"Agnes, Brian, I'm so excited! Tomorrow's the big day. Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary is marrying Philip Mountbatten in the morning -- well, afternoon. I'm planning to wake up early and come down to the living room to listen to it on the radio. Care to join me?"
Agnes laughed. "Georgianna, you know full well I'm never awake before eight in the morning."
Brian snorted. "That's eleven for me. Enjoy the wedding. Do you think Grace and Harold will join you?"
Georgianna considered her grandchildren. "Grace will. She's not a whole lot younger than the princess -- fifteen! But Grace doesn't care a whit about his British heritage."
"Or his Irish," added Brian. "Isn't that right, Agnes?"
"The children are proud of their Balmoral and Limerick sides, Mr. Brian Larney."
Georgianna had to laugh. Living with her daughter-in-law and her piano teacher -- a homosexual at that, which to her surprise had proved so much fun, Georgianna had to abandon her Episcopalian pretensions and her martinis -- made her so happy. Agnes had her recitals, her differential equations, and her interminable indecisions. Brian had his quirky 8-year old piano students who came to the back music room while Georgianna made beef stew. Heaven on earth!
The princess intrigued her. She remembered, oh so well, when Elizabeth of York had been born, back in '26. Cornelius had been alive back then, everything so different from now -- their own house, the general store she and Cornelius had run, profitable and booming, Neil on the verge of marriage, Norman at the Philadelphia School of Design -- and now, twenty-one years later, Cornelius was six years dead and Norman -- four years dead. How she missed her younger son, even now. But at least she had his widow, her sweet daughter-in-law. And Norman's children -- darling Grace and Harold. Life moved forward and they all had their histories. Somewhat apart, somewhat together.
She looked at Agnes. Her marriage to Norman had been far from perfect -- something told her, though Agnes never had, Norman had been unfaithful to his wife. She didn't deserve it, Georgianna knew. She hoped Princess Elizabeth, if she and Philip Mountbatten were to have children, would never have to deal with that: having sons who were unfaithful to their wives and botched their marriages. She also hoped the princess had daughters-in-law as lovely and smart as her own Agnes was. Those were her prayers for the heiress presumptive.
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