Chapter 39

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Maddie had one day, twenty four hours, before it all came crashing down around her. The day after they discovered her name had been the calm before the storm. There were posts and articles but most of them contained merely the newly founded identifying info. The Mystery Blonde was a Psychologist from the United States by the name of Madeline Forrester. That was all they knew.

Over the next twenty-four hours they began to print more than what they knew; digging deep for a story, for a piece of gossip to attach to this no-longer mysterious blonde. And when the calm passed; the storm raged.

Maddie woke to blogs, tweets, even a newspaper article; all featuring her name and photo. Her mother had called; worried about her welfare. Managing to convince her mother that, despite the photos and the stories, she was doing just fine, Maddie pulled on her running clothes and shoes for the first time ever and headed outside; ready to sweat it out. And when she did, the now familiar click of the cameras from across the street sent her back inside. Closing the curtains, Maddie sank to her couch; her mind struggling to keep things in perspective. Her phone rang out and she answered it quickly.

"Ella..." She breathed; feeling the strangest of comforts knowing she was connected to her best friend.

"So," Ella took a breath. "They know."

"Apparently."

"You've been sleuthed."

"Yeah," Maddie sighed. "You want to come over and help me..."

"On my way."

"You're the best."

"Yeah, well..."

"I mean it."

"I know. I'll see you soon."

It took Ella less than twenty minutes before she was ringing Maddie to let her up.

"Wow. You didn't tell me I would need full hair and makeup for this meeting," Ella laughed as she stepped into Maddie's place. "You know there are cameras down the street."

"No! You're kidding!" Maddie's voice was dripping with sarcasm as she shut and locked her door.

"Okay, okay," Ella kicked off her shoes and sat on Maddie's couch. "What can I do for you?"

"Well..." Maddie came back into the room with two coffees. "I was wondering if you could be my filter."

"Your what now?"

"I can't read it all. I started and...it'll make me crazy. So I was thinking you could read it and pull out the important stuff; let me know how it looks."

"Okay..." Ella reached for the open laptop on the table and pulled it into her lap. She clicked and read; clicked and read, and clicked again before, five minutes later, she looked up to Maddie and sighed.

"Well?" Maddie bit her lip.

"You know I love you right?"

"Oh God."

"It's not that bad...." Ella was quick to comfort her. "It's not. It's just....well. They don't know much about you so they are running with what they know. Which is that you're an American and he's British Royalty. And the writers can't seem to get enough of all the possibilities that presents. You know the history of the US and the UK....and the headlines...it's just, you know the options are endless." Ella glanced at the computer. "For instance, here they are playing on the Declaration of Independence. Here, it's the Constitution...in order to form a more perfect union...that sort of thing. Oh!" Ella's lips pulled up in a smirk. "And one particularly trashy magazine makes an interesting yet smutty parallel to the Revolutionary War."

"A smutty parallel to the Revolutionary War? How do you even..."

"Something about 'The British are Coming' though...well, you know..." Ella snorted as she laughed at the line. Maddie glared. "Sorry. I can't help it. The British are...Harry's British. Okay, well you get the idea."

"Oh God," Maddie moaned as she sank into the chair opposite Ella and the couch.

"But, you know...the plus side is..."

"There's a plus side?" Maddie raised her eyebrows.

"Well, it's out now. You're not waiting for the other shoe to..." Ella's eyes caught another headline and went wide. "Oh..."

"Oh what?"

"Nothing," Ella shook her head.

"What?!" Maddie turned the computer towards her and read. "Wallis Simpson!? How can they...."

"She was an American, you're an American..."

"She was married and divorced. Twice! And that was in the Thirties! Haven't we moved on from this?!"

"Yes well..." Ella's half-hearted explanation was interrupted by Maddie's phone ringing.

"It's Harry," she smiled despite her stress and answered it. "Hello."

"Hi. I finished up with my meeting and I wanted to check on you."

"I'm...I'm okay. Ella's here," she smiled at her friend who had gone back to scanning everything. "Have you seen the stuff they are printing?"

"No, but I'm going to guess you have."

"The Declaration of Independence, really? You have to really want it to be able to...."

"You're going to make yourself crazy if you keep reading."

"The train's already left the station if you know what I mean."

