Royally Yours

Epilogue

Being a mother to my Aiyla bean was the best part of my life. She was my sunshine on a rainy day, she made me feel like my life had a purpose, and I loved watching her grow up.

I couldn't believe she growing up so quickly and going to school. Aiyla was my everything.

Archie and I loved our daughter so much so we thought - what's one more? She wasn't due until July and it was only March so we still had time to prepare for our second little princess's arrival.

"She's going to be so excited that we're both picking her up from school." I told Archie as we stood outside her school and waited for her to come out. We weren't technically alone but it was still nice.

"Aiylaa going to be even more excited when we make her some chicken nuggets when we get home." I put my arm around him.

The bell rang and Aiyla ran outside straight towards us. She looked so adorable in her two ponytails and her little school uniform.

"Hey, beanie!" Archie greeted her as he threw her up in the air. "How was your day?"

"Good." she responded before she threw her little arms around my legs. "Hi, mommy!"

It melted my heart every time

I hugged her back. "Hi, Aiyla. Come on, let's go get in the car so we can go home and get nuggets."

"Yessss!" She responded.

We got into the unmarked car and started the ride to Kensington Palace.

"How was your day, bean? Tell us." Archie requested.

"Well we did phonics, colored pictures, and Jenny told me that her mom thinks that since I'm colored that I shouldn't be a princess. What does that mean, daddy?" she asked him so innocently.

I locked eyes with Archie and gave him a look.

This was the third time this week. The tenth time this month that one of her classmates said something. I'd lost count of how many times in the last three months alone.

"We'll talk about it when we get home." Archie mouthed to me.

"Bean, tell me what kind of pictures did you color?" Archie got her mind off of the questions.

I was tired. I was over it.

I knew it was only going to get worse when she got older and I did not want Ariella to go through this.

She was young and impressionable the last thing I wanted was for her to think less of herself because she was half black.

"Beanie, why don't you go get changed out of your uniform, and then you can eat." Archie told her before she jetted up the stairs. "Make sure you wash your hands!"

I crossed my arms and looked at him. "I'm done, Arch. Between people calling her colored or the n-word, the media calling her unfit, and everything else I don't want to do it anymore. I don't want her to lose that sparkle she has."

Archie grabbed his suit jacket and put it on.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"I'm going to step down. I'm going to tell my Dad, get someone to draft a press release, and then we're getting the hell out of here." he finally broke. "We've both cried too many tears over this. We need a break, Lainey."

"Tell Beanie we're going on a vacation." he decided. "Call your mom or Peyton, we should go to California to be with people we know."

I took a deep breath and nodded my head. "Her passport is still in the safe, right?"

He nodded his head. "I'll be back in an hour or so."

So I told Aiyla that we were going to see Glammy and Papa for a while. The news of Archie and I's departure hit the news when we were more than halfway to California.

Being back here felt safe but we had so much to figure out.

"What are we going to do?" I asked Archie as we set in the empty question with tea.

"We have enough money to last us through this lifetime." he told me. "We take it day by day, we change our last name to something else, we keep a low profile for a while, and then we start over."

Archie and I rebranded ourselves as the Winston family, we bought a house that was a mile away from my parents' house, and surprisingly Aiyla had noo questions. She started going to a new school, Peyton and I raised our kids together, and we welcomed Ariella.

Legally she was Ariella Madeline Louise Clifford but to her knowledge, she was just Ariella Madeline Winston.

We were happy in California but what better place to be in the big apple. Archie started working for Parker Fitzgerald in his international relations department, I was a half stay at home mom and worked for a Marketing company part-time, and our girls were truly happy.

Even our little surprise baby Angelina.

That's all that mattered at the end of the day.

There was always this thought at the back of my mind of what would happen if their real identities ever came to light. What would they think of Archie and I? What would they have to do?

But for now, they were Royally Normal.