Against the Odds

When Harry woke in their tent on Monday morning his first conscious thought was that waking up with Alex in his arms probably made him the luckiest guy in Scotland at that very moment. She was warm and soft and she smelled…God, she always smelled so good. His arms reflexively tightened their hold around her as his thoughts centered on her.

His eyes traveled down over her. Her hair, having air dried the night before after the dip in the cold lake, was in its natural state, wavy and wild and spread out behind her. Her eyes were closed but the color of them, the lightest of blue, was permanently burned into his brain. He followed the lines of her face down, over her nose and her rosy cheeks and down to her lips where his gaze halted for a minute. Her lips…lord knew that he wasn’t much for the written word…but he was sure he could write pages about her lips. They were so full and soft and the things they did to him…

He smiled to himself and shook his head, forcing him to turn his thoughts away from that subject before his caveman desires overtook him.

As he stared down at her he marveled that he really couldn’t ever get enough of her. She made him laugh constantly, even when he withdrew within himself and became moody, which he was known to do. She wasn’t intimidated by him when he was like that, or any other time. She would just bring him out of it with a corny joke or a silly face that he normally would have rolled his eyes at but always found funny when it came from her.

And he was always excited to hear the next thing that was going to come out of her mouth; any bit of information she wanted to share with him, any question she wanted to ask him, any joke she wanted to tell him…he soaked it all up willingly.

Quite simply, she was perfect for him and he knew it. He had known it since that first night at Kensington when she made fun of him for going to all the trouble to find the right wine for her and then made him watch Dirty Dancing and didn’t ever stop to ask if that’s what he wanted to watch. He loved that she didn’t defer to him in those things. He loved that she asked his opinions on things and then made her own decisions, considering everything. She was her own person and he knew she would always remain that way.

He smiled as her eyes fluttered open. When she saw he was awake her lips curved upwards and she automatically moved closer, snuggling up to him in the chilly morning.

“Hey,” she said softly as she pressed her cheek against his warm chest.

“Hey,” he murmured back, leaning down to kiss the top of her head.

“Do we really have to go back today?” she whispered.

He sighed. “Yes and soon. Our plane is scheduled for noon.”

She let out an exasperated breath. “I have got to talk to my boyfriend about scheduling things so early in the day.”

He laughed into her hair. “I’ll let him know you need to have words with him.”

She giggled and then pulled back to look up at him, her eyes growing serious. “Let’s not drag this morning out, okay? Let’s just pack up and go. The longer we lay here, the sadder we will get.”

He nodded and leaned over to kiss her softly. “Okay.”

Harry was glad Alex made that decision. He knew she was right. He knew if they delayed getting up and packing their campsite, they would only become sad and frustrated and he didn’t want this perfect weekend to end that way for them.

So they got up. They packed the tent and with one last look at the lake Alex took Harry’s hand and they climbed into the old Army truck and drove back to the cottage.

They packed quickly, sharing small glances, smiles, and touches as they moved about the rooms together, but the conversation was kept to a minimum. They were both incredibly happy with the trip, with all they had said and done here, how much more solid their bond was, but they were both melancholy to be going back to London where the real world, where his deployment and their forced separation, was waiting on them.

Their bags were loaded into the Range Rovers and they both settled into one of them, Alex snuggled up under Harry’s arm as she had done when drove up from the airport three days before. They watching the scenery fly by together, both of them still keeping quiet, trying to come to grips with what came next for them.

“Alex?” Harry asked, breaking the silence.

She turned her head immediately to look at him. “Yeah?”

“I’ll be leaving for training tomorrow and be gone most of the week, but I’ll be back on Saturday afternoon. Do you think you and Emma could come to Kensington for dinner that night?” he asked softly.

She smiled. “Of course.”

He took a deep breath. “It wouldn’t just be me at dinner though; there are a couple of people I’d like you to meet.”

Alex’s heart picked up. “Who?” she asked quietly.

“I wanted to introduce you to William and Kate, but William has RAF duties that night. I’d still like you to meet Kate…and my father.” He looked at her, hoping she wouldn’t turn him down.

She blinked. “You want me and Emma to meet them?”

He nodded slowly. “Yes. I called this morning while you were in the shower and they were both very excited to meet both of you.”

She leaned up, kissing him hard on his lips before pulling back, tears in her eyes. “I swear to God, Wales, all you do is make me cry these days.”

His eyes got wide. “I don’t mean…”

She put a hand up. “No…not in a bad way. I mean, of course there have been sad tears, but there have been so many more happy tears.”

