Page 30 of The Forever Match

Her knees came back.

“Growing up, my mum told me to find someone who treats me like a queen.”

A beat. She looked out at the room. Let them wait.

“Trust me to overachieve.”

The laugh that came back was bigger than she’d expected. A proper, warm, room-filling laugh, and somewhere in it, she heard her dad’s honk.

Okay. Okay. You’ve got them.

“I’ve captained England at Wembley in front of 90,000 people,” she went on. “I’ve taken a penalty in a shoot-out with a nation holding its breath. But standing up in front of you lot to talk about how much I love my wife? Terrifying.”

Another laugh. Softer. The room was leaning in.

“People keep asking me what it’s like to marry a princess. Honestly?” She let the pause stretch. “She’s a nightmare in the mornings. Same as everyone else.”

The laugh broke properly this time, like the perfect wave. Ash risked a glance at Victoria, whose lips were pursed, eyebrows raised as if to say, how dare you.

Ash grinned. “Sorry, Ma’am.” She was completely off-script now.

Victoria’s blue eyes narrowed, but her shoulders shook. Something in Ash’s chest unclenched.

She took a breath. She’d taken Beth’s advice and started with a joke. But the jokes ended here. Ash turned to Victoria.

”I’m sure you’ll all agree though, she looks positively radiant in the afternoon. Especially this one. When I turned to see Victoria walking down the aisle, it was a like a movie. How did I get so lucky? I’ll never know.”

Ash swallowed. Her throat was dry. There was a glass of water somewhere near her right hand — she could feel it in her peripheral vision — but she didn’t trust her fingers not to shake, and she didn’t want the room seeing that. Not yet.

“Because here’s the thing nobody tells you about falling in love with someone the whole world thinks they know.”

She paused, as the words landed.

”Only, they don’t know her. They know the woman on the balcony. The woman who’ll be on the coins one day. They know the headlines and the hemlines, but they don’t know her.”

She looked back at Victoria.

”I do.”

Victoria’s chin trembled. Just slightly. Ash saw it, because Ash saw everything about her.

“I have been the most privileged person on this earth these last few years.” Ash’s voice cracked, but she didn’t fight it, because this was a moment. “But it isn't because of any of the extraordinary things that come with loving Victoria. The palaces. The travel. The corgis.”

A ripple of laughter. She heard the Queen’s laugh in it. Distinct. Warm.

”It’s because I got to meet the real you. The one nobody else gets to see. The one who’s a fabulous cook, an even better dancer, a Swiftie, a pool shark.”

“True story!” Michael shouted.

Ash grinned. “But also, someone who’s funnier,” she counted them off, one for each finger, holding Victoria’s eye the whole time, “kinder, braver, and frankly weirder than anyone out there has any idea.”

Victoria laughed, then. A proper wet laugh, half a sob in it. She pressed her fingers under her eyes. She was still a bit emotional from her own speech, as was Ash.

”You’re also incredibly down to earth, which I wasn’t expecting. What’s more, one day, you’re going to make history as the UK’s first openly queer monarch. And you’re going to be extraordinary at it. Even more extraordinary than you are already.”

Ash switched her gaze to the Queen, and bowed her head.

The Queen nodded back, her cheeks pink.