Suddenly Royal

Chapter 9:

"That's terrible..." I told her, "Is she okay now?"

She shook her head, "She's had a really rough time since then. The firm took on the case pro bono, but some other groups have been helping finance it. The attack was especially bad... Anyway, that's more than I should have said. Keep that to yourself," she told me.

I nodded, "Yes, Ma'am."

"Now, finish up that last bit of bacon and get dressed. Find one of those skirt and blouse outfits so you can try things on easily."

I smiled and remembered one I liked that wasn't too frumpy. About an hour and a half later Giuseppe led us cautiously out to a black SUV that had backed into the driveway. I had put on a white skirt that had little floral patterns in blue all over the two-layer design. A button up blue blouse that matched it had short sleeves that extended just past my shoulders. The skirt came to a few inches above my knees, and I had to be careful not to flash people as I sat down in the middle back of the SUV. Mom sat on my right side and Giuseppe joined us on my left once she was in. Another man dressed casually sat in the shotgun seat up front. He and Giuseppe both seemed like they were on high alert as the driver pulled away.

"Your Highness?" Giuseppe spoke to me.

I sighed and looked over at him, "Yes?"

"Please take this and keep it on your wrist or in your hair," he told me. He handed me a white scrunchie.

"Why do you have one of these?" I asked as I grabbed it and examined it.

"It's a tracker in case we need to find you," he told me honestly.

"Uh..."

"Put it on Allie," Mom told me, quelling any thoughts I might have of arguing.

"What do I do if the color doesn't work with my outfit?" I asked him.

"We have other colors," he said reassuringly.

I sighed and complied. It was a silent car ride until we pulled up to the large mall and they dropped us at an entrance. I looked over at a red store I wanted to go in so badly for years, but other than one-time Ellie and her mom 'dragged me in' I'd rarely been inside.

Mom must have caught my glance, "You never had any dolls, did you?"

I shook my head, "No..."

She put her arm around my shoulder, "Well, I think we can fix that before we go find clothes."

"Really?"

"One... We probably should get some stuffed animals for your room too." She said quietly.

I smiled and we walked together to the American Girl store and looked around for a half-hour picking out a doll that matched my eyes and hair color. We picked out a couple of outfits before Mom dragged me to the checkout before we bought the store out. I wasn't sure about carrying the big bag everywhere around the mall, and wondered what to do about it. Just then Giuseppe nodded towards me and a man that was approaching, "Go ahead and give him your packages, we'll get them to the car," he said quietly.

I was kind of sad to see it go, but we hadn't even entered the mall proper yet!

The next few hours with my mom were some of the happiest I had ever spent with her! Shopping mostly involved the girl's department for me, but once in a while there was an XXS, or Size 0 outfit in juniors that didn't dwarf me completely. Mom had years of shopping experience for smaller clothes that helped out. All of my pajamas though were certain to reinforce me being younger than my age, but I didn't care because they were all soft - and who would see them?