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“She’d have to give up her job, too.”
“She’d find one here.”
“Queen Consorts don’t work, Victoria. They have functions, charities they support, and overall royal duties, but they don’t have jobs.”
“I’m aware. But she’s not your Queen Consort just yet, so wait until she says yes before you start worrying about all of that stuff. Besides, you can change that. She can, too. She could still be a Queen Consort and have a job. We don’t take public funding, so it would be allowed. It’s just never been done.”
“I suppose,” Elizabeth replied. “There’s something else I was hoping to ask you today, and you can feel free to say no. It’s just that Palmer asked me something, and it got me thinking.”
“What?”
“Do you and David really want to live in Coburn Cottage?”
“What? No. He and I both want to move back to London. I want to get back to school; you know that.”
“And if I said that was fine, and that I wanted to live in Coburn, you’d be okay with that?”
“Youwant the cottage?” Victoria asked, leaning forward in her chair. “What about the palace?”
“I never wanted to live in the palace. Even when we were kids, I wanted to live somewhere else.”
“I remember. We’d probably sound like spoiled rich kids to anyone who heard this, huh?”
“Maybe, but it was a life we were born into, not one we sought out. I think Palmer and I have found a way that no one here would lose their jobs, and we could live somewhere and still be kept safe just in case there’s ever another Sebastian Adrian out there. You and David could have what you want as well. Plus, I’d still be able to get here to work. I’d be as normal as Icouldbe, given my job.”
“You and Palmer, huh? I thought that would take time to figure out, but you’re including her in this plan.”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with us, but I do love her. I want to make the big decisions in my lifewithher now. She and I have already talked about it, and I showed her pictures of Coburn as well. We’re going to visit the place when she’s here for the wedding; I want to make sureshewants to live there, too.”
“She’ll love Coburn. You told me her dad loves botany. Build a greenhouse there, too, for when they visit. Her sister is a big fan of putting on shows, right? There’s that sitting room that no one uses. You could build a little platform for her there; give her a place to play and act. The kitchen in Coburn is modern and really nice. Her mom would probably love to cook in there. Plus, the town is really quaint. They’d have fun visiting, I think. Palmer could write in that little sunroom off the back of the house in the summer, and there’s that office upstairs for the winter. And if she does decide to pursue broadcasting, Channel Four News is in Renfro. That’s only a twenty-minute drive. There’s Channel Eight and Channel Seven here in town, too. She’d have options.”
“You’ve really thought this all out, haven’t you?” Elizabeth asked her.
“I have. Lizzy, I’m your sister. I love you. I want you to be happy.” Victoria looked around the room. “Before this whole thing happened, you weren’t happy. Maybe you liked school enough, and your little house off-campus, but you and Teagan were on your way to a slow and inevitable end. I was worried about you. When Dad asked you to go to meet David for him first, I told David not to make a big deal out of how in love we were because I was afraid it would make you feel bad. I knew things with Teagan weren’t good, and I also knew that other than me and Alex, you had no one to talk to about it. Alex wasn’t a lifeline; he would have been too worried about what would happen to him. And I was away at school and then dating David, and you wouldn’t have brought your misery to me because you would wantmeto be happy and not worry about it. You’re always doing things for other people. You and Palmer are good together.” She grasped Elizabeth’s hand over the table. “If she’s willing to move here one day, be your girlfriend in the public eye and then your Consort, that’s such a big deal, Lizzy.”
“I never thought I’d love anyone how I loved Teagan.”
“And Palmer’s the one?” Victoria asked.
Elizabeth smiled and said, “I’ve never felt how I felt when I first met her. I know that’s not fair to Teagan. We met as kids, and we were friends before we figured out there was more to it, but I fell in love with Teagan as a teenager.”
“And you fell in love with Palmer as a woman?”
“Yes, as who I am now. And I believe she and I can grow together, not apart.”
“Then, I’ll hope for that, too.”
CHAPTER 44
Palmer stared at her laptop screen. Things had not been easy since she’d gotten back to New York. She had spent a couple of days at home, and then she’d packed up again to join the candidate’s Senate campaign in Virginia, feeling like a nomad. Most of her time was spent with other reporters who didn’t exactly want to share their scoops with the competition, and the candidate herself had been rather elusive thus far, unfortunately.
Now, Palmer was staring at her laptop, not for work but because her girlfriend was late for their scheduled video chat. The past thirty days apart hadn’t been much fun for Palmer. She was counting the days until she went back to St.Rais for Victoria and David’s wedding. What she’d thought she’d like about life on the road during campaign season was beyond her now. She didn’t like the company. She didn’t like the food. She didn’t like the hotels the paper paid for. She didn’t like how lonely it all felt.
“Hello, my love,” Elizabeth said with a smile when they finally connected.
“Hi, babe,” Palmer replied, yawning.
“Tired?”
