Page 53 of The Heir Apparent
Colin and I reached the doorway to the ballroom, my arm still through his as the photographer trained his lens on us.
He leaned in close to my ear. “I swear, I usually stick to the broadsheets, but I take a peek at the tabloids now and then to see what you’re up to.”
I felt heat rise in my cheeks. We were among the final couples to enter the room, just ahead of Granny and the Bahamian prime minister, Edward Knowles. A hundred and seventy guests standing behind their chairs stared openly as we walked by them. When we reached the head of the table, I stopped and Colin bowed again. After a battle between Mary and Richard’s officer over who would be seated next to Granny, the head of the table had been arranged by rank, with the result that I—Granny’s heir—was placed in Papa’s old seat to her left. Richard had ended up two seats down on her right, sandwiched between the British and Bahamian prime ministers.
Colin grinned and leaned forwards. “My seat’s quite a bit further up the horseshoe than this,” he whispered. “But we’re all going to Demelza’s cottage after dinner. I hope to see you there.”
He turned and walked away before I could respond, finding his seat next to Amira and smiling back at me over the candelabras. Granny glided past her guests with Prime Minister Knowles, and the room was totally silent as she took her seat and got herself settled. Then there was a collective exhalation, the orchestra began to play and everyone sank into their chairs.
After the toasts, a line of pages in red coats entered the ballroom carrying plates, which they placed before each guest in perfect unison. Once the entrée was served, guests relaxed a little and began to engage in polite conversation. The Bahamian prime minister’s wife, Sonia Knowles, was to my left. As it turned out, she had been a virologist in Miami before her husband entered politics. We discussed India’s newly achieved status as a polio-free country and breakthroughs in mRNA vaccine development.
“And if you stay in England, will you return to being a doctor, Your Highness?” she asked me.
I picked at the steamed halibut before me. “I’m taking a year off, but there is always a possibility I could finish the final year of my residency here.”
“A junior doctor in the NHS who is also heir to the British throne,” she said, smiling like she had a secret.
“We’re not sure exactly how or where I could practise,” I admitted. “But I would like to try. Right now, I’m just taking a break.”
“Yes, I remember that first year off—how nice it was to rest. It was only meant to be a year for me as well.” She smiled enigmatically again and sipped from her water glass. “Now it’s been fifteen.”
I chewed carefully and swallowed. “Whatever happens, I would like to dedicate my life to public health. Either as a doctor… or a monarch.”
She shrugged. “The republican movement is very strong in the Bahamas these days, so who’s to say whether you’ll ever be our head of state.”
“I understand.”
“But either way, I would watch your reign with interest.”
A fleet of lamb rumps was placed before us with military precision. At the sight of the main course, Granny turned towards me with a sigh. She always spent the first half of a meal conversing with the guest of honour on her right before switching to the person on her left. Papa had once told me the nicest gift he could give Granny in these moments was a little chat about dogs and horses. Five months after the death of her son and grandson, the luminosity of her face was returning. But she continued to wear black, and I suspected she would remain in mourning for the rest of her life.
“How is Chino’s training coming along?” she asked.
“I’ve got to be honest—he’s still sleeping in my bed.”
“Oh, dear girl, no.”
“And he still pulls terribly on the lead. I let him off at Richmond Park the other day and he chased a herd of deer around for fifteen minutes.”
Granny tittered behind her hand. The official photographer, who was standing in the centre of the horseshoe, surreptitiously snapped a shot.
After coffee and dessert, the pipers glided into the room; their deafening song signalled that the meal was over. Granny rose, prompting all the guests to get to their feet as well. I always marvelled at her serenity in moments like this. She was unhurried as she gathered her purse and signalled for the Knowleses and me to follow her from the room. An undulation of bows and curtsies moved through the crowd as she passed.
In the grand hall, Granny shook hands with the Knowleses, said goodnight and left me to see them out of the palace. Sonia took my hands between hers.
“I will pray for you as you make your decision.”
“Thank you,” I said, and watched as she followed her husband to their waiting car.
I wondered if she had kept up with her virology literature after fifteen years outside the lab. I was still quietly studying.With no more hospital rounds to occupy my sleepless nights, I had been reading medical journals by lamplight. But perhaps I’d eventually miss a few papers, and then it would become easier to let the discoveries accumulate on my bedside table. Eventually I would be a scientist in name only.
The hall swelled with people as the guests made their way out of the ballroom. I had arranged with Amira to meet behind the main staircase so we could make a quick getaway. Moments later, she appeared on Colin’s arm.
“He wants us to go to Demelza’s house,” she groaned.
“Yeah, come on, let’s go,” Colin said.
I hesitated. “I don’t know.”
