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“Palmer’s turn,” Camilla said, pointing to Palmer, who was holding the gift Elizabeth had placed in her lap.

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Palmer told her.

“It’s Christmas.” Elizabeth smiled at her simply. “And I wanted to.”

Palmer tore open the very nice wrapping paper, acting like Camilla, who only moments earlier had torn every gift open within seconds. Palmer doing it earned a laugh from Camilla, which was what she was going for.

“Plane tickets?” Palmer asked. “To St. Rais?” She turned to Elizabeth.

“They’re open-ended; you can come whenever you want. I thought you and your family might like to come in the summer.”

“Myfamily?” Palmer checked all the tickets. “You got usalltickets?”

“Yes,” Elizabeth said. “You are all welcome to stay with me in St. Rais whenever you’d like.” She turned to Camilla. “I know Princess Victoria would love to meet you, Cami.”

“She would?” Camilla asked hopefully.

“And I’d love to show you all my country if you can get away.” She looked at Palmer’s parents.

“We’ve never traveled internationally,” Palmer’s mother admitted. “Cami doesn’t even have a passport.”

“I think ours are expired, too. We got them when we thought we’d take a vacation to the Caribbean, but Camilla had needed us, so we’d had to cancel.”

“St. Rais is beautiful in the summer, and not cold,” Elizabeth noted, turning back to Palmer again. “There’s something else in there just for you.” She nodded toward the box.

Palmer looked down as well and found a small box within the larger one. She opened it and smiled.

“No way…” she said. “Mom, it’s a lifetime supply of ink cartridges for my pen.” She laughed and looked at Elizabeth. “This is amazing. Thank you.”

“I know how important that pen is to you,” Elizabeth replied.

“It is.” Palmer smiled over at her mother, who then smiled back at her.

Palmer leaned into Elizabeth and whispered, “I know you could have just gotten me a different or better pen, but you didn’t because you know this one is important to me becauseshegave it to me. Thank you for understanding that.”

Elizabeth smiled in response.

“Elizabeth’s turn,” Camilla said, clapping.

“Oh, yeah,” Palmer’s father added. “We didn’t know what to get a Queen, so Palmer suggested we just get something forElizabeth. I hope that’s okay.”

“You got me a gift?” Elizabeth asked, surprised. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“We wanted to, honey,” Palmer’s mother said. “Here you go.” She passed Elizabeth the box.

Palmer watched as Elizabeth opened the box revealing their gifts. Elizabeth laughed.

“A movie theater gift card?”

“You said you never go,” Palmer replied. “I thought we could all go together tomorrow if you’re interested. There’s a new movie Camilla has been wanting to see.”

“Can we?” Camilla asked.

“Of course,” Elizabeth replied. “And a bowling gift card?”

“It’s a totally different experience when you have people around you drinking bad beer, yelling, and bowling right next to you. Let’s see how you do then, Your Majesty,” Palmer teased.

Elizabeth laughed and said, “You’re on. Camilla’s on my team. Thank you all very much.”