The holidays were almost done with for a while as they still had the New Years Eve celebration in less than a couple of weeks. The Royal family was back home in London and Evelyn couldn't be more excited to see her boyfriend one last time before he went back for the military.
Evelyn had a busy day ahead of her as they had just finalised and shipped out their New Years Eve outfits for Anthropologie and H&M. Everything was black, white, silver and gold and had loads of sequins. She couldn't tell which collection has been her favourite so far but she had to agree that this came a close second. Her favourite probably being their holiday collection. They had sent them along with the Christmas holiday collection set so that the stores already had them and they would be good to go.
Later that night though William wanted her to come to dinner with his Pa and Camilla and him. She had agreed to the invitation and was closing the office at five that day.
Evelyn had also given her workers Christmas presents as well even if they didn't celebrate the holiday. She wanted to thank them all for their hard work this year and how they had handled a lot of stressful situations with grace. She couldn't do this without them. They all loved their gifts and had chipped in on a gift card to her favourite restaurant which was an italian and Mediterranean food restaurant called Figo Stratford. They bought enough money on it to where they figured it could have enough of a meal for two - a nice date for her and William whenever he came home. She absolutely loved the gift.
"Have a good night, everyone!" She heard choruses of 'you too' from her workers as Mary-Kate and Antoine stayed behind. "That includes you two! Everyone is supposed to be out of here at five o'clock and it's five now."
"Okay, okay," Antoine let out a loud laugh and shook his head at his boss. "We are leaving. Right Mary-Kate?"
"Right."
And so they left leaving Evelyn to lock everything up and then she left herself. She made it to her apartment thirty minutes later and took a shower wanting to scrub clean for the dinner tonight with William's dad and Camilla. She knew she needed to look her best. She used her favourite vanilla moisturising body wash as well and once she was done out of the shower she slayed out her outfit on her bed nicely.
William had sent her texts through out the day to try and calm her down - words of encouragement. He knew how strongly he felt about her. How right this was this time. It was those words that was all she needed to know to get her through the night. It wasn't that she was worried that they wouldn't like her. She knew that they did already. William had told her after the concert how much they all loved her and that encouragement enough but it was normal for those worried thoughts to creep in every once in a while.
She chose to wear skinny black pants, a black and white shirt that had longer sleeves and a scallop design at the edges on the bottom. She paired it with a long tan coloured dress coat along with some tan faux-leather booties to finish off her outfit. Evelyn left her blonde hair down straight. It was chillier at night as Evelyn brought her scarf and mittens as well to make sure she stayed warm while driving to his parents place.
William had briefed her slightly on what to wear and what not to. From their conversation on the mobile she gathered that she shouldn't be dressed like she was going to a party but she shouldn't be dressed down either. She shouldn't be showing any skin that she didn't want them to see which was a given and she was to wear closed toe shoes. She would have done that anyway as it was a bit nippy outside. Evelyn also brought a bag for tonight in case she stayed the night.
*
"Hello, darling, you look beautiful," William greeted her at the door and placed a sweet kiss on her forehead.
"Thank you, Wills," she smiled up at him as he took her coat from her and hung it up as he held her hand and led her in further into his Pa's room.
It was beautiful. There were intricate, delicate designs all the way up the ceiling. The colour was a powder blue and they had different pictures on the walls and furniture of the family and different places.
"Hello, dear," Charles greeted the young blonde with kisses on both cheeks and Camilla did the same.
"Hello, it's lovely to see you both again," Evelyn told the couple with a smile on her face.
"Well its about time William didn't hog you all to himself," Charles joked.
"What can I say? She's irresistible. I have to have her to myself."
"Okay you two," Camilla put an end to their joking banter. "Let's get ready for dinner, shall we?"
The father-son duo smiled at each other as Evelyn saw Charles' apples of his cheeks turn a rosy colour. They headed into the room and sat down at the dinner table that was a nice dark wood. They had started out with a hearts of romaine caesar salad with garlic croutons and parmesan cheese then moved onto the main course which was herb grilled chicken. They all had either wine or champagne with water on the side. Evelyn loved the meal they provided and happily ate it as their was conversation going round the table.
