The Thrill Is Gone

The photographers went wild when Prince Harry emerged from London Heathrow Airport accompanied by his girlfriend. They had all seen the images of the young prince strolling through the streets of Cambridge with his American lover, but few had been fortunate enough to have a valid American work visa that would’ve allowed them the right to take pictures for profit on American soil. As such, they found themselves forced to remain in England, from where they watched enviously as images taken by rival photographers made their way onto the front page of the tabloids.

The story of Harry and his American girlfriend had eclipsed all others. They were - at the present – more important than all the celebrities, aristocrats, and royals that resided within the kingdom. It seemed that everyone wanted to know how their relationship was doing, whether or not it would be of the lasting sort. It was no longer just gossip programs that were discussing the young couple, the late night hosts were also chatting about them with their famous guests, and even the entertainment talk shows on the BBC were talking about it. It was that demand for information and pictures that drove the prices of each photograph so high, and now that the prince and his girlfriend were back on British soil, every photographer was determined to take as many shots as they possibly could.

“Paulina! Paulina!” they cried out, hoping to get some sort of response from the young woman. “How does it feel to be back in London? Are you pleased? Or are you here to keep an eye on him? To make sure there aren’t anymore tits in his face!”

“Is His Royal Highness allowed to spend nights with his mates?” inquired a heavily tattooed young man. “Or is there to be no more of that?”

“Come on, love, give us an answer!” shouted a woman whom appeared to be in her mid thirties. “Why don’t ya have a chat with us? Tell us how thing’s transpired after the incident?”

Paulina smiled slyly, but said nothing. She wasn’t going to answer any of their questions or issue any statements. She didn’t want to open dialogue between herself and the photographs. So she kept quiet. She followed Harry in silence, her gaze firmly fixed on the back of his head as the photographs crowded around them. Had it not been for Kamal following closely behind her, she would’ve had a photographer pressed right up against her, but thankfully Kamal was there to ensure that no one grabbed at her. He provided a much appreciated buffer for her.

It wasn’t long before the pair made their way into the awaiting vehicle, and once inside, they were driven to Clarence House, where they would be spending the next two days. Harry had initially wanted to arrive at his father’s private flat, he wanted the privacy it would afford him and Paulina, but his father wasn’t keen on having them separated from the family so early on. He wanted the young lovers to reside in Clarence House for two days. That way an intimate dinner could be held in Paulina’s honor, and the following day, they could all be driven out to Harry’s graduation ceremony and then return to Clarence House for the dinner party hosted in the young prince’s honor.

Although Harry wasn’t keen on sleeping in separate bedrooms, he humored his father. His father was, after all, allowing him and Paulina to reside in his private flat for two months, and he had also invited Paulina to stay in Highgrove House for a week, so the least they could do was sleep in separate bedrooms for two days.

When they arrived at Clarence House, they were welcomed by Kate and William’s smiling faces. Charles had initially planned on being a member of the welcoming party, but since their arrival coincided with an important engagement that he and Camilla were to attend, he found himself unable to welcome the young lovers back, not that Paulina minded. They were more than happy with the reception they received. Paulina had expected to quietly slip into the house, and then wander around with Harry. She didn’t think that Kate and William would be there to greet them, but there they were, smiling brightly at her. And when she exited the vehicle, the pair descended on her. Kate was the first to reach Paulina. She pulled her into a tight hug and went on about how delighted she was to see Paulina again. It was during that time that William walked over to Harry and congratulated him for having sorted things out. There’d been a part of him that thought his brother had fucked things up beyond repair, but William was glad to have been proven wrong.

“How good it is to see you again!” William declared as he redirected his attention over to Paulina. “We missed you around here. Quite terribly, I might add.”

“And I missed you.” Paulina smiled, and stepped into William’s opened arms. It didn’t matter how many times they hugged, it always unnerved her a bit that she was being hugged by the future king. It was easy for her to forget that Harry was a royal, he was her güerito, but with William there was a clearer distinction, he had been bred for the throne, and try as he did to seem normal and unaffected by it, he was never successful. “Watching inappropriate movies isn’t the same if you’re not there to be shocked by them. I still remember how you were when we watched Step Brothers.”

“That film was ghastly.” William chuckled at the memory.

“I distinctly remember you laughing throughout it.”

“That’s because it was quite hilarious, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was ghastly.” William said, very matter-of-factly. “Honestly, I can’t see dog shit without thinking of that scene where they made them eat it.”

“What’s this about dog excrement?” Kate scrunched her nose in disgust.

“Some blokes in a film were forced to eat it.” William explained. “It wasn’t shown on film . . . well, that’s not entirely true, they did show one of them licking it, but not quite eating it. I know it sounds utterly disgusting, and it is, but it was also quite funny. We’ll have to watch it one day, Kate.”

