”
“Really?” I ask. “It kind of feels like people hate me.”
“Yes, well, you’ve always been someone to listen much more closely to criticism than a compliment. You’re my reward-motivated, inspiring, very brave girl. And I— Oh, Danni, I just can’t believe you didn’t tell me the princess is your girlfriend.” If she’s told me she’s proud of me ten times, she’s said that about twenty thousand times. “I’m your mom. I wouldn’t have told anyone.”
“It’s not ‘the princess,’ Mom. It’s just Rose.”
“Yeah, but…” She gives me a wounded look. “Danni, this is important. You should’ve told me.”
“It wasn’t my secret to tell! Besides, my being bi was probably enough for you to process in one hit.”
“Well, that’s true,” she allows. “Finding out I’m the future mother-in-law to the future queen is kind of a bomb-drop of its own.”
“Please don’t call yourself her future mother-in-law when she gets here,” I say in despair.
“Of course I won’t, Danni. Why don’t you trust me not to embarrass you?”
“Because you’re always embarrassing me.”
“Name one time!”
I am about to do just that, when there’s a knock on my door. Finally, finally. I lunge for it, and let Rose in, throwing my arms around her as I do.
“Hey,” I babble. “Are you okay? What did they say? Did they say what happens now? Are you okay?”
She extracts herself from my arms, laughing. “Hold on, one second, one second.” Straightening, she turns to Mom and holds out a hand. “Hi, I’m Rose.”
Mom pulls Rose into a tight hug, and Rose lets out an oof as she does. “Hi, Rose,” she says. “It’s just wonderful to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”