Taking a deep breath, Catherine decided to make a bold move.
She shifted slightly, leaned to the side, and rested her head on her husband's shoulder.
After they bothslept in a bit later than usual, Jacob and Catherine found light breakfast food waiting for them. It had likely been delivered the day before, but they hadn’t discovered it on their search for a snack.
“What’s the plan for the day?” Jacob asked the question around a bite of yogurt.
Catherine gave a one-armed shrug. “Nothing as far as I know. Mumeleine said something about having lunch if we wanted to, but nothing specific. When is your family leaving to return home?”
“Early this morning. My mum needed to be home in time to prepare for a meeting tomorrow.” He scooped another bite of yogurt onto his spoon. “They’ll be back for the coronation. They didn’t want to make two trips in such a short time frame, but they wouldn’t miss either one for the world.”
“Then lunch with them isn’t an option.”
He shook his head. “Do you want to eat with your family? Maybe just your parents?”
Catherine stared into her cup of coffee, but didn’t answer.
“It’s okay to say you’d rather not,” Jacob told her quietly. “Wedon’thaveto do anything we don’t want to. We can stay in and watch movies or read books or nap or anything else we might want to do.”
“I think that would be my preference.” She still didn’t look at him.
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
She set her bagel on the plate and picked up her cup of coffee, wrapping her hands around the mug. “You know, everyone thinks being queen means you can do whatever you want, but that’s not actually in the case. In fact, it’s rarely the way things work. Maybe they did centuries ago, but not in this day and age. Much of my time is occupied with things I have no control over being added to my calendar.”
Jacob turned that over in his head as he scraped together the last bite of his yogurt. “I never really thought about it, but now that I have, I’m not really surprised. Between your work as the administrative head of the country, the ceremonial head of state, charity work, and everything else, you probably don’t have much time that is simply yours to do with as you choose.”
This time she shook her head. “No. Papa was careful about what charities and causes he chose to introduce me to or have me support. He chose things he knew would be important to me - children who have lost a parent or mental health concerns or early childhood education. There’s a lot more, of course, but he’s always been cognizant that one day I’d be doing it all on my own.”
“You’ve been very fortunate to have a regent who wasn’t only out for his own gain, but looking out for you and the country.” As a historian, he knew that those kinds of regents were the exception rather than the rule.
Catherine nodded and looked up at him for the first time since the topic changed. “Papa has always been the best choice. It’s what Mum wanted. Even mostmembers of Parliament thought he was the best choice, but legally they were required to choose someone else until Mumeleine figured out a way.”
Jacob could tell she wanted to say something else so he waited for her to go on.
“In a year or so, I’m going to propose a change to the succession regulations. The sitting monarch should name the regent for his or her heir and update it every few years. There still needs to be oversight by the Council and Parliament, of course, but the monarch should choose who will help their heir. It should also be reevaluated after major life changes, such as marriage, or the passing of the potential regent, or in the case of serious medical diagnoses.”
“That makes a lot of sense. Hopefully, the powers that be will see the wisdom of that.”
She went back to staring in her coffee mug. “Except I’m young and female. Parliament and the Council are still dominated by older men who sometimes have issues with internalized misogyny and ageism.”
He reached over and set a hand just above her pajama-covered knee. “You’ll bring them around. You’re smart, sophisticated, well-versed in diplomatic matters and negotiations, looked up to by everyone, not just women. I see the way people look at you when you’re out in public - at general public appearances or making speeches or in Parliament. The vast majority of the people admire and respect you. The others will either come around or be outvoted and drowned out by those supporting you.”
Was that a blush creeping up her neck and into her face?
And he realized exactly where his hand was. Careful not to snatch it away too quickly and thereby drawing more attention to it, Jacob leaned away from her, and took it with him. Someday, he could probably do that without the color rising to his cheeks as well, but this was not that day.
“Thank you.” The tears shining in her eyes reinforced the sincerity in her tone. “It’s nice to know someone believes in me.”
“Lots of people do. Your parents and siblings for starters.” He took a sip of his coffee.
“They have to.” The half-smile on her face told him it still meant a lot to her. “They’re my family.”
“I did even before I met you. I hadn’t seen any recent pictures or I would have realized who you were a lot sooner, but everything I’d read impressed me. As I’ve gotten to know you, that impression has continued to be reinforced with every interaction we’ve had and every interaction I’ve observed with you and your family or staff or the people in general. You might be queen because of your genetics, but you’ve done the hard work to show you not only deserve the job, but excel at it.”
“There’s still a lot of criticism…” she started, but didn’t finish the thought.
“How much of it is criticism against your policies or you as a person?”
