Princess in Training (Prince Harry #3)

Chapter Forty

It only took the next day for Rachel and Chloe to show up to her house in the metro of the Twin Cities. Meredith hadn't been expecting it, even though they had come to the funeral. Kyra had gone back up to Duluth, back to work and university. These two, now out of university, brought gifts.

"What do you want to break into first?" asked Chloe, who held alcohol in one hand and cookies in the other.

"Give me the alcohol." Neither Chloe or Rachel drank. Meredith led her friends inside, where she had laid out two large pieces of cloths and had started to tie them together.

"Oh," Rachel said, "who's getting a tie-blanket?"

"Harry." She took a swig of the alcohol, not going anywhere else today. "Harry and Dad are out today, some bonding time or whatever, and Harry's never had a tie-blanket before."

"And you're making him one. So cute." Rachel ran her hand over the blanket. "Do you want help?"

"I would love help from Mrs. Domesticated."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rachel exclaimed. "You're getting married, so you're going to be Mrs. Domesticated too."

"I do believe you mean Duchess of Domesticated." Meredith worked on cutting the fabric, but it was slow moving. For whatever reason it was, she didn't do well with the cutting. It always took too long. "And if I do become domesticated, someone shoot me." Rachel liked certain things of being married, where Meredith didn't like the idea of being any of those things.

Rachel and Chloe laughed. "There's the Mer we know, but I highly doubt you'll become domesticated."

"Yeah," Chloe agreed, "because that would mean that you actually like children, and you actually want them, and you'll actually came for them."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "They'll be nannies."

"Speaking of children," Rachel started, and Meredith immediately halted. All eyes turned to Rachel, even Emmie Lou the dog who slept on the couch. "Joe and I are... we're going to have a baby!"

Meredith always did terrible in these moments, and from Rachel's expression, she knew what Chloe and Meredith's expression were going to be. Pouting her lips in a funny tone, Rachel shook her head. Chloe was first to congratulate with Meredith quickly afterward, but Rachel saw right through it.

"Mer, you'll be next."

"No, thank you." Meredith smiled. "But congratulations. You're going to be a mommy-- or a mummy."

"To be honest, I just think about actual mummies, like Rachel rising from the dead, wrapped in gauze and chasing people around at very slow speeds. Rach, you'd probably have your very high pitched and loud laugh, and then the snorting." Chloe went into great detail, which she did quite often when explaining her artwork. "But, yeah, Mer, you're next."

"Don't drag me into this," she groaned. "It's bad enough trying to fight Harry back-- and his family-- and the media-- I don't need you two going for it too."

"I thought Harry said he was fine waiting."

"Yes, but he thinks waiting is, like, a year. I think waiting is, like, five." She took another swig. "So, Rach, boy or a girl?"

Rachel took the scissor from Meredith and began to cut the fleece with ease. Where Meredith had to do one strip at a time, Rachel did it so quickly, it looked like she was the Flash. "As long as it's healthy."

Meredith scoffed. "Bullshit."

Chloe laughed too.

"There are a lot of girls in our families, and I wouldn't mind a boy," she began. "But whatever the baby is, we'll love it equally. Plus, I think Joe would like a little boy to throw a football to."

"He can do that with a girl," Meredith muttered as she began to tie the two pieces of fabric together, knotting them twice so hopefully they might stay together.

Rachel's blue eyes shifted to her good friend. "And you, Mer, boy or girl?"

"Girl-- all the way."

"Really?"

"Girls are so much easier to deal with, and I know how to deal with them, as a girl myself. Shocking, I know." Meredith continued, "Plus, if a girl is upset, she's upset for a reason. I know boys who get angry for no reason and if they do, usually their penis isn't big enough."

"Harry?" Chloe asked.

"No. There's no reason to be concerned about that."  Meredith tilted her head and licked her lips. "Chloe, and you're boyfriend?"

"What boyfriend?"

"Exactly." Meredith moved onto the next side of typing, and finally it started to look like some sort of a blanket.

Rachel shook her head, laughing. "Don't worry, Mer, I probably won't even be showing-- if only a little bit-- for your wedding."

"So you're coming?"

"Joe was a bit hesitant because of the baby, but I told him to be such a worry wart. He didn't even want me coming here because--"

"Rach, I don't think it's that. He doesn't like me."

"Not true," she argued.

"And it's not because of my personality," Meredith went on, "which he has enough reasons not to like me because of it. But he doesn't like the media that constants follows me around. He's protective, good for him, but he think my life is just one big shit show."

Rachel showed kind eyes. "He is protective, Mer, but he doesn't think your life is one big shit show."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "But congratulations anyway, Rach. Good job."

Laughing outright, she toppled over. "Is that the best you got, Mer? Good job?"

"Yes, and good job to Joe. He impregnated you well. I mean, he did all the work then; now it's your time. Ten months of carrying, and the rest of your life."

"I think it's her commitment issues," Chloe said, "that doesn't allow Mer to like children. It was hard enough with Harry, and now look at all these commitments with children."

"What can I say? I like to have options... of escape."

Chloe threw a pillow at her friend, but Meredith knocked it to the ground before it hit her in the head.

Rachel shook her head. "Mer, you're mature about everything, but when it comes to commitment, what holds you back?"

"Fear," Meredith said nonchalantly. "I feel like with other people, it wouldn't be that big of deal. I wouldn't be putting on the breaks, but this is Prince Harry. I know him; I love him. There's the family, and it's not a normal family. I could easily fuck up. Then he comes with some baggage."

"A palace?" Chloe guessed.

"Money?" Rachel suggested.

"A whole damn country, legions of crazy fangirls and a lot of paparazzi-- so yeah, I put on my breaks."

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I'm back at university, so I'm sorry about the longer breaks. I hate waiting this long, and I know you don't like it either. I will hopefully get back to writing more frequently.