CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 20

“This way, Your Majesty.”

“Why are there people in this hallway?” Ingrid asked.

“We haven’t had them evacuated yet,” a security guard told Ingrid.

“The entire royal family is about to arrive at this hospital, and we haven’t swept the floor yet?”

“Can I go in?” Elin asked.

“Of course, Your Majesty,” the guard told her.

“Get all non-essential personnel off the floor. And if any patients can be moved, they should be,” Ingrid instructed.

Elin didn’t hear the rest of Ingrid’s orders because she was walking into the hospital room, where she saw her father lying asleep in his bed and her mother holding his hand at his bedside.

“Where have you been?” her mother asked.

“What?”

“Markus had no idea where you were, Elin. I had to find out through security who said you were visiting someone’s private home.”

“Mom, I was at Ingrid’s,” she explained.

“Oh, I see,” her mother replied.

“Is he okay?” Elin asked, approaching her father’s hospital bed.

“We were walking down the spiral staircase that leads to your father’s cigar room, and I was right behind him. He was holding on to the railing, and his tremors just took over and he lost his grip, I think. He tumbled down the stairs, and I tried to hold on to him, but I couldn’t, and it was awful, Elin.”

Elin took her father’s other hand and asked, “How bad?”

“He broke his hip, his femur, sprained a wrist, and his right ankle. He’ll be fine, but he’s got a lot of healing ahead of him,” her mother replied.

“Mom, what happened?” Lillian and Mari rushed into the room. “We called Christian. He’s trying to arrange leave so he can get here.”

Her mother repeated the story to Elin’s sisters, who took their spots next to Elin and their mother and stared at their father as the pain medicine helped him sleep.

“Mom, you should take a break; get something to eat,” Elin suggested. “We can stay.”

“I haven’t left your father’s side since the moment we were married. I won’t leave it now.”

“He’s going to be here for a while, Mom. You should at least have something to eat.”

“They can bring it in,” her mom replied.

“Sweetheart, I’m going to be in and out of sleep all night,” their father spoke up.

“Dad,” Mari said, smiling.

“Force your mother to eat something for me,” he said to Mari. “And, Elin, if she doesn’t listen, order her back to the palace to get some real sleep. I’ll be fine here for the night.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying; you’re on pain medication,” their mother replied.

“And they’ll be giving me another dose soon, so I’ll sleep through the night just fine. Please, go home, my love. All of you should go home. Come back tomorrow. I’ll be fine until then.”

He then fell promptly back to sleep. Elin breathed a sigh of relief when she realized her father would be okay. At least for now, he was okay. They argued with their mother for another twenty minutes before she finally agreed to go back to the palace, eat something, and get some sleep. She only acquiesced when she was promised she’d have Steven and Markus personally drive her back to the hospital no later than six in the morning.

“You’re still here?” Elin said when she emerged from the hospital room to find Ingrid sitting in a chair that hadn’t been there before.

“Of course, I’m still here,” Ingrid replied, standing up. “Your Majesty.”

“Your Majesty, the car is ready for you outside.”

“Please take my mother, Princess Lillian, and Princess Mari back to the palace. I’m going to stay a little longer.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” The guard nodded and walked off.

“You’re staying?” Lillian asked after she walked out of the hospital room. “I thought we were all going.”

“Just for a bit,” Elin replied. “I want to talk to the doctor before I go. But take Mom now, or she’ll never leave.”

“Okay. Will you update us?” Mari asked.

“Of course.”

Elin hugged both of her sisters and then her mother when she finally emerged from the room. She watched them walk down the hall, along with their security officers. She was left alone with Markus, Ingrid, and her initial two guards who had accompanied her to Ingrid’s apartment earlier.

“Your Majesty, I can have the royal doctor meet you at the palace, if you’d like,” Markus offered.

“I want to talk to the doctor that saw my father first. I assume he came in through the ER.”

“Yes, Ma’am. The royal physician has reviewed your father’s tests and–”

“And he’ll tell me everything is going to be okay because he’s employed by my family, and my father has likely already told him to gloss over the details, Markus.”

“Very well, Ma’am. I’ll take care of it.” He bowed, and off he went.

“You should sit, Ma’am,” Ingrid suggested, motioning to the lone chair in the hallway.

“I’m okay,” Elin said. “I feel like I need to be moving right now, actually.”

“It might take a minute for Markus to get the doctor. Would you like me to get you a tea from the machine down the hall?”

“Can I walk with you?” Elin asked.

Ingrid gave her a soft smile and a nod. They walked down the deserted hallway with security giving them a little space to do so, and they arrived at the vending machine that looked older than Elin.

“I don’t have any money,” Elin spoke, realizing it in that moment. “I never carry money.”

“Yes, I know,” Ingrid said. “I do, though.” She pulled money out of her purse and inserted it into the machine. “Take your pick. There’s terrible tea and terrible coffee.”

“Can I get one terrible coffee for you and a terrible tea for me?” Elin asked.

