Marion Lennox - Wanted - Royal Wife and Mother

‘No,’ Rafael said.

‘Then it’s just as well I didn’t bring them,’ she retorted.

‘If you please, ma’am…’

There were four women in the room. One had been adjusting the base of Rafael’s coat. Two were sitting at the table sewing, and Ellen was helping Matty on with his vest. But now she interjected. She rose stiffly to her feet and stood, unsure. ‘I…we have a suggestion.’

‘A suggestion?’ Kelly frowned and glanced suspiciously at Rafael, but he was looking as in the dark as she was.

‘The clothes Prince Rafael and Prince Mathieu will wear are traditional. We wondered…seeing you’re a historian…’ Ellen gave a nervous gasp, looked to her friends for support and crossed to the corner of the room. There was a mannequin there, shrouded with dust-sheets.

Ellen cast Kelly another nervous glance and then she tugged off the dust-sheet.

The dress was breathtaking. It looked almost Elizabethan, a creation of the most exquisitely cut gold and ivory silk, skilfully set over a rich crimson underskirt. The neckline was almost square, cut low to reveal the swell of breasts. Filigree sleeves were gathered into elegant lace wristbands in the finest of gold. The waist cinched into a deep V, designed to make any woman’s waist look tiny.

And the embroidery. Such embroidery-all fire, swirls and curves. The gown shimmered and glistened as Ellen pulled the dust-sheet free, almost assuming a life of its own. There were hoops underneath, spreading the dress almost as wide at the hem as the gown was high. There was a train-Ellen was setting it out now. It was embroidered to represent a golden dragon, running from waist to maybe ten metres behind.

Kelly gasped with shock. She couldn’t help herself. She stepped forward, almost reverently, hardly brave enough to touch it.

‘It’s…’

‘Over two hundred years old,’ Ellen breathed. ‘When the old Prince was pressuring Kass to be married, he ordered it to be restored. But then…then Kass married you.’

‘Not a princess,’ she whispered.

‘But you are a princess,’ Ellen said stubbornly. ‘You should have had the right to wear it. You have the right to wear it now. We’ve measured it against your gowns here. It’ll take very little alteration.’

‘Wow,’ Rafael breathed. ‘Kelly, you have to wear it.’

‘I don’t,’ she said, feeling so out of her depth she was close to tears. ‘I’m not royal.’

‘No, but you are,’ Matty repeated. ‘You were married to my father. You’re a real princess.’

‘I’m a commoner.’

‘You’re Australian,’ Ellen said with satisfaction.

‘So what?’ She was bewildered. Maybe she even sounded angry, but she couldn’t help it. The sight of the dress was so awesome it took her breath away. And the way Rafael was looking at her didn’t help. Plus the way Rafael looked…She had a sudden vision of the two of them. Rafael in his dress uniform and she in this dress.

No and no and no.

But Ellen was speaking. She had to listen. What did being an Australian have to do with anything?

‘The palace gossip was that was why Kass chose you,’ Ellen said, answering her question before she’d framed it. ‘When Kass’s father heard of Prince Raoul’s marriage to Jessica in Alp d’Azuri to a commoner-to an Australian-he laughed about it. He said Raoul was a fool and the country would never accept such a marriage. And then you and your team were working so close to here…’

‘So he just picked me,’ Kelly whispered.

‘And we were so excited,’ Ellen said stoutly. ‘The people of Alp d’Azuri have had nothing but prosperity since their prince’s marriage. We had such hopes…’

‘Of me?’

‘You were our princess from the time Prince Kass married you,’ Ellen retorted. ‘We hated that you went away. We’ve always wanted you to come home. And we hated that the old Prince made us put this gown away.’ She faltered and bent her head over the train, pretending to straighten a crease. ‘We…we need a royal family.’

‘You have Rafael and Matty,’ Kelly whispered.

‘It’s not a family.’

‘Leave her,’ Rafael said, sounding suddenly angry. ‘Ellen, this isn’t fair.’

‘No, sir.’

‘You don’t need to defend me,’ Kelly told him.

‘Don’t I?’

‘No,’ she flashed, and he grinned that heart-stopping grin and lifted his sword from its scabbard.

‘I guess it’s not me alone. You have two men to do it now,’ he said, seemingly determined to turn what had been too serious a moment into a joke. ‘The decision about the dress can be made later. Matty, we need you to have some fencing lessons. En garde , petit …’

‘Not here,’ Ellen shrieked as Matty picked up his sword and giggled. ‘Not near the dress.’

But Rafael was changing the subject away from the dress, away from her, distracting them all from a topic she found too hard. She could merge into the background, she thought thankfully.

He was protecting her.

But…but…

We had such hopes.

She’d never thought of it from the people’s point of view. She’d always believed they’d thought her a tramp. Someone they were lucky to be rid of.

She swallowed. Ellen had caught Matty’s sword which, mercifully, had a blunt end. She’d put it firmly aside. Now she was manoeuvring him into a jacket that matched Rafael’s.

Her two royal princes.

A family?

No. No, they weren’t. Matty was her family, but he also belonged to another.

She was on the outside of that other, not even wanting to look in.

The dress was there. A dare. A challenge.

A role that was already hers.

‘Come on in, the water’s fine,’ Rafael said softly and she blinked at him in astonishment.

‘I don’t…’

‘I know.’

‘I can’t.’

‘You can.’

‘Rafael…’

And then the earth moved.

It was a mere tremor-a shift that made the light above Ellen’s head sway slightly on its long lead from the high ceiling. A vase sitting on the edge of the mantelpiece slipped sideways and crashed on to the hearth. It left Kelly feeling just slightly off balance, as if she’d stood up too fast and felt a little dizzy, but then balance was restored and things were okay.

But the light was still swinging, casting weird shadows over the half dressed Matty. Ellen was staring upward, mesmerized by the swinging light, but Kelly was over the far side of the room in an instant, grabbing Matty to her, holding him close.

The light was still swaying. The vase was still smashed on the hearth.

‘Outside,’ Rafael said harshly into the stunned silence. ‘Get outside, everyone-into the forecourt and away from the building.’

He didn’t have to say it twice. Kelly was already moving, carrying Matty as she ran. Rafael moved to intercept her but she shook her head and kept running.

‘We’re fine. Get everyone out.’

She’d experienced this before-an earth tremor. It had been a small quake, measuring three on the Richter scale, and it had shaken some of her parents’ beloved books from the shelves. That had been all the damage.

That was all this would be, she told herself as she ran.

‘Mama…’ Matty quavered.

‘It’s just an earth tremor,’ she said, not pausing. She could put him down but he was in bare feet and she had him in her arms and that was where it felt like he belonged. She was running down the vast stone steps that led out to the forecourt. Behind her, she could hear Rafael shouting orders.

‘Assemble outside, everyone, and I mean everyone. Ellen, take a roll call. Crater, go over to the dower house and see if my mother’s okay. Get her outside too. Marsha, the dogs are already outside, you go back inside and I’ll come after you with a whip…’