Royal Wedding Fiasco

by Renna Peak

  I turn to leave when I hear the door creak open.

  Victoria is peering out the door, and when she sees it’s me, she motions me inside.

  Something is definitely wrong. Her eyes and cheeks are puffy as though she’s been crying. And not just crying—it looks like she’s been sobbing for hours.

  She gives me a weak, forced smile. “I haven’t seen you since you brought the baby home.”

  “I know.” I motion toward the door. “I would have brought him, but—”

  “No,” she interrupts. “It’s better… It’s fine that you didn’t.” She motions for me to sit. “Are you all right? Leo’s been away—”

  “I’m fine,” I lie. “But you…” I take the seat next to her on the sofa. “What’s wrong?”

  She gives me another tiny plastic smile. “It’s nothing. It’s…” She sniffles a few times, obviously trying to cover the emotion filling her voice. “Andrew and I…” She shakes her head. “I wish I could explain it.”

  “You’re fighting.”

  “You may get to have this wedding all to yourself after all. All the plans are already made. The people are already invited, assuming the storm lets up.” She forces her smile to widen. “It’ll be perfect for you and Leo.”

  I watch her for a few moments, trying to tell if she’s joking or not, but there’s no hint of humor in her words. “Victoria…”

  “He hasn’t spoken to me. Not at all since yesterday.” She blinks back a fresh set of tears. “He hates me.”

  I reach out to take her hand in mine. “I’m sure that isn’t true.”

  “It is.” She presses her lips together. “He thinks I betrayed him.”

  I search her expression for another moment. I’m not sure what’s going on here, but I know I need to tread lightly. “Why would he think that, Victoria?”

  “Because I did.” Her expression twists, and a few tears stream down her cheeks. She swipes them away with her free hand. “I did.”

  “Oh, Victoria…” I’m not sure what else to say. If she really did sleep with someone else, I don’t know how they can recover. “What happened?”

  “Not like that.” She must be able to read my thought in my expression. “I didn’t cheat on him. I guess I betrayed him in a much more hurtful way, at least to him.”

  I can feel my forehead wrinkle with confusion, and she must sense it, too.

  “You’re lucky, you know? So, so lucky. I mean, I’m happy for you. You have it all.”

  “I don’t…” I probably shouldn’t say anything. I have no idea what’s going on in her head right now. The only thing I know for sure is that I’ve never seen her like this—Victoria is the one who always holds it together. Not the one who falls to pieces. Maybe the stress of the wedding is cracking her. Or maybe it’s something else.

  “I went to that doctor you recommended in London.”

  Something twists in my chest, and I know immediately what’s happened. And there’s no way for me to soothe her—no way she’s going to want to listen to me. It doesn’t matter if I’m a doctor—there’s no healing the kind of heartache she’s going through right now.

  I squeeze her hand. She doesn’t need to tell me what they said—there’s no way she’d be crying if it was anything good.

  “And I found one in France. They…they…” She sniffles a few times before a few more tears streak down her cheeks. “They said I needed four surgeries. And I let them do the first one.”

  I almost wince. I can already hear the ending of this story in the way she’s telling.

  “They said it was hopeless.” Her chest heaves a few times. “I’m hopeless.”

  “Oh, Victoria…” I scoot closer to her, pulling her into a hug.

  She clings to me for a long moment, sobbing into my shoulder.

  “I’m so sorry,” I whisper to her. I know it doesn’t help, but it’s the only thing I can think of to say.

  She finally pulls herself together after a few emotional minutes and edges away from me to give me a small smile. This one isn’t forced or fake, at least.

  She plows out a long breath. “I’m sorry. I don’t let myself get like this.”

  I squeeze her hand. “You can lose it with me anytime. God knows I’ve lost it with you enough.”

  “I need to tell you something.” She frowns. “I’ve been really, really jealous. Really jealous. You have it all. You have your prince, your baby…” She presses her lips into a hard line and blinks to hold back her tears.

  After a moment, she lets out another long breath. “It feels good to admit it out loud. And I’m sorry.” She turns her hand in mine, squeezing it. “If I’ve been distant the past few months, that’s why.”

  I nod, blinking back my own tears. She’s right—and it’s time I admit it to myself. I am the luckiest woman I know. And as soon as Leo gets back—even if he did go off to have one last fling—I will have it all.

  Andrew

  I can’t eat. Can’t sleep. Ever since Victoria told me the truth about what she’s been hiding from me, I’ve been completely lost. I’ve spent all morning outside, trudging through the snow across the palace grounds, hoping the shock of cold will help me think clearly.

