IS ARTHUR, PRINCE OF HEARTBREAK, FINALLY OUT OF MOURNING?-3
393 Words
SNOW HAD FALLEN THE day before, and by the time the sun came up Amelia could see the white drifts still left in the hollows of the fields from the train window. Everything seemed picturesque and peaceful, even if the sky was overcast. It was England, after all.
When they alighted from the train onto the crowded platform at the racecourse station, Amelia shivered. Charlie stopped and solemnly adjusted the fur hat on her head so that it covered her ears better. Amelia didn’t try to restrain herself from huffing as she brushed a strand of chestnut-colored hair out of her eyes.
“While I am a miserable failure of a human being, I am not a child.”
“Whatever you say,” he said.
Amelia couldn’t resist punching him in the arm. Gently, because a lady did not brawl with her brother in public.
As they walked into the park, Amelia took a deep breath of air and felt herself relax. Jo may have been right to worry that bits of her anatomy would freeze off, but, despite the chill, the atmosphere was a holiday one. The crowd was loud and bustling, and the air smelled crisply of snow. After two weeks trapped in Kirkham House, the Brockett’s estate, being an anonymous part of a large, happy crowd was bliss.
“Where are we sitting?” Amelia asked as Charlie shouldered a way through the throngs.
“You have your ticket. Did you not look at your ticket?”
“I was distracted by my misery.”
“Of course.” Charlie said with a smile. “Royal Box.”
Some people might have found that prospect exciting. Amelia, though, knew better. “Which of your hideously dull work colleagues do I get to ignore in favor of watching the races?”
“No work people today. Just some people from Oxford. And Prince Arthur.”
Amelia stopped in the middle of the crowd, unaware she was being jostled about. “Oh, you’re kidding me.”
“What’s wrong with the Prince?” Charlie asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and leading her forward.
“Nothing is wrong with the Prince. There’s a little bit wrong with the fact that you and Arthur, Prince of Wales, are school chums and that you didn’t think it worth mentioning that royalty would be at the race today. Everything is wrong with the fact that the box is going to be crammed full of incredibly annoying people fawning over His Royal Highness.”
“Look on the bright side, Meels,” Charlie said, as they reached the door to the Royal Box. “You’re short enough that you can just hide behind a potted plant.”
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- Writer
