Where I Belong

“Damn, you look beautiful.”

Ellie felt her face flush with embarrassment. She looked down and laughed softly. “Not in front of my grandparents, Harry.” She waved her hand to her side, presenting to the prince her nain and taid. As Harry took one step passed the doorway, he grinned and walked up to Ellie’s grandparents. Smiling shyly, the two of them bowed before him, holding each others hands and said, “Welcome to our home your Royal Highness.”

“Thank you for allowing me into your home,” he replied, going in to hug them.

“This is my nain, Eugena, and my taid, Gordon.”

Harry nodded, “Pleasure to meet you.” They gave him a nod.

The elder couple looked up at the prince and tittered quietly. Ellie reached out for Harry’s arm and gave it a light tug. “I think we should go now… before they make you sit down for some tea.” The two of them laughed as they made their way to the door. Quickly, Ellie turned around and gave her grandparents a kiss on the cheek, and they watched their lovely granddaughter run off with the Prince of Wales.

On the way to the orphanage, Harry scooted closer to Ellie and whispered in her ear, “You do look beautiful tonight, seriously.” And she looked at him and smiled. “Thank you. You look quite dashing yourself. But I must say, I’d rather see you in a pair of jeans and a shirt with a golf cap on, mister Prince.”

“Oh really? You aren’t into blokes like me in dark suits and shiny shoes?” He asked, laughing.

Ellie gazed at him and said. “Well I do like men in suits. They always look so bloody handsome.” Then Harry winked and wrapped his arm over Ellie’s shoulder.

As they pulled up to the orphanage, cameras began surrounding the limo. Ellie looked out the tinted windows and panicked. “Oh no, oh no. What do I do?” Harry turned to look at Ellie. “You trust me, yes?” Ellie nodded. “If they ask you any questions, don’t answer. Most of the attention is going to be directed towards me but I want you to be a part of it too if you want…” he licked his lips and looked at her. Ellie nodded and slipped her hand into his. “I want to be a part of this.” Harry looked down at his hand which now held her little, petite one. He smiled and opened the door, leading them out of the sheltered limo and into the tabloid scene.

The first part of the night was a surprise for Ellie. As soon as they got out of the limo, the cameras were up in their faces, flashing away not caring if they got a bad picture of them. With her hand laced with his, they followed the guard into the orphanage which, luckily, wasn’t paparazzi infested. Once they got passed the large doors, Ellie sighed and felt Harry give her hand a tight squeeze. “How was that?”

“Horrible.” She said, shaking her head. Harry laughed and leaned down, pressing the side of his face on top of her head. The two of them walked down the long hallway until they were greeted by two nuns who gracefully bowed before the ginger prince. “Your highness,” they said in unison as they smiled.

“Sisters how are you?” he asked. The two of them nodded and said they were fine and that they were glad the prince was donating to the children once again. The sisters led Ellie and Harry into the large room where all the children were. They were waiting anxiously for what the prince had in store for them. Ellie was excited to see how this was going to go. As they reached the room, she let go of his hand and said, “I’d rather watch from the side. Go ahead and surprise them, you don’t need my help.”

Harry looked down at her and bit his bottom lip. “You sure?” Ellie nodded.

“Alright,” he said and walked inside the room. The children jumped up in their little chairs and shouted. They rejoiced at the sight of his ginger hair. Prince Harry walked to the front of the room and stood before the children while Ellie stayed against the wall, watching him do what he did best. Make children happy.

“PRINCE HARRY!” The children screamed, clapping their hands. They were all excited and happy and Harry had the biggest smile on his face. “HELLO! How are you all doing tonight? Isn’t it past your bedtime?” The children shook their heads and replied, “NO NO NO. We missed you Prince Harry!”

He looked over at Ellie and smirked. Directing his attention back to the kids, the prince walked over to a big box that sat in the corner. He said loudly, “Now you see here is a box, a very big box indeed. Inside this box, I have loads of presents for each and every one of you.” As he paused, the children all said, “Yay!”

“Well, I read your letters and you all said that you wanted some books to read, am I correct?” Harry looked at the beaming, beautiful faces of the orphans as they all nodded. Deep down inside, his heart couldn’t handle it all. His favorite part about helping out charities, orphanages and foundations was seeing the amazing response, especially from children.

The children were now on their toes; they wanted to know what was in the box. As Harry slowly began opening the box from the top, he turned to the kids and said, “I really hope you like my gift.” And after that, he quickly tipped over the box, and all that spilled out were thousands of books. The children jumped up and celebrated, throwing their fists in the air and screaming their heads off. Harry got down on one knee as they ran towards him, throwing their little bodies at him. He hugged each and every one of them and kissed them on the forehead. Then he sat there and watched them get one book and open it to the first page, reading silently in their heads. From the sidelines, Ellie had experienced one of the most life-changing events ever. And as the orphans began reading with one another, she looked back at the Harry who had a little girl sitting on his lap. He reached for a picture book and started reading it to her.

She smiled and slowly walked up to him, kneeling down and listened to his story telling. The little girl turned to see Ellie and smiled. “Hello. I’m Grace!” Harry chuckled and turned to Ellie. The brunette replied, “Hello Grace, my name is Ellie!”

Harry looked at Grace and said, “Ellie’s my friend, just like you.” Once the other children noticed Ellie, they surrounded the two and begged for a story.

“You want me to read you all a story?” She asked, digging through a pile of picture books. The children nodded their heads and sat cross-legged in front of Harry and her. The two of them looked at each other and grinned. Ellie turned to the kids and started off with a story that came to her mind. “Once upon a time…” She let her imagination wander off into a field of endless dreams. The children gave her their undivided attention. Harry also sat there, gazing at Ellie and listening to the story that was currently leaving smiles on the children’s faces.

“And the prince and the princess lived happily ever after…”

A little boy in the front raised his hand and said, “Does the prince give the princess a big library like she wanted?” Ellie giggled and nodded. “Yes because the prince really loves her and wants her to be happy.”

“I like the princess a lot!” said a little girl.

Harry turned to Ellie and said, “Yeah, I like the princess too.”

The rest of the evening, the two of them read more stories to the children and the nuns watched over them, being grateful for what the prince had done. Ellie looked over her shoulder and watched Harry tell his own story to a group of little ones while she was telling another princess story to the little girls. The smiles on their faces made her night.

It was nearly 10.30 pm and the children were beginning to get droopy-eyed and sleepy. The ginger prince and Ellie started hugging each one of them goodbye and wishing them a restful night sleep. They were sure to have sweet dreams after all the stories they heard. The nuns walked the group of kids to their bedrooms, leaving Harry and Ellie alone in the room. He turned to her and pressed his forehead against hers. “Thank you for being here with me. Thank you for telling the children stories.”

Ellie beamed and went in for a hug, wrapping her arms all the way around Harry’s torso. She felt the prince’s arms wrap around her shoulders and his head rest on top of hers. “You’re very welcome. I had so much fun tonight.”

As they pulled away, Harry leaned down and whispered to her, “You’re beautiful.” She smiled and looked away shyly. The prince chuckled softly and lightly pressed his lips against her temple.

“Come on, let’s get you home.”