Without her, John ran on all cylinders. He tried not admitting how much we needed Ella to run interference. She was the best at yelling and barking orders. John was too nice and his accent too cute for these Americans.
Today was the biggest day. No pressure. Eloise reminded me that this was my shot to look like a proper monarch. I needed to prove I was ready for diplomacy at the grownups table.
“Sir, it will go well,” John noticed my reticence.
“I know. I will make it so. Mum will skin me alive.”
“Sir, this is for you. You will do a grand job because it is foryou.”
“John, I’m tired,” I said. “I am worn down. I have been on this redemption tour for four months now and jumped up and down. I have done so much—everything everyone has asked of me. I’ve had cameras following me around for more than a month now. And all I can think about is how good a break will feel. But when?”
“Should I book you a holiday, sir?”
“Wouldn’t that be Ella’s job?” I chuckled.
“Well, Ella is momentarily predisposed. And… I do not mean to be rude, sir, but I think she will be hiring a replacement.”
“Why should she?” I asked.
“Because she’s not long for the job. No one is. It’s a revolving door. And it’s not you. It’s that you love her. And if you love her, making her chase you around will get old.”
“But I long to bring her everywhere with me. This allows me to do it.”
“And is that fair to her, sir?”
He gave me a look that suggested it was not.
I shrugged. “Okay, maybe it’s a crutch.”
“I promise you I have full faith that she will be going everywhere with you before too long. And it won’t be the end of the world to take some time focusing on your next steps—and hers.”
“I love her, John.”
“I know, sir. But she’s not a set piece in a game who lives to chase you about. She’s a person. And, she may need to think about her own next steps.”
“Like hiring her own staff at some point,” I sighed.
He shrugged. “We are far off from there, sir. But we might be getting closer than she’d even know. Either way, I think you have earned a holiday, and I can put in a request. I do not suspect your mother will balk at the idea. Might you take Miss Mills with you?”
I smiled slightly. “Somewhere warm. Somewhere she can wear as little as possible. Yes. Sounds brilliant.”
59
GIFT FOR A GIRLFRIEND
ELOISE
27 February
London Daily Times
The Prince of Wales wrapped up his American East Coast tour at the Virginia Air and Space Museum where he met with its lead curator and two female fast jet pilots. This event was a fun experience following the Prince’s important meeting with President Harrison. That meeting may have cemented the Prince as a formidable diplomat. If he can behave himself, he will walk away from this tour an asset to his mother and a viable future monarch.
St. John’s was an idyllic little place in the Canadian Maritimes. However, it was a far cry from where I wanted to be. As I worked to be cleared for a flight to California, Monique fed and helped me around the rental home on the water.
I missed my job and Duncan. He texted regularly and rang every night. It wasn’t the same. We shared this formative sort of moment only to be ripped apart by necessity. And, sadly, I gathered this wasn’t the last time it would happen. I wasdatinga prince. And when one dates a member of a royal family who is about to become the primary oversees diplomat, one signed up to occasionally be left in the lurch.
“Oh, it made it!” Monique announced from the porch.
