#but hey Beatrice Lacy is handsome

[callmekamel]

ok

Suggestion to use Beccatrice as the ship name for Beatrice/Rebecca. Thoughts?

[historyrepeatsitself-phff]

Chapter Ninety-Four

“Thank you for coming here today, Lydia,” Edward said, getting to his feet to show the latest applicant for the role of Grace’s nanny to the door. “It has been lovely chatting to you.”

“Nice to meet you,” Emmy blurted after them. Harry shot her an amused look as Edward showed the young girl, Lydia, out of the office. As soon as the door was closed, Emmy burst into excitement. “I like her! I want her! She’s the one!”

“Geez, Em, are you hiring her or marrying her?” Harry teased, but he was grinning; he could tell throughout the entirety of the interview that Emmy liked Lydia, and he had to agree that she was the nicest one that they had interviewed. Although only young, she had an impressive resume and had worked for a few important families – all of which had spoken highly of her in her references.

“She was so nice!” Emmy said. “So nice! I really, really like her! And I know Grace will too, she’s lovely!”

Edward returned then, and he looked unamused. “Well, I told her we’d be in touch but somehow I think she already knows she got the job after the way you acted, Emmy. Way to be subtle.”

“Emmy doesn’t know the meaning of subtle,” Harry stated, as Emmy pouted at the secretary.

“Can you cancel the rest of the interviews, I think we found the one?” Emmy said to him, looking hopeful.

Edward looked shocked, as though she had just suggested murder. “Are you out of your mind? Someone better might be coming along.”

“Oh but Edward!” she complained. “Lydia was perfect!”

Edward turned his head. “Don’t give me those puppy dog eyes, Emmy. They might work on Harry but they don’t work on me.”

“They don’t work on me,” Harry said, outraged. “I’m the one who taught her them!”

“It’s not rocket science, Harry, everyone can widen their eyes to get what they want,” she retorted, rolling her eyes at him. Then she turned back to Edward. “Pleaaaaaaaase.”

Edward scowled at her, and he crossed his arms across his chest. “No. Now you better get ready, the next interviewee will be here in a moment.”

Emmy huffed, falling back into her chair and pouting to herself. Harry and Edward shared a look, Harry amused, Edward exasperated.

“We could all be going home now, you know,” she said airily. “Just hire Lydia and let’s be done with all this interview crap.”

“Hey, at least you don’t need to be here for the PO interviews tomorrow,” Harry pointed out. “You have it easy.”

“Hardly!” she cried, shocked. “I’d be happy to swap with you and you go and launch the summer holidays reading challenge with Camilla while I stay here and do fuck all.”

He looked mock-outraged. “Fuck all? I’ll have you know I’ll be listening very intently to all the questions Rick asks the applicants.”

She scoffed but looked away before his teasing expression made her melt, just as Edward went to receive the next interviewee.

A few hours later, Harry and Emmy traipsed across the grass back to Nottingham Cottage. The sun was setting, the evening was warm and the house was quiet as they snuck back in. Claire was sat in the living room, and she looked up as they entered.

“Grace is asleep,” she said. “How were the interviews?”

“Good,” Harry said. “I’m sure Emmy will tell you how amazing the new nanny is.”

“Oh yeah?” Claire turned to Emmy and was happy to see her practically bouncing with excitement at discussing Lydia with her. “He or she?”

“She! Her name’s Lydia, she’s twenty-five years old and she’s just finished working part-time for the Camerons. She’s lovely-”

Harry chuckled to himself, leaving them to discuss the new addition to the team to go and check on Grace. He found his daughter dozing in her cot, her blond hair looking so soft, her expression so peaceful. He smiled down at her.

“You’re going to like your new nanny, baby, yes you are,” he whispered. “She’s lovely. Not as lovely as Mummy, but she’s lovely and she’ll take care of you when we’re both busy, yes she will.”

He sighed then, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead against the wooden side of the cot. It had been a long day and he was tired, especially at the thought of another day of interviews ahead of him. He had thought that hiring the nanny and Grace’s PO at the same time would be a good thing, but now he hated Edward for deciding to do it this way.

He couldn’t wait for the following day to be over.

The following day came and went – Emmy launched the Summer Holidays Reading Challenge within London libraries with Camilla; Harry, Edward and Rick interviewed prospective POs for Grace (and decided on a 38-year-old man named Kieran) and Grace was babysat by Taylor, who took her out shopping and spoilt her with new babygros.

