Anna had returned to the living room to demand why Eliane had not protested against the fact that she had been made queen when she had had no right or desire to be one, but Eduard took her for a walk when both women threatened to start crying. He warned Eliane to stay off his sherry and his authoritative tone made John wonder if Eliane had a sherry problem. He looked at her when father and daughter had left the room. A crying girlfriend was a trifle compared to a crying mother-in-law, he thought uncomfortably. "Sherry?" he asked.

"Life is not so tough with a few drops of sherry. 'Ow do you think I survived public occasions? It's a fortifiant."

Her rather high voice made John wonder if she was craving for a drop or two. Her accent certainly become a lot less comprehensible when she was excited. "Oh," he said.

"In the car I took a little sherry to calm my nerves."

"Will the revelations never cease?" John sighed. He closed his eyes and shuddered at the mental picture of Eliane drinking straight from the bottle in a blinded car and then going to a gala dinner slightly tipsy. He was sure it was wrong, but he wondered what kind of family he had got himself into. "Do you have a relative who thinks he's Napoleon? Don't answer -- you do. A bastard queen, a drunk queen, a mad queen. You're all kidding me, aren't you? I don't think this can exist in one family."

"I've never been drunk," Eliane protested. "And I've not 'ad any sherry for two years. A little bit of sherry is not 'armful."

"Oh."

"You think that I'm an alcoholic."

"Not at all," John said politely. He told himself that he had no opinion on the matter whatsoever, but he hoped that she was not an alcoholic. She did not look like one, but they were usually very capable of hiding it.

"Eduard will tell you that I'm not. 'E 'as an unbiased opinion."

"Has he?" John muttered. "Well, if you like sherry, by all means drink it. I don't mind."

"I can't 'ave you think that I go to occasions always drunk. I 'ave never been drunk."

"Alright, alright!" He held up his hands. "I believe you." He believed that she would receive some courage or calming effect from sherry. Why not? But he did not want to get into a debate with her and he did not know what to do. He supposed that he was to stay here for the night, since they had taken him here and it was already rather late. They were not going to drop him off at home anymore, nor had they suggested that he go home when Charles-Louis had left. "I'm going to take a shower." Where to take it was a good question, but he assumed that he would find one somewhere.

He looked into a few rooms upstairs and soon discovered where Anna was sleeping. There were some very spacious rooms on this side of the landing. In her current mood it was perhaps best not to assume anything automatically and he dropped his bags in the hallway, taking out of it what he needed. Eduard did not have a bathroom with a bath, or in any case this particular bathroom did not have a bath. Not that he would have been able to fit into it completely, but it would have been nice anyway. By the looks of it this bathroom was only being used by Anna. There was only a brush, toothbrush and toothpaste.

After his shower, he dressed in his pyjamas. There was very little point in putting on clothes when it was nearly time to go to bed, again assuming that he was meant to spend the night here. Eliane was still alone, phoning somebody, but she was on the other side of the room so he could not hear her. The newspaper caught his interest and he began to read to see how the situation was perceived at the moment. Perhaps there were no other problems and life could finally be peaceful.

Anna felt better when she returned, although she was still a little angry and frustrated. The walk had cooled her off sufficiently. She kissed her mother self-consciously to apologise for her earlier harsh words, told her that she was sorry about that but not willing to talk about what she was thinking and then laid her hand on John's shoulder. "You will stay, won't you?"

"No, I like taking public transport in my pyjamas," he answered, glancing up at her and noticing that her eyes were red and puffy, but that she was capable of smiling wanly when she noticed that he had already changed. She gave his pyjama shirt a little pull to get him upstairs, being too exhausted and overwhelmed to speak much, but fortunately he understood and he followed her.

It was not the reunion he had expected, but he had lost his faith in expectations. They were generally completely wrong. He watched her get ready for bed and he had already understood that she was not in the mood to speak, because whenever she needed him to move she gave him a little push. It was pretty infuriating, but there was little point in trying to elicit some conversation. The way things looked now at least she was going to allow him to stay with her during the night, because she had pushed his bags into her room with her foot. He hoped that she had nothing in mind, because he was not a night person and rather lifeless at this particular moment anyway, although there could be exceptions to the rule with the right incentive.

He wanted to help her, but he could not do so if she banished him to another room and if he was in the same room things were much easier, even if she refused to open her mouth. But did she not see that it was making him miserable that she chose to keep her thoughts and grievances to herself? He had no idea if she had forgiven Eliane or what Eduard had told her. Did she feel angry, sad, betrayed, disappointed? But he dared not ask, because she did not look as if she would appreciate any talk. Besides, he felt rather dull himself too so he should not regret that, he said to himself.

Finally Anna was ready and she realised that it was only a single bed. After a second she shrugged and pushed John into it anyway. They could share, even if they would have less space, but in her current mood she actually preferred to have a narrow bed. In a double bed she would have to chase him all over the bed if he rolled away, because she wanted to be held. Now at least she did not have to ask him, which was good, because she did not want to say anything. She had caught his eyes once or twice and she had seen that he wanted her to speak, but she could not, as much as it hurt to be silent. It hurt him too, she noticed as she got into bed and she felt that she was letting everyone down. She had hurt her mother with her harshness, her father with her accusation that he had not cared enough for her mother to stay with her, and now she had hurt John because she could not speak. "I'm not a night person," she whispered with difficulty, hoping rather than promising him that she would be alright in the morning. Everybody's words would be back to haunt her in the following hours, she knew, and she prepared herself for a sleepless night. "But I still love you."

"Huh?" John asked. He did not see what this had to do with being a night person or not. Perhaps he was so preoccupied with the fact that she was lying on his arm in a painful way that he had missed something. Also, had he misinterpreted her desire to deal with this alone? She was rather too close to him to be alone.

"You think I don't love you when I don't talk."

John first moved his arm to a more painless position. "Uhh...I don't know. I don't know what you're feeling if you don't talk." Great remark, he told himself sarcastically, but he had missed holding her so he really could not be blamed for saying stupid things while he was relishing something he should not be relishing because it would be better for his peace of mind to be sleepy. Saying stupid things would only be continuing the trend that had started earlier that day, after her arrival. She had the most amazing effect on him.