"Hey," Ella called from the couch as she read the Wallis Simpson article. "Ask Harry if he would abdicate the throne for you!"

"I am not asking him that." Maddie rolled her eyes at her friend before speaking to Harry. "What do I do?"

"You turn off the computer. You stop reading," Harry took a breath. "And you tell Ella that I can't abdicate a throne that isn't mine."

"Stop reading?" Her voice was quiet.

"Stop reading. They don't know you Maddie. They will never know you. They are searching and grasping and nothing you read is going to make any difference in your life or in mine. You stop reading."

"You make it sound so simple."

"It is."

"Harry..." Maddie glanced down at the newspaper on her table as her eyes teared up defiantly.

"You know what, I'm coming over."

"You can't," she shook her head; wiping at her eyes frustratingly.

"Why not?"

"They're here. They are outside, across the street and down a block but they'll see you and..."

"And what?" He laughed. "They'll know that I'm seeing you? Know where you live? The cat is out of the bag with that one love."

"Wow...I guess you're right." She let her mind spin on that for a moment. "So this is it huh? Cameras wherever I go?"

"Makes you wish you were standing anywhere but next to me?"

"Makes me wish I was standing right next to you." Her love for him, her loyalty to him, surmounting any of the anxiety this was bringing in to her life. Harry took a breath; steadying his heart before he continued.

"I'm on my way. Are you free for lunch?"

"I am," she smiled her first real smile that day. "Though I think I owe Ella more than that."

"I'll take you both out. We can't let them dictate how this is going to work Maddie. They are going to write what they want to write rather we stay inside or not. I say we go out."

"Okay," Maddie let out a deep breath. "You're on your way?"

"I am," he smiled. "Madeline?"

"Hmmm?"

"I love you."

"You had better," she cracked a laugh.

So they went out. Harry was right after all. They couldn't stay inside, they couldn't hide and they most certainly couldn't alter their entire lives. So they went out.

That day it was for lunch with Ella. And over the next week they would continue to emerge; hands clasped and heads held high. Maddie stood on the sidelines with Harry's family at a polo match in Beaufort. She went shopping with Anna and Penelope. They stayed out late dancing with Bishop and Ella. And the paparazzi continued to document, continued to write

Their friends and family rallied around them. Maddie would be forever thankful for the way his family reached out to her in those first few hectic days; Sophie, Eugenie, Kate. They had been there, they knew. Maddie took a deep breath and watched as her life, her history was pulled out for the world to see.

Her schooling. Her resume. Her family. It was strange, sickening at times, how much access the world now had to everything about her. But at least people were starting to get a better picture of who she was—not just a blonde American.

And then the most wonderful thing started to happen.

People started to stand up for them. While their close circle remained mum; the palace declined comment, Maddie's family remained blissfully silent despite the inquiries, others began to speak out. Harry's friends moved into action; circling around them when they were out—looking out for Maddie while maintaining the code of silence. Maddie watched in awe as these people—these people who were wild and crazy and could party with the best of them—rose to their feet and stood tall in protecting Harry and by association her. They were loyal, they loved him. And not one of them was going to stand for anyone disparaging something that had brought one of them so much happiness. So they stood, they defended; Harry and Maddie.

It wasn't just their close friends, it was people who had met them along the way; people who had benefited from their strong characters and warm personalities; people who had no obligation to do so were offering up their support.

A mother of one of her clients was quoted by a newspaper columnist calling Maddie "professional, compassionate" and credited her with saving her child in their darkest of moments. "The doctor has been a blessing in our lives and we are forever thankful that she chose to be here in London; for whatever reason that might be."

And Maddie watched as Harry grew emotional when one of the men from the Walking With The Wounded expedition went on camera to offer his support. "For many, many years my government has asked me to arm myself and stand next to the Americans at war; to be injured with them, to die with them. Prince Harry was asked to do the same and he did and...I don't know. Is it really too much to ask that he wants to stand next to an American and love her? I just don't see how that can be any worse than what we've been asked to do. If he's happy, who am I to decide who he's happy with? You know?"

This was far from the last time the media would come at Maddie and the young couple. But this was also far from the last time that people would rise to their defense. Maddie only hoped that if she simply followed the directions he had given her the night they found out—look at where you're going and hold onto me—they would make it through together and intact.


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