Princess in Training (Prince Harry #3)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Meredith almost fell out of bed as her mobile rang. Harry groaned but never opened his eyes. It was early enough in the day to call it morning, but most of it was gone now. So were her parents as she slipped out the door and into the living room.

Most times she ignored her phone, but she didn't receive many calls, especially ones from Jessica. Meredith hesitated to answer, scared what she might hear, like she was about to be beckoned back to London. "Is someone dead?"

By the pause on the other side of the phone, Jessica was surprised by this revelation from the future duchess. "Have you heard something?"

"No, but is someone dead?"

"The Duke of Edinburgh."

Her fingers curled into the sofa, and her knees quaked. The world twisted around her. Her mouth turned dry.

"Ma'am?"

"Have you made arrangements for Harry and me?"

"I'm sending them now, and," Jessica paused, trying to find the best way the phrase it, "please--"

"Be discreet," Meredith stated. She knew how this went, where she was being recalled. And she had to be the one to tell Harry. "When's the flight?"

"Eight tonight."

Meredith swallowed. "We're leaving now." Hanging up, she didn't wait for a response from her secretary; she needed a moment to breathe. There was a certain part of her that needed to be strong, so strong she was as she walked back into the bedroom, where Harry lied.

For a minute, she stared at him, wishing this wasn't true as her own emotions ran wild. This was true, and for a long time the Duke of Edinburgh's health had been in question. Swallowing how she felt, Meredith sat on the bed and slowly awoke Harry.

He stirred.

"Harry." Meredith tried to keep her voice calm but it snapped under the pressure. Harry's eyes blinked open. "We need to pack. We have a flight back to London tonight." Her mind had been trying to be soft and tell him nicely, but all the facts came out first.

His eyes became wide. "What happened?"

"Philip is dead." While others stayed passed, it had no meaning to her. Passed wasn't final to Meredith, but dead was.

Harry paused, pursing his lips and his eyes glazing over. The wheels in his head twirled. He wanted silence, and he wanted to think. Yet he knew what he needed to do: his duty. "We need to go." He hopped out of bed.

Meredith was already moving. She knew this too, duty, and Meredith didn't want to be still anyway. Harry and Meredith stuffed into bags quickly, and they were chucked into the trunk of the car.

Harry wanted to drive, but Meredith didn't allow it. He wasn't focused and barely said anything. As well as, spending time in jail for excessive speeding would slow them down.

Meredith went the speed limit on the freeway. It was better to wait in the car than wait in an airport with everyone else, when eyes would follow them. It was a four hour drive to the Twin Cities, and it proved to be already long after just getting out of town.

"Harry," Meredith said into the abyss of silence in the car, "talk to me."

Harry swallowed and tore his eyes from the trees and farm fields out his window. "What do you want me to say? How I feel?" he asked. "I don't feel much."

Meredith didn't expect him to feel much at this stage. Harry knew death and loss. He knew what to expect, or at least he told himself that.

"People say that I'm like him, all the worst qualities."

Meredith scoffed, and there wasn't a way to keep it off her face. "Those people are wrong."

"I wish I could speak to him again," Harry admitted. His blue eyes matched the blue of the sky.

She didn't want to push, but it was what she did best. "What would you say?"

Harry didn't know, or at least he didn't say immediately. "Maybe-- I don't know. I just did not think last time would be the last time. It didn't seem final enough. I didn't say all that I wanted to say, like thank you, but even that wouldn't be enough." Harry sighed.

"But if you had known those were your lady moments with him, would you have said that?"

"I don't know, Mere!" Harry roared.

Meredith sat back in her seat and stared at the road ahead, pursing her lips. Her knuckles turned white with the grip of the steering wheel. She knew Harry had the right to be angry, but she lost him too. Tears burned her eyes, and she blinked them away.

"Mere," Harry said after a few long and heavy seconds, "I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted." Meredith swallowed. "I think I know what you two would've said to each other if you knew it was his last time."

Harry smiled halfheartedly. "What?"

"Probably some joke, something royally inappropriate about some politician. There would be some swear word in there. He'd criticize something really harshly, and you'd think, Harry: too much."

Harry's smile turned real. "You think so?"

"Yeah. I think he'd be the same with me."

"Bit you would've called him out on it."

Meredith wasn't so sure when she wanted to be so desperately liked by his family. She acted a certain way around them, which was mostly silent. With the Duke of Edinburgh, it was okay to be raunchy, but he liked to take it far. Meredith didn't mind a good joke, but she liked to fit in.

"We're still two hours out," Meredith said, and she, too, wished time might move faster. "If you want to sleep or something."

"Do you need sleep?" he asked.

"I might need some booze." It was more than a might.

Harry only perked up again when the Twin Cities came into view. It was continued silence as the two boarded the airplane. Curtains were drawn around them, leaving mystery for the rest of the guests, and Harry settled back to sleep. Meredith barely had any sleep whatsoever because every time he airplane jerked, she felt like was falling out of the sky. At one time, she liked airplanes, but that was long gone.

It was a mad rush to the car and then a long enough drive to Kensington Palace. Jessica and the bodyguards waited inside the flat. The news already broke, and the royals had a duty to do. All eyes were going to be on them, Britain and all. A certain way needed to be upheld.

"You need a shower, ma'am," Jessica said.

"Oh, thanks." She already headed that way.