Page 91 of Duchess Material

“No, thanks,” Winston said. Apparently, middle-aged women got up to shenanigans when left alone.

Vanna shook her head. “Gotta stay warm out here. Sit, sit. Tell us your problems, honey.”

Winston pulled up a grooming stool and sat down on it, suddenly about the same height as his mother.

“Uh… Lucy is very cross. I fucked up. And I am desperate to un-fuck things.”

“How did you manage to fuck it up? I thought you were about to propose days ago?” Vanna asked.

“Do you keep anything secret, Mum?”

“Vanna knows all.”

“I was happy to hear it. I’ve thought the two of you would make a lovely couple for ages. And she deserves that. What did you do that you think has hurt you, sweetheart?”

“The press are all over both of us. She’s… she’s crumpling. She’s such a good egg that even a feeling that things might not have been above board has set her off. She did nothing wrong and is being punished for it. She’s broken up. I decided to try to improve things. It fucked it all up, though.”

Rita took a swig of her somewhat-coffee. “What on earth did you do, darling?”

“I called George and pleaded for him to say or do something. I don’t even know what I thought I was doing. I guess, I thought I was defending Lucy’s honour. However, she overheard my conversation. I thought she was asleep. She heard me explaining the power imbalance between the two them. George doesn’t get it. He never acknowledged her as his partner, so the press are treating her cheaply. He made some good points about why it wouldn’t help. But I miscalculated in this explanation and all she heard was the bad stuff.”

Vanna asked, “What did she hear, Winston?”

Winston winced. “That I said he was the heir, and she was the girl from the wrong side of town who lucked into a scholarship and because she’s a social chameleon has survived here. All of that is true. I meant it to plead her case, but it offended her—”

“Winston!” His mother cut him off.

“What? Her parents are a wreck. Doesn’t change my love for her. I still love her. You don’t get it. Her father is an abusive nightmare. I wish I could have beaten the shit out of him. She grew up in what can only be described as very humble beginnings in a town rife with poverty. It’s… stark, Mum. And she did luck into a scholarship and reinvented herself. And it takes a clever person to come here from America and pick it all up.”

The Queen sounded off in disbelief. “You’ve described her as a climber.”

“I don’t think that, though. I just think she is clever and doesn’t let her guard down. She’s brilliant at her job and has never looked out-of-sorts socially. Who does that?”

“Vanora does,” Rita said. “But you are correct in that she’s more like Rebecca than Vanna was when she arrived on the scene.”

“With all due respect, Princess Rebecca’s family is squarely middle-class.”

“It doesn’t matter, Winston. Your mother is right. She heard ‘she’s a climber who lucked into a scholarship.’ I mean, do you know how she got that scholarship?”

Winston shook his head.

“She was in the top one percent of all graduating seniors in the country. She graduated a year early, mind you,” Vanna replied. “She was at the top of her graduating class from uni. I don’t think you quite get how hard Lucy worked to leave that behind.”

“Trust me, after meeting her father, I do. I was just trying to acknowledge that.”

“In an offensive way.” Vanna crossed her arms. Winston had never been dressed down by the Queen. She could be terrifying in her own right.

“I… I guess, yes?”

“What do you want for Lucy?” Rita asked. “What will make her life better? Well, as far as you are concerned?”

“She just wants to feel safety, security, and acceptance, Mum. I have hurt her when trying to do the opposite. I only wanted to vent to George in hopes he could see what he did.”

Vanna offered up her view. “George will never see what you see. We will never see what George sees. Lucy isn’t cross with George over this. Nor should you be. George also tends to make things like this worse. Ignore him is my advice. I love him, but he has Robert’s ability to go out all guns blazing. And, unlike Natalie or Kiersten, he can trip over his words at an alarming rate.”

Winston was surprised by George’s own mother admitting his fault.

“Don’t look so surprised. My children aren’t perfect. Neither are you. Nor am I. What you are, Winston, is a bumbling man in love. Thankfully, women tend to forgive them. She might be upset. I would be. Been there, done that. She’ll come around if she loves you as much as I suspect she does.”

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