One day... (A British Royal Family FanFiction)

Promise

"But Henry, life just isn't that simple. We have a duty to have a public wedding, with guests like foreign state prime ministers and Commonwealth representatives, that is what my father and mother did and what my grandmother and grandfather did too and I'm afraid that that is the way that we must do things as well." I told him, just as we pulled into the driveway of his parents house. We had just returned from a week away in France skiing with some of our best friends, before we intended to spend Christmas with Henry's family. The first of mine with them. While we were there, Henry had proposed on top of a mountain, with no one else there, in almost the freezing cold. We skied down the hill afterwards and went for dinner together. For Henry being a man of few words, it was a brief proposal but a rather romantic one, especially when he came to explain my engagement ring to me over dinner.

"I know that, but the whole thing just seems so, so, so, impersonal. A wedding is supposed to be about two people who love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together." he said as he parked the car next to his parents' car and stopped the engine.

"And it will be, it will be about us and how much we love each other and want to spend of our lives together, there just have to be certain aspects that run on tradition instead of preference. All that matters at the end of the day is that we are married and we can spend the rest of our lives together." I told him. I turned to him and held onto both of his hands. He looked as though he was about to burst into tears. "Listen to me, just close your eyes and imagine next Christmas, we'll be celebrating it together, or first Christmas as Mr and Mrs Braybrooke, we may be here with your parents, or we may be in Sandringham with my family. We'll have Figgy with us wherever we are." I continued in reference to our Cocker Spaniel, who we'd got over the summer. "And just think, we may even have a baby on the way too." I said. He opened his eyes and smiled at me as we squeezed each other's hands.

"It doesn't matter does it? The wedding, the venue, who's there, as long as we're married, I don't care where we do it." he said before kissing me. "I love you." 

"I love you too, now we better go inside because your mother has been watching us out of the window since we parked the car." I said. He laughed before we both got out the of the car and made our way inside. We hadn't yet told Henry's parents properly about our engagement. He had asked my father and Granny and also mentioned it to his own father, but his mother had no idea. We had been to tell my father formally yesterday and now came the turn of telling Henry's parents. 

We were welcomed into the house by his mother, who made no mention of the fact she'd been watching us out of the window. His eldest sister, Lula, wasn't far behind with her daughter Poppy on her hip. While Henry hugged his mother, Lula pulled me into her.

"Congratulations" she whispered into my ear. I smiled, I knew exactly what she was talking about. The ring on my finger wasn't exactly discreet. I shushed her as we pulled away and I hugged Henry's mother, Suzy.

Once we had said hello to everyone, we went into the kitchen for a cup of tea. Henry's parents, and two sisters and their husbands as well as his brother and his wife were all gathered around the kitchen island. His grandparents sat on two arm chairs in the corner of the room as well. Hen was the youngest of his four siblings, considerably younger than them. The three of them were all married and two of them had children already. Henry began to ding his teaspoon on his mug of tea.

"Sorry, this doesn't quite create the same affect as it would do on a wine glass, but Tilly and I have an announcement to you all. While we were skiing in France, we got engaged." Henry's face beamed as he spoke and I held tightly on his hand, smiling from ear to ear as well. The room erupted into cheers and shouts of congratulations and each member of Henry's family took their turn to hug and congratulate us both. They spent ages asking the story of how he proposed and when we will marry and his mother and sisters admired my ring.