As Thanksgiving approaches, William mourns his wife, Ellen, and wonders how he’s going to spend their favorite holiday without her. But his daughter-in-law, Amelia, loves to cook and has taken to cooking for dinner. Moved by his feelings and nostalgia, William gifts her Ellen’s most loved and worn apron. But when he finds the apron in the garbage, he realizes that his hurt goes all the way back to his grief, fueling a reaction.
It was the morning before Thanksgiving, and I was feeling the full weight of Ellen not being around anymore. This was the first Thanksgiving without my wife, who had passed away almost a year ago.
A rose on a tombstone | Source: Freepik
I sat on the armchair in my bedroom and left my newspaper to the side. If Ellen were still around, she would have had an entire shopping list ready for me to get.
“It’s just the last-minute things, William,” she would say, absentmindedly doodling on the grocery list while she pondered what else we would need.
A woman writing | Source: Unsplash
“Sure, honey,” I’d always tell her, ready to go to the store and get her everything she needed.
But this year was the first time in 30 years that I wouldn’t have Ellen around for the holidays.
Instead, my son’s wife, Amelia, promised us that she would take over the Thanksgiving dinner.
A smiling young woman | Source: Freepik
“Don’t worry, Dad,” my son, Harry, told me. “Amelia cooks just like Mom, and Mom taught her a few things, too.”
I wasn’t worried about anything. If I had to be honest, I was grateful that the kitchen would be used in all its glory once again. Since Ellen passed away, Harry and Amelia had moved in with me.
A fancy kitchen | Source: Unsplash
“It won’t be for long, Dad,” Harry said. “But I don’t want you to be alone. And this way, Amelia and I can save up for a house in the meantime. We all need to heal together.”
When they moved in, I tried to put a lot of Ellen’s things away. I wanted them to feel at home, too.
Packing boxes | Source: Unsplash
I couldn’t argue with Harry because the thought of being alone in the house that Ellen and I had built was too much. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to cope without her.
I needed the support from my son.
A smiling old man | Source: Unsplash
The longer I sat in my room, wrapped in the thoughts of my wife, the more sentimental I got. Eventually, I decided to pass on something priceless to Amelia.
Opening Ellen’s closet, I pulled out her faded floral apron. It had been around for as long as I could remember, and every holiday had at least one photograph of Ellen in it.
A floral apron | Source: Pexels
There were a few food stains that just couldn’t be removed, but I thought that it added charm to the apron.
I thought that maybe if I passed the apron to Amelia, who shared Ellen’s passion for cooking, she would honor Ellen’s memory and Thanksgiving traditions.
An elderly woman cooking | Source: Pexels
The following morning, I was sitting in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal when Amelia came in, tying her hair and pulling up her sleeves.
“Hi, William,” she said. “Ready for Thanksgiving?”
A man pouring milk into a bowl | Source: Pexels
“Of course, I am,” I said, smiling at her. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do in the kitchen today.”
“Thank you,” she said. “Harry isn’t going to help at all. He’s probably going to watch the parade or look for sports on TV.”
“There’s something I want you to have,” I told her.
A person watching sport on TV | Source: Pexels
I put the folded apron onto the counter and slid it across to her.
“Ellen would have wanted you to have this, Amelia,” I said. “This was her favorite apron, and she wore it for every holiday that involved the kitchen.”
Amelia smiled at me. It was a polite smile; maybe it was a bit strained, but I dismissed it as my own sentimentality clouding my judgment.
A woman with a forced smile | Source: Pexels
She put the apron on, her face changing slightly when she saw how well-worn it was and the old food stains.
“Great, thank you,” she said. “Let’s cook!”
We spent the next few hours cooking together. Amelia did things differently than Ellen. From her cooking style to the actual ingredients used.
A woman cooking | Source: Pexels
I obeyed all her instructions and watched everything she did. It was different from what I was used to. But I still loved that Amelia was stepping up and taking control of the family holidays.
“Do you think we should do a table setting like what Ellen would have done?” she asked me.
A table setting and decor | Source: Unsplash
“Of course,” I said. “It’s just part of the tradition!”
“Then maybe we should get Harry onto that,” she suggested.
The rest of the day flew by in the kitchen with cooking preparations. Every single time I thought of Ellen, I distracted myself with another task.
A man chopping mushrooms | Source: Pexels
I watched as Amelia bustled around the kitchen in what seemed like genuine delight. As our closest family and friends began showing up for dinner, I went upstairs to freshen up for the occasion.
