Being out in public has actually opened our world in some ways, though. We’ve gone for dinner now, sneaking in through back doors of restaurants or eating at the private London club where Xander has a membership. We’ve had drinks with Liz and Roman. We went to a Stonebridge United game in Surrey to cheer Camden on. While nothing with Xander outside of Kensington Palace is completely normal, this is as normal as we will be for the rest of our lives.
And I don’t care one bit.
I continue to work at The Biscuit Cutter, and to my delight, Priya has been hired to stay on after the royal wedding. In fact, she is over at Frogmore House now setting up the biscuit display for tonight. We’ve become very close, and she is indeed one of my inner circle now, just as much as the squad is.
But the one thing I’m truly happiest about is how Xander has faced his past head-on. After his breakdown in the garden, he started seeing a therapist to work through his issues from childhood. He’s learning to embrace himself, and I’m so proud of the hard, soul-searching work he has done to heal. I know all of this will make him a better person, a better partner, and a better king for his people.
And as far as being prince regent? Xander has been mature and steady in taking over Arthur’s duties for the time being. He also has added heart health to the list of causes he wants to focus on. We’ve decided, together, that once we are engaged and I walk away from The Biscuit Cutter, I will take on women’s heart health as one of my causes, too. And while I’ll be taking up many causes, one of them for sure will be heading up a charity to provide lessons in cooking and pastry arts to at-risk students and adults needing to learn a new job skill. And, to my delight, Xander said wherever we move, he will make sure I have my own little commercial kitchen for baking, and we’ll donate the biscuits to charities all over the UK.
As we come closer to the chapel, the cameras begin snapping away and TV videographers start filming us. The cheers of the crowd fill the air. Goosebumps prickle my skin, and the air seems charged with electricity. It’s surreal. I keep the smile on my face—Bella drilled that one into me until my cheeks hurt from practicing—and all I see are smiling faces and flags waving and people bedecked in shirts with Clementine and Christian’s faces on them.
“This is nothing compared to what your day will be like,” Bella says to me.
Now, it’s my turn to blush. Luckily, Liz and Roman will be ahead of Xander and me, so I have time to learn from two royal weddings how to do this right.
Thank the Lord for that, I think, grinning.
Soon, we are walking up to the Galilee Porch and entering the chapel. As soon as I’m inside, a feeling of complete awe sweeps over me. Orchestra music fills the air, and as we step into the quire, where the immediate family of the bride and groom are seated, I can practically feel all the royal footsteps that have walked this marble before me.
I gaze up at the incredible fan-vaulted ceiling, then to the magnificent stained-glass windows, filled with the light of the spring sun. There are carved wooden stalls for the Knights and Ladies of the Garter, and banners for the current members hang from above—including a banner for Xander.
This history, I think in complete amazement, will be my history, too.
As I look around the chapel, I think of the importance this more than five-hundred-year-old church has had not only in English history, but in Xander’s personal history, too. Monarchs are buried here, including King Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, the wife who bore him a son.
But this chapel has been rich with royal weddings, too, and what a history of them this place has seen! As Windsor is a special place for Christian and Clementine, someplace so dear to their hearts, I can’t help but think this truly is the perfect place for them to become man and wife.
I see Helene is seated with James, and I am to sit next to him. I turn around and glance towards the nave, and while I knew more than seven hundred people were invited to the wedding, seeing the massive crowd