Anna looked alarmed when he withdrew his arm. "I'll talk in the morning. D-D-Don't you w-w-want me to be so close to you?" she said with a trembling lip.

"You were hurting my arm, that's all. If I hadn't wanted to be close to you I'd have gone to bed while you were out walking, but that would have been the same as abandoning you when I think you need me," he said a little fearfully, not knowing if he was right at all.

The light had not been turned off yet and she shifted her body so that she could look at him. His eyes were exceptionally brilliant in the light as if he was saying something really difficult and straight from the heart. "I do, but I'm not used to saying so," she confessed, stroking his cheek.

"And I'm not used to being needed," he answered. "I don't even know what you need me to do and I don't know what I need you to do, except that I do need you to say something comforting about that baby. That is really bugging me more than whether you love me or not." He knew she loved him. Sometimes he was more certain of it, but on the whole he knew it for a fact.

He sounded as if he was mocking himself, but she saw he was genuinely lost. Anna let out a small laugh. She did not mind speaking anymore. "You'll be four times as tall as the baby. What are you worried about?"

"Well, if you'll be alright and so on, of course, and if I'd be a good father or something," he said vaguely.

"You're good at everything."

"No, I'm not," John said modestly. "Really?"

She laughed again. "Trust me."

"Such as what?"

"Well...you're good at getting me to talk, playing tennis, messing up massages..." she said with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes.

"Yes, it was no wonder. Unrehearsed, that one," he commented, returning the look. "But, you know, practise makes perfect and maybe one day I'll succeed in not getting distracted before the end of it. I'm counting on your co-operation." Maybe he was not such a morning person as he had thought. Perhaps it depended on the situation.

"Forget it," said Anna. "I mean, try me."

"Thank you for making him believe that I'm an alcoholic," Eliane said discontentedly to Eduard after Anna and John had gone upstairs. "I was happy that he didn't seem to condemn me because of you, but now he thinks that I'm an alcoholic because you said stay off the sherry."

"Oh Eliane!" Eduard did not know if he was allowed to laugh.

"I told him to ask you because you were unbiased and he said is he very ominously, as if he is not going to believe you!"

He pulled a straight face. "I'll tell him." But he was not unbiased.

"Don't you dare laugh at me." There was more that worried Eliane and it was of greater importance to her than the opinion of her future son-in-law. "What did Anna say? Is she still angry with me? She can't be angry for more than five minutes." Even though Anna had every right to be angry, she hoped that Anna was not, because if she was, she could not defend herself.

"Not really. I managed to calm her down. Maybe," he said tentatively. "If you had introduced the subject a little more tactfully she would have taken it a little better." It had now taken a lot of explaining and talking to soothe Anna.

It agitated her a little. It was always so easy to advise another person on doing something difficult, much easier than doing it yourself. "Well, alors! I should 'ave begun with saying that I was a weak little girl and that I was forced to come 'ere to this country to be checked out and then made 'er pity me?"

"Something like that, but it's not your style to make people pity you."

"I can't do right," she said in a sad tone.

"Yes, you can," he said quietly. "I explained it to Anna and I think she understands. And I didn't say I disapproved of your style, did I?"

"Oh." Did he mean he approved of the way she was? She could not help being the way she was. She was just not a great talker and certainly not in a language other than French.

"I know you better than anybody else," Eduard said. "And I don't disapprove of you, Grandma. Don't you think it would be better for the child if the grandparents lived in the same house?"

"Oh! Don't tell me I look like a grandma!" She purposely ignored his other remark. She did not want to think about that at this moment.

"You don't look a day over forty," he said gallantly.

"Neither do you. However, it is still much too old to flirt with me, Edouard." She was a little shocked by his previous remark. How was she supposed to react?

"Is it?" he raised his eyebrows. "You're the one who asked me if you looked like a grandma and when I tell you the absolute truth, you accuse me of flirting."

The absolute truth? "I don't know if I can believe you." He was flirting. He really, really was. If he raised his eyebrows like that, he was not serious.

"Do I ever lie?"

"How can I look forty when my eldest daughter is thirty-two?" she challenged him.

"Really! What confirmation do you need!" he exclaimed. "What have you done with Alexandra, by the way?" he asked before he would start thinking of confirmations.

"She's already in bed. She doesn't know I'm gone. Which means I can stay out until noon before she notices." Alexandra never said goodbye to her in the mornings and she would not see her until she came back from school.

He did not know what to think of that. "Ahh...can you?"

"I didn't mean it that way," Eliane said quickly.

"No?"

"No."

"So it was a slip of the tongue?" Eduard asked.

"Are you flirting with me again?" She was not sure what he was after and she did not know if she was up to knowing it.

"Do you want a glass of sherry?"

So he was flirting with her and he wanted her to flirt back. Did he not know that she had forgotten how? If she had ever been able to do it at all. "Edouard, I am much too old for this." It scared her tremendously.

"Not for me," he smiled encouragingly. It seemed she only wanted a little encouragement.

Of the whole family, Marie-Celeste was up first the next morning and she was perusing the newspapers when she came to an article.

Marie-Celeste looked furious and picked up the phone to inform Eduard, since he would know what to do about this. Strangely enough he did not answer either at home or at his office. She called her mother's extension, but it was not picked up either. It was only nine o'clock. "Where is everyone?" she yelled at the phone and dialled Patrick's number. "Are you awake?" she shouted down the line.

I am now, he answered sleepily.

"Have you read the newspaper?"

"Yes."

She mentioned the name of the newspaper he should look into. "I need to talk to somebody who's read it and everyone is out! Come over!"

"What could you possibly have to do? You're injured!"

Ever thought about booking trips, handling finances, sponsor contracts, buying new rackets, buying an engagement ring, buying new shoes...? Besides, he had the most terrible headache. Maybe he was falling ill.

"What?" she shouted.

Don't get so upset. I'm not coming over if you shout at me. Patrick hung up and yawned. The phone rang again immediately, but he let it ring and nestled himself between the covers again. She would give up eventually and come over.

Marie-Celeste did give up eventually and got ready to drive to his house, as he had predicted. She had to talk to somebody about this. She tried Anna's phone when she was being driven there by a bodyguard, thinking that her mother had perhaps taken it with her and to her great surprise it was answered by Anna herself.