Everything was perfect, including Harry’s table setting. I missed Ellen throughout the evening, especially when the pies came out. My wife had a tradition of eating two slices of pie, one pecan and one pumpkin.
A pumpkin pie | Source: Pexels
“It’s the one time of year that I eat them,” she would say, spraying whipped cream all over the slices of pie on her plate.
Now, as Harry cut into the pumpkin pie, he caught my eye and smiled, handing me the first piece.
“For Mom,” he said.
Cream on a slice of pie | Source: Pexels
Everything seemed perfect. I went to bed that evening feeling as though my wife had been present. She was there, in the quiet moments after the dinner party, when I loaded the dishwasher and made myself a cup of tea.
But then, with the next morning came a different set of heartbreak.
A person stocking the dishwasher | Source: Unsplash
I was out, taking my usual walk around the block. While taking a shortcut back home through the alley behind our house, I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. A glimpse of floral fabric, peering out from the top of our dumpster.
A man talking a walk | Source: Pexels
It was Ellen’s apron, discarded and partially covered in the newspaper that I had been reading and other refuse.
My heart sank, bringing a different sense of grief to me.
The apron that held so many cherished memories of Ellen was thrown away like common trash.
Outdoor trashcans | Source: Pexels
I retrieved the apron, the dew having made it damp in the crisp morning.
“How could Amelia do this?” I asked myself.
It felt like a betrayal, not just of Ellen’s memory, but of the love and trust that I had placed in her.
An old man holding his chin | Source: Unsplash
I could have let it go. I would have chalked it up to Amelia not wanting to wear something old, or even not wanting to wear something that once belonged to her mother-in-law. But it was the cold way in which she had discarded it.
Determined to teach her a lesson about respect and the value of memories, I thought that I’d sit down to tea with her and talk about cooking. It was the one thing that we constantly bonded over.
A cup of tea | Source: Pexels
Amelia agreed, unaware that I knew about the apron. She followed me up the stairs, and I led her to the attic.
“Come on,” I said. “There’s something I want to show you.”
“Oh, William,” she said when she looked around the attic and saw the neatly preserved boxes.
An attic with stacked boxes and clothing | Source: Midjourney
“I’ve never been in here,” she said. “I didn’t know that we had an attic in this house.”
I stepped aside, allowing her to get into the room properly.
“Since you didn’t find value in the apron, maybe you’ll find something here that you won’t just throw away,” I said, my voice colder than I intended.
A woman covering her face with her hands | Source: Pexels
Amelia, visibly uncomfortable, shifted from foot to foot.
“William, I…” she began, her voice trailing off when she saw the apron hanging from a hook across the room.
I stood in silence as she tried to apologize, but her words seemed hollow.
A woman holding her face | Source: Pexels
“Look,” I said. “Maybe I forced it onto you, and I’m sorry about that, Amelia. But at the same time, I just thought that it would have been something to pass on to you. Not to mention that it was comforting for Harry and me to see.”
She nodded, nervously looking at the door. She was probably wondering if I had told Harry about the incident. I hadn’t. I didn’t want to create any unpleasantness between them.
A couple sitting uncomfortably | Source: Pexels
But I still felt like a rift had been caused between us. As we continued to live under the same roof, I kept to myself as much as possible. I wasn’t angry with Amelia. I was hurt.
I was hurt on behalf of myself, of Ellen, and even Harry, who didn’t know any better.
I knew that I would get over it eventually, but for now, I just needed to let myself grieve my wife, and keep her memory strong.
A smiling old couple | Source: Pexels
What would you have done?
Exposed: The Real Story Behind William and Kate’s Affair Rumors – It’s What We Suspected
William and Kate look like the dream pair. It was at the University of St. Andrews that the Prince and Princess of Wales met.
There were some ups and downs in their relationship, but they made it through and got married.
They now have a wonderful family. After his father, King Charles, only time will tell when it is William’s turn to take the throne.
The Prince and Princess Kate really care about their friends and other people they know. But some years ago, a shocking claim about William and a woman who was rumored to be his lover shocked the royal family and fans…
It was not just any woman; it was one of Princess Kate’s best friends. What did really happen? Who is this woman said to be her mistress? How about we take a better look?
Prince William and Princess Kate met at St. Andrews University and became friends there. Before they met, they were both with other people, but it was clear right away that their partnership would be different.
They lived in St. Salvator’s Hall, the same dorm, and went to the same classes and talks. After their second year, they moved in with some friends in a private home, which is where their love grew.
It seemed like William and Kate shared a sense of fun, which was one of the things that made them click.
