Royals: Part 2

Chapter 8

"Who knows?" asked Kate as she zipped up her black jacket.

Jackie smiled, wrapping a scarf around her neck and pulling it up to her chin. "Essential personnel only."

The women were in Kate's Kensington Palace apartment, just a few doors down the hall from Jackie's, getting ready for a day of dress fittings. Jackie had been talking with British designer Vivienne Westwood over the phone for a few weeks, coming up with a plan for her wedding dress. It was the first time she was actually going to meet with Vivienne in person, and she was very excited.

Just like Kate last year, Jackie was taking every precaution to make sure that no one got wind of where her dress was coming from. She was a bit on edge.

"Don't worry too much about things," Kate reminded. "Remember how my hair was falling out before the wedding?"

Jackie laughed, remembering a time about a month before the wedding that Kate came out of the bathroom with horror in her eyes, her hands tangled with strands of her shining hair that had dropped out in the shower. "I don't get wound quite as tightly as you do."

"You've always been looser than me," Kate teased, narrowing her eyes.

"Ha, ha," Jackie said with an eye roll, trying to stifle a laugh. "We'd better be going, hoods up!"

Jackie and Kate flipped up the hoods of their black jackets, pushing sunglasses over their eyes. They were escorted by Kate's personal protection officer, Emma, to the car. Jackie hadn't been assigned a PPO yet. She assumed one would come along after the wedding.

Jackie and Kate climbed into one of the royal family cars, a black Range Rover, that had been pulled around upon her request. Emma took a separate car to follow. To Jackie's relief, they made it out of the back gate of the palace and onto the street without attracting a gaggle of paparazzi following behind.

As Jackie had hoped, moving her relationship with Harry from dating to engaged had provided the protection she needed from the paps. They were no longer able to dig through her bins or call her at any hour of the night- Kensington Palace security saw to that. Though she still attracted quite the crowd if she went out in public, Jackie was able to work with the palace to make secretive trips out and about- such as wedding dress fittings- that left her feeling almost normal again.

"Here we are!" Kate squealed with excitement in her voice. "I think I might cry!"

"Oh, please, you sound just like your mother!" Jackie laughed.

Kate gave Jackie a playful shove. "How dare you?"

"It's a compliment," Jackie said with sincerity. "Hood!" she reminded Kate, whose brown curls were beginning to slip out.

Jackie parked the car behind Vivienne Westwood's London office, rushing through the back door with Kate at her side. They entered the office space, almost every aspect of the room a pristine white color. A pedestal was surrounded with a 180 mirror in the center, and a small rack of dresses nearby.

Vivienne Westwood and a few seamstresses greeted Jackie and Kate with enthusiasm, offering champagne and finger sandwiches and herding them over to the rack of dresses.

"These are beautiful," Jackie said, gently touching the silky dresses.

Vivienne pushed her glasses atop her crown of bright orange hair. "I actually have something I want to show you. As soon as you called me a few weeks ago, I started working on a vision."

Kate raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"I know we discussed you coming in and working on a sketch with me, but this design just came to me," Vivienne said, her eyes sparkling. "It was completely inspired by you, but if you don't like it I can just include it in the spring line. I'll have to name it 'The Jackie'."