Anna. Anna's voice was even sleepier than Patrick's. Eliane had given her back her phone and she had taken it upstairs, not knowing it would ring so early. It felt as if she had only just fallen asleep. Her eyes were not even sufficiently open to see which number was calling her.

"Anna!" Marie-Celeste shouted.

Good grief! Anna groaned at her sister's loud voice. What time is it?

"Nine o'clock. When did you get back? Where are you? What are you doing? Read the newspaper!"

Anna could not think about anything except sleep. Later.

Her attitude vexed Marie-Celeste immensely, especially when the call was broken off and she found that Anna had switched off her phone when she called again. Where was Anna? When had she returned? She sent Anna about ten SMS messages to convey her frustration, but Anna had sounded so sleepy that she suspected that she had fallen asleep again directly after ending the call.

Halfway to Patrick's house Marie-Celeste changed her mind. Why was she bothering anyway? He did not want to see her; that was obvious. Anna did not want to talk to her; that was obvious too. Did anyone? She ordered the bodyguard to drive back, changing her mind again and having him stop by the main offices of the newspaper that had published the article. It seemed to her that it should not have been allowed to be published. There was not even a name to it.

They recognised her and she was allowed to see the board of chief editors immediately. They were already in a meeting over the Setons' lawyer's phone call. The chief editors feared the Royal Family more than the Seton family. They would have a bigger impact on the public's opinion.

"I demand that you get as many copies back as you can starting right now and that you post a rectification on the front page tomorrow, plus that you publicly apologise or explain yourself on television tonight," Marie-Celeste demanded. "And offer your apologies to my brother-in-law for slandering him and to my sister for slandering her as well." But she was not done yet. "How on earth could you publish an anonymous article?"

"We know who wrote it, Your Highness. We approved."

"Approved? Of the contents?" Marie-Celeste asked icily. "I had expected more of a serious newspaper than unfounded, vengeful and slanderous accusations. Do you ever check the facts behind any article you publish?" She was not going to waste any more time here and she got up. "Do I have to repeat what I said or do you think you can remember? The lot of you don't seem overly bright. I demand that you get as many copies back as you can starting right now and that you post a rectification on the front page tomorrow, plus that you publicly apologise or explain yourself on television tonight and offer your apologies to my sister and my brother-in-law for slandering them. Good luck."

Only very long after she had woken up, Anna had remembered that Marie-Celeste had called and she had found the SMS messages on her phone. They had gone downstairs, not even sure whether Eduard had the newspaper in question, because Marie-Celeste had not specified which one it was. But they had found it soon enough.

John felt he could comment on every single word of the article and Anna was already doing that for him, so he said nothing, but to be purposely misrepresented was not something that made him happy. While he usually had an answer if anyone misrepresented Anna, now he did not really know what to say. It was beginning to get to him too. "Every time we're happy, something comes to ruin it."

"This is not going to ruin anything. You didn't do anything to deserve this." Anna wrapped her arms around him. All he had done was fall in love with her. If this unknown person -- whose identity or affiliation she suspected -- had directed this calumny against her, she would at least see why. This attack was below the belt. "We'll show whoever wrote this that we cannot be separated." She sighed. "I'm going to have to return today to show that I haven't been kidnapped. If I step down now, it'll show them that you're not after power."

Her sincere tone touched him deeply and he waited a few moments before he replied. If she stepped down, it would be what he wanted, but he saw he had to be careful with what he wanted. Perhaps then there would be other people saying he was manipulating her. He was beginning to be afraid of even suggesting things to her and advising was completely out of the question if people saw this as manipulating. Yet he wanted to say that it would be better for her if she stepped down. Or wouldn't it? It had not occurred to him before, but he did not envy Marie-Celeste the mess she would inherit. Could Anna really hand things over to Marie-Celeste in the present condition? Would she have peace with that? "I know you want out, but..."

"Don't say you've changed your mind."

"Would Marie-Celeste be willing to clean up after you?"

"It's not my fault!" Anna protested, but it made her think anyway. "It wouldn't be so nice of me to leave a mess for Cel," she mused. "You're right about that, but I thought you were desperate for me to quit?"

"Don't listen to me," John said. And don't tell anyone what I said about the matter. I must be becoming paranoid. She was still standing behind him with her arms wrapped around him and he pulled down her head to kiss her. "I don't want you to have any regrets. Make a nice clean break and live on. You can't live on peacefully if you think you didn't resolve everything in your past."

He was right. Perhaps she would feel she had been weak or a coward if she left just like that, but she could not resolve everything to everyone's satisfaction. "But I can't have it all...I can wait for a while, but you know what will happen if I do."

"What is that?" John asked.

Anna groaned at his question and nearly choked him again. "People will criticise me for being pregnant."

"Anna...do whatever your intuition tells you and you'll feel good about it. I'll feel good about it if you do. Never mind the public. They don't have to live with you. They only see you from afar and they have no idea what goes on in your head. It's very easy to judge people from afar and you shouldn't place any value on their opinions. Whose life are you living if you listen to them? If I had listened to other people, I'd never have met you."

"Why not?"

"Because then I would have given up playing six years ago. It was too simple of me to think that you could just quit. Nobody could."

"But it might take some time. How could you prefer waiting over having me straight away?" Anna asked. Where was he going to live if she was bound to the Palace and he disliked it? Not to mention the fact that everyone was going to find out if he lived with her. She had no illusions about the secrecy of her staff. They were humans and they liked to gossip. They certainly would not be able to keep it a secret.

"I am having you straight away," John answered. What does she mean, waiting? They were not going to end their relationship for the time being, were they? If that was what she had in mind, he would stop caring about manipulation and just order her to abdicate. "Just like I do now. The only difference is in your job and our marital status. A happy you is worth more to me than people's disapproval. I don't want to get married and then find out that you regret that you didn't do this or that. Or worse, have Marie-Celeste blame you for putting an end to her romance or leaving her with a political mess."

"Why should I be putting an end to her romance?" Anna asked in alarm.

"Who knows what ridiculous notions your sister might get if you make her a queen. She might forget that she has Patrick over every day right now."

"Every day?" Anna exclaimed.