He leaned forward at her words and placed his forehead on hers. “So you’ll come?”

“Of course.”

**********************

Alex got back to work on Tuesday, throwing herself into her job, making up for her two missed days and giving herself something to concentrate on while Harry was away training.

That night after dinner, as she was about to put Emma to bed, she finally worked up the courage to tell her daughter about Harry’s deployment.

She had always been honest with Emma about what happened with John and Emma was a smart little girl who understood the concept of death and that the father she had never known was in Heaven. Alex had always been glad that Emma had understood so easily, but now she was nervous, because she knew Emma would grasp the fact that Harry could die in Afghanistan.

She tucked Emma in and then sat for a second, trying to find the words. She took deep breath. “Emma, I need to talk to you about something.”

“Okay Mummy,” she said, her eyes open wide as she looked up at Alex.

“You know how you stayed at Granny’s this weekend because I went on a short trip with Harry?”

“Yes, I had so much fun,” Emma said excitedly.

Alex laughed. “I’m glad. I did too on my trip.”

Emma giggled. “Harry is fun. Maybe someday I can go on a trip with him too.”

Alex’s breath caught and she swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat. “I hope so too baby. There is a reason I went on that trip though. Harry wanted me to go because he’s going to go away for a while and he wanted to talk to me about some things before he leaves.”

Emma’s smile faltered and Alex’s heart broke a little bit. “Where is he going?”

Alex reached over and smoothed back her daughter’s hair. “He’s going to go fly a helicopter in Afghanistan for a few months.”

Emma blinked a few times and Alex saw the moment that understanding dawned. “Like Daddy?”

Alex had tried to hold back the tears back but lost the battle when Emma asked that. She quickly swiped them away and made an effort to smile at Emma, to be strong and not fall apart for her daughter.

“Yes, Harry does the same job that your daddy did,” Alex said softly.

“Is Harry going to die too?” Emma asked, going straight to the point, for which Alex was both grateful and devastated at the same time.

Alex took a deep breath. “Honey, Harry is very good at his job. The chances that something would happen to him are very small. His bosses and his own father would not let him go if they thought that he would die.”

Emma turned under the covers so she was lying on her side and Alex reached over and rubbed her back under the covers.

“Is that why you’ve been sad, Mummy?” Emma’s voice was soft, inquisitive, worried, and Alex was struck by how intuitive her daughter was.

“Yes, that’s why I’ve been sad.”

“Are you going to keep being sad?”

Alex laughed. “I’m going to try my best not to. I’ll miss him very much.”

Emma’s lip started to tremble which caused Alex’s to do the same. “I’ll miss him too,” Emma said with a wavering voice.

“Well,” Alex whispered, trying to breathe through the sadness. “Let’s make a deal, okay Em?”

“A deal?”

Alex nodded. “Let’s try, for each other, to not be sad all the time. While he’s gone we will still have all the fun we had before Harry was around and then when he comes back we can make him join in as many tea parties as possible.”

Emma giggled. “Harry loves playing Tea Party.”

“I think it’s you he likes playing Tea Party with, Em,” Alex laughed.

Emma sighed dramatically. “I do have good tea parties.”

Alex burst out laughing and then leaned over and kissed Emma on the cheek. “Maybe when we go to his house for dinner on Saturday you can ask him to come over for a special tea party before he goes to Afghanistan.”

Emma’s whole face brightened. “We get to go to Harry’s house?”

“Yes. And you’ll get to meet his father and his sister as well.”

“Yay!” Emma squealed. “What are their names?”

“Harry’s father is called Charles and his sister is called Catherine, but when you meet them you will call his dad ‘Sir’ and his sister ‘Ma’am’ unless they tell you otherwise. Can you do that?” Alex asked, tapping Emma on her cute little nose, causing her to giggle.

“Yes, Mummy. Are they Prince and Princesses too?”

Alex halted for a second before answering, just at the sheer weirdness of the fact that she had to answer that question. Once she recovered herself she smiled and Emma and said, “His father is a prince, yes. Catherine is a Duchess, but she will be a Princess someday.”

“Someday?” Emma prodded.

And then Alex knew that an endless stream of questions was about to ensue and she wasn’t about to let Emma stay up later than it already was to answer them. “Yes, someday. But you are going to have to wait until tomorrow for the full explanation on that. It is past your bedtime.”

“But…” Emma started.

“No buts, Emma Rose. Sleep now.”

