Adult-FanFiction.org : Celebrity

Desert Love	By : Krayzee_Aussie Category: Celebrities - Misc > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 4321 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction! I do not know Prince Harry of Wales, Prince Charles, Prince William, Kate Middleton, Queen Elizabeth, Camilla Parker-Bowles or Prince Phillip, Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith VC and I do not profit from this story.

Chapter List
- 24
- 25
  That night, they stayed together at Kensington Palace. Desiree woke, Harry’s arm held her around her waist. She lay like that for a while, just admiring Harry’s blissful face as he slept. Her mind returned to the night before. Long had it been since she had been loved like that, just thinking of everything he had done to her sent a thrill throughout her, causing her to shudder and smile to herself.
She had started off well in control of the situation and loving it, but Harry had not taken long to take over and dominate her. Admittedly, it was something she had always been partial too. She was a leader in the field, yes, but in the bedroom, well, it was nice to have a role reversal every now and then.
She noticed the clock on the bed stand. She really needed to get back to her hotel soon, she still needed to prepare for her flight out. She tried to see if she could slip out from his arm but he just tightened his grip.
“No,” he said, surprising her. He opened his eyes slowly, looking at her sleepily. She motioned to his arm. “Your flight doesn’t leave until one.”
“I still need to get back and pack,” she replied regretfully, rolling over to face him.
He pulled her closer to his chest, kissing her forehead. “Could just leave your gear here, that way I know you’re coming back.”
“Ah, but i need to go back to work prior to that too.” Harry groaned, making Desiree laugh. “You’re such a big baby. Now let me up.”
“Make me.”
She raised an eyebrow, before taking a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment and then opened them again, looking him straight in the eyes, all her emotions completely hidden and her face deadpan. “Captain Wales. Release me this instant,” she said in the voice she reserved for interrogations. He withdrew his arm instantly and shuddered.
“How do you do that?” he asked incredulously as she laughed and climbed out of the huge bed.
Desiree began to dress herself, while Harry rolled over, stretching out and reaching a hand out for her back. She felt his fingers brush against her skin before she slid her jumper over her head. She turned back to see him staring at her intently. She leaned over, taking his hand in both of hers. I’ve got to get back, see you at the air base?”
“Of course.” He pulled her closer and kissed her fiercely again, before she could pry herself away and leave.
Desiree picked up her overnight bag, moved to the door, carefully opening it and finding security waiting patiently outside. She raised her eyebrows when she saw them, her thoughts going to what had happened the night before. “Ma’am, we’re ready to take you home.”
“Ah, thanks,” she said awkwardly, before motioning that they should lead the way.
*****
                Eventually, Harry got out of bed, showered and changed, putting on some neat casual clothes. He headed to the kitchens, he had missed breakfast, not wanting to let Desiree go until he absolutely had to. When he arrived to the kitchen, he found William there, talking to the cooks.
“Oh, good morning. Finally up are we?” he asked wryly. Harry rolled his eyes and took the bowl of cereal offered to him by one of the staff. He sat down at the breakfast bench and began to eat it. “Where’s Des?” William asked in confusion as he looked expectantly behind Harry.
“She’s gone back to her hotel, she needs to finish packing before she leaves this afternoon,” Harry replied between spoonfuls.
“Oh,” William said, looking sympathetically at Harry. “So, what’s going to happen with you guys?”
Harry frowned, looking at William critically. “Hasn’t dad or any of the officials told you yet?” William shrugged his shoulders before shaking his head. “She’s taking on a deployment here for eight months before she decides if she wants to take on a permanent transfer and bring Ryan over.”
William smiled happily at Harry. “And you’re happy with that?” Harry pursed his lips thoughtfully, before licking them. “You’re not happy with that?”
He wasn’t sure, he was thrilled for her to be coming over for the deployment and thrilled she hadn’t turned down the thought of a permanent transfer, naturally, but something inside him said that he wanted more. The only thing stopping him from telling her was his fear that she would reject him. She was still struggling with her renewed emotions and the media coverage was still something she was adapting to. He didn’t want to push her too far, too quickly or he could push her away completely.
