Chapter Four
“Hi, everyone!” Hailey exclaimed as she entered the ornate audience chamber. The massive room was clearly meant to impress with an antique hand-carved double throne at one end. A center chandelier in gold and crystal shone over glossy inlaid hardwood floors. There was gold trim on absolutely everything—the picture frames of royal ancestors along the walls, the ceiling’s ornate carved detail, and around a huge painting in the center inlaid panel of the ceiling that looked like it dated back to the Renaissance. Long deep blue velvet sofas and high-back wooden chairs with patterned cushions had been arranged in two seating areas, warming up the space.
A chorus of hellos from the group—the reporter, photographer, Claire, Jake, and Prince Phillip—were quickly drowned out by her beloved fur babies barking their heads off, racing toward her and Josh. She bent down and pulled them close. “Rose! Max! How’re my babies?” Their tails wagged madly as they licked her face, just as thrilled with their reunion as she was. Josh dropped to his haunches next to her, ruffling Max’s furry head, and both dogs leaped all over him too.
He scooped up the dogs and stood, heading over to the group. Phillip stood and waited for her to take a seat on the sofa. Josh waited, too, before sitting next to her and setting the dogs on the floor.
The reporter, Evelyn, looked to be in her thirties, her blond hair in a sophisticated twist, her makeup subtle, mostly highlighting her brown eyes, and her dress was a chic satin Armani in a brightly colored abstract pattern with an asymmetrical silhouette. Hailey knew her designers. Evelyn offered her hand from the adjacent chair and spoke in a clipped British accent. “Hailey, nice to meet you at last after all of our emails.”
Hailey shook her hand. “Yes, so nice to meet you too, Evelyn. And this is the groom, Josh.”
Josh shook her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Evelyn indicated the young woman sitting on the end of the sofa across from them, her dark brown hair also in a twist, wearing a white pants suit. “This is Lucy, our photographer. You might’ve seen her on the dock earlier at your arrival.”
Hailey and Josh stood to shake Lucy’s hand. Hailey smiled over at Claire and Jake and worked her way down the sofa to them, hugging them both at the same time, one arm around each of their shoulders. “I’m so happy to see you guys,” she whispered. Baby Owen reached up from Jake’s lap and yanked her hair. She leaned back, carefully untangling Owen’s pudgy fingers. The boy had some grip. “And you too, Owen.” She held her hair back with both hands and kissed his cheek with a squeaky pucker. His brown eyes went wide at the sound, making her smile.
She greeted Phillip too and returned to her seat while Josh shook everyone’s hands, kissing Claire’s cheek and ruffling Owen’s hair before taking his place at her side.
“Shall we get started?” Evelyn asked, placing a small recorder on the side table next to her.
Claire stood. “We’ll leave you to it. Owen is overdue for his nap. So nice to meet you all.” She walked around the seating area, stopping behind Hailey to lean down and whisper, “Small issue with the rings, but I’m sure it’ll be taken care of tomorrow. Just keep a close eye on the dogs.”
Hailey’s eyes widened. What?
Claire stared at the dogs, a grim expression on her face. “Check your texts.” She walked away.
Jake joined Claire, holding Owen against his chest. “Nice meeting you all.”
Phillip stood. “I, too, have some business to attend to.”
“Was it something I said?” Josh quipped.
Everyone laughed and said their goodbyes. Except Hailey, who dug her phone out of her purse and turned it on. She’d had it shut off while traveling today. She stifled a gasp at Claire’s text.
Do NOT freak out. The vet said the dogs should be fine. Jake let Owen hold the ring box when we first arrived in the room because he was fussy. Somehow he pried it open, the bands fell out, and Rose grabbed one. Max grabbed the other, and by the time we chased them down, they’d swallowed them. Check their poop and don’t let them out of your sight.
Hailey’s gut churned, nausea rising fast. “Excuse me.” She bolted from the room, frantically searching for a bathroom. Finally she found a door that led outside and stood there, bent over, hands on her knees, waiting to see if she was going to throw up. When it didn’t happen right away, she straightened and took a deep breath of bracing sea air. It was a gorgeous sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. So why did she feel like a dark cloud hung over this wedding? Like it was doomed—no, like it was cursed! First, the gown was ruined, then she had to power through with morning sickness, then the furry wedding, then the flowers, now the rings. She looked to the sky. What else could go wrong? She was afraid to find out. How could the one wedding that fell apart be hers? She’d never had so many disasters in all of her years as a wedding planner.
She sighed and walked back inside.
Josh strode toward her. “There you are. Are you okay? If you’re not feeling well, we’ll do the interview later.”