Emma sighed. “Ooookay.”

Alex laughed and switched off Emma’s lamp and turned on the night light. “Goodnight Emma, I love you.”

“I love you too, Mummy.”

********************

An hour later Alex, having dozed off on her couch while working on some stuff for work, was startled awake by her phone ringing. Expecting it to be Harry she jumped for it. It wasn’t Harry, but it was one of her other favorite men.

“Matthew,” she said to her brother with a smile in her voice.

“You know I hate when you call me that,” he retorted quickly.

“That’s your name,” she laughed.

“Nope, my name is Matt,” he said, saying the last word slowly, as if he were telling a toddler.

Alex chuckled. “Okay Matt, what’s going on?”

“Oh you know, calling my sister who seems to have taken her kid and dropped off the face of the damn Earth.”

She sighed. “Sorry. I did talk to Dad last week.”

“Yeah, I know. He told me you were going to call me the next day and yet…no call ever came,” Matt chided.

“Some stuff came up, Matt.”

“Is that stuff named Prince Harry?”

Alex sucked in a breath. “Dad told you?”

Matt chuckled. “Uh…yeah.”

Alex suddenly got nervous. “Who else did Dad tell?”

“Relax, Alex. He told me and Mom. And by the way Mom is piiiiissssed you didn’t tell her first.”

Alex groaned. “How pissed?”

“Well, she said she was going to write you a very strongly worded e-mail,” Matt said, throwing a little bit of an imitation of their mother in for effect.

Alex giggled. Their mom was generally the nicest person in the entire world and she hated chiding her kids unless it was something really bad. Alex could imagine that her mom wasn’t really mad as much as her feelings were hurt as Alex had always been able to tell her mom everything.

“Oh no,” she moaned. “I’ll call her tomorrow.” She did feel bad her mother had to find out like that. She had never been one to keep secrets from her mom before, and she hated that she had gotten so caught up in Harry that she had neglected her family and not trusted them or her own self enough to bring them in on her relationship.

“I seem to remember you telling Dad the same thing last week about me,” Matt joked.

“Ugh. You are the worst brother. I promise that I will call Mom tomorrow, Matt. Promise. Now, Dad said you were thinking of coming during the summer and then taking Emma back for her two week visit,” Alex said, changing the subject.

Matt perked up. “Yep. Have you decided when to send her yet?”

Normally Alex sent Emma at the end of June, but suddenly she had a thought. “How about we change things up this year and you come towards the end of July? You can stay for a week, take her back with you, and then send her back in the middle of August,” she stopped and took a deep breath. “And then you can meet Harry.”

“Ha! Are you sure that you want to introduce your prince to your redneck brother?” Matt teased.

“Please Matthew, you are not a redneck. And yes, I would very much like to introduce you to him. You two are a lot alike in a weird way. He reminds me of you.”

“Oh man, Alex. I think you’ve just given my ego a huge boost, comparing me favorably to the World’s Most Eligible Bachelor and all.”

Her mouth dropped. “He is not.”

Matt burst out laughing. “Yes he is. Some magazine had it on the cover last week. He beat out George Clooney.”

Alex rubbed her face with her free hand. “That’s so…weird.”

“Well, he obviously has good taste in woman, dating my little sister,” Matt said teasingly, even though Alex knew he was hiding a complement in there somewhere.

She shook her head. “Whatever. I can’t even begin to wrap my head around that. So, do you want to come over in July?”

“Visiting my sister in jolly ‘ol England and hanging with royalty? Heck yeah, count me in. Maybe I’ll find some rich princess to take pity on poor little me. Why don’t you go ahead and set that up now little sister.”

Alex shook her head but couldn’t help the laughter that escaped. Right then her call waiting beeped in and checking it she saw that this time it was Harry calling her.

“Speaking of Harry, he’s beeping in on me. I’ll call Mom tomorrow and make sure it’s okay if Emma comes later and then we will look at flights, okay?” Alex said happily.

“Deal. Love you, Boot,” Matt said, using her old family nickname.

Alex grinned. “Love you too, Matthew.”

She heard him groan as she switched the line over. “Hey you,” she said to Harry.

“Hello yourself, it’s good to hear your voice. You sound happy,” he said, smiling through the phone.

“I just got off the phone with my brother. How do you feel about him coming to visit at the end of July? I’d like you to meet him,” Alex asked excitedly.

Harry’s heart lifted. “I think that sounds fantastic.”

“Harry…” she said, his name trailing of in somewhat of a question.

