Chapter 9: First Steps

We both take a deep breath and begin to walk back toward my sweet of rooms. The walk is silent except the sound of our feet hitting the stone floor. The silence is wonderful and the warmth of Eddie's hand is beyond comforting. When we get to the doors to my sweet, Søren is standing before the doors waiting for me. When we are standing before him, Søren bows his head to us both and then addresses me.

"Miss Paige. I have a few women waiting for an interview. They are all candidates for your personal assistant. Just someone to keep your schedule and keep track of everything for you. I know this wasn't on the original schedule I gave you this morning but Her Majesty the Queen insisted that this task be completed within the next few days. I assumed you would want to start interviewing people as soon as possible."

I node and hold out my hand. He gives me all ten of the rather thick applications. I let go of Eddie's hand and nod to Søren to open the door to my sweet. I walk in and feel both men follow me into the sitting area of my room. Eddie sits in the chair next to me and flips on the television. He turns the volume so low that I hardly notice that it is on. I quickly scan through the applications. I only find I want to meet five out of the ten applicants but I have a whole afternoon and they all sound qualified. I proceed to stack the application in the order that I want to meet them. I hand the stack to Søren and he quickly copies the order down onto his tablet. He gives a quick not to both Eddie and I, then exits the room. Eddie looks over at me and smiles. I can feel the pride flowing from him and I can't help but feel like I am doing well here in the palace, so far. Eddie stands and comes over to the couch that I am sitting on. He leans down and gives me a passionate kiss. I wrap my hand around his neck and the other around his side. After a few minutes of me trying to pull him down to sit with me, he pulls away from the kiss.

With a pant, he says, "If I don't leave now, your fist applicant is going to get quite a show." We both laugh. "I have to go anyway because I have a meeting with my Dad," he continues. We both stand and I walk with Eddie to door. He kisses me one last time and tells me, "The room across the hall is an office. I think you will like it. I will find Søren and tell him that you will be using it for the interviews. If you want to." He sounded so unsure of what my answer would be. I just laugh quietly and kiss him on the cheek.

"I would love to use it and I am sure that it will be perfect. Thank you Eddie". He never needs to be unsure with anything having to do with me.

He leaves then and I briskly walk across the hall to the office. The walls are a cool grey with a faint filigree pattern. The windows, which nature light floods through, frame the desk and are swathed in a light satin fabric. The desk drawers face into the sitting area as if to invite the possibility of a more informal work environment. The desk top computer is on the table that ran the back wall of the office. A comfortable deep blue swivel chair spans the space between the computer table and the desk which increased my work surface. The low oval seat and the two white chairs create a nice sitting space in the foreground of the office. I could imagine my life in this room. I could see Eddie sitting in one of the white chairs reading as I work. I could see Ari and I having tea and talking for hours. I could picture our daughter sitting on her knees before the blue seat using it as a table to color in a coloring book as our son sat opposite her running a car around in circles. It is perfect for me and for the next Queen of Denmark.

I sit behind the desk and find the pile of applications already there. Either Eddie and Søren were conspiring about the office, or Søren knows Eddie very well. I open the first file and begin to review before the interview begins. A nock on the door pulls me from my reading.

"Enter", I say in an easy tone. The door opens and in walks Søren with a women just behind him. He bows his head and the women preforms a small curtsy. It seemed awkward to her and she is not the only one. I am still not used to that way people here treat me but its part of the job. I stand and gesture for the women to come in and for Søren to get out.

"Oh, Søren can you please have some tea brought up for me once we are done with this first interview?" I ask. He gives a small nod and closes the door behind him. I look back at the women and smile at her.

"Please, sit". I instruct with a gesture to the blue seat. She waits for me to sit before seating herself, so at least she knows the etiquette. I ask her for her name and match it with the file I was reading. We talk about her school and why she would like to work for me. I also ask about her and her hobbies and where she currently works. When we are finished I escort her to the door of my office and open the door.

"I have several more applicants to talk to today but I will have someone get back to you about the job as soon as possible. I was very nice to meet you", I say. She curtsies once again and opens the door to find Søren standing outside to walk her back out of the palace. The tea was brought up then and I set the trey on the computer table behind my chair. I made myself a cup and took my seat again.

The remaining nine interviews proceed much the same. Some of the women that I didn't think I would like, I did like and vice versa. I am glad that I met with them all. I gather up the applications of the three women I like the best and walked back to my suite.