"I called my mother last night. She told me that and also that things aren't exactly stable between them."

Anna pondered that. "So you're saying I might be breaking them up before they got a chance to actually become an item? Isn't it taking them rather long? Doesn't this mean they're not well-suited anyway if it takes them so long to find out?"

He laughed. "They might think us unstable. Or sick. Who knows?" They were different. He did not know if it was better or worse, but it was right for them.

They remained in the same position for a while, because it was an agreeable way for both to read the newspaper at the same time and because there was nothing else to do for lack of bread. Sometimes Anna's attention strayed from the news to herself and the situation she was in and she tried to decide on a course of action, but it was too difficult. She would have to ask her mother -- parents. Her face darkened when she thought of that. It was another complication to be considered, even if nobody else knew. But it should count in her final decision.

She had no idea if her mother had gone home, but she saw that Eliane had not when she and Eduard appeared with bread. They had been to the baker's together. There was something about her mother that caught her attention. Eliane looked more cheerful than she ever had before. No, not cheerful. Happy, Anna thought as she tried to classify it, content. Quietly content. And why? Just because she had been to the baker's? She must really have been hungry. Anna slapped herself mentally. She was being very stupid. It was obvious that it had not been the trip but Eduard who had lifted her mother's spirits. He had not said much about it yesterday, but she had guessed that he still cared and now it seemed that it was mutual. They would be bound through her, anyway, and it was best if such a bond was also enjoyable to them, Anna thought with a smile.

Eliane averted her eyes when two pairs of eyes studied her with interest. They were better mannered than the shop girls, who had stared with frank curiosity and open mouths when she had accompanied Eduard into the baker's. Anna looked as if she had never seen her, at first, which made her wonder if she had something in her hair, but then from that little smile on her daughter's face she guessed that it must be her facial expression. She concentrated on putting the bread away, not really sure if she should acknowledge anything or explain what she was still doing here. At least the children were still doing fine, although she could not imagine that it was comfortable to Anna to stand with her back so bent.

Eduard took Eliane's coat to hang it up and Anna poked John. "Look and learn. You don't ever do that."

"Umm...should I?" He reached for a pen and scratched something under the article to see if it wrote.

"What are you writing?"

"I'm trying to think of a cutting reply."

"Royalty can't reply. We're the easiest targets in the world. We can be dragged through the mud and then be criticised for being muddy and we can't say a thing."

"But I'm not royalty," he pointed out to her. He could defend himself.

"Right. I can't forbid anyone to speak their mind and the voiceless may dictate you -- proving myself nicely intractable -- 'bull****.' Make sure you write that you were dictated by your beloved, without specifying my identity. That's not necessary, as everyone will know who I am anyway."

"I'll be dragged through the mud too for that kind of language."

"No, you're specifically saying that it was me who said that. Now if you'd write that you were dictated by your chick...but you couldn't write chick, because chick doesn't imply love in the same way as beloved does. There are only six words in that line," Anna pointed at what he had written. "But you'd actually be saying much more."

"That article is absolute nonsense. I love my girlfriend and she has a will of her own and she uses it?" John suggested.

"And it's such nonsense that you're not willing to waste more than six words on the subject. Are you serious about replying?" Anna asked.

"Maybe."

Eliane overheard their last words. She too had read the article. "There seems to be a campaign directed against you," she commented. It seemed as if they were using him to get at Anna. "There was an other article too. Did you know that you have a fifteen-year old child?"

John looked amazed and then began to laugh. "Impossible." He saw that Anna looked a little worried nevertheless and he winked at her. "I didn't say impossible for nothing, darling. I wasn't that precocious." He helped Eliane set the table, because he did not like the subject.

"Shouldn't we go home?" Anna asked when she noticed that they were setting it rather elaborately and not for a quick breakfast.

"Not without breakfast," said Eduard, coming in from the hall. "Your sister called me just now. She's been to the newspaper and she's ordered them to do all kinds of things, so there isn't any need for immediate action. We can eat at our ease. She was also upset that nobody was answering their phones, so I'm preparing you for that in advance, because she's been trying to call three of us. She also wanted to know where you were, Anna, and I said I didn't know. She wasn't calm enough to hear the story anyway. Besides, we haven't even talked about how much of the story she's allowed to know."

They had decided that Marie-Celeste would not be allowed to know about Eduard's connection to Anna, but she would be allowed to know that Anna had been in France. It was better to have as few people as possible know about that connection.

Anna drove back to the Palace with her mother and John drove with Eduard. "I spoke to the Mayor at the baker's this morning --" Eduard began.

"Is he following you around or do you run into him by accident all the time?" John asked. Perhaps it was just a really small village where all the inhabitants went to buy bread at the same time.

"I think it's a coincidence. Last night at the pharmacy he said it was three weeks, but this morning he pointed out the option of a special license."

"You and Eliane must have been looking really desperate if he volunteered that," John snickered.

"Has anyone ever told you that you have a considerable lack of tact?" Eduard asked with a sigh.

"Yes, but it's not really my fault. You shouldn't have made Anna at such a young age. How old were you? Ten?" That was again not very tactful, he supposed and he cringed. But he really needed some adjustment to the fact that this man, who did not really look that old and certainly far younger than his own father, was Anna's father, who by all means deserved some respect. In theory.

"Thank you for the compliment, but I was a little older than that and it still doesn't excuse your tactlessness," Eduard said good-humouredly.

"I know. I am very nice to your daughter, though." John shuddered when he heard himself say that.

Eduard had noticed that. Although he did not seem to do it with other people, John always seemed to think very carefully before he said anything to Anna. "That means you're not innately tactless."

"Oh, thanks. I suppose it's because your family is --" Insane. Crazy. Bizarre. Loony. No. I can't say all that. I'd be tactless again. Odd. "-- odd...uhh...compared to mine," John added quickly. "Different. I'm still adjusting."

"That's better," Eduard said in amusement. "I was going to tell you that, no matter their age, Royals always need parental consent before they can be married and that you'd better charm them all, but I didn't think you'd buy it. Pity."

"Oh! Pity indeed! Because I would have bought it." They were crazy enough for that.

"I suddenly remember that Eliane pressed me to tell you that she's not an alcoholic. I don't know why," he lied, because he would like to hear it from John. Eliane had told it too concisely. "What happened?"

