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However, she wasn’t looking at me. She was looking at two identical little girls dressed in pink petticoats who had flowers in their hands. Their cheeks and even their noses were a bit red from the cold. I was so focused on the press that I didn’t even notice that it was cold, and there was a group of people waving to the side of me. I had waved, but I wasn’t really looking at them; I was trying to get onto the train.
However, Odette walked up to the girls, Thelma already by her side. “Are these for us?”
The girls nodded; however, before they could speak, their mother spoke, also breathless. “Yes, ma’am. We were going to present flowers but were told you were all delayed and wouldn’t have time to stop and accept them.”
“We will find time then because your little ones are so cute!” she exclaimed before bending down to their eye level. “Hello, I am Odette.”
“Hi, Your Majesty,” they said in unison and even curtsied, though it was awkward for them, and they nearly fell. “I’m Abby, and she is Gabby.”
“Is that short for Abigail & Gabrielle?” Odette asked, and again they both nodded together, lifting up their roses and baby’s breath. “Thank you, loves. Your coats are beautiful.”
“Mommy made them.” Abby…no, I think it was Gabby said to her.
Odette’s eyes widened as she looked back at the woman. “You made these?”
“Yes, ma’am, I own a small shop where I make children’s clothes.”
“That is amazing. I always wanted to learn how to sew, but it was either that or playing the piano.”
She had wanted to learn how to sew? Since when? Why? I knew she was down to earth, but I also knew her mother. If she needed a coat, she would have gotten any one in a thousand different colors.
“They are amazing. I hope to need to come to your shop one day.” Odette smiled before looking back at Abby and Gabby. “You guys are very lucky to have such a cool mom.”
“Thanks, Your Majesty.” They curtsied before she moved down to speak to another person. The more she spoke to them, the less the press yelled, and the dumber I looked just watching her. I waved for Balduin, who came up beside me quickly.
“I’ll give a short comment. Pick a few reporters…and make sure one is from The Morning Eagle.”
“Sir.” He huffed out at me, begging me with his eyes.
“Do it,” I said to him before walking to Odette’s side to also greet those who were there.
I knew he was most likely panicking because their comments were prepared, which meant I was going to speak off the cuff—the very worst thing a king could do. But if my reputation for the day was already slandered, I might as well end it with the people hearing from me. And I wanted them to see I wasn’t running from The Morning Eagle or anyone.
My mother had told me to think of it as a beauty pageant. Whenever I was in public, I just thought and acted as if I were in one. And a pageant was all style points. I had never wanted to sew before. But I said it to the lady with twins because I knew it would make her feel good. My mom once explained that you have to make people feel good about putting the crown on your head, just like when judges of pageants asked contestants what matters the most to them. The truth was usually winning the pageant. But that didn’t make people feel good, so all the contestants usually said something like world peace or ending hunger. I remembered laughing at the thought of it. But it felt true now. I had to be a little fake under the circumstances. It made me wonder if it made me a bad person, but seeing how happy everyone was when I showed interest in their work or hair or clothes seemed to balance out my conscience just a little.
I shook as my hands accepted as many gifts and smiled at as many people as I could before Gale and I were ushered back to the train by Balduin. Wolfgang struggled to hold all the gifts of flowers and teddy bears, dashing inside the train to put them down before running back out again. I didn’t realize Gale was going to give a statement until I saw a few members of the press move closer. I stepped right to the side of him, wondering what on earth he was going to say.
“I thought the team axed the plan?” I whispered with a smile on my face to Wolfgang as he arrived back at my side.
“He changed it back when he saw you talking to the public,” he whispered back.
Crap. I forgot I wasn’t supposed to talk to the public right now. But I had made eye contact with the girls, and I didn’t want to seem rude and just look away, especially when they were waiting in the cold with flowers. Then I didn’t want to only seem like I cared about them and not everyone else…and I sort of just didn’t follow the plan, either.
“So, did I do bad or good?” I whispered to him.
“I’d wait to see what he says first, ma’am,” Wolfgang muttered back.
Great, I thought as I felt the urge to cross my fingers.
But how bad could it be?
Chapter 12
It was bad.
It wasn’t a train wreck.
It wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
