A Royal Accident (A British Royal Family Fanfiction)

Formidable

Alice

"Do you like my dress Pally?" Lottie asked as she walked into my bedroom on the morning of Great Grandpa's Remembrance service.

"How many times have I told you to knock?" I snapped back, trying to hide the fact that I was wiping my eyes.

"Sorry Alice, Mummy told me to come and get you." she said, as I continued frantically wiping my face. "What's wrong Alice?" 

"Nothing." I told her, picking up my concealer and rubbing it onto my face. I could see Charlotte watching me in the mirror. "It's just sad, thinking about Great Grandpa and the fact he isn't here anymore. When we were all in lockdown it didn't seem so bad, because we didn't see anyone else anyway, but now, I just miss him, that's all." I explained to her.

"I miss him too. I miss his cuddles, and when he used to sneak a mint from his pocket and give it to us when Mummy wasn't watching." she said, making me smile. I remembered him doing that to me, when I was Lottie's age, and always thinking Mummy and Pa had no clue, but now, I knew they knew. 

"There's a mint in my coat pocket, if you want one." I told her, pointing to the coat on the back of the door. Lottie went over and got one out, before returning them to my coat pocket.

"Are these for when you kiss Freddie?" she giggled.

"No, they are not." I replied, jokingly as I threw a sock in her direction.

"When are you going to marry Freddie?" she asked, inquisitively. I smiled at her in the mirror, before seeing her face and how serious she was about wanting an answer.

"I'm only nineteen, Lots, I'm not getting married yet." I told her, looking back at myself in the mirror. Along with Lottie making me laugh and the make up I'd put on, I no longer looked as if I had been crying, which I was glad about. And now that the tears had stopped, I was able to put on some eyeshadow and mascara before I was almost ready to go.

"Mummy and Papa had you when you were nineteen though, didn't they Alice?" Lottie asked as I stood up from the spot on the floor in front of my mirror.

"They were, but they weren't married to each other." I told her.

"But they had a baby. You and Freddie could have a baby Alice, that would be so amazing." Lottie said, clutching my hand tightly as I tried to put on my tights.

"Get off," I said, "Freddie and I aren't having a baby, not now, not while we're nineteen, we have so much else in the world we want to do first." 

"So maybe when you're twenty then?" She asked insistently.

"What? No, not then either. Maybe one day, if we get married, we'll have a baby, but it won't be for a few years yet." I replied, getting my tights on and standing up from my bed. I grabbed my shoes from the wardrobe and my coat off the back of the door. Charlotte carried on asking when Freddie and I would get married and have a baby as she followed me down the stairs to the kitchen, where Mummy was waiting.

"That's your coffee there Alice." she said, washing something up in the sink.

"Mummy, will you tell Lottie to give it a rest?" I asked, sitting down at the island and then taking a sip of my coffee. 

"What mischief are you causing?" Mummy asked, placing her hand on Charlotte's shoulder as she sat beside me at the counter.

"I just want to know when Alice and Freddie are going to get married and have a baby." Charlotte told my mother. My father walked in just after, almost choking on his own breath as he did, before sternly looking at me.