Love Blinds

“Have you seen the papers!” David burst into the dinning room where we were having breakfast and slapped something down on the table next to me making me jump. It turned out to be a newspaper. I gave David what I hoped looked like a sarcastic face.
“Okay fine, not you Nat, but any of the others?” Silence.
“What’s wrong David?” I asked to break the silence.
“Nothing’s wrong at all. Quite the opposite in fact. The press actually got it right and have shown Arlene up to be a right old cow, pardon my French your highness.”
“It’s alright David, what does it say?” I could hear the inquisitiveness in Liz’s voice.
“Well, the headline is ‘Blinded girl stays with Royals’. But that’s not the interesting bit. The article continues to a part where the pap’s interview Arlene. They asked her what was wrong with her daughter, they’ve identified you now Nat as you are the only guest from the party guest list that cannot be accounted for. But, Arlene turned round and said ‘What’s wrong with my daughter, the idiot, I haven’t seen her for days! Do you know where she is the cow, when I get my hands on her etc’. I feel that this paper’s account has been screened for obscenities, as some of the others have a more realistic account of the conversation.”
I breathed out slowly.
“The long and the short of it is that Arlene has been shown as a useless parent, but the bad news is that they now know where you are and they are on their way here to see you.”
“Oh, great!”

I can’t really move, when moving about the palace, I have to use a wheelchair, and seeing as I can’t see, Will or someone has to move me about until I get the hang of using a stick. I was practising in the chair with the stick with Will and Kate watching me in the great hall when I heard shouting coming from down the hall. Since the accident with Harry, I’ve had to practically rely on my hearing.
“Let me go you thug!”
“Mr Grey, just let her go. She’s going to find her eventually.”
What I gathered from that exchange was that Harry, Mr Grey and my mum were heading this way. I’m guessing that the reason Harry shouted that at Mr Grey was to give me a heads up. I braced myself for whatever Arlene would unleash on me. The party of 3 seemed to arrive in the great hall. I heard feet clad in high heels stomp over to me. I tried to back away, but I couldn’t reach the wheels as the pain from my stitches from having my appendix removed and the op on my lung stopped me. Arlene slapped me in the face just as Mr Grey caught up with her and hauled away from me.
“You attention seeking brat! Disappearing for over a week and then turning up on the from pages of the tabloids with members of the royal family! How dare you! You little faker! You cow! How dare you exploit these lovely people!!”
“You idiot! Can’t you see she’s blind you fool!” That was Will coming to my rescue.
“Harry, Mr Grey, could you see Arlene out please.”
Arlene was led out of the palace as Will checked that the slap from Arlene hadn’t dislodged my bandages.
“Are you okay Nat?”
“I’m alright.”
“Don’t worry about anything she said, it was all wrong. We know the real reason and we are all so sorry. For all we know, it was her who gave Beatrice the order to drug Harry in the first place.”
“Have you gone to the police about that yet?”
“No, not yet. We’re getting Freddy to look through the CCTV footage for any sign of the actual event before going to the cops about it.”
I sighed.
“Do you want to have another shot at the wheelchair?”
“I don’t know, it’s really hard to move in this one, not the electric one, I can’t reach back while I have the stitches so I can’t move on my own.”
“Well, I have some good news, we were going to give her to you just before Arlene came in.”
“Her?”
I heard a bark come from the other end of the hall.
“Oh my goodness! A dog!”
“Not just any dog! A guide dog, specially trained. She’s a golden retriever and she’s called Tess.”
“Hi Tess!” The dog had now reached me and put her head up into my hand so I could pat her head. She had her lead in her mouth which she deposited in my hand.
“Aw, she’s so lovely. Thanks Will.”
“Don’t thank me, thank Kate. Tess was her idea!”
“Thanks so much Kate, thanks to all of you, you’ve been brilliant!”