Даниэла Стил - Royal

“Do you want to go home?” she asked Charlotte quietly. It would create a scandal ultimately, but she might prefer to deal with this at home, with her own parents, instead of his.

“No, I don’t,” she said firmly. “They want me to be here. I know they’ll be furious at first, but maybe the best thing is to tell them afterward. There is nothing they can do about it then.”

“I’m not sure that’s fair to them,” the countess said sternly, “to confront them with a fait accompli, a love child after the war.” The thought of it made her cringe. She wanted to do the right thing, and so did Henry. He was an honorable young man and deeply in love with Charlotte. They were babies having a baby.

“I can’t just write to my mother and tell her this, and they don’t want me in London, they want me here. There’s nothing they can do to stop it now.” There were indeed several options, but in her innocence Charlotte was aware of none of them, and an abortion was far too dangerous for a royal princess entrusted to their care, so the countess didn’t suggest it. The countess thought of something else then, which might mitigate the circumstances somewhat when they would finally have to face the king and queen.

“Do you want to get married, or do you plan to have the child out of wedlock?” she asked them, shaking at the thought. “A legitimate baby fathered by the son of an earl might be considerably more palatable to your parents than an illegitimate child after the war.”

“Can we get married, Mama?” Henry looked shocked. It hadn’t occurred to him since they were both underage. “Do we have to go to Scotland?” It was still where most people went to elope.

“You can get married here, with your father’s permission. You’re almost eighteen. And we have a document giving us the right to make decisions for Charlotte in the event of an emergency, and I’d say this is. We can give her our consent to marry. I think we should do it quickly. You may have to report for duty very soon after your birthday,” which was only weeks away, and then he would be gone, and it would be too late to legitimize the child.

“Will you marry me?” Henry asked her, looking straight at Charlotte, and she nodded, looking stunned. It hadn’t occurred to her either, without her parents’ knowledge or consent, but at least the child would be legitimate when she told them what had happened. They wouldn’t be pleased, but they would be even less so if faced with what they would consider a bastard child. She knew her mother would be hurt that Charlotte hadn’t told her, but she would forgive them if they had done the right thing, and Henry was respectable. They would all avoid disgrace if they married immediately, and it was Henry and Charlotte’s fondest wish anyway for the future. The future had just speeded up at a rapid rate in the form of a baby.

“Yes, I will marry you,” Charlotte said clearly, suddenly sounding very grown up, even though she looked like a child.

“I’ll speak to your father,” Glorianna Hemmings said to her son. “I imagine there will be hell to pay with your parents eventually because I let this happen,” she said to Charlotte, “but I pray they will forgive me. I agree with Charlotte,” she said to her son, “we can’t write them about this kind of thing in a letter. It’s too complicated to call her parents, and they asked us not to. And if you marry, you’ll have done the right thing. It’s the best we can do in this situation, since you’ve both been so foolish. I was afraid of something like this happening. Your father didn’t believe me,” she said to Henry, and he nodded, embarrassed at the mess they had made. Neither of them had expected this to happen, nor knew how to avoid it. They had thrown caution to the winds, and somehow thought they’d get away with it. They realized now that Charlotte must have gotten pregnant immediately, possibly the first time they made love. His mother wasn’t pleased but she felt sorry for them both.

George Hemmings agreed to give his permission for both of them to marry by special license, but he insisted that the marriage be kept secret. If it somehow got out that Princess Charlotte Windsor had gotten married in haste, it would expose the reason for it, and the scandal for sure. And he didn’t want the king and queen hearing it as a rumor or idle gossip that would spread like wildfire, and even wind up in the press. He was adamant that their marriage, and eventually the baby, must be kept secret until after they met with the king and queen, which wasn’t possible now and wouldn’t be for some time. He was calm and sensible about it. And he wasn’t entirely sorry, as he told his wife. Charlotte was an excellent match for his son, to say the least. His wife scolded him for it. They all agreed that both the marriage and the pregnancy had to remain a secret between the four of them. Under no circumstances did they want Charlotte’s parents to find out about it before they had a face-to-face meeting with the Hemmingses, who intended to beg their forgiveness for the foolishness of their son. And until then, no one was to know that anything was afoot. Henry’s father impressed that on both of them, and both young people agreed, with deep remorse for the situation they had created and gratitude for his parents’ help.

They met with the vicar the following afternoon, and he agreed to marry them by special license since Henry would be leaving so soon to join the army. He thought it very touching and romantic. The Hemmingses did not tell him about the pregnancy, or who Charlotte really was. Their special license said only that her name was Charlotte Elizabeth White, which was on her identity papers provided by the Home Office.

The ceremony was conducted in secrecy and privacy at the church, with Henry’s parents standing beside them. Charlotte wore a simple white wool dress that she had brought with her, and carried a bouquet of white flowers from the countess’s garden. Henry looked tall and handsome and suddenly more mature in the role of groom. Then they all went home and had dinner together. Nothing more was said about the marriage. And Lucy knew nothing about their secret wedding, although she knew that Henry spent his nights with Charlotte, but she said nothing to either of them and kept the information to herself for future use.

Lucy had started eating dinner in the kitchen with the two elderly servants a while back, and barely spoke to Charlotte anymore. Her eyes burned with the fury of a scorned woman anytime she saw Henry, and he paid no attention to her. He had bigger things on his mind. And he had no patience with Lucy’s fantasies about him, and her petty jealousies of Charlotte. Charlotte was his wife now. It changed everything in his eyes. He was her protector, and had vowed to be forever. His parents were relieved that they had done the right thing for the child Charlotte was carrying, even if it meant facing the ire of Their Majesties at some point once they knew. Hopefully they would forgive them, although it seemed inevitable that they would be angry at first, with their daughter getting pregnant at seventeen and rushing into a hasty marriage, no matter how respectable the Hemmingses were.

The one thing Henry didn’t understand was why it was impossible to call them.

“You don’t tell people something like this on the phone,” his father said and refused to explain it further, much to Charlotte’s relief. Henry still had no idea who she was.

Henry and Charlotte retired early on their wedding day, and she slept in his room discreetly that night with his parents’ permission. They had to do something to acknowledge their wedding night. Charlotte was still feeling ill, but she looked happy as she sat next to him on the bed, and he smiled at her. She had tiptoed down the stairs after Lucy went to bed and she felt sure she was asleep.