She squared her shoulders and straightened her spine. “I’m okay. So here’s the latest, Claire said the dogs swallowed our wedding bands. The vet thinks they’ll come out the other end tomorrow.”
He stared at her. “Seriously?”
“Why would I make that up?” she exclaimed. “Could this wedding be more screwed up? I swear it’s cursed!”
He pulled her into his arms. “So dramatic,” he murmured. “When you go big like this kind of wedding, there’s bound to be some issues. It’s a lot to bring together.”
She pulled away. “I’ve planned plenty of weddings, including a royal wedding. This does not happen on my watch.”
“Okay.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He lifted one shoulder. “Obviously it is happening on your watch. It’ll work out.”
She gestured wildly. “What if it doesn’t? What if it’s a complete disaster captured forever in the pages of Luxury Weddings and Bride Special, making me look incompetent and unprofessional, and ruining Villroy as a wedding venue for all time, tanking the economy and destroying a royal kingdom?”
“No pressure.”
“Exactly!”
He remained aggravatingly calm. “All that matters in the end is that we’re married.”
She threw her hands up. “That’s not all that matters!”
He crossed his arms. “It is to me.”
“Josh! How do you not get this? How can you be so calm when everything is falling apart?”
A feminine voice called to them. “Everything okay out here?” It was Evelyn. Shit. How much had she heard? She couldn’t use stuff off-the-record, could she?
She glared at Josh for fighting with her in public like that.
He smirked, like that was you, sweetheart. They silently communicated all the time, but the pressure of doing that with a reporter witness made it much more intense. Hailey seethed.
He stroked her hair back and cupped her cheek, his gaze tender. He never minded their fights and rarely showed much temper. He’d even told her he liked her fighting spirit most of all. How could she stay mad at him when he so clearly loved her, flaws and all?
She gave him a small smile, took his hand, and turned toward Evelyn. “We were just heading back. I needed to find the ladies’ room and I’m afraid I got lost.”
Evelyn smiled and turned back toward the audience chamber, walking at a brisk pace. She and Josh walked slowly, a good distance behind. He lifted their joined hands and kissed her knuckles.
“Oh, Josh,” she said on a long sigh.
“It’ll work out.”
She was having a very hard time believing that. “If you say so.”
“It will. I’m going to make sure of it.”
“What if we’re cursed?” she whispered.
“Then I’ll perform an exorcism.”
“I don’t think that works on curses.”
He widened his eyes. “Magic?”
“Now you’re being ridiculous. This is serious.”
“You know curses aren’t real, right? Just like luck isn’t real. Life happens and you deal.”
“I cannot believe you don’t believe in those things. How plain your world is.”
“Would you rather I be terrified of a curse and throw my hands up?”
“No,” she admitted.
“Hailey, you go right on believing in your fairy tale and I’ll make it come true.”
A surge of affection made her stop, throw her arms around his neck, and kiss him. He returned the kiss passionately, and her world righted itself again.
When they broke apart, Lucy was standing there with her camera, smiling at them. “Evelyn told me you were on your way back, but you took so long. It’s a great picture. Can I use it?”
Josh grabbed her hand and pulled her over to look at it. The kiss looked every bit as passionate from the outside as it had felt from the inside. Maybe even more so because Josh had this way of holding her, one hand cupping her head, the other arm around her waist, pulling her flush against his hard body. Why, they could be on the cover of one of her beloved romance novels!
Josh raised a brow at her in question.
“You can use it,” she told Lucy. “And send me a copy. I’d like to frame that.”
Josh grinned.
Once they were all settled back in the room, Evelyn said, “Everyone loves to hear the story of how the happy couple met. How was it for you two?”
Hailey glanced at Josh, who clamped his mouth shut. Thank God he was letting her tell her version. Frenemies who got out of hand was not the image she wanted to convey to the world. She turned to Evelyn. “We actually work just across the street from each other in Clover Park. I work out of Ludbury House for my wedding planning business, and Josh owns the Happy Endings bar. Over time, we grew closer. He took some cooking classes offered at night at Ludbury House, it’s owned by the town and frequently hosts community events, and I met friends at his bar, so we talked quite a bit over two years or so, and we had a lot of connections that brought us in frequent contact at parties and special occasions. I’m close with his sister, his dad married my mom, and some of my friends are married to his brothers. He has a big family.”
“Your dad married her mom?” Evelyn asked Josh.
“Yup.” Josh didn’t elaborate. He could be very reserved, especially with people he didn’t know, and Hailey was immensely grateful in this instance.
“That’s brilliant!” Evelyn exclaimed. “So you’re actually her stepbrother.”