“She’s got a really naughty sense of humour, which really helps me because I’ve got a really dirty sense of humour so it was good fun, we had a really good laugh, and then things happened,” William said in their engagement video.
It wasn’t long before everyone, or at least the British tabloids, found out that Kate Middleton was dating the future king.
Naturally, the papers wrote as much as they could about the couple. However, they didn’t just write “love is in the air” stories. Instead, they were interested in Kate’s private life and even called her mean things.
Neither William nor Kate went to college in 2005. Kate had a Master of Arts in history and William had a Master of Arts in geography.
Even though they were very close, it looked like other people were trying to hurt their relationship.
Katie Nicholl said that William’s friends made fun of Kate by calling her mean names and making sly jabs at her because of Carole’s job. She was an air hostess for British Airways before she and her husband, Michael, started their well-known business.
Nicholl said on the Dynasty podcast from Vanity Fair that William’s “snooty” friends used this against him. They said “doors to manual” in a whisper when Kate walked into a London bar.
Some upper-class people were also said to have called the princess’s family “the en masse Middletons.”
Kate was called cruel nicknames by William’s friends
The prince’s upper-class friends, who are called the “Glosse Posse” because they are from Gloucestershire, talked down to Kate like she was not worthy of their attention. But Kate never shut up about the “derogatory” things people said about her. Instead, she decided to not look at them.
“It was never water off a duck’s back, but she has extraordinary strength of character and resilience. I’ve never once seen or heard of her losing her temper,” a royal aide told the Sunday Times Magazine.
A source told the Daily Mail in 2021 that Prince William “flew off the handle” when his friends made fun of his lover.
“He flies off the handle at any sign of Kate being patronised and stamps that out very quickly. It’s one of his triggers,” the royal source said.
“Over the years, many people have come up with great ideas for her, but if they are put across in a dismissive way, they’ve got pretty short shrift from him.”
Many people thought it was the start of what would soon be an engagement at that point. But things went badly after only two years.
William and Kate split up in 2007, which got a lot of attention. At the same time, things seemed unstable a year ago when William and Kate turned down each other’s requests to spend big holidays together.
For example, William reportedly turned down Kate’s parents’ invitation to spend New Year’s Eve with them just a few days before, which made Kate cry.
Married in 2011
Nicolell wrote in 2011 a book called The Making of a Royal Romance, in which she said that Kate was afraid for the future of their relationship.
William said he would meet Kate and her family, but he called on Christmas Day to back out. He chose to stay with the royal family instead.
He didn’t know what to do, so the future king talked to the Queen and his father, Charles, about how he felt. It was easy for them to answer.
“William had been having second thoughts and sat down with his father and his grandmother to have a frank discussion about his future with Kate. Both advised him not to hurry into anything,” Nicholl claimed in her book.
The love story between William and Kate was still alive, of course. Their friendship was strong, and they made up.
They got married in Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011. In 2013, they had their first child, Prince George, who will become king. In 2015, they had Princess Charlotte, and in 2018, they had Prince Louis.
People look up to Prince William and Princess Kate as examples of how royals should act in public. It’s also about how they raise their kids. They have made it clear for many years that they want George, Charlotte, and Louis to have a normal childhood, even though they have to follow some rules. They are royal after all, and those rules can seem pretty strict to someone outside.
In 2019, though, a very bad story spread in a US tabloid that shocked the royal family. Had William cheated on his wife?
William was rumored to have had an affair with Kate’s friend Rose Hanbury
The first thing that needs to be said is that nothing has been proven. An American magazine called In Touch said in April 2019 that William “may” have had an affair with Rose Hanbury, who is the Marchioness of Cholmondeley and a friend of Kate’s.
The “falling out” between William, Kate, and Rose was written about in tabloids.
It was reported in In Touch that Kate told William about the claims, but William “laughed it off” and said they weren’t true.
At the time, Richard Kay, a royal expert for the Daily Mail, spoke out against the reports and said they were all lies.
“Both sides have considered legal action, but because none of the reports have been able to offer any evidence about what the so-called dispute is about, they have chosen to ignore it…
These hurtful rumors of a fallout are simply false,” Kay wrote.
There was a lot of talk about it, and in 2019 the Daily Mail said that Kate would “phase out” Rose Hanbury from their group of friends.
Rose lived close to William and Kate, knew a lot of the same people, and had homes in Norfolk that were close to each other. This didn’t help.
William and Kate’s summer home in Anmer Hall is close to Houghton Hall, where Rose and her husband live. Houghton Hall is said to have 106 rooms.
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