And then the day after was a nice day for Harry and Emmy – they were both attending Ascot with some of Harry’s family, and it was a great opportunity to get dressed up, to act sophisticated and then to come home and have messy sex.

“You look beautiful,” Harry observed, as he offered Emmy a hand to help her out of the car. She spared him a breathless smile, unable to put into words how handsome he looked in his three-piece suit and top-hat.

“Yes yes, everyone is very attractive,” Edward muttered impatiently. “Ah, Miguel! Did you discuss it with them?”

The three of them turned – four, as Claire also got out of the car – to see William’s private secretary Miguel approaching.

“I did, they think it is a great idea,” Miguel observed. “There’s been far too much tension lately, they’re happy to dispel these rumours.”

Emmy raised an eyebrow at that. Happy?

On the journey there, Edward had told Harry and Emmy that they were to spend most of the day in the company of William and Kate. They were to have a good time, to laugh with each other and have fun and make it look like they were thoroughly enjoying spending time together so that the papers would not continue to portray the two duchesses as being at each other’s throats.

“So we’re pretending to like each other?” Emmy had said sceptically. “You realise that means that we don’t actually like each other, don’t you?”

“Well, stop fighting with Kate and we won’t have a problem,” Edward had replied.

“Get her to stop having a problem with me, and then we’ll stop fighting,” Emmy had retorted, and Edward hadn’t answered that.

Now, they followed Miguel through into the royal enclosure. “They’re just through here,” Miguel said, then called, “William?”

“Over here,” William said, smiling as he met them half-way. “Harry, Emmy.”

Harry smiled at his brother, before stepping past him to kiss Kate in greeting. Emmy perched on her tiptoes to receive William’s peck to her cheek too, before she faced Kate.

“Hi,” she said, remembering to smile as naturally as possible and keep the dislike out of her face.

“Hello, you look lovely,” Kate said, and it was disconcerting how genuine her voice sounded, how easily she kept the hatred from her eyes.

“Thank you, so do you,” Emmy said. “Very lacy, it’s a nice dress.”

Kate smiled. “And I like yours. Who is it?”

“Ted Baker,” she replied, keeping it civil. “Yours?”

“McQueen,” Kate said, smiling again. Emmy nodded, while in her head she was slightly smug that she would no doubt be praised for choosing a cheaper designer while Kate had gone for the very-expensive Alexander McQueen once more.

Stop, Emmy, she thought. You are pitting yourself against her. How will you ever be friends if even you are trying to be better than her?

Emmy shrugged off the nagging. She couldn’t help it if she were better at her job than Kate.

“I hear you’ve finally caved in to hiring a nanny,” Kate said, and Emmy could sense the smugness in her voice.

“Hmm, we’ve realised that Harry and I aren’t spending much time together cause one of us is always babysitting while the other is out,” she replied coolly, refusing to acknowledge that Kate had been right. “So we decided to hire one.”

“Is she nice?” William asked Emmy; he didn’t seem to be treating her with the same dislike that he was shooting Harry’s way.

“Could be a he,” Harry grumbled.

William raised an eyebrow. “Is it?”

“No, her name’s Lydia and she’s lovely,” Emmy explained.

“Did she go to Norland College?” Kate asked. “Maria might know her.”

“No, she has minimal qualifications actually,” Harry said. “But her experience is incredible. And she is lovely.”

Kate was looking at them with contempt. “You have hired a non-qualified person to take care of your daughter? Why on Earth? She is your daughter!”

Emmy flared up. “Honestly? We interviewed people from that college that Maria went to and they all seemed very robotic. Or rude and bossy. They were expecting to spend all of their time with Grace, and we’d just see her every now and again. Although, I suppose that’s why you liked Maria-”

Kate opened her mouth to retort as her face contorted with rage, but Edward grabbed Emmy’s arm and quickly pulled her and Harry away, saying, “You need to say hello to your grandmother.”

“Emmy,” Edward hissed, once they were out of earshot. “What was that?!”

“I just can’t, Edward,” she snapped. “I can’t deal with them judging us for every single thing we do differently.”

“That insult was unnecessary,” Edward shot.

Emmy looked at Harry, desperate for defence, and Harry sighed. “Ed, you don’t realise how difficult this is. They insult us without directly insulting us, and then we’re the bad guys-”

“Yes, because you should both just bite your tongues. And do you realise how bad that looked just then? I had to drag you away, if any photographer saw that it is going to cause hell for us.”

“Let it,” Harry said.

“Harry, this is just going to exacerbate this feud!”

