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“She would love that.” Elizabeth smiled down at her.
“And then, we can talk more about this foundation thing.”
“We can?”
“It’s a great idea, babe.” Palmer pressed their lips together. “But less talking now. More kissing.”
???
When Elizabeth left a couple of days later, they had a plan. Palmer would be her official escort for the wedding. The office of the Queen would announce their relationship and their future plans for Palmer to relocate to St. Rais at a future point. Palmer would check out Coburn Cottage to determine if it was where she wanted to live when she moved, and she would also work with Rebecca to identify the staff she’d need for the foundation while wrapping up her work at the paper she used to love working at but could now no longer see the point. It just wasn’t fun anymore. The kind of writing she wanted to do wasn’t the newspaper kind these days. She didn’t knowwhatshe’d end up writing, but she wouldn’t be writing forThe New York Courierfor much longer.
After the wedding, Palmer’s family would visit as planned, in the summer, giving her parents and Camilla a chance to see Palmer’s future home. They’d find a guest room that they could turn into Camilla’s room for when she visited, get a greenhouse set up for her father, and make sure her mom loved the kitchen as much as Victoria thought she would.
Victoria and David would be leaving St. Rais to live in London, at least, while Victoria was in school. Victoria would still perform her royal duties when necessary, but Elizabeth would attempt to keep her out of the ones she didn’t want to be involved in so that Victoria and David could have as much of the life they wanted as possible.
After the summer visit, Elizabeth planned to return to the US to spend time house-hunting and touring parts of the US that Palmer had called home. Then, they’d return back together. Palmer would then make the move to St.Rais, run the foundation, and write whatever it was she wanted to write. Maybe she’d break into TV one day; maybe she wouldn’t. She’d figure that out when the time came, but the idea of helping other families like her own find the right kind of schools and programs for their special needs kids made her so happy; she had no idea why she hadn’t thought of it herself.
The other thing Palmer had already planned but hadn’t told Elizabeth had to do with finding a way to surprise her with one of the most important questions Palmer would ever ask another person. Victoria was already helping her plot the event, and Palmer was hopeful that when it did happen – months and maybe even years from now – Elizabeth would say yes; that they’d spend their years going back and forth between St. Rais and the US, raising their children, supporting the country, and taking care of each other. She could not think of a better way to live her life than with Elizabeth by her side.
EPILOGUE
“You’re coming back for Christmas, right?” Camilla asked Palmer.
“Of course, we are,” Palmer replied, hugging her sister. “And then, you’re coming to stay with us for your spring break.”
“I am?” Camilla asked, excited. “Can I play with the horses again?”
“Absolutely. They’d like that,” Elizabeth said, running her hand over the back of Camilla’s head protectively. “Your horse is going to have her baby by then. You have to name him, right?”
“Can I name him Unicorn?”
“Unicorn the horse?” Palmer asked, looking at her girlfriend.
“Of course, you can name him that,” Elizabeth said playfully, lightly slapping Palmer’s shoulder.
“I packed you something for the flight,” Palmer’s mom said as she came out of the kitchen.
“Nothing like Mom’s home-cooking,” her father added, coming into the foyer to join them.
“You have everything you need?” her mother asked, passing Palmer the bag of food.
“Yeah, we’re good,” Palmer replied. “And we’ll be back for Christmas, Mom. It’s only a couple of months away.”
“I know. I know. I think I’ve seen you more this year alone than I have since you moved to New York, but it doesn’t stop a mom from worrying about her daughter. You’ll find that out someday.”
Palmer met Elizabeth’s eyes and smiled at her. The year so far had flown by. After the vote in February, Elizabeth had given a speech, expressing her gratitude to the country for believing in her. The police had found another two members of the anti-monarchist faction that had some low-level involvement in what had happened to her family. They were currently behind bars,andthey were talking, giving up more names of people involved. Outside of that, though, the anti-monarchist movement had calmed considerably. Elizabeth now believed it was mainly one man holding a generations-old grudge against an institution that, in the end, didn’t even have the power to decide if a nation should go to war or not.
In May, Palmer had been Elizabeth’s official escort, and the office of the Queen had made a statement that Miss Palmer Honeycutt would be relocating to St. Rais and taking a position in a new foundation sponsored privately by the Queen and her family. Palmer had leftThe Courier, and it surprised her how happy that had made her. She’d once considered that her dream job and one that she’d have forever. She’d also moved out of her apartment that she’d hardly lived in this past year in August, choosing to spend the month with her family prior to making the move to St.Rais. She and Elizabeth had found a nice house in the neighboring town that had required very little work. Elizabeth had spent a week helping Palmer decorate and make it a home for them whenever they returned to the States.
It was now September. The hoopla surrounding the Queen of St. Rais coming out as a lesbian with a girlfriend was beginning to die down. There had been the usual reactions of shock, anger, ignorance, and fear among people, but also ones of happiness and understanding. Finding out that the Queen planned to regale herself with one of the nation’s newest laws one day – gay marriage – was seen as mostly a good thing. Others, of course, were not as happy about the Queen’s choice of potential Consort, though that had less to do with Palmer being a woman than they’d expected and more to do with her being an American and a reporter.
For Palmer’s part, she’d been gracious, supportive, and understanding of any and all reactions. She hadn’t taken any of them personally and had been by Elizabeth’s side when the worst of it had come in. They’d laughed together, but they’d cried together, too. They’d argued on whether or not they should respond to some particularly hateful comments when Palmer wanted to punch someone through a wall and Elizabeth just wanted to fall asleep next to the woman she loved. It was because of all of this, though, that Elizabeth finally convinced Palmer to write the real story of what had happened leading up to the bombing, the bombing itself, and the aftermath. It wasn’t the personal story of their relationship as much as a commentary on what happened with a nation. Still, there were bits and pieces of their relationship mixed in when appropriate, and Palmer – the always-ethical Palmer – made sure to include mention of the fact that she was in a personal relationship with the Queen of St. Rais. The lengthy piece had been her last forThe Courier, but it had made her editor very happy.
It had been a busy year indeed, but now they were about to catch their flight back to St. Rais, to Coburn Cottage, which would be their new home. As Palmer hugged her sister and her parents, she knew she would miss them like crazy, but she was also so excited to begin this new part of her journey with Elizabeth. She was itching to get back to the place she would now call home.
Rumors had been swirling around their potential engagement. Though they’d only known each other for about a year and had been together officially for about nine months, the people of St. Rais wanted their Queen married, and gossip about when they’d start having heirs also covered the pages of local newspapers and magazines. Apparently, when one was dating a Queen, it wasn’t just parents wanting to be grandparents; an entire nation wanted the details of when, how, and who of their future children.
They said goodbye to Palmer’s family and arrived at the small airport. Most people in the US didn’t care much about monarchies around the world, but ever since it was announced that an American woman was dating a Queen, people started showing up at the airport to see them arrive or depart when news hit that they were in town. It was a lot to get used to for Palmer, but she just held on to Elizabeth’s hand and watched the woman she loved graciously smile and wave at everyone before they climbed on board the plane.