William watched him for a moment before sighing. “Wow, I’ve never seen you like this, mate.”
Harry looked to him, snapping from his own thoughts. “Like what?”
“You’re all dreamy and distracted,” William said with a laugh, leaning against the bench. Harry screwed up his nose at his brother, turning his attention back to his food. “What time is her flight out?”
“One.”
“And you’re going, I’m assuming?” William asked looking him up and down. Harry nodded. “When is she back for her deployment?”
“We won’t know until she returns to her unit in Australia and they start organising dates and removals for her. I think father has already sent a signal over, authorising a deployment.”
William nodded, apparently impressed by the organisation behind getting her back to England. “And how’s she dealing with the media being all in her business?”
“Okay, so far. I think she is actually expecting a whole lot worse than what has come out so far. I daresay, the ADF has been stringently redacting and classifying a lot of details so the media can’t get hold of it,” Harry replied, thinking it over himself.
“That’s good, I remember how bad the media were when they first found out about Kate and I. I’m sure you remember what happened,” William said, before scowling at the thought. He and Kate had broken up for a time because she was struggling to handle the media. “However, Desiree isn’t afraid to throw punches, which could make it so much worse. On the plus side, with the military backing, it also makes it so much easier to stop the media from releasing details.”
“Or so much more interesting,” Harry said raising his eyebrows, remembering the video of her throwing a photographer out of her hotel. “Just have to see how she goes.”
******
                Desiree arrived at the airbase with her family in tow. The aircraft flying them out was waiting on the tarmac. The RAF personnel hurriedly collected their gear, working to get it loaded up and ready under Desiree’s mother’s careful watch. When Desiree entered the terminal she found Harry already waiting there, dressed in some casual light coloured cargos, a long sleeve knit and hiking boots. She raised an eye brow, clearly he had picked up some fashion tips from her unit when he was there.
Prince Charles and his assistant were waiting there too, his assistant carrying a couple of thick binder folders. She looked at Harry expectantly as she approached. He kissed her quickly on the forehead when she stopped in front of him, making her cringe slightly, before putting his arm behind her back, placing his hand on the small of her back and ushering her forward. She cautiously looked at Prince Charles, biting her lip nervously, who simply smiled warmly at her before nodding to his assistant.
“These are the information packs normally given to lateral transfers to the British Forces. Obviously you are not a lateral transfer, yet, but I think the information may prove useful to you. Myself, Harry and William will also be able to assist you with your integration to British Forces life too.” He smiled again. “Our forces aren’t dissimilar for obvious reasons, so I don’t imagine it will be too hard for you.”
Desiree accepted the folders, finding them to be quite heavier and awkward than she expected. “Thank you,” she said, trying to hold them comfortably.
“Just a little light reading for you,” Charles joked.
She gave a small smile, before Dan hurried forward. “Give them to me, I’ll get Ryan onto the plane and settled with his lollipop before we take off.” He pushed Ryan forward a little, letting go of his hand and taking the folders from Desiree. He put out his spare hand to Harry, while Charles called her over to speak with him in private.
She left Ryan holding Harry’s hand and followed Charles as he moved a few feet away. In the corner of her eye she thought she saw Dan whisper something in Harry’s ear, but she couldn’t be certain. She looked at Charles expectantly. “Now, we’ve already contacted your unit, needless to say, I will be rushing through the deployment order.”
“There’s really no need to rush, sir, I don’t want to inconvenience anyone,” Desiree objected lightly, she didn’t want a big fuss to be made over her.
“Nonsense, dear,” he said, using the term of endearment on her for the first time, she raised her eye brows in subtle surprise but said nothing. “I know someone in particular would be most upset with me if I didn’t, but how long would you like to allow for the necessary arrangements you need to make on your end?” he asked.
She was thoughtful for a moment. She had to take into consideration moving Ryan, figuring out what to do with the dogs, handing back her house to Defence and the necessary paperwork, as well as training a replacement to take her place. That would take a lot of time. “Perhaps a month would be best?” she asked after a moment.
