Life in the Palace (Prince Harry #5)

Chapter Eight

In the end, they went to the mall in Duluth, which was up on the hill. None of the books that she brought now interested in. She was going to keep them for later in case something changed. She browsed the shelves of books at the bookstore, and Harry held the basket, warning that they somehow needed to get these books back to London.

"We could pick you out a book," she said.

Harry wasn't so keen on that. He liked to be moving, and reading didn't offer much of that.

Meredith found two books, limiting herself, and they checked out. Putting the in the back of the car, they decided it was time to go eat, and Harry thought they hadn't already eaten stereotypically American today, then he was wrong. Meredith took him a restaurant with a constant long line and that specialized in massive steaks. Having read the books, Meredith knew that she wasn't able to eat too much red meat, but didn't mean that she wasn't able to.

Several times throughout the three-hour dinner, which Meredith seemed to not mind the length because she was happy to be there and be with Harry, the servers stopped what they did and started to line dance; all of them wore matching cowboy hats and boots with the same denim outfits. There were peanuts still in their shells on their tables. Everything was wood except for the concrete floor as if they were in a barn.  Even their waiter used a fake Southern accent.

"It's Texas," Meredith clarified when the waiter left after taking their order.

"It was fake."

"He probably thinks your accent is fake," she pointed out, digging into the free bread. Harry was sure that the free warm bread was actual reason she chose this place.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I didn't realize you were 'Southern gal' at heart."

"Hell no. Northern for life." Her accent turned thickly Minnesotan. "I'm happy you didn't order the grits."

"Yes, I thought it was best that I didn't." Harry had tried them before, but he suspected his wife just didn't want to think about it. "You just wanted a taste of Texas?"

"It was more the large portion sizes."

Harry wanted to argue that everywhere in the United States had larger portion sizes, but when their food came, it came as a surprise that Texas had stepped up the game even more. Meredith ate her small red meat steak, happy to have it because she missed the taste so much. Harry liked steak, but it was obvious that he didn't love it as much as his wife. They were so full in the end that the two of them just had to watch the waiters line dance again.

Before heading back to their hotel, Meredith, who was driving, decided to head to most touristy spot in all of Duluth. She handed Harry his hat because it obvious that he wasn't happy about going, again hesitant about me recognizing them. When there were less crowds, there was less of a chance. At Canal Park, Meredith parked the car and paid for the spot during summer. The sun was starting to go down, and some of the tourists had left for the evening.

They walked the pier like everyone else, and they became in the mesh of couples. Harry interlaced his fingers with Meredith's. They did the rounds, walking out to the lighthouse and then turning their attention back in.

A large cargo ship from the United Kingdom was coming in, and it was probably going to leave with iron ore. Northern Minnesota did a lot mining of iron ore and taconite. The cargo vessel was not weighed down just yet. On board the ship, the sailors came to the top and waved to the crowds that had gathered to see the ship come in. The captain blew the horn, and it felt like the whole world trembled at that sound. A smile spread from ear-to-ear on Meredith, remembering all the times she came to the canal with her friends in college. The liftbridge went up to let the cargo ship in, and the tourists continued to watch.

"Come on," Meredith said, pulling Harry away from everyone else.

They started their trek down the beach until the sharp rocks turned into smooth rocks. An old ice fishing house laid on the shores of Duluth after sinking. The rusty remains still poked out of the water. On the beach, Harry and Meredith sat in the sand for the second night in the row. Last night, they too had watched a sunset; granted, Meredith had been speaking with her friends mostly. 

It was only them on the beach, and it was fairly quiet except for the waves lapping against the shore. The sun went down behind them, but the sky turned hues before their eyes. Meredith picked at the smooth and round rocks. She was looking for anything interesting, but she only found the usual. The quartz was quite shiny when wet. The branded iron rocks looked to have taken bites out of the iron ore. She handed Harry a few that were particularly round and smooth, and he tried his best to skip them. He got a few to go a few bounces, but none were further than that. Even then, Harry tried again.

Meredith laughed on the beach, and Harry asked, "Do you think you can do better?"

"I know that I can't," she admitted with a smile, not having the flick of the wrist like others did.

"I got to get good at skipping rocks," he said. "That way when we got to the beach, I can teach the child something about water."

"You can have fishing, and I'll teach them to swim."

It was true: Harry did know how to fish. He had gone on several holidays just to go fishing.  He flicked another rock out, and it skipped twice.

"Harry?" Meredith asked, and he looked back. She wasn't concerned about anyone hearing when no one was around. "How many kids are we having?"

Harry sputtered at the discussion.

She went on, "We discussed having kids-- we didn't say how many. I feel like that's something we should've discussed earlier, but...." She shrugged. To be honest, she thought she had more time before even thinking about children, and now, she was going to have a child. "I have a brother. You have a brother. Two is good for me."

"Two then," Harry agreed. Most of the people in his family had two children anyway. It was something he was most comfortable with.

"Also," Meredith continued, "I'm not doing them back-to-back." She was dead serious. "We are putting space between them.  I do not need two kids under three years old or some shit." Her and her brother were spaced out almost ten years. They weren't particularly close, but they were both independent.

Harry nodded, agreeing.

"Now, move aside. Let me try." Meredith stood, and Harry passed her a stone. She threw it, and it landed with a clunk. "Sounds about right." She laughed.

"Here." Harry wrapped his arms around her, showing her the movement. A blush started to form on her cheeks. Harry took her hands in his, and they flicked the rock out together. Still, it didn't go far, clunking and sinking to the bottom. Harry leaned back. "Let's try again."

Meredith twisted out of that. "Really, I've tried many times before. It hasn't succeeded. I rather watch the sunset." She went and sat back on the rocks. Tiredness made her eyes droop. Harry went and joined his wife, watching the sky turn dark. The waves turned calm. 

When they had sat there long enough, they started their walk back to the car, going along the car lake now. Meredith had never seen it so calm, but then again, she felt this calm around Harry.

Before they left, Meredith stood on the rocky shore, unsure of when she was going to be back. Next time, she came, though, she was going to have a baby in her arms. She was going to show her child the wonders of this lake and why it meant so much to her. Lake Superior was like many of the things that Meredith was saying good-bye to. She thought she already had said farewell when getting married, but it was never really over.

"Mere?" Harry asked, standing next to the car.

She let out a sigh and then called, "Coming." Meredith gave the lake one last look, and then she walked to the car.