“I don’t care, Ed, as long as we come out on top.”

“And you think you will?” Edward asked. “You think that’s a given, is it? What happens when William and Kate start playing dirty?”

“It’s too late for that,” Harry dismissed. “Kate would have to start doing work and Emmy’s already got a running head start in that sense.”

“Harry! Emmy!”

They both turned to see Beatrice coming towards them, and Emmy broke into a smile, desperate to break away from Edward’s chastising. “Hi, Bea. You look lovely!”

“Thanks, so do you, although no surprises there,” Beatrice said, with a giggle. She turned to look at Dave as he joined them. “So, how’s my adorable little goddaughter?”

“She’s good, she’s doing great. She’s with Taylor today.”

“Emmy,” Edward called. “You need to come and meet The Queen now.”

Emmy waved a hand to show she’d heard then turned back to Beatrice and rolled her eyes. “I wish I were you. You can do what you want.”

Beatrice raised an eyebrow as she scoffed. “You’d think, wouldn’t you?” And she cast a look at Dave who was now over talking to some other gentlemen. Emmy wanted to push and find out more, make sure her friend was doing okay, but Edward called her again and she had no choice but to join her husband and his incredibly annoying secretary.

“Edward, you are pissing me off today,” she said through gritted teeth, as he began to lead the way through the royal enclosure towards where Elizabeth would be. Harry entwined his fingers with hers as he chuckled.

Edward threw a scowl over his shoulder at her. “You’ll thank me when the press stop comparing you and Kate.”

“Will I? Cause recently all they’ve been doing is complementing me for it.”

Harry squeezed her hand, and she looked up at him, expecting him to say something but instead all he did was smile. She knew that was his way of telling her to stop arguing with Edward.

“Now,” Edward said sternly, ignoring her reply. “Once you’ve greeted your grandmother, you’re going to go back over and spend the first couple of races with William and Kate. I don’t care whether you want to or not, we really need to dispel these rumours.”

And with that, now that Elizabeth had come into view a few feet away, Edward gave them both a stern look and then moved away, leaving them to it for a bit until he was needed again.

Emmy scowled in his wake. “He’s so annoying.”

Harry chuckled, his hand going to the small of her back and gently directing her back towards his grandmother, waiting as she finished the conversation she was having with a group of old, besuited gentlemen. “He’s just looking out for us.”

“I know, but he’s being so bossy,” she said, with a pout.

“Hopefully everything he’s saying will work,” Harry said, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze.

The rest of the day was as pleasant as it could be with them spending most of it in the company of William and Kate. They were civil, but none of them could forget the insults that had been thrown around between them. The cameras got several pictures of them talking, even one of Kate and Emmy forcing themselves to laugh together, and by the end of the day Edward and Miguel were very happy with how it had gone, and Emmy was simply looking forward to coming to Ascot again the following day and finally having the chance to enjoy it for once.

The next day was very sunny, and Emmy felt a thrill go through her as she was led towards the royal enclosure at Ascot. It was Ladies’ day, and all around were bright and beautifully dressed women.  Kate was not there today, so there was no need to stress about her, and Emmy could already see Zoe and Lizzie in the royal enclosure.

Beside her, Claire walked silently, wearing her own sophisticated outfit.

“Don’t forget that if you see Beatrice today you need to curtsey to her because Harry isn’t here,” she reminded her gently.

“Oh yeah, that stupid rule,” Emmy said, with a roll of her eyes. “I wish when I wasn’t being a royal I didn’t have to do all that other royal stuff. I mean, this is my day off!”

Claire looked at her for a moment. “Royal isn’t your job, Emmy. It’s your title.”

“I know, I know.”

“A lot of people would kill to be in your position,” she added.

“Only so they could sleep with Harry every night,” Emmy replied, grinning.

“Well, you’re not wrong.”

The two of them shared a laugh; they came into view of the photographers then and were suddenly doused in flashes. Emmy blinked, managing a smile for them.

“Emmy,” one of them called. “You look lovely!”

She laughed lightly. “Well, thank you.” She’d been slightly nervous about her outfit – she’d decided to go for a two-piece, a crop top and a long skirt so that her midriff was on show. She supposed, since she wasn’t here in an official capacity, and since she’d been wearing the boringest-frumpiest clothes she could manage after the palace told her off, she should be allowed to wear something a bit different, just this once.

How wrong she was.

She got home that evening, feeling tipsy from the champagne and elated from the good day she’d had. Harry was sat on the sofa, typing away on his laptop; he looked up when she came in, but she was too happy to notice how troubled he looked.