“Very well, that sounds appropriate,” Charles said, looking at her carefully. She raised her eyebrows expectantly. “You surprise me, Desiree. The way Harry has been acting, I was sure you would say a couple of weeks and I would have to ask you to reconsider the time frame, for fear you would leave your son so soon, but you have put some serious thought into this, haven’t you?”
She gave a small smile and shrugged. “Uh, thank you, sir?” she said glancing sideways to where Harry was now kneeling down and speaking to Ryan. She sighed, seeing him interact with Ryan so easily warmed her heart, she almost felt bad for leaving him, if only for a month.
“Is everything alright, Desiree?” Charles asked with concern in his voice.
“Oh, yes,” she answered, looking back at him with an apologetic smile, feeling slightly embarrassed. “My mind was elsewhere.”
Charles smiled, looked to his son and then back to Desiree, before walking out the terminal doors and onto the tarmac outside with her in tow. “You know, Desiree, I have never seen him quite so smitten before. I have met some of his...ahem...previous exploits, I dare not call them girlfriends, but he acts so differently with you. And you act differently to those that he has seen before you. They used to cling so frightfully close to him, and the things they would say, ugh,” Prince Charles shuddered, apparently remembering some phrase that had been said in front of him in the past. Desiree couldn’t help but give a little laugh at the look on his face and the involuntary shudder. “You, my dear, are a refreshing cool breeze in comparison. I must ask though,” he said looking at her critically. “You cringed when he kissed you before, why?”
Desiree felt her face get hot and her stomach churn at the question. She had hoped he hadn’t seen it. She answered quietly, embarrassed at having to explain the awkward reaction. “Well, sir,” she began slowly. “I have been on my own for eight years; I have had no physical contact of any kind like that in that time, and never with a Prince. It’s something that I will need to work on, I suppose. My family have never been much for public displays of affection,” she admitted. “I guess I’m just not that used to it, but he is so loving, I do not have the heart to say something.” She looked at the ground, dejected by her inability to accept his displays of affection so easily.
To her surprise, when she looked up she found Charles smiling at her. “This is what I mean, I remember when he dated this one young woman quite a few years ago, he brought her to a royal engagement and he would happily show her copious amounts of affection in public. With you, the fact that he only kissed you on the forehead was of a great surprise to me. I understand why now.”
Desiree looked up at Charles in awe. She hadn’t thought about the fact that maybe Harry had been careful not to flood her with his affections. She gave a small smile as she turned to see Dan had indeed taken Ryan to the plane and her father and mother were now speaking with Harry.
Her mother moved towards her, leaving her father with him alone. She grimaced as she saw her father’s eyes narrow and his face break into a smirk while he spoke to Harry. Harry’s wide eyes spoke volumes as to what her father was saying to him. Desiree flared her nostrils at the thought as her mother stopped before her and Charles.
“Desiree, it really is time we were moving. We don’t want to get the pilots too far off their timings.” She turned and faced Prince Charles. “Your majesty, thank you so much for having us and treating us all so well, you have been too kind.”
“It’s quite alright, Wing Commander Buchannan. You certainly raised a remarkable young woman and soldier.”
Desiree looked past her mother and watched as her father had a firm grip on Harry’s hand and roughly hit him on the back of the shoulder. She knew that move, she had seen it often when she was younger. It was the fatherly intimidation move. She narrowed her eyes at him as they both made their way over, Harry moving his shoulder as if he was in pain.
Desiree looked pointedly at her father. “Dad, have a nice chat?”
“Yeah, of course we did, didn’t we, Captain?” he asked looking back at Harry with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, sir,” he replied, quickly stepping beside Desiree.
Desiree tried to hide a smile, although somewhat unsuccessfully. “Dad, say goodbye and get on the plane.”
Her father narrowed his eyes at her, his nose wrinkling in annoyance. “I still outrank you, young lady, no throwing orders at me,” he warned, waving a finger and pulling a face.
