Titled? ~ 47

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Chapter Forty-Seven

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Anna Margaret wondered how he had gone into the souvenir shop on previous occasions and when. If he had not done his hair, people might not have recognised him. It was then no wonder they had never spoken to him. They had simply not known who he was. Now, however, he had been wearing his hair this way most of the time and people might have seen photos of him like this. Or they might recognise her first.

Frederick led her through more doors and corridors and suddenly they were in the Palace souvenir shop. “So you can just go through this door and end up in your sister’s private rooms?” she wondered. He had used his card to open doors a few times, but it had otherwise seemed fairly easy.

“No. Or, yes. It’s all one building. But most people don’t have the keys.”

“And the staff are not surprised by our materialising from that door?” She glanced over at the counter. Nobody was looking. “But in that case they wouldn’t see anyone go in there either.”

Frederick did not think there was much of value that way. He shrugged. “Let’s look for that thing.”

She looked for a pile. The shop was small. The Royal Family had not yet reached the point at which there was an incredible demand for mugs with their faces on them. There were some with Isabelle, but most other memorabilia had only the family weapon. It was fascinating. She did not feel any inclination herself to buy mugs with the queen on them, but evidently some people did. “What kind of people buy this? American tourists?”

“I have no idea.”

“Where did the mugs with your face go?”

“Priced off and sold out?”

“Ah, here?” She pointed at a pile in front of which a group of women had gathered. There was a neatly printed sign that said the calendars contained photographs made by Crown Prince Florian himself.

The women were discussing it. The Americans seemed a trifle disappointed that the family wore no crowns, tiaras or velvet robes in their spare time, but that these might as well be photos of any random family. The local women, however, were in awe. How wonderful their Royal Family were, being so normal!

Anna Margaret tried to get to the pile without having to ask someone to step aside.

“Yes, get one before the queen will have them destroyed,” Frederick said a little too loudly.

She was not sure he meant to be overheard, but he was. Two women turned. “Will she?” they asked. “Why?”

“I heard she wasn’t too happy.”

“Oh why?” cried one. “She looks lovely.”

Anna Margaret tried to ascertain whether they realised whom they were facing, but if she came too close they would certainly realise who she was. Luckily her phone rang and she pressed the calendar into Frederick’s hand. She took the phone out of the shop. “Yes?”

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When she had finished her conversation, she found Frederick had been taken to the tea room. “Seriously?” she muttered. She did not know why older ladies all liked him. He must have talked to them when she had taken her call. It had been too busy in the shop, so she had stepped out and he had not come after her.

She slowly walked into the tea room, which was rather small. Clearly they did not expect hundreds of visitors all at once. Frederick was seated with three women who were at least two decades older. She approached them hesitantly. Maybe the women simply liked to invite random men for tea. It crossed her mind briefly that he might have asked them, but then she dismissed that as ridiculous.

He waved a bottle of water at her, so evidently he had counted on her joining them. “Hello,” she said, sitting down.

“This is my…er…wife.”

If they rarely met people together, she thought, he might never become fluent at saying that.

The three women introduced themselves. They had not been to the Palace before, so they had thought they would give it a try. “It’s so nice and quiet, and this tea room is lovely.”

It was done up in what Anna Margaret considered to be a royal style. Nobody would know that Isabelle’s living room did not look like this at all and Frederick’s even less. The china, too, looked to be precious and was more like what would be used at official dinners than at family gatherings. She would like to ask Frederick if any of it was real, but she did not know if she could. A closer look at the chairs around her revealed that not all of them were the same, although they seemed equally worn. “The bottle of water looks a bit incongruous,” she remarked.

“That’s right,” said Frederick. “They don’t actually sell bottles of water. Plastic is not stylish.”

“Now I see why she was miffed about the photos.” A calendar with informal photos would seem out of place in a shop that sold only stylish things. Or so some people might think. “Yet whoever stocks the souvenir shop obviously didn’t care.”

“Or they are obliged to do as the family say.”

“Hmm.” And if the family wanted a plastic bottle, they got it. She wondered if he had been allowed to pay for the calendar.

“It’s amazing that you would actually go here,” said one of the ladies.

“There was unfortunately no other way to obtain the calendar,” Frederick answered.

“I think it’s amazing too,” said Anna Margaret, “as I was giving an interview an hour ago and he stayed as far away as possible because he was afraid they might ask him something.” She raised her eyebrows at her husband in a good-natured manner. “And here I find you talking to no less than three people, who,” and she lowered her voice, “might all be journalists.”

Frederick shifted in his chair.

“Should I hold the plastic bottle under the table or what?” she inquired. “Will they let me drink from it in here?”

He tapped his finger against a glass, but seemingly he still did not know how to defend himself.

“But it’s okay, darling, I’m just amused,” she said, unscrewing the top and pouring the water into the glass.