"We all loved your gifts for the holiday," Charles told the blonde. "You didn't have to get me anything but I very much appreciated the hunting book."
"And I loved my present as well," Camilla told her with a smile.
"So, Evelyn, please tell us about your family," Charles asks the young girl who was dating his son as they were eating their caesar salad.
They had briefly met her family when they were at the concert but they weren't able to really talk to them much at all. At the first meeting they had thought they were all lovely and well respected.
"Well," Evelyn started to get nervous as William placed an encouraging on her hand. "My father is the owner of his own company Bennett & Co. and my mum is technically retired now. My sister Vivienne is a midwife, my brother Eric is in the military and that is actually how William and I met was through him. My brother Jake has two twin boys - Samuel and David and a fiancé, Mia. Sorry, it's a lot - " she started to apologise.
Whilst she was rambling on about her family life - William was rubbing her knee but she couldn't tell if it was for reassurance or for comfort. Though it could be both.
"Oh heaven's no," Charles laughed lightly. "A big family, yes. But the more the merrier. You have two more brothers, correct?"
"Yes, Noah and Theo. Theo is an actor and Noah is a photographer taking family portraits and does wedding photography."
"Well, they seem lovely dear," Camilla joined in with a smile gracing her features. "We would love to meet them properly sometime."
"They would like that as well."
William sent his girlfriend a playful smirk and patted her knee before bringing his hand back to his lap.
"What's been your favourite place you've been to on one of your tours?" Evelyn asked wanting to get to know more about the husband and wife.
"Well, we've been to so many wonderful places, haven't we dear?" The prince asked his wife.
"Oh yes," Camilla told the blonde. "We both have different favourites. Mine would be Australia. The people are so warm and welcoming and it's such a beautiful country."
"Mine would have to Scotland. It's also where we often go on holidays. A place I go to get away from all of this," he looked around his room as a sigh escaped his lips.
"I have a friend from Scotland," Evelyn told him.
"Really? And does she live here?"
"She does," Evelyn nodded her head. "Her name is Ivy Morton."
"Which does she prefer? Here or there?"
"Scotland will always be her home but she loves it here."
*
"So, was it as bad as you had imagined?" Will's asked later that night as they were in his room and he was drawing circles on her him as she leaned into him.
"All right," she let out a huff knowing he was gloating. "You were right and I was wrong. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."
"I'm sorry, what?" he asked in a joking manner.
"Shut up," she joked back pushing his shoulder slightly making him laugh.
"You know you aren't the only one who has good ideas in this relationship."
"I know that. I never said that - you have plenty of good ones!"
"Good. Glad we acknowledged that I'm the better one of us two."
"Hey," she cried out. "That's not fair and you know it."
"All right, all right," he waved a hand. "You win. Geez woman, keep me on my toes. Now gimme a kiss."
Evelyn laughed into the kiss which didn't really last very long but neither seemed to mind. Evelyn was laying with her back on the mattress as William had his head on her chest and he pretended to sleep. She ran her fingers through his blonde strands of hair in a soothing way. Evelyn cherished these times with William. The simple ones where there was hardly anyone around and it was just the two of them. Not having to go anywhere or worry about what they were doing.
They could be who they wanted to be.
They both knew that the time was soon when they would come out to the world and show their romance for the public - but that time wasn't now. Now they were cherishing their moments they got with each other.
"You know," Evelyn spoke quietly after they lay in a comfortable silence. "We should do that though. Have both families really meet each other."
"I agree," he nodded his head and lowered it to kiss her chest. "It would be nice to have them all come together instead of running around like little ducklings over at the concert. How about we discuss with both our parents on when a good time would be for them?"
"Sounds good to me."
--
i wasn't super motivated to write this chapter but i hope you guys enjoyed nonetheless. i start back to work on the 5th of january so i may or may not be able to update as much.
i hope you all are doing well.
thoughts?