Crap. Why had she said their parents were married? On the other hand, it would be obvious when their parents arrived tomorrow. Hailey resembled her mom, and all of the Campbell sons took after their dad. It was impossible to hide it, especially with how revoltingly lovey-dovey their parents were with each other.
Josh frowned, his voice sharp. “It’s not like that. We found each other long before our parents got involved.”
Evelyn beamed. “Your love was contagious. Mr. and Mrs. Second Generation! Love redux! No, Happy Ever After Redux!” She waved airily. “I’ll think on the phrasing.” She leaned forward. “I’d dearly love to interview them too.”
Hailey shifted uneasily, not liking the direction this was going. Not only the weirdness of the stepbrother thing, her mom was the worst oversharer. She shuddered to think what might come out of her mouth. Probably something about how great Joe was in bed and the apple must not fall far from the tree. “They’re not here yet. I’m not sure there will be time, but I’ll run it by them.” There will definitely not be time.
“I’d prefer to keep them out of it,” Josh said.
Evelyn pressed on. “But our readers would love to hear how two generations have connected. Did you two help bring them together?” She winked. “A little matchmaking?”
“I’d prefer to keep them out of it,” Josh repeated.
Hailey nodded once. “I think that’s best. They’re very private people. In any case, your readers might like to hear about our first date. Josh is a gourmet cook and he prepared a delicious steak dinner for me at his place.” She leaned forward, sharing the best part. “He even prepared some steak for my little Rose.” Rose popped up from the floor at her name and jumped onto Hailey’s lap. Max leapt onto Josh’s lap. She casually checked Rose’s stomach, feeling for ring-shaped lumps.
Evelyn inclined her head. “Okay, so no parents.” She wagged her finger. “Though I’m quite sure there’s a story there. We’ll circle back to that.”
“We’re done with that,” Josh said in a voice that brooked no argument.
“Mmm,” Evelyn murmured noncommittally. “So how’s the wedding shaping up? I couldn’t help but notice the abundance of wildlife in the palace.”
“Damn furries,” Josh muttered.
“It’s no problem,” Hailey chirped, sending Josh a stealth please leave this to me look. He looked back at her brows raised like what?
She considered how to address the other wedding without throwing Bonnie under the bus. Phillip needed Bonnie at this early stage of building their client list. “It turns out there are two weddings on Saturday due to a mix-up. There were extenuating circumstances with the other wedding, but everything has been worked out. My wedding will be in the chapel at seven followed by the reception in the ballroom, until dawn if we want, though I confess I’ll probably be in bed by midnight.”
Josh squeezed her hand. “It is our wedding night.”
Evelyn smiled. “So everything’s right as rain? I heard there were a few hiccups.”
Hailey stiffened. Had Evelyn overheard Hailey’s freak-out in the hallway, or was everyone talking about this? There were a lot of servants around, who probably heard everything. Ugh. This was supposed to be the wedding of the century highlighted in all its glory in the glossy pages of Luxury Weddings, not the wedding from hell.
“I took care of the flower problem,” Josh said. “Everything’s fine.”
Hailey chimed in as cheerfully as possible. “Flowers were slightly delayed. No problem at all.”
“How is the gown?” Evelyn asked. “We’d love to get pictures of you in it ahead of time.”
“It’s here,” Josh said.
Hailey smiled tightly. “Of course it’s here. And I’d love to show you tomorrow.”
Josh turned to her. “Well, it almost wasn’t. I took care of the problem.”
She narrowed her eyes at Josh, ordering him to stop mentioning problems. She turned to Evelyn. “The gown is just what was expected. It’s quite stunning, an original design I’m sure your readers will drool over. I sure did and I know gowns.”
“So everything’s not falling apart?” Evelyn asked slyly.
Crap. She’d overheard Hailey earlier for sure.
“Nope,” Josh said.
“Not at all,” Hailey said, lying through her teeth. “Everything is working out just fine.” If you substituted “fine” for one of Josh’s pithy military lingo terms—FUBAR.
Josh put his arm around her shoulders, pulled her close, and kissed her cheek. “Couldn’t be happier.”
She softened, relaxing against him. “Yes.”
The photographer, Lucy, leaned in. “Can I go to the bachelor and bachelorette parties tomorrow night to take pictures?”
“Of course,” Hailey said.
“No,” Josh said. One corner of his mouth lifted. “Sorry. Guys only.” He didn’t sound sorry at all.
“You’re welcome to join us ladies,” Hailey said. “You too, Evelyn.”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Evelyn said.
Hailey sent a silent prayer up that Mad’s planned bachelorette party tomorrow night would go off without a hitch.
And the dinner with the Bride Special people tonight.
And the post-dinner visit with the king.
And the furries, the flowers, the rings, her gown…ahhh!