Desiree narrowed her eyes at him. “Hey dad, you remember when the unit thought it would be interesting to see who would win in a father-daughter beat down?”
Her father’s nostrils immediately flared and he glared at her, before suddenly turning and offering his hand to Charles, who accepted it with raised eye brows. “Thank you, sir, it’s been an absolute pleasure getting to know your son, I must thank you for taking such good care of us all and hope we see each other again soon.” He let go of Charles’ hand before grabbing his wife’s arm. “See you on the plane, Des. Come on, honey.”
He hurriedly began walking to the plane, her mother laughing hysterically all the while as he pulled her along. Desiree smiled cheekily, looking up at Harry through her eyelashes before continuing to watch her father climb the steps up to the plane.
Harry looked at her expectantly, as did Charles. “You cannot drop that bomb shell and then not tell us the story, Des.”
“We will save it for when I get back,” she answered, smirking. “You’ll need to be sitting down for that one. Remind me to bring the video.” She winked at Harry, before laughing. Charles and Harry both burst out laughing while she grinned like a Cheshire cat.
“Ah, Desiree,” Charles said, when he finally stopped laughing. “I look forward to your return. And thank you again, for ensuring Harry came home safe to us, twice.”
He offered his hand to her, which she took carefully, shaking it. To her surprise, he leaned in and gave her a light kiss on the cheek, before smiling at Harry and walking back into the Air Movements terminal.
                Harry moved and stood in front of her. “What did you guys talk about?” he asked, his voice sounded wary, making her smile smugly.
“You first?” she asked coyly.
“Oh, just the usual, threatened to kill me,” Harry replied in an offhand manner with a shrug.
Desiree looked at him incredulously. “He did what now?”
Harry laughed heartily. “I’m kidding. He just thanked me and stuff,” he said. She narrowed her eyes at him, not sure if she believed him. “And then he threatened to kill me.”
Behind him, the engines of the plane began to fire up. “Looks like they’re calling me.” Harry looked dejectedly into her eyes, his baby blue eyes seemed to have darkened with his mood. “I’ll see you really soon, then,” she said, trying to sound upbeat. She wasn’t feeling as upbeat as she had tried to sound.
He gave a small smile, pulling her into his arms, wrapping his arms about her shoulders and resting his chin on top of her head. She sighed and wrapped her arms around his waist, although she was no fan of public displays of affection, being wrapped in his arms like this felt so perfect. She felt safe, protected, in love. She closed her eyes for a moment, nestling her face into his chest, while he ran his fingers through her hair. “I’ll make sure my father hurries up that deployment order.”
She smiled into his chest, before shaking her head and trying to pull back out of the hug. He didn’t let her go so easily though, keeping one arm wrapped around her and using his free hand, he lifted her chin so he could kiss her, deeply.
If there was anyone watching, she didn’t notice, because in that kiss he put so much passion, she was overwhelmed in the moment.
******
                Harry sat reading some briefs from the palace officials, regarding some royal duties he had coming up in the next few weeks. The onslaught of more royal duties had already begun and it had only been a week since Desiree had left. Harry suspected his father had even pushed for him not to be given any duties for that week too.
In all honesty, he was grateful to have something to take his mind off Desiree. He spoke to her by text most days, she usually messaged him when she wasn’t busy working, but as the time went on, she was unable to text him as often during the day because she was busy training her replacement and chasing up paperwork.
He would call her every couple of days, and he cherished those moments to speak to her and hear her voice. Their conversations were light and usually involved discussing any issues she was having with preparations for her deployment.
The date had been set for her return. She had already arranged to hand back her house, but was having a hard time deciding what to do with her dogs. She didn’t want to send Demon back to the base kennels to live out his days of retirement, but it was also too risky sending him to boarding kennels. Her parents were an option for the two huskies but their yard was small and they didn’t have the handler training necessary for Demon.
Harry felt bad for her predicament, because he had met Demon and knew what a nice dog he was. He often sat trying to think of solutions to help her, often to no avail.