“You do not like journalists?” asked one of the ladies. She looked at Frederick.

“Most of what they write is not true. But then, I’ve never spoken to one.”

“Problem, meet solution,” Anna Margaret commented in between sips. But maybe he was practising. He was quiet and polite, but he looked to be at ease. That was good.

“Well, we are not journalists,” said the woman across from her. “Which would be silly because we couldn’t have known we’d see someone. And we almost didn’t, but then your phone rang.”

And then they had seen her and who else could be with her except Frederick? She drew a rubber band out of her pocket and tied her hair back. That would change her appearance a little – in case Frederick cared. “Yes, work, sort of. I don’t have to go into the office for it, so that’s good.” She looked at the cakes the women were having and Frederick was not. They looked delicious.

“They’re very good,” the woman confirmed. “They’re called the Queen’s Favourite Pastries.”

“I think that might be Queen Florence,” said Frederick. “One of these and a glass of wine is her lunch of choice.”

“It seems to work well for her. How old is she?”

“Er…old. I’d have to look it up,” said her grandson.

“She doesn’t still live here, does she?”

“Oh, no. That would –“ But then he checked himself. “It would be a bit crowded.”

“I wonder why it’s not crowded in here on a Saturday,” Anna Margaret remarked, looking around. Of course it was not the high season for tourists and their own country was small enough for everyone with an interest to have been here already.

Frederick knew. “Because it’s expensive and no children under eighteen are allowed in.”

“But you get free tea,” said the third lady. “And the cups look like the queen drank from them.”

Anna Margaret wondered how much the entrance fee was. She supposed the tea was not really free, but included in the ticket.

Frederick looked at his cup. “She might have. They use the old and incomplete sets here.”

“She might have?” the woman said excitedly.

“When the china sets become incomplete – even famous people break something now and then – they go into the attic,” Frederick explained. “And when this tea room was set up, they were taken from there.”

“I’ll remember that for the next time someone complains about the costs of the monarchy,” Anna Margaret commented. “Does anyone know you’re not wasting money but actually saving it?”

“Probably not.”

He was saying rather a lot, she observed. She smiled.

Frederick got a message on his phone and frowned at it. He did not tell her what it was, however. Probably because they were not alone.

“It’s wonderful to see you here,” said the middle woman. “We hadn’t expected that.”

“We hadn’t expected to go here either,” said Anna Margaret. “We were in the centre, but that’s just outside the gates, really.”

“I didn’t know you walked around normally.”

She suppressed the urge to ask how one walked if one did not walk normally. “I do. He doesn’t.”

“I do,” Frederick protested. “But nobody notices. I bought shoes and nobody noticed. Not that I mind. I do only boring things so they probably wouldn’t care anyway if they saw me doing them.”

“I read you didn’t do things together.”

“Never, as you see.”

“Everything outside work hours, I think…” Anna Margaret added. “But nobody sees that. Or maybe they don’t expect us to eat at home.”

“I suppose it’s not interesting to write about people eating at home,” said the first woman. “But I’ve always wondered why else they thought you would be married.”

Woman two nodded. “You don’t read the magazines, Ellie?”

“Don’t waste your money,” Frederick advised. “Just ask me.”

Anna Margaret raised her eyebrows. Was he inviting them to ask him things? That would be quite a step.

He turned to her. “That’s what you did. I appreciated that. In some way.”

“True. That was an epic conversation. You told me I could lose some weight.”

“Yeah, sorry.” He groaned a little. “You’re not still upset about it, are you? But I did appreciate the fact that someone talked to me instead of about me, although I wished it wasn’t necessary for people to meddle in my business at all.”

“Well, I thought asking might be more efficient.”

“So we can ask you things?” asked the middle woman.

“Yes.”

“Is she pregnant?”

That, unexpectedly, made Anna Margaret giggle. Of course she had not said they could ask her things.

“Er…” Frederick looked at her. “Does she look pregnant?”

“Yes.”

“Then she probably is.”

Anna Margaret looked a little surprised that he was telling them, but he showed her the message on his phone. Isabelle was going ahead with her statement. Soon everyone would know.

“My sister will announce it soon, so I might as well say yes, I thought,” Frederick explained. “And they told me they were not on social media.”

“But how very nice! Congratulations!”

“Thank you,” Anna Margaret murmured.

“When are you due?”

“Ah, that. I don’t get any maternity leave, so I was planning to work on as much as I could. If people knew my due date they would comment on my working too much or too little, so I’d rather they didn’t find out until it happened. It would postpone a lot of unnecessary discussions.” She looked at Frederick. “Unless your sister is revealing that as well?”

“The message doesn’t say that.”

“And we were just there. I wonder why this couldn’t wait until we were back to pick up our coats.”