down royalty. We just re-opened after the holidays, and we’re glad to have you.”
Lou chatters the entire time she leads me down a long hallway. She points out different offices for doctors and administrators, gives me a handful of brochures, and tells me about all the work that the organization does for people suffering from Huntington’s.
“So, what made you decide to reach out? It was quite a surprising phone call to get, let me tell you! I never thought I’d be on the phone with a Prince!”
I clear my throat, hesitating. “I met someone with Huntington’s, and…”
My voice trails off, and Lou just nods. “I get it. Welcome.” She smiles at me before knocking on one of the doors, not waiting for an answer before opening it.
“Vicky! The Prince is here.” She glances at me, laughing. “Never thought I’d say those words.”
“Thanks, Lou. Come in, please.” Vicky motions for me to enter, nodding at Lou to close the door behind me. She pulls out a chair for me, then takes a seat beside me.
Her face is kind, with deep-set, dark brown eyes. Her brown hair is streaked with grey, pulled back in a low bun. She’s wearing a long scarf around her neck and a simple wedding band on her ring finger.
“Thank you for coming in,” she says, smiling.
“It’s no problem. I appreciate you taking me in on such short notice.”
“You mentioned you wanted to volunteer, and you wanted to see how we run things here?”
I nod. My voice seems to have disappeared, and I clear my throat to try to coax it back. “I have a…friend…”
My eyes mist up, and Vicky puts her hand on my knee. The touch surprises me—people don’t usually touch me—but it’s remarkably comforting. She doesn’t say anything, she just sits there and waits for me to continue.
I take a deep breath. “I have a friend who was diagnosed, and she, uh—” I rough a hand through my hair. Why are words so hard? “She sort of pushed me away after telling me about it. I was hoping that if I came here and learned about the disease, maybe I could show her that… I don’t know. That I’m not afraid?”
Vicky lets out a sigh, nodding. “You’re very brave.”
That makes me laugh, and for the first time in a long time, a tear falls down my cheek. Without skipping a beat, Vicky grabs some tissues from beside her and pulls three of them out, handing them to me.
Wiping my face, then crumpling the tissues in my hand, I lift my eyes up to hers. “So, is there anything I can do to help?”
Vicky grins. “There’s lots you can do to help, Your Highness.”
Even though everything I’m doing is way out of my comfort zone, it feels right. I get a room at a hotel near the center, and I spend every day helping out. Sometimes, all I do is make phone calls to confirm patients’ appointments. I tidy the waiting room and make sure things are organized. I listen to Lou nattering and nod politely when she tells me about her grandchildren.
I ask Vicky a thousand questions, and she shows me how she got the center started, and how it grew into the national organization that it is today.
After a few days, Vicky introduces me to some of the patients. From then on, every day, I get to talk to people who have been affected by the disease. To my surprise, I start gravitating toward the family members and carers that come in with the patients.
I develop a dark sort of sense of humor with the people that I meet, and without even asking me, they understand that I can relate to them.
Every day, I think of Margot. She’s on her own in Farcliff, with only a small support system and no organizations like this one to help her out.
My family knows where I am, but they don’t know what I’m doing. I refuse Theo’s repeated offers to send a security team to me, and I just focus on my day-to-day work. Once again, I become mostly invisible. No one knows me as the Prince of Argyle. No one thinks of me as Beckett’s brother. No one knows about my past, or about Margot, or anything else.
I’m just a volunteer at an organization for a debilitating, incurable disease.
I work. I learn. I prepare.
When Margot told me that I was better off finding someone healthy, happy, and unencumbered, I knew it came from a good place.