"You told her to stay off the sherry, so I naturally assumed that...well...she indulged in sherry a little too often." Well, that was putting it tactfully, wasn't it?

"And you asked her outright?" Eduard would not be surprised.

"No! I said sherry? And she said something like that sherry calms the nerves and that she always drinks sherry in the car before public occasions and I didn't even want to know all that. I was only worried that Anna wouldn't have any normal relatives at all."

"I believe her mother is the most normal one," Eduard said gravely. The young man must be seriously perturbed and concerned about the kind of family he would be marrying into.

"Pooh heh," said John. "You'd have to say that. Who'd admit to loving a nutcase? Umm...shhhh...shall I shut up?" First he had thought Eliane was drunk and now he called her a nutcase.

"Perhaps you should ask Anna if people would admit to loving a nutcase," Eduard suggested. He was amusing himself very well. John was blurting out the most entertaining things when he felt awkward and it was interesting to see that he had not quite grasped how to deal with his new girlfriend and her family relations, since he always remained fairly unruffled about anything else.

"Et alors, Maman?" Anna asked after they had been in the car for fifteen minutes and her mother still had not said a word.

"Hein?" Eliane looked confused.

"Did you decide to stay then last night?" her daughter asked shyly.

"Oh," Eliane exclaimed. "I wasn't forced to stay. We had to talk, you know. About you," she said in case Anna thought they had been talking about themselves, which they had done too, but Anna did not need to know that.

Anna supposed it had been necessary to talk about her. "Did you say anything about me or did you just talk about he's going to act now?"

"Yes, that too," Eliane said vaguely. "He must be careful now."

It was very difficult to get anything else out of Eliane and Anna gave up. She did not want to pry. But she did wonder.

"I hope you'll have a little boy," Eliane said when they drove through the Palace gates, drawing a curious look from two passers-by who recognised them. "I'd have liked one."

Anna thought about Hegge, Raine and Gris. "We have three friends," she paused to let that sink in, to relish that she could say we. She felt proud of that, somehow. "Who are called Thomas and who think he should be called Thomas if it's a he."

"John's father will be pleased."

"Why?"

"He's called Thomas."

"How do you know?"

"He introduced himself."

"I forgot that. I suppose he introduced himself to me too, but I was too busy wondering where he came from to really pay attention to his name. I was quite nervous when I first met his parents. They didn't know who I was or that I was...ahh...with John."

"Well, that you were...ahh...with John they found out soon enough," Eliane said dryly. "His mother told me that his father had seen it right away."

"But he never said so!" Anna did not think she had given anything away. She had been very calm and she had not said or done anything until they had been upstairs. His brother had seen them there, true, but nobody before that.

"I think he prefers to observe." Eliane parked the car and they went inside to look for Marie-Celeste, who would know more about the article and what the people at the newspaper had said to her. Anna's suitcase was taken from her and it would be unpacked and her clothes washed. They went to Anna's office. Anna had to smile and nod at people who were surprised at her return. If she did nothing, she would be seen as supercilious.

"Madam!" Eva jumped up with a start and hastily clicked Solitaire away on her computer, accidentally also closing her wordprocessor with her too hasty clicking. "@#$@! Sorry." She coloured and stood up. "I'm glad to see you back."

Considering that Eva would have had to make a pile of things that could not be processed because they needed the Queen's attention, Anna thought that she might actually be speaking in earnest and not out of duty. "Have you seen my sister?"

"Which one, Madam?"

"Marie-Celeste."

"Uhh...yes, Madam. She was in here just a minute ago, but she went to the swimming pool."

"Did she say anything about an article?" Anna knew how fast news travelled and she was sure she was even underestimating its speed. Everyone would know about the article.

"She printed out a note for you," Eva handed it to her.

"Thank you," Anna read the demands Marie-Celeste had made with regard to the article and then peered around the corner of her office to see how high the pile of documents was. There were two piles. Even worse. She was not really given any chance at catching up. "Yes...I think I'll..." she gestured. "...take care of that." She read the note again. I demand that you get as many copies back as you can starting right now and that you post a rectification on the front page tomorrow, plus that you publicly apologise or explain yourself on television tonight and offer your apologies to my sister and my brother-in-law for slandering them. Brother-in-law had perhaps not been such a happy choice of words, considering that they were not married and that this all too clearly made their relationship official. While she was not against that on principle, it would be awkward anyway, because the Palace could not make anything official without Parliament's permission. And Parliament had not been asked anything. Anna reflected that she was on principle against asking Parliament if she could please marry the man of her choice. The whole thought made her a little rebellious and she rested her head in her hands to laugh at her predicament. Crying would not help her much. Laughing was all she could do.

What could they do? Perhaps it was worth checking out. "Eva?" she called.

"Yes, Madam?"

"Could you find out everything I'd have to do to get married and also what the penalties are for not doing it?"

Eva stared at her. "Are you...are you considering getting married without permission?"

Anna folded her hands behind her head and gave her a mischievous grin. "Maybe. I don't like parties. But it depends on what the penalties are. I don't really feel like spending the rest of my life in a cell."

"Really, I don't think you'd be locked up just because you got married."

"Bigamists are, aren't they?"

Eva was a little afraid that she had been too impertinent, but Anna did not seem to care. "But you're not a bigamist."

"Don't I have to divorce Parliament first before I can really marry?" Anna asked rhetorically and spun around slowly on her chair.

"Do you also want me to look up the procedure for normal people?" Eva asked hesitantly.

"Please. But don't be too obvious about it." A thought struck her suddenly and she halted her spinning. "If you have time, talk to the Count about the situation abroad. He'll know, I'm sure." Anna began spinning again, imagining herself going away with John to a tournament, bringing up marriage over the coffee and croissants on a sunny balcony, and then going out directly to accomplish it. And the most wonderful thing about it would be that they would be completely alone, just like it should be, not with millions of viewers commenting on her dress, her expression, her hairstyle and everything else. She stopped spinning when she felt a little dizzy.

Eva still stood watching her. "Was that all, Madam?" She suspected that if she discovered that marriage was very easy on some Caribbean island, Anna would fly out there immediately, judging by her dreamy look.