“Only if Harry and Paulin are there,” stated Kate.

“That’s fine by us.” Harry spoke on their behalf.

“Brilliant!” exclaimed Kate. She then walked ahead and linked arms with Paulina so that she could lead her into the house. “So how was your first year at law school? Was it more challenging than Oxford?”

“It was about the same.” Paulina responded. “I feel like Oxford prepared me for Harvard. If I hadn’t gone there, it would’ve been a lot more challenging going straight from Stanford to the ivy, but since I had the preparation it was an easier academic transition. How are you though? How’s work?”

“Work is well, quite well.” Kate answered. “A bit boring at times, but I expect that’s true of everyone’s work from time to time. As for me, I’m brilliant. Wills and I are planning a Kenyan holiday right now, so I’m quite thrilled over that.”

“That sounds like it’ll be lovely.” Paulina commented as they walked into the house. “I hear it’s a very beautiful country, and the privacy you’ll have there is like nowhere else.”

Kate nodded in agreement. “That’s why I love traveling to Africa so much. South Africa is a bit like England, at least in regards to media attention, but when you get to the more remote places of the continent, it’s truly nothing but the grandness of nature. There’s nowhere quite like it. I absolutely adore Kenya.”

“Its landscape truly is spectacular. I love how unpolluted it is over there. You can actually see the stars at night and appreciate the different hues of the heavens.” Paulina had been struck by the beauty of Botswana in her travels. “Are you planning on visiting this summer?”

“We wanted to, but Wills has a very tight schedule.” Kate explained. “So we’ll wait until November to travel. We’re meant to go with friends, and wanted to ask if you and Harry might come along, but then we remembered that you’ve a busy schedule of your own, what with attending uni and working.”

“Yeah, I do, and then with it being in November, that’s when Thanksgiving coming up and they load up on assignments at that time, but thanks for having thought of us.”

“We always think of you.” Kate assured, smiling warmly. “You’re quite dear to us, you know. And I know I speak for Wills and me, when I say that we’re very happy to have you back in England.”

“Thank you for saying that.” Paulina said, softly, touched by Kate’s words. “And I’m really happy to be back. I hadn’t realized how much I missed England until we landed. It’s almost as if I’ve come home.”

“That’s because this is your home.” Harry chirped up from behind them. “You only go to America to study.”

“I’ll have to tell my parents that the next time I talk to them.” Paulina replied, chuckling slightly.

“I reckon you ought to hold off on saying that for a bit.” Harry knew that her parents weren’t pleased with him. Paulina hadn’t told him anything regarding that, but he knew just the sort of people that they were, and if he’d been them, he would’ve been furious at the boyfriend that was running around town with other women. “We’ll tell them once ya graduate.”

“Sounds like a plan then.” Paulina said over her shoulder. “So where are we going, Kate? I just realized that I didn’t even ask I just started following you.”

“To the garden,” replied Kate. “We’re going to have tea there. It’s a lovely day so we might as well make the most of it before the clouds settle in again. Why? Did you want to settle in first? Of course you do, you just got in from a long flight. If you like, we’ll wait for you out there.”

“I’m fine, really.” Paulina assured. “I was just wondering where we were going.”

“You don’t want to settle in then?”

Paulina shook her head. “I’ll do that later on. I mean, I’ll get to it before its dinner time since we have to change for that, so I’ll just hold off on it.”

“In that case, let’s hurry along. I made some cakes that I want you to try.”

“You bake?” Paulina sounded a little more surprised than she would’ve liked.

“I know, I know. It doesn’t seem like something I’d do, but I’m quite good at it. You can ask Wills if ya like. On second thought, you don’t have to ask since you’ll have some in a bit, but I promise you’ll like them. Wills is always having me bake him some for when he’s off at training.”

“They’re the only good thing to eat when I’m training.” William joined the conversation. “And the lads are always asking if I can give them some.”

“With that kind of praise, I’m definitely excited to try the cakes.”

The cakes definitely warranted the praise. They tasted as if they were from some upscale bakery, and as Paulina ate them, she wondered why Kate had never tried her hand at opening up a bakery of her own. She would’ve done well, even without the royal connections, she would’ve had a product that others would desire, but the reason why Kate hadn’t gone down that path was due to the fact that she didn’t want to have anything holding her down for when the inevitable happened. What she wanted was to have as easy a transition from private life to public life, as humanly possible. She had toyed with the idea of starting a bakery business with her brother, but had ultimately set that aside, because once she became a royal, she would’ve had to pull away from it. So instead of that, Kate baked for her loved ones and worked for her parents, it was a reasonable concession that made life easier on her and William.

The young couples spent their afternoon outside in the garden. They ate, the laughed, they conversed freely, without a care in the world. They didn’t have to worry about whether or not someone was listening in on their conversation or worry about censoring themselves, they were at liberty to say whatever they wanted, and they took advantage of that luxury.

