his eyes shining warmly at me. “I’ve heard about you from Liz, and how you are a master baker.”
A happy colour pools in my cheeks. “Thank you.”
“She’s brilliant,” Liz says. “An icing artist.”
“I’m so glad you enjoy them,” I say happily.
Next, I see Victoria rise from her seat, smiling as she makes her way towards me. Lord, she is more stunning in person than she is when pictured in glossy magazines or shown on TV. She moves over to greet me, and it’s like watching a model from a fashion magazine in action. Her blonde hair is long and straight, perfectly silky and shiny. She’s wearing an outfit that I would look ridiculously stupid in: a thick, chunky black jumper that is cropped and reveals a tiny and perfectly toned abdomen. Victoria paired this top with a high-waisted pair of black and white striped trousers and Adidas trainers. A completely hip and fashion-forward outfit I’d expect to see on a Connectivity Story Share or Instagram influencer account.
She extends her hand to me. “I’m Victoria. It’s so lovely to meet you.”
I shake her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well.”
“And this is Bella,” Xander says, inclining his head to the other woman at the worktop. “Our resident scholar and historian. She’s home from Oxford for the weekend.”
As soon as Xander introduces her, a flush climbs up Bella’s neck and cheeks. I study her as she gets up and I move to meet her. I remember Xander telling me Bella was shy and preferred to stay far away from the royal scene, studying history at uni. She’s a beautiful girl, but utterly different to her sisters. Both Liz and Victoria seem to be confident women. Liz is front and centre as a working royal, with her diary booked with engagements for her charities. She’s confident and well-spoken in all her interviews. You can see she is energised by crowds, as she loves to stop and engage with people at walkabouts and appearances.
I see the same confident trait in Victoria but expressed through her fashion. She’s bold in her choices, like wearing a daring jumpsuit to Ascot last year. The cameras never seem to bother her; in all her pictures, she looks oblivious to it. And she’s on trend with everything she does. Takes risks. She’s also bucking the royal norm by studying fashion design at university. All of which takes confidence.
But Bella is different in both behaviour and dress. Whenever I see pictures of Bella, her eyes are often cast downward. If it’s a paparazzi picture, she doesn’t smile. Her head is tucked towards her chest, fixated on the path. Where Liz and Victoria seem accepting that the media is a part of their lives, Bella seems uncomfortable with it, if the photographs tell me what I suspect to be true.
Physically, she’s different as well. While Liz and Victoria are tall and slender, Bella is blessed with gorgeous curves, ones that look so feminine in the pale pink, polka-dotted ruffled blouse she is wearing that shows off her ample bustline. The blouse is soft and flowing, with buttons down the front, and if I had breasts like hers, I’d want the shirt in a heartbeat. She’s wearing jeans that hug her hips and have frayed hems and has thrown a long, white duster cardigan over her outfit. Her hair is a blondish-brown, and I can’t tell if it’s natural or highlights, but it’s beautiful. It tumbles in loose waves down her back. Her face is round and luminous, and her eyes are a vivid blue, the same colour as the cornflowers that bloom in the summer.
But when I see her, I think of the word “gentle.”
Like I suspect her soul might be.
“Hello,” Bella says quietly, smiling at me as she extends her hand.
I smile back as I shake it. “Poppy. It’s nice to meet you.”
Another man steps forward to meet me, one with ginger hair and green eyes. “I’m Charlie,” he says simply, dropping off the title I know he has, thanks to Xander’s intel. “I’m a friend from Christian’s Cambridge days.”
Victoria walks past him and affectionately ruffles his ginger hair. “Charlie has been around for years. This one is like another brother to me.”
To my surprise, I see something shift in Charlie’s eyes. His smile remains in place, but his eyes changed from bright and sunny to something different. I swear, there was a flicker of pain there. But before I can study it, he blinks, and the brightness