“Hello!” she sang, hurrying over to him and pushing the computer aside so she could fall into his lap.

“Hi,” he managed, before she’d wrapped her arms round his neck and forced her mouth onto his. She kissed him deeply, then giggled lightly into him. “Good day?”

“Oh the very best,” she said, kissing him some more before moving in his hold so that she was straddling him. “But you know what would’ve made it better?”

“If I was there?” he guessed, with a grin.

“Full of yourself!” she gasped, then giggled. “I’d rather I was full of you, you know.”

He chuckled at her pathetic pick-up line. “Em, I’m busy right now.”

“Yes you are,” she said, wiggling her backside so she sank harder into his lap. She kissed him again, a messy kiss that started to move down his neck. “You know what I’ve decided?”

“What’s that?” He was remaining very calm and focused, not fazed in the slightest by the fact that she was basically grinding on him.

“Next year, I want you to fuck me at Ascot.”

It was taking all of his might not to give in to her, but he knew that her happiness would be short lived. “Well, I’ll start preparing for next year then.”

“We should get practice!” she said, her voice rising an octave. “Hey!” She pulled his face back round as he tried to look over at his laptop. “What is it? Are you watching porn?!”

She was teasing. He rolled his eyes. “Why would I watch porn when you’re on the verge for stripping for me right now?”

“You want me to strip for you?” Her eyes lit up, and she jumped up. “Okay!” She moved to stand in front of him, but he grabbed her wrists.

“No, Emmy. I’m busy right now. Why don’t you go and get changed into something more comfy?”

She pouted at him. “You mean…nothing at all?”

“No, I mean some pyjamas or something. I’m in the midst of several e-mail conversations and I need to reply to one now.”

“Why? What’s happened now?”

He hesitated, then said, “You went to Ascot looking like that.”

Her bubbliness from the bubbles disappeared instantly. “What do you mean?” she said, somewhat coldly.

“They don’t like it.”

“Who?”

“You know who.”

“No I fucking don’t, Harry!” she snapped. “I keep hearing these mysterious ‘they’ referred to and I don’t know who the fuck they are! Why don’t they like my outfit?! I’ve spent the last three months wearing boring clothes for them! And then, just this once…” She trailed off, upset.

“I’m trying to sort it, but they’re not happy,” he said. “They’re dealing with a lot of backlash.”

“From who?”

“The press,” he said, the ‘duh’ in his voice. “Today…hasn’t been a good day for you.”

She slowly sank onto the sofa beside him. “What do you mean?” she asked in a small voice.

“Well, we went yesterday. That’s normal, most of my family went yesterday. But then you went today too, and not in an official capacity. They’re saying you’re turning into a bit of a socialite.”

“What?” she whispered.

“It’s made worse by the fact that Kate made a surprise visit to one of her charities today,” he explained. “So, in the battle of the duchesses – so they’re calling it – she came out on top.”

“Is this it, now? Every time I do anything, I’m just going to be compared to her?”

“I think it’s just because it’s all fresh, you know? They didn’t believe us yesterday when we spoke to them. The headlines weren’t complementary, they saw right through us. ‘Fake smiles’ one of them called it.”

Emmy glanced at the laptop. “And that’s what you’ve been doing today?”

“Trying to sort it all. Edward and I have just been getting e-mail after e-mail from Granny’s office, wanting explanations, demanding copies of timetables, sending copies of clothing etiquette and the likes. It’s been tedious.”

“Is Edward angry at me?”

“Of course not,” he replied, reaching over to give her knee a squeeze. “You’re doing you. We’ll sort it.”

She sat back, fighting tears. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t get this life right, could she?

“Hey, just ignore them? We’ll sort it.”

She nodded, turning her head away. “I’m just going to go get changed.” And she jumped to her feet and hurried from the room.

“Emmy!” he called after her. But she didn’t stop. She dashed upstairs and locked the bathroom door so she could cry to herself in peace.

There were so many different emotions. She couldn’t do anything right, she just kept letting everyone down, she was rubbish at this job – and she was so furious at Kate for doing what she’d done. She’d obviously decided to make an ‘unannounced’ visit because she knew Emmy would be slated for it.

Well, if that was the case. Emmy would show her. She was so tired of trying to keep in Kate’s good books, of worrying what Kate would do or say to her.

She would them all who was the better Duchess. She was going to get to the point where they would need her more than she needed them. And then she was going to show them that they couldn’t control her anymore.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and forced herself to think positive.