It was at a quarter to five that they retreated inside to get ready for dinner. Kate was spending the night in William’s room, so it was there that she changed from her afternoon attire into something more suitable for the evening, and while the others got ready in their respective rooms, Paulina busied herself by showering her body. She’d straightened her hair out the night before in order to avoid the hassle of washing her hair and then straightening it out for dinner. She didn’t want to waste time doing that, so she hurried about her business and shortly before Prince Charles and Camilla arrived from their engagement, Paulina made her way into the sitting room where the others were already waiting for her.

They sat there talking amongst themselves until the arrival of the higher ranking royals. When Prince Charles and Camilla arrived, Harry and William greeted them in their usual way, and then Kate and Paulina waited until they were spoken to, to curtsey dutifully and speak politely. Prince Charles was warm in his welcome to Paulina, he made it very much clear that he was pleased to have her in his home again, but his warmth was drastically different from what William and Kate’s had been. The young couple had hugged Paulina, even exchanged kisses on the cheek, but Prince Charles’ warmth stemmed from his tone of voice and the manner in which his features softened at the sight of the dark haired American.

After having warmly welcomed Paulina and making the polite inquiries regarding her flight to London, Prince Charles and Camilla excused themselves. They retreated to their chambers where they changed out of their present attire and into something more suitable for dinner. Despite having been at it for well over a decade, Camilla still felt odd in changing so many times a day. She had spent decades living a less extravagant life, and she was constantly having to remind herself that now that she was a royal, she had to do things a certain way.

They dressed fairly quickly, and then went directly to the dining room. Once they were seated, they charged Roland with informing the others that they were already there and soon after, the young adults walked in and took their seats at the table. Prince Charles had exerted himself to ensure that the meal would be to Paulina’s liking. He’d ordered the chef to prepare dishes that she’d enjoyed during previous visits to Clarence House, and at the end of the dinner, a white chocolate raspberry cake was brought out. Paulina was touched by the fact that Prince Charles remembered her favorite cake. With so much on his plate, with endless meetings and engagements, Paulina would’ve never thought that Prince Charles would remember something as trivial as her favorite cake, but he had. And he’d done it because he viewed Paulina as warmly as he did Kate. He knew the young American cared deeply for his son, and that there was nothing she would not do for him. He appreciated the changes she had helped inspire within Harry, and thought highly of her.

And hours later, when the dishes had been cleared away and the lot of them sat in the parlor, Charles made that very much clear to her. He approached her when Harry had been called away on the phone for business, something related to his impending graduation ceremony. When Charles saw him step out, he took the opportunity to approach Paulina, whom was looking out into the gardens.

“What do you think, Miss Balcázar?” he inquired. “Are the gardens more beautiful in the morning or night?”

“They are beautiful at whichever hour, Sir.” Paulina stated, politely. “Though I would argue that enchanting is a more suiting word for how the garden looks at this hour. The moonlight gives it an ethereal feel.”

“I shall gladly consent to my gardens being referred to as enchanting.” He grew quiet, and then spoke again. “I did not move this way to converse about the gardens.”

“Then why did you, Sir? If I might be so bold as to ask,” she added.

“I wished to thank you.”

“Thank me? What for? There is no need to thank me, Sir. If anything, I should thank you for welcoming me into your home and serving such a lovely dinner.”

“You are mistaken, Miss Balcázar. There is much for which I must thank you.”

“There isn’t, Sir.”

“There is.” He stated. “I must thank you for returning to England.”

“I had to.”

“You didn’t.” He paused. “Not after the behavior exhibited by my son in the press. And you know that, that was why you broke up with him.”

“Sir –”

“Before you speak, allow me to thank you for having given him another opportunity. I am not the sort of gentleman that is adept at discussing emotions, but I must say that it was truly difficult to see Harry in such low spirits. I worried for him, as I did for you. But now . . . now I am most pleased to see that your relationship is back on course. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than seeing my son happy, and it is to you that his happiness is owed. And I thank you. I thank you, Miss Balcázar, on behalf of myself and Diana. Were she among us, she would’ve been much warmer in her words than I have been, but that is to be expected, her heart was always much more passionate, much freer. And I know in my heart, that she would’ve delighted in being with you. I’ve no doubt that had she the pleasure of making your acquaintance; she would’ve adored you, as it only right, to be sure.”

“Do you truly mean that, Sir?” she said in a surprisingly small voice. “Do you truly believe she would’ve approved of me?”

“I am certain she approves of you from wherever she is.” Charles stated. “Our son is all the better for you. And I thank you for loving him and not giving up, because this life of ours is nothing to toy with, and you’ve done right by us, and rest assured, if ever you need anything at all, I shall do right by you.”