Chapter Fifty-Five
Finally getting cell service after being in Switzerland and then the flight home, Brianne couldn’t wait to unpack and recharge. The vacation/getaway was supposed to be relaxing for the couple, but Brianne realized she wasn’t cut out for the royal treatment. She enjoyed the feeling of being with Harry but she didn’t enjoy being passed around like a piece of meat, especially during parties.
She wasn’t a partier, ever. Brianne assumed that was because she went right from college with Lynn, to pregnant with Rhys to then being a mother her whole life. Her mother and father taught her hard work pays off and she had done so her whole life. There weren’t vacations to, well, anywhere, except maybe America every once and a while when she was kid. She never had enough money to take Rhys away on vacation, so relaxing to Brianne was sitting for a day by the beach or lounging outside her dad’s house with a straw hat on her head and a book and margarita nearby.
Lynn was waiting at the airport for Brianne when she landed. Harry was spending another day in the snowy weather to ski with Guy, Eugenie and Jack. Catherine and William were also on the same flight as Brianne – just in first class.
As she disembarked, Brianne through her hood up and grabbed her carry-on bag. Her son was waiting at Kensington with her father.
“Are you and Harry having problems?” asked a reporter who pushed his way to the front asked as Brianne was walking down an escalator. “Are you and Harry having marital issues?” He asked again, seeming to follow her. After he asked a third time when Brianne turned around.
“Excuse me?” She questioned flipping down her hood and walking over to him, attempting to not make a scene or have William and Catherine come through.
“You heard me,” the man replied in a huff.
Brianne tried to calm her breathing before starting. “You try work for and living into a family you know little about. Taking on and hearing stories you don’t expect to hear. I didn’t grow up doing this. I feel confident in myself to go around alone. I don’t need Harry for everything I do. He’s a big boy. He’s done engagements for years before me.”  She turned around, flipped the hood back up and went to Lynn who already had her bags in hand.
“What?” Lynn asked as the best friends got in the car. Brianne should be happy to be home, not tense and rough. Brianne just shook her head at the question. She didn’t want to go into detail. “Bri, you’ve-“
“No,” the royal girlfriend cut off her friend. “I don’t have to explain. I just can’t do this anymore. I’m not cut out to be the girlfriend he wants. I’m not.”  Lynn sat and listened as Brianne explained the meltdown at the club and New Year’s Eve.  She sniffled before getting out of Lynn’s car at Nottingham; and composed herself as she walked into the house, smiling at her little boy.
He turned at the door’s opening. “Mummy!” Brianne’s tense feeling left as she knelt to her son’s level and hugged him with everything she had.  The life had gotten the best of her, and she needed to cool down; even if it meant forever.
Her dad saw through her façade and patted her shoulders. Lynn and Huw went upstairs to give the mother and son time to talk through some things.
“Mummy, I had so much fun with Charlotte and George.” Rhys rambled. “We coloured and watched movies and I got to see the Queen. Mummy, the Queen.” Brianne nodded as she took some Advil and continued to listen to her son but looked out the sliding glass doors at the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Park. The park was lined with people happy and unknowing her pain.
When she turned around she had tears pricking her eyes. She hated to leave this life, the man and family but she knew she had too. If she was ever going to be herself again, she had to go.
“Go upstairs, Rhys. Go pack some things. We’re going to take a trip,” Brianne told her son. He nodded and ran off to find his grandfather and Auntie Lynn. “Where did I go wrong?” Brianne whispered to herself.
She walked over the front foyer and she looked at the set up; which was under her purview. In between two candles was a lone photo.  It was Harry, Brianne and Rhys at Althorp House, near the Round Oval Lake. Brianne’s head was on Harry’s shoulder and Rhys was on Harry’s lap. She was taken from her revire when Lynn came down with two of her suitcases and Huw came down with a suitcase for Rhys.
“Where are you going, B?” Lynn asked sincerely. Brianne shrugged.
“America.” She deadpanned.
“America.” Huw nodded before clapping her on the shoulder. “Be well, Brianne. Don’t runaway because you’re scared, don’t runaway because you don’t love him. Don’t runaway because you don’t want to be found. If you’re going to runaway, runaway to make a new life.” She nodded and they talked out details. She would leave her car at her father’s house and Lynn would take them to the airport.
She left a note for Harry explaining she was quitting as his chef, and leaving as his lover. She’d call him in a few days to officially say goodbye but her heart and mind wasn’t in the relationship anymore.
A/N: This is really hard to write. But I needed to write this to make Brianne realize the world is setting her up to be with Harry. She’s going to find Harry at every turn, even through she’s not in the UK. She’s just running away for a few chapters, to “find herself.” Haven’t we all at some point?