"Yes."

"Oh," Eva remembered something. "I never apologised for believing that the kidnapping was an exercise." She shuffled her feet uncomfortably, unsure what Anna would say. "I really didn't know it wasn't."

"Who contacted you about it?" Anna tried to suppress the dizziness.

"One of the Prime Minister's men. I recognised him. He'd been here before with the Prime Minister and he was telling me about it and I assumed that the Prime Minister was telling you about it at the same time. He said there was no need to discuss it with you, in case somebody overheard it."

Anna believed her. "Did you tell this to the Commissioner?"

"Who?"

"Phone, phone, phone," Anna mumbled as she fished her phone out of her shoulder bag. She had his number in there. She copied the number and gave it to Eva. "Call the Commissioner and tell him. Tell him exactly what the man said to you and who it was and just everything."

Eva inhaled. Apparently Anna was not angry. "Yes, Madam." She exhaled.

"Ahh...you might as well tell him that I've returned," Anna said. "I don't think he knows." And he might like to know that she was back in place.

"He might know if he has the right newspaper," said Eva. "The one with your picture on the front. At the airport? Hugging?"

"Don't tell me someone took a picture," Anna whined. Eduard had not had that newspaper. It must not be a very serious one if it had pictures of a hugging queen on the front page. It was likely that the Commissioner had not got it either. Perhaps the intellectual part of the nation was blissfully unaware of the fact.

"It was also on the breakfast news. You must have seen it."

"Eva..." Anna paused and wanted to whine again, but instead she smiled rather smugly. "If I was hugging at the airport, do you really think I'd be up early enough to watch the breakfast news? Don't you think I'd have more pressing things on my mind?"

"Umm...well..."

Anna pulled herself together. "Ha! Well, enough of these disclosures. I'll start working on these piles while you call him and if he insists on talking to me, you may put him through, but I won't tell him where I've been anyway." She had completely forgotten Eliane, who had been sitting in a corner very quietly, but who now stood up. "Oh! Maman."

Eliane hugged Anna, who was still sitting, and stroked her hair. "I'm proud of you, Anna-Juliette." Because everybody had forgotten about the Juliette bit after she had been crowned as Anna, and already before that because she was going to be crowned as Anna, Eliane was the only one who ever said that, and only if she was saying something very important.

"Oh, why?" Anna did not recall that she had done anything special in the past few minutes. "What did I do just now?"

"Not now, always. I was just saying it now. Too late, maybe."

"Nothing is ever too late," Anna said significantly. "Should I entertain Alexandra tonight?" she offered.

Eliane thought about it. Perhaps she could go out to dinner. "Please. We'd both appreciate that. She's missed you, you know. She's been very...good...while you were away. Very little trouble. I think she was worried."

"I'll do something with her," Anna promised.

Anna worked steadily and managed to reduce the two high piles to one low one. She glanced at the work she had done with satisfaction, then glancing at her watch to see what time it was. It was time to out and to find Alexandra. What she was going to do with Alexandra she did not know yet, but they would come up with something. And then there was John, who had gone back to his flat and of whom it was not clear if he was coming over. He had things to do at home, she was sure, and she had proved to herself that she could sleep without nightmares if he was not there. True, she had got them still in France, but not at Eduard's house. Well, she would take her phone so he could call.

Alexandra was doing homework in her room, sprawled out on her bed with a mass of papers and books around her. She looked up with studied boredom as Anna entered. "Hey," she said indifferently. "You back?"

"Yes." Anna said down on the only corner of the bed that was not covered by her sister's homework. If her mother had not told her that Alex had missed her, she would have been hurt at this cold reception. Now she was inclined to see it as an act. "Have you finished yet?"

"Yes, but what else can I do here? All my classmates have friends who live just around the corner and sports clubs and I don't know what else. They always come back to school saying what they did and all I can ever say is I had tea with Queen Celeste. It was pretty cool to them at first until they realised that she's my Grandma. You know? I don't ever meet people who aren't related to me and you're not the sort to be friends with singers you can invite for a private concert," Alexandra complained. She had been thinking about it all the time and she could not help voicing her grievances to the first person who showed up.

Anna had always been more of a loner and besides, she had Marie-Celeste to play with when she was younger and she had never really considered that Alexandra might need friends. She saw that her sister had covered up what she had been writing. "What are you writing?"

"Nothing," Alexandra blushed, shoving it further under a book.

"Well, if you ever need a reader, then I'll let you read some of mine. If I dare." She got up. "Come. We're going out." She would take her sister out, not that she could make up for her negligence on one night, but perhaps it was a small consolation.

Alexandra looked at her in confusion. "What do you write?"

"Nothing if you don't show me yours."

Alexandra was not prepared to do that at the moment, even though it was something to consider later. "Where are we going?"

"Out."

"Where to?" Alexandra sat up, not betraying her eagerness.

"Dinner somewhere. We could fly to London to see a play, but I don't think it'd be your taste in entertainment."

"I don't care. It'd be London! Away! Do we get to stay the night there?" she asked hopefully.

"It's five o'clock. We don't have much time to arrange all that," Anna noticed. Although it should not be too difficult to find a hotel.

"Would I be allowed to go on a school night?" Alexandra asked with obvious skepticism. She was certain that Anna was going to withdraw the offer when she thought of school, so before she showed any excitement she had to be really sure that they were going.

"I'll personally deliver you to school and have a word with your headmaster," Anna promised. "Either London or Paris. Whatever we can get tickets for. But anyway, I'll have you speak the language and practise all your vocabulary. London would be better, wouldn't it? Maman's made sure we're all fluent in French already. I'll see you outside my room in five minutes, alright?"

Alexandra was very punctual. She carried a bag with her overnight things and she looked rather excited. Anna took her downstairs and discussed the matter with the security people. They would keep it low profile and only take two men.

They hurried to the airport, got tickets for a flight to London that left at seven and while they waited, Anna got the girls at the information desk -- who were really not for information about other countries -- to give her a phone number where she could order tickets. Because they recognised her they were willing to help her and they did everything they could. They even offered to make the call and Anna, who was already taxing her social abilities quite heavily, was very glad for the offer. However, other than making use of the fact that the girls knew her, she emphasised that they should not use her name to get her preferential treatment.

