Princess Adeline, Duchess of Clarence

Chapter Twenty-One: Expect the Unexpected

3rd of November 2016 - York House

The news that Prince Harry was dating American mixed-race actress Meghan Markle had broke just before Halloween, the two having privately celebrated with friends at a party with Eugenie and Jack both in attendance before they had bunkered down in her apartment all weekend. 

While they still had not publicly confirmed that they were dating, Meghan had made headlines when she told The Vancouver Sun in a Q&A that "my cup runneth over and I'm the luckiest girl in the world!" 

With the media awash with stories about the couple, trying to work out how they met and noting that William was the odd one out when it came to his siblings since both Adeline and Harry had selected partners that were not white. 

There had been a warm reception at the news that Meghan was dating Harry, people eager to see her and find out more about her with the media posting several pictures of her out and about since the news had come that she was dating Harry. 

It was from there that Harry had invited Meghan back to his home at Nottingham Cottage, insisting that he wanted her to meet his family; he had never been more certain about his choice of partner even though he had proposed to two of them in the past. 

That was where Adeline and Simon found themselves, they would be hosting Harry and his new girlfriend for dinner that evening with Anne insisting on having Daphne so that they could entertain in peace. 

Charles and Camilla had hosted them at Highgrove on Monday with William and Catherine having them around for lunch the day before and now it was their turn. 

Simon had prepared dinner, herb crusted pork loin with rice and vegetables with some caramelised pears for dessert since he knew that Adeline had been craving them during this pregnancy. 

He'd banned Adeline from the kitchen while he cooked, he knew she'd steal all the pears before he would be able to even get the dessert started and he wanted everything to go well for the dinner. 

Harry insisted that he wanted this meeting to go well, he really wanted Adeline and Meghan to get along especially since Meghan had told him how much she admired his sister for breaking the mould and not allowing anyone to turn her away from the man that she wanted to marry.

The sound of the doorbell snapped Simon from his thoughts, he glanced at the clock and cursed Harry for turning up early; the man had never been early for anything in his life and he wished that he hadn't started now. 

Adeline called that she was getting the call, it gave Simon another moment to gather his thoughts; he wiped his hands on the cloth that he was using and listened to Harry introducing Meghan to Adeline. 

"Addy, this is Meghan. Meg, this is my sister, Adeline," Harry said grinning as he stood in the hallway of Adeline's home, he short trip from his home at Kensington had been filled with light-hearted chatter.

Meghan had been asking him tons of questions about Adeline since he announced that they would be dining with his sister and her husband. 

"I am so happy to finally meet Haz's sister, he's told me so much about you," Meghan gushed stepping forward and throwing her arms around Adeline in a hug, she gave her a squeeze unable to stop the smile on her face. 

Her eyes drifting around what she could see of York House, it was so very different from what she had experienced when she visited Harry at his place. 

"You have such a lovely home, it's so different from Notts Cottage," Meghan gushed stepping back from Adeline, the other woman looking a little taken back but was quick to mask it.