She had also one other complaint for him. The Prime Minister of Australia had asked for a meeting with her, which she refused time and time again. Harry had appealed to his father to try and put pressure on the Prime Minister to leave her alone, but his father agreed that she should perhaps meet with him, for the sake of her national hero status. All the same she refused to meet with him.
She had only a few run ins with the media while in Australia. Mainly at the local shopping centre where the media would often hound the local shop owners for information, especially since that was the location of the Sydney Siege. At first, the local shop owners were more than willing to talk to them, giving their stores some free advertising and promotions, but after awhile they grew weary of the annoying questions surrounding Desiree and her son.
The centre soon went to great lengths to arrange more security and barred unwarranted media in there, for her sake and because the last time they accosted her inside their centre, Desiree had pinned a photographer against a wall and nearly put him through a glass shopfront.
The shop owners also took it upon themselves to chase out any unauthorised media presence. Harry and his father received reports everyday from private and secret security the palace had watching her. Harry and Charles had both agreed that she should not know about it, knowing she would refuse the extra attention. However, they also knew that should the media be given free reign that it could put a lot of strain on Harry and Desiree’s relationship.
And Harry worried for Ryan too. He was concerned about what might happen to Ryan while Desiree was overseas. He had traded contact details with both of Desiree’s parents and her brother. Together, they came up with a plan to ensure his safety from the media while Desiree was away. They knew the cordon on him would only stop the media so much, they could be cunning and find a way around it. Desiree’s mother was in regular contact with the school and Charles had arranged for private security to be placed on the school.
Harry finished reading the brief before checking his watch. His father would be in his office now after some official engagements. He left his room and hurried to his office, he had been putting some thought into Desiree’s dog problem.
He knocked on his father’s office door. “Yes?” Harry opened the door and peered inside. “Ah, Harry, what is it?”
Harry walked inside and say down, looking at his father confidently. “I’ve got a dilemma, well, technically Desiree does, but I have an idea.”
*****
                It was Desiree’s last week in Australia for eight months. She had finished training her replacement and now was just appraising his performance, to see if he really was ready to go. She also had some paperwork she needed to complete, but she had all week for that.
She watched as her replacement, a certain Captain Scott, formerly of SASR, took the current trainees through some heavy fire drills. She smiled, thinking of all the candidates that had been put forward for the position, when she saw his file come across her desk she had to do a double take. He had come a long way from Deperat and advanced far further than she had anticipated.
Captain Scott often teased her about her relationship with Harry, always saying how he could see it from their first couple of days together. She would usually just roll her eyes at him, or throw a dummy grenade into his training drills as pay back for his smart mouth, whichever she felt like on the day.
He was a year off promotion to Major, and he also knew all her strategies almost as well as she did, she had to barely train him at all. She smirked as he yelled strips off a trainee.
That afternoon, on her way home from work she stopped into grab herself a coffee and some groceries, looking around the small shopping village as she entered. She usually didn’t wear her uniform outside of work, but being her final days in Sydney, she had been a bit relaxed in her habits. She smoothed her beret as she entered.
A memorial plaque had since been placed in the centre, to remember those that had lost their lives during the siege and it was always full of flowers. To that day, Desiree had never gone and had a look at it.
As she stood waiting to be served at the coffee shop, she remembered that fateful day. She recalled killing the woman, A’ishah, while her son cowered in the corner of the toilet cubicle, misleading the terrorists to believe she was their fallen comrade, watching the men, women and children cowering in the coffee shop area, getting the children out safely and then the moment she saw the gun aimed at Harry.
She remembered pulling him out of the way and the feeling of the gunshot hitting her in the chest. Suddenly, she felt her scar flare with the same burning pain and her breath catch with the shock. She reached for her chest.
“Des?” the barista on the register asked in concern. She shook off the feeling, it wasn’t the first time that had happened.
“Sorry, was somewhere else,” she replied before placing her order. After placing it, she went and waited patiently by the counter, looking at the memorial. Considering it was soon to be her last visit for a while, she wandered over slowly for a look.
