24. DANTE

“I have good news and I have bad news,” Maria says, pointing at the ninety-inch screen on the wall of her office.

Amanda and I sip coffee as we look over the Internet tabs open to various social media feeds, videos and news sites, all either showing or talking about what we did last night. Except for the flight back home, of course – that would have to be on a different kind of website.

I see Amanda biting her lower lip. I’ve been dealing with this kind of nonsense for so long that sometimes I forget it’s all new to her.

“What’s the bad news?” she asks.

“I’d rather start with the good news,” says Maria. “Amandante is trending like mad. It’s the top hashtag on Twitter and Facebook, and Renaldo’s sources inside TMZ tell him they’ve cleared the decks for non-stop coverage for the next two days.

Amanda’s lip biting intensifies. “That means they’ll definitely be calling my dad. I better text him and tell him not to show anyone his shotgun collection.”

That gives me an idea.

“Why don’t we bring him here now instead of waiting until the wedding?” I ask. “It would take him out of that environment, and it would give him an opportunity to get to know me and the twins.”

Her eyes brighten, making my heart smile.

“Could we? He said he could get a neighbor to look after the cattle for a while, but I’m not sure if he can do it on such short notice.”

“One phone call and we can have a crew of people there within a day,” I say, looking at Maria. “Right?”

Maria looks a bit confused, but nods. “That shouldn’t be a problem.”

“That’s fantastic!” Amanda say with a wide smile. “I haven’t seen him since last fall. And I can’t wait to show him around Morova! The only foreign country he’s ever been to is Canada.”

“Excellent,” I say. “I’ll dispatch the Falcon to pick him up as soon as he can be ready. He should be here within two days. And I’ll make sure it’s stocked with Budweiser.”

Amanda’s eyes are as wide as her grin now.

“Is this really happening?” she asks. “My dad’s never flown before, and his first time will be in a private luxury jet?”

“It’s really happening,” I chuckle. “I wouldn’t lie about something like that.”

“Oh my God, he’s going to shit a brick when I tell him!”

Maria’s expression is enough to set me off laughing. I’m getting more familiar with American sayings, but she hasn’t had as much time around Amanda as I have.

“Now that we have that sorted,” Maria says, “we can move on. Amanda, your altercation with Giselle Ranette is what’s getting the most buzz. Millions of women are showing support for you.”

She clicks a button on a device in her hand and a particular tab quickly fills the screen. It shows a tweet from a young woman who calls herself @MuricanGurl95: Way to go, Amanda! Don’t take shit from haters! BTW, Dante is smoking hot! #Amandante

“There are hundreds of thousands more,” Maria says. “The daily news cycle has also had pundits on to analyze the incident to death.”

Another click and a video fills the screen. The dark-haired lady anchor from MSNBC is speaking.

“One thing’s for sure: Prince Dante’s fiancée is not your typical royal bride-to-be,” she says. “Amanda Sparks may have come out of nowhere, but she’s made her debut in a big way. Is the world ready for a rowdy royal with a right cross? Judging by the reaction online, I’d say the answer is yes.”

Amanda’s cheeks flush. “It feels like they’re talking about someone else,” she says.

“You get used to it,” I say, placing a hand on hers.

Maria clicks off the screen and calls up another. This one is a close-up of Chancellor Francesco Huber’s jowly old face.

“As I said before, the news isn’t all good,” she says. “Reaction here in Morova is a bit different than the rest of the world.”

She starts the video that shows Huber standing in front of the Crown Council Building with a microphone in his face.

“Obviously the government doesn’t condone violence of any sort,” he grumbles. “But we shouldn’t be surprised by the fact that the prince is marrying someone with no royal background – on a whim, mind you, let’s not forget there was no warning of this. And this incident is just one of many examples of the prince’s poor judgment.”

“Do you think it reflects poorly on the nation?” asks the reporter.

“Of course I do,” Huber says, scowling. “We are a highly sophisticated nation, with a world-renowned reputation for dignity and earnest behavior. This issue does not end here, I can tell you that.”

The screen goes blank just as Amanda mutters: “Way to get yourself uninvited from the wedding, asshole.”

She turns to see the expressions on our faces and blushes again.

“Did I say that out loud?”

I grin and shake my head. “We were all thinking it, Amanda. You just had the courage to say it.”

“Agreed,” says Maria. “Unfortunately, Huber will be at the wedding, and he’ll use it as a soapbox to push his anti-monarchy agenda. We need to be prepared for that.”

I turn to Amanda. “Does your father have a saying for situations like this?”

“Yeah,” she says. “Screw him and the horse he rode in on.”

Maria and I sit in stunned silence for a moment before cracking up. Amanda joins in and the three of us laugh loud and hard for a long while.

When we’ve calmed down, Maria resumes.

“Huber is only one of our problems,” she says. “You know Isabella will not be pleased with you marrying a commoner.” She turns to Amanda. “I’m sorry, dear, you know that the word has a different meaning for us.”

“Whatever, bitch,” Amanda says with a mock scowl, throwing up a dismissive hand.

And we’re all off giggling again. God, I think I’ve laughed more in the last week with Amanda than I did in the last year.

“Amanda, please,” Maria begs, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. “This really is serious business.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry.”

“I think you should tell Isabella about the proposal as soon as you leave here. She’s probably already angry that she didn’t know about it beforehand, so you’ll need to convince her it was a spur-of-the-moment decision.”

I nod. Maria’s right about Isabella’s temperament – even though she herself isn’t a royal, she definitely acts like one. My mother’s family were simple barons, the bottom of the nobility. If Isabella hadn’t married into the Steiger family’s money, she would essentially be a drain on the Trentini fortune.

“If Isabella’s husband were still alive, he would have loved you,” I say to Amanda. “Uncle Hans was a lovely man. He was the one with the money, but he never acted like it. Isabella married into money, and the only reason she has a title is because her sister married into royalty. Yet to hear her talk, you’d think she was the monarch of Morova.”

Maria says: “That’s exactly why you need her on your side. She has the ear of the chancellor, and she’s an icon among Morova’s elite society.”

Amanda shakes her head, as if trying to understand something.

“Are you all right?” I ask.

“Yeah,” she says. “It’s just that your family is so different from mine. I grew up in Little House on the Prairie.”

“And I grew up in Game of Thrones,” I say.

“I guess we shouldn’t put it off any longer,” she says, standing up and smoothing her dress. “Let’s go convince the evil witch that Cinderella will make a good queen.”

I join her and we walk to the door.

“Git ‘er done,” I say, dropping Maria a wink.