“Yeah?”

“Did you know that you beat out George Clooney to be the World’s Most Eligible Bachelor?”

Harry’s burst of laughter could be heard all the way down the hall at the Army barracks.

*******************

Alex made it a point to invite Molly over for dinner on Friday so she could fully explain her relationship with Harry. Even though Molly was aware of the relationship, Alex knew she hadn’t been fair by not opening up to her mother-in-law who had never been anything but wonderful to her.

“Oh honey, I understand where you were coming from, keeping it to yourself. But I see the way he looks at you and you at him and I didn’t have any worries at all,” Molly said, patting Alex’s hand gently at they sat at the kitchen table.

“I don’t want you to think he’s replacing John, because he’s not,” Alex said softly. “John was my first love, my husband, and he gave me Emma. Nothing could ever make that go away for me.”

Molly shook her head. “I know that. Alex, you’ve always been so protective of your emotions and rarely let people in. It’s part of why John’s death took such a toll on you. You only got better when you started the group meetings and forced yourself open to up. But with Harry, you are so open and honest and you just let him right into that heart of yours. It’s a joy to see, really. Plus, he’s so good with Emma and she just adores him.”

“When he comes back we are going to go public,” Alex said, her eyes searching Molly’s.

Molly chuckled. “As you should, I would expect he can’t hide you away forever.”

Alex smiled. “People are going to want to know things. Reporters will try to call you. They will try to trick you into talking.”

Molly shrugged, taking a sip of her wine. “They can try, but they won’t get anything from me. What about Emma? Do you have a plan for her?”

Alex sighed. “As long as the paparazzi don’t get too close or she isn’t being harassed we will carry on as normal. If anything should happen, Harry has offered to pay for security if she is out without me, say if you or Mia were taking her somewhere.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Molly had her eyebrows raised.

“Do you mean do I think people will talk if he pays for security for my kid? Yeah, people will talk,” Alex shrugged. “But if my daughter is safe I don’t care. Honestly though, the Palace has the press controlled enough here in England that I don’t see it to be that much of a problem. They’ll follow me, but they’ll catch major crap for following a six year old if her mother isn’t there. But, I trust that if anything at all should happen, if one person follows you if you are out in public with her, you’ll let me know right away. The second we let one of them get away with snapping pictures of her they will all start.”

Molly nodded. “I think you need to talk to Mia about this as well, make sure she understands what might happen if she’s sitting for Emma and one of those photographers gets too crazy. She’s young and a bit silly sometimes, but she’s smart and she’ll be able to do the right thing. Bring her into your circle. She thinks the world of you and Emma and will be a good asset. Other than that my dear, it seems like you’ve got a good head on your shoulders about this. That Harry…he’s a fine young man.”

Alex nodded but was silent for a second, and then taking a shaky breath she reached across and grabbed Molly’s hand. “You know, I know that Harry is in my life in part because John isn’t. If John had lived…”

Molly put her hand up, silencing Alex. “But he didn’t. We can’t go into all these ‘what ifs’, Alex. John died and you had to move on. I would never think anything bad of Harry because he isn’t my son. If it wasn’t him, it would have been someone else someday.”

Alex smiled shyly. “I’m glad it’s him.”

Molly winked before taking another sip of wine. “Me too.”

*****************

Harry had been training hard, and he was tired, but as he sat with his father and Kate on Saturday evening and waited for Alex and Emma to arrive, the exhaustion was forgotten in his excitement for them to arrive. He had sent a car for them, as he knew they would be having wine at dinner and he didn’t want Alex to drive home if they had been drinking. He hoped she would stay, but if she was uncomfortable having Emma spend the night there he wanted her to have a way to get home safely.

“Son, she’ll be here soon. Relax,” Charles said with a small smile on his face after Harry checked his watch for the fifth time in less than a minute. He took a sip from his drink, watching Harry over the rim of his glass.

“Charles, leave the poor guy alone,” Kate chided teasingly to her father-in-law as she came into the room from the kitchen. Dinner was being served in her apartment and she was cooking, preferring to make Harry’s girlfriend and her daughter feel at home. No servants would be about tonight and Kate was glad to play hostess. She had heard from William all about him finding Harry in a sorry state the week before, and she was anxious to meet the woman who had such an effect on her brother-in-law.

“Yeah Dad, leave the poor guy alone,” Harry said with a smirk.