“How will you even pay me back for two drinks?” Ingrid teased.

“I can do the dishes back at your apartment,” Elin offered as she watched the tea pour into a tiny paper cup.

“I don’t think you’ll be going back to my apartment tonight, Ma’am,” Ingrid said.

“Yeah, I suppose not,” Elin replied.

“Your Majesty,” Markus interrupted Elin’s calm moment with Ingrid.

Markus had found the doctor quickly, and Elin was able to get the truth from the man who told her that her father would likely need a hip replacement, would have metal inserted into his leg, and would need to be off his feet entirely for the next several weeks. Before Elin could leave the hospital, she wanted to check on her father one more time. She walked into his room and found him groggy but awake enough to talk.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he spoke with a scratchy throat.

She gave him a sip of the water on his table and said, “Hi, Daddy.”

“Listen, your mom and I talked a little earlier, before you all got here, and we’re going to move out of the palace. I’ve asked Steven to get Bygdøy ready for us to live there permanently. We’d made other arrangements initially, but Bygdøy is better given my health,” he said of the royal farm and house in Oslo.

“You’re leaving the palace?”

“The palace is the official residence of the King and Queen. We’re no longer the King and Queen. You’re the Queen, Elin. Besides, I scared your mother tonight by trying to go up and down those stairs. The farmhouse is a lot more accessible for me, and it’s still in Oslo, so we’ll be close by.”

“Are you sure? We can make adjustments to the palace.”

“I’m sure. Your mother wants this, and I don’t want to frighten her like this again. Besides, there’s plenty of time for them to get Bygdøy ready since I’ll be here for a bit and not exactly mobile for a while.”

“I’ll make sure Steven has what he needs,” Elin said, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze.

“Thank you. And please remember that you should be in my office now.”

“Dad, I–”

“It’s important, Elin. You’re the sovereign; you need to be in the sovereign’s office. I should have moved out earlier, but I suppose I was trying to hold on to something that’s now gone.”

“I’ll think about it,” Elin told him with a wink.

He fell back asleep shortly after, and she left the room, finding Markus, Ingrid, and the security officers all still right outside.

“Markus, you can go home. I’m returning to the palace.”

“I should go with you, Ma’am.”

“No, I’m going to sleep. You’re getting up early to take care of my mother, so please get some rest,” she replied.

“Very well, Your Majesty.” He bowed and walked toward the elevator.

“You came with me, so I’ll have them drop you at home and then go back to the palace,” Elin said to Ingrid.

“Okay,” Ingrid replied. Then, she took a step toward her and added, “I can go back with you if you need me.”

“You’ve already done so much,” Elin said. “You took care of this whole thing when we first got here and I needed help.”

“I’m just here for you; whatever you need. I hope you know that,” Ingrid said.

“But you’re leaving,” Elin replied, swallowing hard right after.

“Not right now. Do you need me to come to the palace with you?”

Elin wanted to shake her head no, but she wasn’t ready to say goodnight to Ingrid yet, so she nodded yes instead.

“Okay. Let’s go. We can talk in the car about a statement to the press, if you want. Markus and Steven will work one up, if they haven’t already, but you should have whatever you want to say at the ready.”

Elin nodded.

◆◆◆

“He wants me to take over his office,” Elin said.

“What do you want?”

“I think it’s too soon, but they’re moving to Bygdøy, so it’ll be empty, and it makes sense for me to work out of here now.” Elin looked around the room that had so clearly been decorated and designed by her father. Everything was deep-red and dark wood. The chairs and sofas were uncomfortable, and his desk was far too big. “I think I’d have to redecorate,” she added.

Ingrid laughed and said, “Yes, I agree. This office doesn’t exactly scream you.”

Elin laughed as well before saying, “I’ve never actually lived without my parents before, outside of university and my military service. That’s strange for most people, isn’t it? I’m thirty years old and still live at home.”

“I think you’re a little different than most people, though, Ma’am.”

“We’re supposed to move out when we get married. We get our new, married titles, move into another royal residence, and then one of us takes over the monarchy one day while the others just keep living in our royal residences, attending events, and raising the next generation of little royals,” Elin said.

“Part of that has already happened, though, Ma’am. You’re the sovereign now; that does technically mean that your parents should move out of the palace.”

“He looked so frail in that bed, Ingrid,” Elin told her.

“Just remember how lucky you are to still have him,” Ingrid said. “He has some healing to do, but he’s going to be okay.”

Ingrid rubbed Elin’s back over her shirt, and Elin closed her eyes at the touch.

“Will you stay here tonight?” Elin asked. “It’s late. I can have a room made up for you.”

“I should call Sarah Anne,” Ingrid replied.

“Of course.” Elin nodded and added, “I’ll ask them to get a room ready. Ingrid, thank you for everything tonight. I–”

“I wouldn’t have wanted to have been anywhere else,” Ingrid replied, giving her a soft smile.