Page 67 of Her Royal Christmas

“Sorry,” she croaked.

“For being human?” Julia asked. “Absolutely unforgivable.”

Vic laughed weakly. “My mascara is probably a crime scene.”

“You’re still the prettiest pumpkin murder victim I’ve ever seen,” Julia said.

Vic snorted. “You’re disgusting.”

“You married me,” Julia said.

“Poor judgment on my part,” Vic murmured, resting her forehead briefly against Julia’s.

They sat there for another minute, breathing in sync, the tension in Vic’s shoulders slowly unwinding.

“I don’t want to ruin it,” Vic said quietly. “For them.”

“You’re not,” Julia said. “You’re making it. Because let me tell you — if you hadn’t wrestled this whole show into some kind of structure, we’d all be eating crisps by candlelight while Alex tried to cook pasta for twenty.”

“That happened once,” Vic said.

“And we don’t talk about it,” Julia replied. “Because she’s the queen now and we must protect her dignity.”

Vic smiled, small but real.

“Okay,” she said after a moment, straightening slightly. “All right. I will… try. To stop… controlling everything.”

Julia raised an eyebrow. “Everything?”

Vic grimaced. “Most things.”

“Half,” Julia suggested.

“A third,” Vic bargained.

Julia laughed. “Fine. A third. But start with tonight. No more obsessing over what we don’t have. Just… embrace whatever Christmas this is.”

Vic took a deep breath.

Snow battered against the window. Somewhere in the depths of the castle, a dog barked, a child shrieked with laughter, and Mrs. MacLeod shouted something about “if anyone comes near this gravy, I will end you.”

Whatever Christmas this is.

Messy. Loud. Imperfect. Full of love.

She could try.

“Okay,” Vic said again, more firmly this time. “No more emergency emails to the caterers. No more centrepiece experiments. No more yelling about the schedule in front of the kids. I will… embrace the chaos.”

Julia smiled. “Good girl.”

“But,” Vic added quickly, “I reserve the right to carry my clipboard. For… emotional support.”

“Obviously,” Julia said. “It’s practically an emotional support animal by now.”

Vic leaned sideways until her head rested on Julia’s shoulder again.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “For… reminding me what matters.”