“Harry, can you please get the dishes down from the cabinet and put them on the dining table? The plain white ones please. I’ll set the table but they are too far up and too heavy for me to try to mess with,” Kate said, pointing at her growing belly and shrugging. She was trying to give Harry something to do other than wait for the call that their guests had arrived and get harassed by his father.

“Sure,” he said, rising from his seat and moving into the dining room to do as she asked. He had just come back into the sitting room when the secure phone line rang. Harry jumped to answer it but Charles snapped the receiver up before Harry could get there, raising his eyebrows and giving a little chuckle as he did so.

“Yes?” Charles said into the phone. “Thank you, Harry will go down and greet them at the door.”

Harry was heading out of the room and towards the stairs before Charles even hung up the phone, leaving a laughing Charles and Kate behind him.

He opened the large front door to Will and Kate’s apartment just as the Range Rover pulled to a stop outside. He walked down the steps and hit the gravel drive just as the driver opened one of the back doors and Emma came flying out.

“Harry!” she squealed, her excitement overriding the talk her mother had just had with her about using an inside voice tonight and remembering her manners.

“Emma!” Harry responded, kneeling down and opening his arms as she ran into them, throwing her little arms around him for a hug. He laughed and stood, picking her up and settling her on his hip. She looked at him with a big smile on her face and he winked at her and tugged playfully on one of her braided pigtails before turning to look for Alex. His breath caught. She looked beyond beautiful.

Dressed in a green knee length dress, heels, with simple, classic jewelry and her hair down and wavy she was a vision as she walked toward him.

“Emma, your Mummy looks so pretty,” Harry mock whispered as Alex stepped close to him, making sure he could hear her.

“She’s always pretty,” Emma answered pertly.

Alex grinned. “You two do wonders for a girl’s confidence,” she said with a wink. “Hey you,” she said to Harry. She wanted to kiss the lips off his face right then but wasn’t about to do it in front of her daughter.

“Hey yourself,” he said softly.

Emma giggled and leaned over to Harry’s ear, whispering something. Harry’s eyes got wide and his lips twitched.

“Are you sure?” he asked Emma who nodded and grinned.

With that he set Emma down and leaned over and kissed Alex quickly, but softly.

“She told me to,” Harry said, nodding towards Emma and laughing at Alex’s surprised look.

The corners of Alex’s lips turned up. “Well, don’t I have the smartest kid ever?”

“I’d say so,” Harry laughed. Then he clapped and rubbed his hands together. “Come on ladies let’s go inside so I can show you off.”

He led them inside and up the stairs towards the sitting room.

“I’ve told Emma to call your father ‘Sir’ and to call Kate ‘Ma’am’, but why do I call them?” Alex whispered as they climbed the stairs.

He looked at her. “Charles and Kate.”

Alex’s eyes went wide. “I don’t…”

“Believe me. Don’t curtsy unless it will kill you not to. My father will introduce himself first, as will Kate. They will both ask you to call them by their names. We don’t use titles around here,” he said reassuringly.

“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath as they reached the top step. Emma was almost bouncing on her feet in excitement to meet new people.

“Ready?” Harry said before they moved down to the doorway.

Alex looked down at her dress, smoothing it down quickly before looking back up at him with the confident smile that always knocked his socks off. “Yes.”

Harry was right. Charles introduced himself first, first firmly shaking her hand and then pulling her into a tight hug, surprising her. Then Kate moved in, flashing her world famous smile and instantly making Alex feel perfectly at home. Both Charles and Kate were instantly taken by Emma, who did Alex proud with her manners…with a little bit of sass thrown in of course.

Charles asked questions of Alex as Kate finished up dinner, while Harry sat with Emma, laughing and joking with her and every once in a while looking over to check on Alex. He smiled he found her laughing at something his father had said and then throwing a joke of her own back at him. Charles’ laugh was genuine and Harry couldn’t help but be proud to have her here with him.

The only uncertain moment for Alex came at dinner. Charles and Harry brought out the cooked dishes for Kate while she went in search of wine – for everyone but her of course. When she brought back the bottle of red and began to pour, Alex wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t know if she should refuse, citing the migraine the red wine would cause her, or just not drink it. Either way seemed rude and more than anything she didn’t want to insult these lovely people who had welcomed her with such open arms.

Harry saved her in the end. “Hey Kate, I’m not really feeling red tonight. Do you have white? Something sweet?” he asked with a tilt of his head and his trademark grin.

Kate narrowed her eyes at Harry playfully. “Why are you are always so difficult?”

