The Prince's Secret (Prince Harry Fanfic)

Part 74 - The Morning After

Samantha

Edith, the marriage commissioner, gave us both grandmotherly hugs as we thanked her for performing our ceremony, but she also kissed Harry on the cheek. I guess she wanted to kiss a prince too. He laughed and returned the gesture, and we all began drifting back to the car, Harry and I still holding hands. I felt like I never wanted to let him go.

"How long can you stay?" I asked.

He squeezed my hand. "I have to fly back to London on Sunday," he said. "I have a meeting with a lawyer—and Meg—on Monday. And hopefully that will be the end of it."

I didn't want to talk about Meg, or the tenuous hold that she still had on Harry. But I was no longer the prince's secret lover—I was his secret wife. The power had shifted in my favor and it was an enormous sense of relief.

"I'm sorry I can't stay longer," Harry said apologetically. "And I do want to meet your family and talk to your father. I'd like to take your father and stepmother out to dinner."

"Can we do that?" I asked. "Go out to dinner?"

He smiled. "There are ways it can be done. Colin will help me arrange it. Maybe tomorrow night?"

"Sure. I can see if they are free. Are you going to tell them about...this?" I asked.

"No," Harry said quickly. "No one can know about our marriage yet. But I want to get to know them...if you don't think they'd mind."

I laughed. "Mind? I don't think they will mind. My dad is pretty outspoken though...he doesn't pull any punches."

Harry pulled me in for a kiss. "Is that where you get it from?"

"Probably."

We kept the kiss brief, even though I knew we were both longing for more. Guiding me towards the car, Harry said, "But no guests tonight. Tonight is room service...and just you and me."

I awoke much later than usual. The curtains were drawn and the room was in semi-darkness and for a moment it felt like it had all been a dream. But there was the weight of the diamond ring on my finger, the scent of my bouquet at the bedside, and Harry, warm and solid next to me.

He wrapped his arms around me and for a long time we just lay there together, cuddling and saying nothing. At last he brushed the hair out of my face and kissed me.

"Good morning," Harry said, his voice husky. "Do you feel different?"

I nodded. "I really didn't imagine, when I woke up yesterday morning, that when I went to sleep last night—"

"—this morning," he corrected.

"—that by the time I went to sleep—whenever it was—that I would be married. To you."

He laughed. "You say that like you had other choices. Were there others you wished to marry?"

"Never," I said. "You're the only one."

After another kiss Harry said, "So what's it like to wake up a princess? By marriage, anyway."

"Am I really? Even without the Queen's approval?"

He nodded. "Technically, you are now Her Royal Highness Princess Henry of Wales—although I doubt anyone will ever call you that. Princess Michael of Kent, who's married to the Queen's cousin, uses the female form of her husband's name, but it's kind of old-fashioned. Most likely, when our marriage is recognized, the Queen will give us ducal titles and we'll be Duke and Duchess."