Grace

Chapter 54

Clara slept in really late, but I woke early, not yet off the Eton time table. I'd also had the first nightmare for weeks. It was about Richard getting hit with the bike. I'd expected it to be about the attack, but I supped it being about Richard made for a nice change. It wasn't nearly so scary at least.

Getting up early turned out to be the best thing I could have done because the person who knocked on the door two minutes later turned out to be the queen.

"Hi?" I asked and leaned on the door. "What are you... doing here?"

"At the moment I'm standing on your doorstep."

"Oh, right. Yeah." I opened the door and let her and her guards inside.

"Is there somewhere comfortable we can sit? There's something I need to tell you."

"I hate these talks already," I said because she looked really serious at the same time as she was trying to hold it together.

"As so I. But Ben asked me to tell you as I'm in the area."

"Now I hate it even more. Let's... yeah, lets sit in this lounge."

I took her into the one with the TV and the big sofa that had deep cushions. The guards didn't come in. She took a seat in the middle of the sofa and gestured for me to sit next to her. I did so and tapped my feet a little through nerves. She looked down at me, her eyes warm and sad. It was the most grandmotherly look I'd ever seen her wear.

"The army's about to release some more footage from the park," she said gently. Too gently. "Ben's already seen it."

"It's Clara's family isn't it?" I asked in a hoarse whisper.

She shook her head and clenched her jaw for a moment. "It's Josh."

Tears immediately built up behind my eyes, I was pretty sure my heart forgot how to beat properly for a moment and I couldn't breathe properly either. My first thought was that Goodluck should be here instead of me.

"His family know?" I managed to ask.

She nodded. "They've seen the footage too."

I nodded. "Good."

"He was a hero, Grace."

I looked up at her, confusion and wonder in my eyes. "What?"

She looked away for a moment and then sucked in a breath. "There was supposed to be another bomb." She looked back at me. "Before the first one went off he saw that someone had a bomb and was about to press the button. Grace, they got into a fight and continued to fight as the bombs went of. The terrorist had a knife and stabbed him in the chest a few times. Josh... he ended up killing the terrorist. They were in the most populated part of the park. He saved a lot of lives."

"When is it going to stop?"

"What?" she asked quietly.

"I'm on holiday. I'm with my family. I'm supposed to be having fun and... Every time I think I've stopped having nightmares and I think I'm finally better something happens. Something that brings it all back."

"You were there, Grace. You know people who died. I don't think it'll ever stop."

I blinked and her face came back into focus. Tears were gathering in her eyes and she was having to work to keep her breathing in control. 

"It's not fair."

"Josh made it not quite so bad."

I nodded and burst into tears. I let my head fall onto her shoulder not caring that she was the Queen because who could care about something as trivial as that at a time like this? Anyway, my boyfriend had sent her. As far as I was concerned that meant she was here as his grandmother, not the Queen.