Caroline Wales

XIV - Before Dinner

Narrator
21st of December, 2002

The holidays had arrived, and Highgrove was more excited than usual

William's classes ended on the 19th, but he spend a couple of days on Kate's family house, so he could meet them.

At this point both couples were known by its family and friends, and thankfully not by the press

Caroline was as joyful as when she was a child, being kind and gentle.

It was early morning when Callie woke up, feeling like a little girl, waiting for her big brother to come back for Christmas, this time bringing his girlfriend. The sun had only rose a couple of hours before, consequently it was still shallow compared to the mid day, yet it was dazzling. The young princess opened the window, like if she lived in the Disney universe, and sensed the cold breeze of the winter saying it's first 'hello'.

After supporting her head on her hands for around ten minutes, Callie's elbows began to hurt, therefore she was now supported by her stretched palm and arm. She was in that position when a Robin bird landed in her window.

Caroline smiled at the animal, but all she could think of was her mother, who adored Robin birds. Callie remembered her childhood, her mother's laugh and voice, the warmth of her hugs, the way she loved Callie like nobody has in her entire life.

The girl began to think about her mom, and how she has always tried to fill the emptiness of her death, how she has always avoided talking about Diana, because everytime she does it feels like she is losing her mother all over again, Callie's body ached for the pain of remembering, she now had a boyfriend who she couldn't present to her mom, a love life in wich she wouldn't get advices about from Diana.

Her heart began to break slowly as the morning sun shined on the height of her eyes, now bloodshot, her lips trembling softly and water gathering in the bottom of her eyes, her breath now unstable like her lips, her vision was blurry and then, a tear

It fell from her right eye, followed by a agonizing exhalation, wich called the attention of the bird, who looked at her in curiosity and not fear. As more tears began to fall the animal grew more and more comfortable next to her warm hand, as if it was comforting Her. Robin's were her mother's favorite and in Callie's aching heart, the bird was only one thing, a hello coming from the beyond, "Hi mummy", the low tone of her voice reached the little one, who chirped and flew away.

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With the bird gone Callie decided it was time to get herself together and get living.

After washing her face and doing her skin care, the princess, who was now at her mother's, and father's, height, decided she was going to use some of her mum's old clothes. Due to the age of the house, Highgrove doors were always loud, but luckily everybody was still asleep.

Entering in her mother's rooms was always triggering, but Callie had told herself she had enough of crying for the day. Caroline always controlled herself when it came to crying, ever since Diana died she rarely cried and only allowed William to see her crying.

William and Callie's relationship was really sweet, after the accident Wills took care of Caroline, gave her attention and comfort, when his sister grew up a tod more she started to give him the same attention, they were always close and told each other every little part of their lives.

The rooms was dusty, but still smelled like Diana, the trio rarely went inside that convenient, so they wouldn't drive the smell away. Callie opened the closet and grabbed a dark blue jeans, a baige belt and a white sweater. Caroline hated shoes, so she had a rule, at home no shoes. Harry said she should put it on a wall.

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The morning flew by and for some miracle, Harry woke up before 11:00 in the morning and in the blink of an eye it was noon, meaning William and Kate were getting there.

"Callie, you look like a dog waiting for Wills to get here", Harry teased, Caroline was indeed sitting in the couch, with a book in her hands and her eyes focused on the door, "He'll be here in a minute Lina", Charles, who also had a book, tried to ease his daughters nerves, "Oh right", she went back to her book (Sence and Sensibility).

The minute seamed like an eternity, but finally William and Kate arrived.

Caroline

Obviously Wills was wearing a blue sweater and jeans, Kate, on the other hand, looked amazing in her long sleeve red velvet dress and heels.

I anxiously waited for them to greet my father and brother until it was my turn.

"Hey there lil sis", Will opened his arms as an invite for a hug, I jumped into his arms and held him tight, "I missed you too", he chuckled, "Hi Kate", I greeted her after breaking the hug with my brother, "Hey, It's nice to see you again", gotta admit she seamed a tod nervous.

Since no one in the family knew how to cook something other than scrambled eggs (except for William, who sweared he was an excellent cook), Gary Robinson, the house chef, made a spectacular meal.

A long conversation between the five of us took place in the afternoon, but, fortunately, pa had a meeting at 4:30pm, so I took my chance to talk privately with my sister-in-law.

"Since pa left, how we go for a walk in the gardens Kate?", I suggested, "Yeah sure", William gazed at me seriously, "I'll be polite", teasing him was one of my favorite hobbies.

"So Wills told me you have a boyfriend", that's a good start Kate, "Yeah", I'm pretty sure I blushed, "How are you feeling, he's your first one right?", She wondered, "I'm part unconditionally happy and part unconditionally scared, yeah he's my first", I chuckled, "It's normal to feel this way, believe there are times I get terrified when I think about my relationship with your brother", she took a deep breath, "But then I wake up by his side and all I can feel is peace and..", she was blushing real hard, "Love?", I had to ask, "Yep", I smiled at the situation, "You make a fine couple", Kate gazed at me with an enormous smile in her face, "You know sometimes it get really hard to be in a relationship without a mother, specially as a girl", I vented, "I can only imagine", her attention was on me now, "You know Callie, I think you are incredibly strong", I took a deep breath, "I normally think I'm not strong at all, but I do catch myself having to hold my shit together quite often", I turned to her, "William is the strong one, I have no idea where I'd be without him", Kate beamed, "You know your brother can be weak too", I stered at the garden,"I know, but he just seams unbreakable", she stopped walking, "I know your brother may seam unbreakable and he tries to as strong as he can for you and Harry, but Callie you need to know, he can break, and you are a big comfort to him, even if you don't notice that", before I could think something through I heard Harry's voice coming from the house, "Oi! Come get ready for dinner".

•••

Hi guys, sorry for taking so long, I posted an announcement explaining everything.
Thank you for reading,
Love, Lilli❤️