On it was a list of eleven names, each life taken on the day of the siege; these were the people she hadn’t saved. There had been a board of enquiry in regards to the siege, questions asked as to how these people had died, some people had even asked why she hadn’t launched her counter action sooner, but all the hostages and responding services had agreed and given the same response when asked their opinions. Desiree had done what she needed to do, to protect the majority. She didn’t feel guilty about protecting her son first, before she had returned for everyone else.
Doing that had gotten the word out to the unit sooner.
She didn’t know any of those people, there were three military names on the plaque, and they had all been engineers from the school. She was engrossed reading the names and didn’t notice the people stopping, staring at her.
“Hey, Des,” a hand was placed on her shoulder. She jumped slightly, alarmed at the sudden touch and looking up at the barista. He looked apologetic and held out her coffee to her. She looked around, seeing all the shoppers staring at her, some looking sadly at her, others curiously with their phones in their hand. She looked back to the barista who handed her the coffee. “Thanks, Des. For everything.”
He squeezed her shoulder before walking back to the coffee shop. Desiree smiled at his retreating back; he had been one of the ones she had gotten out safely. She looked back down at the memorial, placed a hand on it and sighed before leaving.
                She returned to her parent’s house. Her house had been handed back to defence already and she had sold most of her furniture, lest a few of Ryan’s things and some items she couldn’t bear to be without. The leftover furniture was split between her parent’s house and a storage unit.
She walked into the house, leaving the groceries her mother had asked her to buy in the kitchen, before walking outside where Ryan was playing with Demon. Amaretsu and Shinobi ran over excitedly. For the time being Amaretsu and Shinobi would be staying put with her parents while poor Demon was to be sent back to barracks the day Desiree flew out. There was just no way she could take him to England when there was a chance she wasn’t going to have anywhere to keep him.
She let the two huskies jump up and patted their heads, scratching behind their ears. She pushed them away and called Demon over, who had sat waiting patiently for her to call him. He ran over, jumping up for some pats and cuddles. She sat down, immediately being accosted buy all three dogs.
Ryan ran to his trampoline. “Mum, look what I can do!” He performed a near perfect back flip.
Desiree raised her eye brows, thoroughly impressed. “Who taught you that?”
“Uncle Dan did.”
“Was he here?”
She heard movement inside, narrowing her eyes as a figure appeared at the screen door. “Was, still is, same, same.” He opened the door, walking out and warning off the two huskies from jumping on him. “Don’t even think about it, you two. I came to say good bye. I’ve got to head to Tindal for Aces North.”
Desiree recalled the exercise; Aces North was a joint exercise between Japan, Australia and the US. It ran alongside Talisman Sabre every two years.
“Oh joy, enjoy that club scene,” she said slyly. Tindal was a hole of a place to visit, and the nearest township of Katherine was even worse. She had been there on exercise herself, quite a few times. She would often end up dragging RAAFies out of the nightclub there as they got themselves into trouble quite often.
“Don’t joke about that. I already know about your reputation up there,” he sneered, making her smirk. “Knew you’d be excited about my first trip up there.”
“I’ll be excited if someone manages to shoot you,” she replied snidely, crossing her fingers and pretending to pray.
“Bit hard to do that when I’m the one that’s arming them.”
Desiree pretended to smack her forehead. “The world is doomed.” They both laughed, but soon their laughing died down. “You going to come and visit?”
“Can I bring chicks back to the palace?”
Desiree looked at him with a deadpan expression, folding her arms.
“Ha!” he exclaimed, smiling slyly. “Thought so. Of course I will. Me and Harry, we tight.”
Desiree shook her head and rolled her eyes, before standing up and hugging him. “Ah, I’ll miss our conversations, baby brother.”
“Course you will, I’m the smartest one in the family, I’ve actually got a trade.” He winked and went to hug Ryan. Desiree scoffed as their mother appeared from the side of the house, carrying a washing basket. “Have you spoken to Ana yet?”
