Once Upon A Royal Christmas (Chaennie)

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

The Westfallian airport was even more crowded than when Rosie had first arrived for the press conference. With the coronation only an hour away, the press now flocked through the airport in droves as they drug their expensive equipment along behind them. The time change had not been kind to Rosie and she now found herself running much later than she expected. Checking her phone for the time, Rosie raced outside to the turmoil, bypassing the baggage claim by wearing her new blue suit and leather shoes her sister had just bought her nine hours earlier. What better way to break in a new outfit than by pushing past crowds of journalists all waiting ahead of her in line for a cab?

"Taxi!" Rosie cried out as she waved her arm frantically into the line of cars idling.

"Mademoiselle! "

Rosie turned and beamed at the familiar face grinning back at her from the front seat of the cab, the very same cab driver who had come to her aid last time she was in this turmoil.

"Hey!" Rosie flung open the car door and climbed in, cutting through a line of very disgruntled reporters who shouted at her. When Rosie noticed their press badges were that of a tabloid, her guilt faded. "Au palais monsieur!"

"Je connais le raccourci," the driver said with a bigger grin towards Rosie through the rearview mirror and put the cab in gear.

Even with the shortcut the cab driver took her on, Rosie was still running short on time. Her leg jumped restlessly in the back seat of the cab as they pulled off the main road and on to the familiar windy single lane road through the snow covered forest. When the palace did finally come into view, lines of cars blocked their previous entrance to the palace from the back.

Impatient and running dangerously close on time, Rosie threw what she now knew as a far too generous tip at the driver and opened the door to head out on foot to the palace. The driver yelled at her French as she trudged through the snow in her leather loafers and the wind blew at her hair, but she didn't care. She simply tugged her coat tighter and pressed on despite the fact that her shoes were now soaked and the damp fabric of her slacks clung uncomfortably to her calves. It took several steps before Rosie realized she now climbed the hill that her and Ella sled on only last week. Just yesterday, she thought she'd never see this hill again, but now she had a sliver of hope that she might just sled on it again.

Rosie's route seemingly bypassed the guards standing by the palace entrance and the passenger unloading area, but that didn't mean she had free entrance into the castle. With the coronation already underway, most of the guard stood at the ready by the closed doors and Rosie couldn't help but suck her teeth as she realized just how late she was despite her shortcut. And of course, making her entrance out of the dark snow covered landscape in a now damp stained suit and coat rather than a limo did little to ease her anxiety as several guards reached for their weapons as they saw her crunch through the snow in her approach.

"Hey," Rosie cleared her throat awkwardly as she did her best to ignore the fierce gaze of the armed guards around her and made her way to the smallest, least threatening looking one. "Sorry, I'm a little late. Could you tell me how to get to the coronation?"

"No entrance without an invitation," the guard said gruffly, his hand not leaving his holster. "Otherwise you will be escorted off the property."

He nodded his head at the other guards who began to close in around Rosie before she threw up her hands.

"Wait, I have an invitation!" she exclaimed, doing her best to ignore the rather large rifles they carried as she rifled through her coat pockets to pull out a now rather wrinkled invitation. "Here!"