Page 13 of Awaiting
After several hours where Alex worried they’d take neither option and would, instead, ask her to leave the palace and the family, they came into her room, where she was with Lawrence, and told her that she’d be allowed to come out of the closet, but they wanted to do it the right way.
That right way meant consulting just about every person in the UK about how this would work. It also wasn’t just about the coming out part but about what would happen afterward. She was the future Queen of the United Kingdom. Her official title would be longer. She’d becomeAlexandria, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith’, with the style of ‘Majesty.’Of course, the official title could change, as it had before. She might also change her name when she became Queen, as some monarchs did, but she doubted it. Alexandria was fine with her.
People they consulted were concerned about her marrying a womanandstill being called theDefender of the Faith’. Others were wondering about the line of succession. What would happen if Alex didn’t have children? What if she didn’t have them herself? What if she had them herself, but it was the other woman’s egg? Those were the actual conversations she had to be part of when she was eighteen and on her way to university, and Alex hadn’t even been thinking about kids. She’d been thinking about going to school and learning more about herself and what she wanted, even though it hadn’t mattered much: she knew she’d never have a job. She’d be the first female heir to the throne in truly modern times, where women commonly went to university and started working. She’d also been the first where they could serve in the infantry, so she’d followed where her male predecessors had been before her.
While her parents had accepted that this was who she was, that did not pertain to the fact that Alex was still without a wife and, therefore, children to carry on the line, which was her duty just as much as being the future Queen. Her mother had switched from setting her up with boys to trying to find a woman Alex would want to be with for more than a few dates. It hadn’t been easy, but her mother was the determined type.
“I know. I understand that I need to find someone. It’s not as if I haven’t been trying,” Alex told her mother.
“You could have brought Teresa to this event. She’s standing over there on her own. Have you even said hello to her since she arrived?”
Alex looked over at Teresa, who seemed to be in her element, talking and laughing with someone while she held a glass of wine.
“I said hello when she got here, yes,” Alex lied.
“Did you give her an explanation as to why you’re here alone and she’s here alone?”
“We’re not official. If I invite her to an event, that would make things official.”
“What would be so wrong with that?” her mother asked.
“I don’t know if it’s there with Teresa.”
“You never think it’s there, Alexandria. You go through women at an alarming rate. That’s already asking a lot from the people of the United Kingdom. You cannot keep asking them to deal with woman after woman in the tabloids.”
“She has two kids.”
“The older you get, the more likely it’s going to be that you end up with a woman who’s already been married and who might have children of her own, unless you bring home a twenty-two-year-old girl. And I stressgirl, Alexandria.Youare a woman. Do not bring some influencer-type into this family.”
“What?” Alex asked, laughing at her mother.
“You know what I mean. Teresa has children, but you two can still have some of your own.”
“She doesn’t want to have any more kids.”
“Then, you have them.”
“No, I don’t mean physically. She doesn’t want to have them physically, either, but she doesn’t want more. She has two, and that’s all she wants. We talked about it when she came over for drinks.”
“Well, I’ve been told how persuasive you can be, my darling daughter.” Her mother lifted an assuming eyebrow at her. “I’m sure you could tell her that this is part of the job.”
“It’smyjob, not hers.”
“No, Alexandria. This would beherjob. She’d be your Consort. Her job is to provide you with children. If she wants to be Queen Consort, she’d have to understand and agree to that. She wouldn’t have to be that involved. You’d have nannies.”
“That involved?” Alex asked.
“Don’t pretend you don’t understand what I’m talking about.”
“I don’t plan on forcing my future wife to have my children,” Alex replied.
“Ideally, no,” her mother said.
“No, it’s notideallyornot ideally– I won’t do it. I want to be with someone who wants whatIwant. I want children, and I want her to want children, too. I’ll have them if I have to, but I’d prefer she have them. I’ve never–”
“Your Majesty,” Teresa said as she approached them both. “Wonderful event as always, Ma’am,” she added before looking over at Alex. “Your Royal Highness, I didn’t mean to interrupt, but I wanted to say hello.”
“Hello?” the Queen asked her daughter, figuring out that Alex had lied.