Only a few minutes later, Søren enters my suite, after a nock, with my lunch on a tray and the Queen on his tail. I stand a curtsy. Søren bows to the queen and nods to me before leaving the room. The Queen looks around my room and spots the dress that I am going to wear tonight on the back of the door. She looks at it and then moves to look through the closet. She pulls out a grey dress with a flowing skirt and three quarter length sleeves.

She then says, "This dinner is formal but not that formal. Wear this with some simple black heals and black jewelry. That will be just fine."

I nod and reply, "Thank you, your Majesty. I will." She gives a small nod and the leaves the room.

Well that was odd, but I will go with it. I hope that this is her showing me that she approves of what I did at the press conference. I look at the clock that is hanging on the wall of my suite and see that it is one thirty and I feel my stomach growl. I move the lunch tray to the coffee table and sit.

I flip the television on and find the music channels. I select the classic music station and turn the volume down until it was only a soft hum in the background. I open the files and re-read them as I eat the simple salad, creamy potato soup, and garlic bread. It was all so delicious! Some of the best food I have eaten. After finishing my food, I sit back into the couch and bring the files with me.

The door opens and Eddie walks in and sits with me. I reach over and set my hand on Eddie's leg and keep reading. Eddie begins to run his fingers over my hand. He lifted my hand from my leg and flipped it over. He then began to rub circles on the inside of my wrist. He lifts my hand higher in the air and kisses where his hand left off. He started to run his kisses up my arm toward my elbow. I had stopped reading when his lips fist touched my skin. I lean my head back and enjoy the feeling of love and care radiating off of Eddie. He kissed the inside of my elbow and then jumped to my neck. He placed a single kiss on my neck, then one on my jaw, another on my cheek, and finally a heated kiss on my lips. As we continue to kiss, I slide the hand that had started this whole thing through the hair at the back of his neck and use my hold to secure his mouth to mine. When we break apart from the kiss, we just sit with our foreheads and noses resting against one another.

I smile and say quietly, "You are so distracting. I hope this won't be a pattern for the future. Nothing good will come of it for our people." I giggle a little as I finish speaking. He laughs too and smiles at me. We both pull back and Eddie asks me, "How did the interviews go?"

"They went well. I have it narrowed down to three but I think I know who I want to higher. Her name is Hannah. She is thirty four years old. She is married and has two kids who are seven and four. She has worked with a few other noble families. She has an undergraduate degree in marketing and a master's degree in public relations. She was very energetic and she seemed willing to jump in with both feet. She just made me feel like I could trust her. She has been run through all of the security protocols and everything checks out. Oh, and she speaks English very well. I know that seems like something that wouldn't matter because I speak Danish pretty well but if she is going to be communicating with my friends and family, I want her to be comfortable doing so in English."

"I trust your judgement. You could always have a two week trial period, if you think you need one. But I think you have this completely under control."

"I think I am going to higher her. I think that the other two are just as qualified but I feel comfortable with Hannah. I won't mind spending time with her and she reminds me of my mom. She is best for the job," I tell Eddie.

"Okay then," Eddie replies as he pulls me into his arms. We lay there for a minute before Eddie looked down at me and says, "I saw Ari a few minutes ago. She wanted me to ask you if you would like to go riding with her."

"I would love to but I need to call Hannah and get ready for tonight. I also need to do a little research about some charities. Do you think that Søren will be able to get a full list of all of the charities that your family works with? I want to get started as soon as I can but I don't want to step on someone's toes."

"I am sure that Søren can get it for you if you need it today but I bet Hannah can get it for you when she starts."

"I think I need it today. But I will have Hannah help me do the research when she starts. I am going to need to do research on all of the charities that you are all already doing work for as well as find a few that need me to start helping them as soon as possible."

"You are so kind," Eddie tells me. "Sometimes I can't believe how lucky I am to have you in my life to remind me what is important. When you say things like this, I know you will always remind me that the people we serve are the most important thing. I mean outside of you."

"Well, when you say things like that I can't help but fall in love with you more. What girl wouldn't want to be told how important she is to the man she loves?" I kiss Eddie again and then there was a knock on the door. We pull apart and I say, "Come in."

Søren enters and then says, "His Majesty, the King would like to speak to you, Miss. Paige."

Please read and review! I am bad about reviewing the stories I read but it does make a difference in my motivation to keep writing. Again, if you are a returning reader I would suggest going back to the beginning to catch back up because it has been years since I updated regularly.

If you are interested in seeing the webpage I made that contain my inspiration pictures, please let me know in an email. You can find my address on my profile. Also I will be posting a poll that requires a look at the webpage so if you are interested in that, let me know also.

Thank you so much for your continued support and inspiration!

~morningglory11