While she waited, elbows on the desk, she phoned John and told him they were off to London for the evening and that they would be back tomorrow. Fortunately he seemed rather relieved that he would not have to come over, because he had discovered a lot of things that needed attention in his flat. He was a bit puzzled by her going away when she had only just got home, but he did not say too much about that.

She and Alexandra had a quick dinner at the airport and then took a taxi to the theatre where they watched a comedy. She loved it that nobody recognised them and she and Alexandra chatted freely, because nobody would be able to understand them anyway. They had not counted on the fact that their countrymen could be found everywhere and that there were indeed some at a London theatre. Anna assumed that they stared because they could not understand the language, but it was in fact the opposite.

"Do you think my headmaster would listen to you?" Alexandra asked during the break when they were in a very long queue for the toilets. There were four of those, but only two were in working order and it would take them another while to reach the front of the queue. "I'm not the best student in the school. He's not going to like it that you took me to London."

"I'm sure I could convince him that you're to be pitied, despite the fact that your sister has the opportunity to take you to London on a school night. Maybe I could force you to write a report about the play in English and if he's not impressed by that, I could point out to him that your father is dead, your sister's having political troubles and more interested in her boyfriend, your other sister's having problems with her brother-in-law, and your mother -- that's something you don't know yet."

"What?"

"Maman is...out to dinner with Eduard." Anna wondered how Alexandra would take it. After all, she was the only child still living with her mother and it affected her more than it did her older sisters, who lived a few doors down the hall and who had their separate sitting room.

"Oh, finally."

"You're not surprised?" Anna asked.

"Not really. He's been sending more passionate glances her way than John's been sending yours. Have you slept with him yet?" Alexandra asked impertinently.

Anna turned red. She was immensely glad that all those English people had not understood what Alex had asked her. "Alex! John's hardly going to send me passionate glances when you're around! Why do you ask if I've...?"

"Because the kids at school always call you a stupid virgin, that's why. I was wondering if I could say something back now."

Anna gasped. "What do they say?" She looked discomposed. "Well...I don't see why everybody's interfering. It's never right what I do, then. Half the people think I'm depraved if do it and the other half think I'm..."

"...a nerd," Alexandra said helpfully. "So, are you? Or does he show some passion when I'm not around? I know he likes you, because which other moron would sabotage that display over the tennis stadium to make it read *kiss*, but he's not really a passionate person, I think. He can give you a chaste kiss in company, but he comes across as if he would do exactly the same if you're alone."

Anna's cheeks still burned. "I don't see why you worry."

"I worry because I get all that crap from people at school. I mean, I told them about what happened at the tennis stadium and they wouldn't even believe me. Publicity stunt, they said."

"Tell them I'm not a nerd," Anna fixed her eyes on the toilet doors, hoping that the people in front of her would hurry and that the queue would dissolve miraculously so she could escape this inquisition. She wondered why Alexandra's schoolmates were giving Alexandra such a hard time. They seemed to like putting Alex in a tough corner. Maybe she should change schools, but it was already January.

Alexandra stared at her. "You don't say!" she exclaimed. "You mean you can be passionate?"

"Alex, dear! It's difficult, especially because everyone is paying such close attention and it sort of puts a brake on things. If we stay away too long, people are going to think...shouldn't I be more responsible in my position...he's got to play tennis tomorrow...if people find out, they're going to be all over me...and for John...should I really be doing this with a queen?...is she going to get into trouble?" Anna sighed. "But since I seem to get into trouble either way, I think we should just stop caring. The damage is done anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Before you know it, you're pregnant and how on earth are you going to solve that without being halfway through your pregnancy on your wedding day?"

"You're pregnant?" Alexandra stared at her.

"Maybe," Anna smiled and went into a toilet when it was her turn, leaving Alexandra stunned.

They would not have said so if they had seen the look on John's face. He let the man talk on and put his feet up on the couch, reaching for his notebook and his glasses. Fortunately they were not far off.

"With a purpose, I take it?" John asked.

"Never mind."

"You must know that I'm in a difficult position," he began.

John scribbled that down, just so he had not picked up the notebook for nothing. "Well, my position implies that I cannot take any steps without discussing them beforehand with my main sponsor."

"No, my main sponsor does not deal. My main sponsor provides," he said. She provided love. "-- and displays."

"Yes." She displayed clothes, even sportswear. Sports bras, he corrected himself, but he could not say that to the man, who might be thinking that queens were courted just by holding their hands or something, without getting any glimpses of underwear and if he let on that he knew anything of underwear, the man might think that Anna was some kind of nymphomaniac stripper. "But how exactly would you describe my position?" Perhaps it was best to ask.

"How good?"

"Oh. That's a bit vague, isn't it? How can you be sure that exposure will result from this good friendship if you dare not guess?"

"Then perhaps you'd understand that an institution like the monarchy really isn't compatible with sponsorship. It's supposed to be there for all, not just for Axxion. I have to talk about this with...them. I'm not really aware of the unwritten rules of accepting gifts, but I doubt that anything like an Axxion queen would ever be possible." He could imagine the little Axxion labels stuck on the crown, on her robe and on the throne, to be visible on television broadcasts. Never would they stoop to that.

"In that case, I'd still have to discuss it. Do you really think that I'd still buy my own clothes now that I can delegate that to a woman? Ha." John wondered what they would say to that. Maybe they thought he was a terrible male chauvinist pig. He knew Anna was not going to buy his clothes and that he would never delegate anything, but they did not. Perhaps they would leave him now.

"No. We don't live together."

John stuck out his tongue. He already had everything he needed for his career. Whenever he needed anything it was to replace something old, never anything completely new. What he would really be helped with materially would be a sponsoring offer from Prénatal. It was not likely that Axxion dealt in baby wear, but he could not ask. That would give too much away.

When Anna was washing her hands, a new woman joined the queue and said something to two women who had been quite close behind Anna, who realised that they had understood everything. Their alarmed glances in her direction were indication enough and she stared back in horror. They knew. It did not matter that they seemed to wish that they had not heard at all. They had heard it. The English women in the queue did not notice, but Anna's countrywomen looked decidedly uncomfortable with the knowledge and Alexandra was going to come bursting out of that toilet any second to make it worse.