Harry shrugged. “I gotta bug someone, might as well be you.”

Kate laughed but told him she had some and went back into the kitchen to find it. She came back out with a chilled bottle and Harry stood up and took it from her, insisting he would do it himself.

“Alex, would you like to share this with me or would you prefer red?” Harry asked. His face was completely straight and not letting on that this was completely for her benefit.

“White, please,” she said. Then her lips curved up into a mischievous smile and she said, “Someone has to make sure you don’t drink the whole thing.”

There was a slight second where Harry blinked and Alex thought she had gone too far. But then, Kate started laughing, which prompted Charles to cover his mouth with his hand, trying to hang onto his manners.

Then Emma, in her infinite ability to take any situation and make it her own leaned over and whispered to Harry, “What’s so funny?”

Harry, shaking his head but barely containing his mirth leaned over and said, “Apparently your Mum is hilarious.”

Emma stared at him for a second before she shrugged her shoulders and said, “I didn’t hear her say anything funny.”

This set forth another round of laughter, and this time Harry joined in, winking at Alex as Kate finally fought off the giggles to tell everyone to start serving themselves.

Alex had just done something that Harry had been trying to do for his entire life and had never succeeded. She got the Prince of Wales, with his ingrained manners and tendency towards formality even with his family, to crack up laughing at the dinner table.

*************

Many glasses of wine later the evening was drawing to a close. Emma had long ago fallen asleep, with Kate letting Alex put her down in one of the guest rooms for the time being.

Alex had helped Kate clean up from dinner, chatting with her about general things. Kate asked about HFTF and Alex asked about the organizations Kate did charity work for. Alex had a feeling that Kate, however sweet and welcoming she was, didn’t let people in easily so she stayed away from personal questions.

After they finished cleaning up, they made their way back into the sitting room, joining Charles and Harry who were both drinking a small glass of whiskey.

“Ah, there they are,” Charles said, standing and setting down his empty glass. “I hate to leave such a wonderful night, but alas, I must be on my way.”

“Really Dad? Alas?” Harry laughed.

“Yes Son, it’s called speaking eloquently, you should try it,” Charles joked. Harry shook his head but stood up and shook his father’s hand, bidding him goodnight.

Charles hugged Kate and then Alex, patting her gently on the back when he pulled back. “It was lovely to meet you, Alexandra. Tell Emma I bid her good-bye as well.”

“I will. Thank you. It was lovely meeting you,” she said, smiling softly at him.

He nodded and then was gone. Right then Kate’s phone rang from the other room and she excused herself with an apology, knowing from the ringtone it was William.

Harry turned toward Alex has soon as Kate left the room and pulled her in his arms, kissing her soundly on the lips.

“That went well,” she said when he pulled back.

He laughed. “Very well, they both liked you and Emma very much.”

Alex beamed. “I liked both of them very much.”

“Good,” Harry said. His eyes grew serious as he looked down at her. “Can you stay?”

There had never been a doubt in Alex’s mind about staying with Harry tonight. He was leaving on Tuesday and she knew this would be their last night together. Tomorrow night would be reserved for his family and Monday he would come say good-bye to her and Emma, but she knew he wouldn’t stay that night. It would be too much for them the night before he left, especially considering how early on Tuesday he was leaving. Tonight would be it for them for the four months and she was going to take complete advantage of it.

She laughed. “I think they’ve probably already unpacked our overnight bags from the Range Rover, so I’d say it’s a possibility.”

Harry leaned forward, putting his forehead on hers. “Thank God…” he said with a laugh before he pulled away from her as Kate came back into the room, confirming it had been William on the phone.

They all said their good-byes then, Kate hugging Harry and then Alex, telling her how glad she was to have met her and raving about how wonderful Emma was. Alex thanked Kate for dinner, praising her cooking skills, and then she went and pulled Emma from the bed in the guest room. When she walked back into the sitting room, Harry immediately pulled Alex’s sleeping daughter into his arms, as she was getting almost too big for Alex to carry around at this point.

Harry and Alex made their way across the grounds to Harry’s cottage, quietly talking in the chilly night air. Once inside Harry put Emma down in the guest bedroom and then he found Alex, pulling her into his own bedroom with intentions to love her well into the night.

Back in the main house, after she had shut the door behind the trio as they left; Kate had rushed to her phone and dialed her husband back. She relayed what she saw, and then she bet him a hundred pounds that Harry was done for. He laughed and bet against her because that’s the game they played, but he never doubted his wife for a second.