Running Around Royal (Prince Harry #4)

Chapter Seventy-Six

Meredith woke up with startling sunlight streaming through the white curtains and into the hotel room. The sunlight made her nose itched, and she twisted it at the sight of it. Already, she was beginning to warm. When she opened her eyes, the sunlight streamed through and nearly blinded her. The sun seemed to be too high for her, so she reached over and looked at the time. She still had some time left. Rolling over, she tried to fall asleep again.

It didn't work, but at least for a short time she didn't remember; it was just a regular day. It was all going to be a normal day of events. The thought only lasted for a second minutes before reality set in: a human growing inside of her, and within the next year, and she was going to be a mother. Those were terrifying thoughts.

Her green eyes awoke, and she found Harry sleeping soundly beside him. Her mind wandered over her husband. He had said all these good things about what was going to happen next. His excitement was contagious. Meredith turned over those words in her head, taking them in; she wanted to breathe them in.

Harry had all these promises, and Meredith didn't know a time where he went back on any of his promises. There were times that perhaps it didn't turn out like he wanted. Harry promised to protect her back when she was at university, and it didn't work out the way that he had wanted. Technically, Harry failed in his own eyes, but he hadn't failed in his wife's eyes. He was across the world, and she didn't need his protection. The paparazzi stalked her and sometimes trapped her, but Harry had his own life.

This was entirely different, though, because this was his child. Meredith knew that her husband loved her, but this was his child. Harry always wanted one of these. He was going to get one.

Meredith settled into those promises about everything, about the future, about this child, about her life. It was endless. Her mind went wild thinking about it. She got so lost in these thoughts that she hated being pulled out of it by the blaring alarm clock.

Harry reached over and turned it off, careful of his wife underneath his arm. When it was silent again in the room, Harry smiled at his wife, breathing his morning breath on her. She crinkled her nose. "Didn't you hear it going off?" he asked.

"I was just planning on ignoring it. It's always more fun when Jessica has to come in and yell at us to get up," she replied dryly.

Harry chuckled. "It's another busy day ahead of us."

Meredith arched an eyebrow at him.

"I'm not going to say it."

"Hmm." Meredith sprung out of bed and went into the bathroom before Harry asked if she was okay or how she was feeling. Turning on the warm water, she let it go, and as quickly as it came through, Meredith emptied her stomach into the toilet. She wiped her mouth with her back of her hand and went into the shower, feeling it run across her skin.

When she stepped out of the shower, it was Harry's turn to go in. At the vanity, the stylists did her hair and makeup. A dress was laid out on the bed with heels beside it. Jessica had a certain fashion taste, and it did not go smoothly with Meredith's own. Harry was in and out of the shower, dressed and already eating by the time Meredith finally exited the room. At the table, she ate a little of dry toast and mushy cereal.

Leaving soon after that, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor began their day ahead.

It started by going to the Government House of New Zealand. The duke and duchess greeted members of the government with a traditional Mãori greeting, a hongi. In Western culture, a normal greeting normally entailed kissing; in this case, the royals rubbed noses in politicians and leaders. As the duchess went in for hers, she was quite hesitant at first, hoping to not accidentally knock into someone's head.