Anna stood, leaning against the washbasin, paralysed and incapable of even jumping into the hole in the unlikely event that the ground would split before her. They were judging her, of course they were. She could hear them think that they had not expected this sort of behaviour of her, which was understandable, because she had not expected it of herself either.

She did not know what Alexandra was doing, but it took an awful long time and she wondered why she did not walk away. If only she could move, walk past the three women and go out the door, but she could not walk past them. What if they said something?

The second woman was deliberately looking the other way, feeling very embarrassed at having overheard it. She wondered if she should have made her presence known, before the worst of the revelations, but they had come so quickly and unexpectedly that she had not thought of it. And the Queen had seen that they had heard it, that was the worst.

She had felt a little pity for the Queen, being grilled in such a way by a younger, impertinent -- and spoilt -- sister and about such a subject too. But why had she answered? She could have lied or put the younger girl in her place, although that was not the worst thing to leak out. People would suspect it anyhow. That last confidence, about the pregnancy, was far worse. The first thing was not going to cause much of a fuss nowadays, but the pregnancy certainly would, especially, as Anna had said, because she would be halfway through it before she could get married.

And now Anna was afraid that the sister would say something about it as soon as she came out of the toilet -- that was all too visible from her glances at the door. It was not an ungrounded fear. Alexandra would most certainly demand a clearer answer. The second woman wondered why Anna did not walk away to limit the damage. Perhaps she thought that there might be other countrymen in the foyer who would then also be informed. It was not unreasonable either. All their husbands, for one, were in the foyer, although it remained to be seen whether they could actually identify the Queen in the wild or care for eventual pregnancies. They would also be more interested in what the boyfriend achieved on court rather than at court.

The second woman accidentally cut her finger on a sharp bit of a tile and she watched as the blood welled up. It was a bit of an awkward place, right on top of her forefinger and the cut would always be opened if she touched something. She needed a plaster. "Have any of you got a plaster?" she asked the first and third women. They did not.

"How big should it be?" an uncertain voice asked her as she was studying the cut.

The second woman looked up and nearly gasped. It was Anna herself, which she could have known from the language she spoke in and the fact that it had not been either of her friends who had spoken.

Anna wavered over a roll of plaster with a pair of small scissors, not sure how much was needed and where she should cut. "How much?"

"Just a little bit, please."

Anna cut off a little bit, keeping her eyes on the task as if it was very difficult. She looked up briefly when she handed it to the woman, but then concentrated on rolling up the plaster more tightly.

"Thank you." The woman put on the plaster. "We...didn't hear a thing." She should reassure Anna somehow. Look at how nervously she was fidgeting with that plaster. Rolling and re-rolling it without purpose.

"Yes, you did," Anna said quietly. "I'm sorry if I disappointed you."

The woman saw she meant it. But some people were no disappointment in real life. The public Anna had always been stiff mannered and stiffly dressed, whereas the private Anna was much more casual. Indeed, before she had recognised them, she had thought that the two girls ahead of her were very nice-looking girls, in dress and attitude. And she was still more inclined to call her a nice girl after she had heard her speak. But that would not be what Anna meant. "Why should I be disappointed?"

"I don't know." Anna shrugged. She looked straight at the woman. "I don't know why anyone should be disappointed to know that I love him."

Alexandra finally flushed her toilet. She had taken a long time, but she had needed time to think. That there were people waiting was something that had slipped her mind entirely. She was surprised to see that Anna had bandaged somebody's finger, but then Anna had probably forgotten to take the plaster out of her shoulder bag a previous time. The bag seemed full of rubbish, which on some occasions proved to be useful. "Well, Anna!" Alexandra said calmly, assuming the bandaged lady was English and incapable of understanding anything she said. "I take it John is not one of those guys who carry a condom in their wallet. Which I think is rather good of him, because it means he's not interested in flings. Or he might just have forgotten that he had one. How prehistoric and very liberated to leave it up to the man. But in any case, if you really hadn't wanted each other's child, you'd have taken precautions, I think, especially when your other sister is Chairman of the Committee for Prevention of Teenage Pregnancies and she's going to love you for making her look like an idiot. You'd better tell her that it was planned, if you really are pregnant, but I think you are, because you didn't deny it."

Anna had not considered Marie-Celeste's chairmanship yet. "I'm not a teenage pregnancy case." And perhaps Alexandra was right. If she really had not wanted a child, she would certainly have thought about it, especially since they had been discussing the fact right before.

"No, but they're all prevented in the same way, aren't they? Teenage or not." Alexandra wished Anna would just say yes or not outright, instead of circling around the answer. "I can't believe you didn't pick that information up anywhere, so you planned it and I can't believe you planned to have a baby with a guy you're infatuated with and whom you only met a few days before." That was really the most incomprehensible thing.

Anna replaced the scissors and the roll of plaster. "I'd be very surprised if anyone was able to believe it, because I can't really believe it myself." She drew Alexandra's arm through hers and smiled a goodbye at the woman with the wounded finger before dragging her sister back to the foyer. "Come, Alex. And I'm not infatuated. We skipped that stage."

"Do you want a spare key?" John asked tiredly when he had to go down very late at night to open the door and it was Marie-Celeste. Patrick was probably asleep, since he had not answered the door.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you, but I need to see Patrick."

"Why?"

"Because everybody is gone and I don't like being alone." Anna, Alexandra, her mother and her cousins were all out and Marie-Celeste had no idea where they were. She had become very bored. "Anna must be with you." No wonder he had looked a little irritated upon opening the door.

"No, she isn't," John answered.

He would look a little irritated in that case as well. "Really. Can you do without her?"

"You can't do without Patrick, can you?" he asked. He could do without Anna. Not too long, but for a short while, certainly, until the memories ran out.

Marie-Celeste walked past him, her head held high. "Oh, don't bore me. He's your brother and you should know that he's the least indispensable thing in the world. Just because I want to talk to a person doesn't mean you should blow it out of proportion."

"I plan on sleeping late, you know. Will give you plenty of time to leave it unclear when you left." John climbed the stairs to his flat and saw that she waited for him to be out of sight before she knocked on Patrick's door. He did not even want to see that. Really, what was she thinking?

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