“Who?” Mum asked, completely out of the loop.

“I shouldn’t be telling you this.”

“Yes, but you will,” I directed at my father, “because if you want me to play the dutiful heir then this is what it’s going to take. It’s my turn to dish out the ultimatums.”

A sad smile crossed my father’s face; he almost looked haunted. “You’re persistent, I’ll give you that. Are you sure this is what you want?”

“Yes.”

He let out a long breath then continued as if still debating whether or not to tell me. “She’s in Inverness.”

“You sent her to fucking Scotland? Why the hell would you do that?” I shouted, but I knew why. The distance was the perfect barrier. I was expecting her to be within a few minutes of London, a short drive away, and able to see her immediately and get this whole mess cleared up before the sun set. But Inverness was a nine hour car ride, a long journey, and unless I could persuade my father to allow me to take the royal jet or sneak onto a British Airways plane it wouldn’t be till the morning that I’d be able to see her sweet face again. It would also give me time to think, and I expected that was what my father was counting on.

“Will someone tell me what on earth is going on? Who on earth are we talking about?” my mum demanded, rising out of her chair with confusion and impatience, hands on her hips.

“I sent Sophie to Inverness,” my father said gently. “She turned in her resignation a few days ago and I asked her to work her notice. I offered her to go open Morvyn Manor for the time being.”

My mum frowned still not understanding. “But why would you do that? We aren’t due there until the end of the month—”

“I am fully aware of our plans, Beatrice,” The king interrupted, his smile beginning to reach his eyes, pleased with himself. “I told her that Gertie would be arriving ahead of us and I needed someone to open the home.”

It was my turn to frown this time. “But I just passed Aunt Gertie earlier on her way to afternoon tea with Vicky.”

He sighed. “I did it for you, son,” he said. “To keep her out of harm’s way but still within your grasp. Sophie is waiting at Morvyn for Gertie, so she won’t be going anywhere.”

I finally understood what he had done. He had set up a chance for me to make up with Sophie if I chose to.

“Whatever did you do that for, Henry?” Mum asked, looking back and forth between the two of us, studying our faces and my broadening smile. And then it hit her too and she sat back down with a heavy sigh.

“Thanks, Father,” I said and got to my feet.

“Wait. You are not seriously condoning this are you, Henry? No matter how great she is you can’t just let him go to her and ruin his prospects… his future. We have our reputation and standards to uphold. This is not proper,” she blustered, her hand making its way to her chest.

“We will discuss this later, Beatrice,” he said, dismissing my mum’s concerns and pushed up out of his chair then rounded the desk, his hand extended towards me. “Good luck, son. You’ll only get one shot, make it count.”

I shook his hand, a whole new awareness now flooding through my veins. I had a second chance. My mum kept her distance, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, William,” she said softly, “I can’t give you my blessing on this one.”

“Mum?” I said reaching out to her, hoping to explain the love I felt in my heart for Sophie, but she shied away and shook her head again. A dart of pain ran through me. My own mother couldn’t get over her own pride and station and allow me to be happy. I hesitated; standing conflicted in my father’s offer, pleading with my eyes that she would see sense.

My father rested a hand on my shoulder, gave me an encouraging smile and whispered, “Go. She’ll come around. This, her reaction, isn’t really about you… Your mum will get used to the idea when it becomes real. I’ll handle the red-tape. So, if Sophie is the one you want, then I won’t stand in your way.”

I looked at my parents, wishing for a small minute that Frederick were standing with them too. On my side and encouraging me on. But if Rick had been with us, I wouldn’t be going after Sophie. In all likelihood we would’ve never got to know each other, or gotten so close. His death had changed my life in more ways than one.

With my thoughts now on Sophie I wound my way through the palace racking my brain on how exactly I was going to convince her that we belonged together and how we could work. It wasn’t going to be an easy task but I knew I couldn’t live without her. She was my future and I was going to fight for real this time until I had exhausted every option.

At least I knew one thing for sure, I wouldn’t be going to her as the heir to the royal throne. I would be going as plain ol’ Will, the man who loved the hell out of her, the man that was going to make her happy for the rest of her life.

Firstly, I made a quick call, thinking fast on my feet, and convinced the person on the other end of the line to do what I needed. Take a little detour in my favour and surprisingly she was happy to do it. Loved the idea in fact.

We click off and a second later my phone buzzed. I was about to ignore it, more important things on my mind, when I saw Jeremy’s number flash up on the screen and got another great idea. I answered the call.

“Finally! Bloody hell you are hard to get a hold of nowadays. What have you been up to?”

“Oh you know, bowing and scraping, keeping the king happy, doing his bidding in Monaco.”

“Right,” he replied dubiously. “Such a hardship being in the company of a Princess. You should’ve given me a heads up so I could’ve joined you. She’s got plenty of ladies in waiting that you could’ve introduced me to.”

“I think they have standards, Jeremy,” I shot back.

“You can’t keep them all to yourself you know. How did it go anyway? Rumours are that they’ll be wedding bells in your future.”

“No, well… maybe. Not with Annabelle though.”

“Oh? Did I miss something?”

“You could say that,” I said as I finally entered my office. My very empty office, I noted.

All of her belongings were gone. Even the towering cubes of multi-coloured Post-it notes that used to be stacked up neatly by her computer were nowhere to be seen. The only thing remaining of Sophie’s was her perfume, lingering like an illusive dream.

“So, what were you calling for anyway? Cause I might need your help.”

“Oh really? What?”

“You first.”

“Thought you might miss me,” Jeremy said with a laugh. “Nah, I had some free time and fancied throwing myself off a cliff. Wanna come?”

“I have a better idea,” I said with a smile. “You still have your plane, right? Not the jet. The other one…”

“Always. Why, where are we going?” he asked hesitantly, but I could tell he was grinning like a fool.

“Scotland.”