“Yeah, we’ve emailed, she’s not going to be back before I leave.”
“It’s okay, she has a lot of leave accrued. I already checked her PMkeys,” her mother piped up, stopping as the dogs ran in front of her.
Desiree rolled her eyes. “Gees, Meh. One day, you’re going to get busted for that.”
Her mother smiled knowingly, dropping the washing inside the screen door before looking back at her two children, both who were in uniform. “Oh, I need photo, last time you two are together for a while!”
“Run!”
                Desiree and her mother sat outside on the lounge, the dogs lying around them, while Ryan continued to play on his trampoline. “So, are you ready to go?” her mother asked her after a while of small conversations.
“I think so, just need to wait for the day to arrive now.”
“Only two days left, oh, my big girl is leaving me,” her mother looked sadly at her.
“Again...” Her mother narrowed her eyes at her, making Desiree laugh, due to her being of Thai origin, when she narrowed her eyes she looked like many of those Japanese cartoon characters that Ryan watched. “Sorry.” Desiree turned and watched as Ryan practiced his back flip again. She sighed. “I don’t know if I can do this, Meh.”
Her mother looked at her incredulously. “Seriously? You wonder if you can do this, but you don’t doubt whether you can take down an armed target from three hundred metres away. Or if you can take an enemy held village with no aerial support.”
Desiree laughed at the dumbfounded look on her mother’s face. Her mother poked her in the arm, before leaning against her, a sly look on her face. “Do you love him, Desiree?”
Desiree stared at her mother, gobsmacked. “What?” she exclaimed.
“What?” her mother replied, looking at her in mock annoyance. “I speak Thai now? Do. You. Rove. Him?” she said, putting on her heavier Thai accent.
Ryan laughed loudly from his spot on the trampoline. “I like your Asian accent, Meh Yai.”
“What Asian accent?” her mother asked, feigning confusion and maintaining the accent. Ryan laughed some more. Desiree’s mother looked back at her expectantly. “Well?”
Desiree’s laughing subsided and she scratched her head, thinking for a moment, before shrugging. She didn’t like being put on the spot. She thought back to her last two nights with Harry, the feeling she got when he smiled at her, looked in her eyes, hugged her and falling asleep in his arms. She felt her stomach flutter and her heart beat seemed to intensify.
“I bet you do, mum,” Ryan said, snapping her from her thoughts. She looked up to see him jumping up and down on his trampoline while Amaretsu tried to maintain her balance, with a look of fear on her face.
“You think she rove him, Ryan?” her mother asked, making him laugh hysterically again.
“Yes, Meh Yai!” he said, hoping off his trampoline and standing in front of them. “He’s really cool, and nice, and he thinks mummy is pretty and fun, just like I do!”
Desiree chuckled. Obviously Ryan was smitten with Harry. “Oh really? And how do you know that?”
“He told me.” Desiree and her mother looked at Ryan, wide eyed.
“He told you?” her mother asked in her normal voice. Ryan nodded. “What exactly did he say?”
“He said to me, your mummy is beautiful, funny, smart and strong and that I have to take care of mummy while she’s away from him.” Desiree looked at her mother, seeking confirmation. She shrugged her shoulders in response, as stunned as Desiree it seemed.
“Oh really?” Desiree asked, still not sure whether he was telling tall tales or not. “And when did he tell you this?”
“Before we got on the plane to come home,” he answered, matter-of-factly. Desiree looked to her mother again, who frowned and looked thoughtful.
“I do recall Harry bending down to speak to him after Dan went and said good bye to him,” she said slowly. Ryan smiled proudly. Desiree couldn’t help but smile back.
“What else did he say?” Desiree’s mother asked, curiously.
Ryan looked thoughtful for a moment. “He said he couldn’t wait until we both came and lived over there, so we could go and do stuff together.” He turned and looked at his mother, his eyes full of excitement and Desiree couldn’t help but feel a little bit excited herself, she would be in England next week. In his arms again. “Won’t that be cool, mum! We can do stuff as a family!”
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Desert Love