  I still can’t believe she’d hide something so import from me. Or that, after all this time, she’d still refuse to believe that she’s enough just as she is. How can I forgive her for putting herself in danger over something like this and then lying to me about it? How can I forgive that?

  Deep down, though, I know a good deal of this is my fault. Somehow, some way, I must have given her the impression that I needed more. That our lives wouldn’t be complete without a child, or that she will be less of a queen because of her inability to have children. I don’t know how, but it’s up to me to fix it.

  I stop at the edge of one of the gardens. The snow has piled up several feet here, turning the shrubs into mysterious, unidentifiable mounds. Icicles hang from the fountain at the center of the small courtyard. I rub my gloved hands together and look up. There currently isn’t any snow falling, but the sky is the same slate gray color it’s been for days now. We’re supposed to get more snow before the day is over.

  I don’t mind the snow. It’s the wind that gets to me—the sharp, icy gusts that seem to travel straight through me. It makes me feel colder and number than I already do.

  I have to fix this. I have to bring her back to me.

  But how? If she was willing to hide something this momentous from me, is it already too late for us?

  No. I refuse to believe it. I refuse to let her go. Victoria has brought a light to my life. I love her in a way I never believed possible. I refuse to give up hope for us. Somehow, I have to close this distance between us.

  Something lands on my nose, tickling it. A snowflake. Another one lands on my glove. It looks like the sky is opening up again.

  And suddenly, I have an idea. A way I can bring Victoria back to me. A way to show her exactly how much she means to me.

  I tilt my head up, letting the wind whip against my face. But for the first time in a week, I don’t feel cold.

  Leopold

  “What do you mean you can’t get us there?” I demand. “What happened to all your big talk about flying in worse weather than this?”

  Our helicopter pilot crosses her arms, glaring at me. “I’m good at what I do, but I’m not going to get myself killed for you, Your Highness.”

  I rub my hands over my face. “There are only three days left—”

  “That’s still three days for us to get there,” she points out. “And you’re closer than you were.”

  “Not nearly close enough.” Miss Greene landed us in the French Alps, at the Val d’Isere ski resort.

  “Things are really bad over the Alps right now,” she tells me again. “If I try to fly through it, we’ll probably all die. Would this Elle of yours prefer you dead?”

  I turn away from her, grumbling to myself. Even though I know she’s telling the truth, I’m hav
ing a hard time fighting down my impatience. I have to make it home. If I don’t, I won’t need to worry about this weather killing me—Elle will do that herself. It doesn’t help that the inclement weather also means that my mobile phone has no service, so I can’t even call her to update her on my situation.

  Matthias comes to stand beside me. He’s still a bit green in the face from our flight here—even with Meghan’s expert flying, it was a bumpy ride. Owen hasn’t left the bathroom since we arrived—chugging down all those drinks at the hotel bar before we left Barcelona was clearly a mistake.

  “There’s still time,” Matthias tells me.

  “Not enough. Not if things continue like this.”

  “The moment they get the phones back online, I’ll inform the palace of our situation,” he says. “Until then, Your Highness, please try to get some rest. Take a nap. Perhaps by the time you wake, the weather will have cleared enough for us to proceed.”

  I want to argue with him, but just the thought of bed fills me with a deep longing. I know he’s right—Matthias usually is—and that nothing would benefit me more than a few hours’ sleep right now. If I can even manage to get to sleep with so much on my mind.

  “Fine,” I tell him. “But promise to wake me if there are any updates.”

  “Of course, Your Highness.”

  I turn to Miss Greene. “You should sleep, too. I want us flying out of here the first chance we have.”

  She rolls her eyes at me as if I’m some sort of idiot, and for a brief moment, I’m reminded of some of the interactions Elle and I had back when we first met. The longing for Elle hits me so fast it’s like a kick right to the stomach. God, I miss her.

  And not just her. I miss my son more than I ever imagined I could. It’s only been a few days, but I feel a physical ache at the thought of him. I’d do anything to have him in my arms right now. Anything to curl up in bed next to Elle and hold both of them close to me.

  When I reach my room, I collapse on the bed. And I dream of my family back home.

  Victoria

  Maybe it’s a blessing that the weather is so bad—it’s almost like the decision to cancel the wedding is being made for us.

  I sit at the window, watching the huge flakes of white fall from the grey sky. I shouldn’t be feeling sorry for myself, but I can’t seem to help it. Everything has fallen apart.

  There’s a soft knocking at my door, but I ignore it. I’m not in the mood for more company—not now. Seeing Elle was nice—I haven’t really spoken to her since she and Leo brought the baby home from the hospital. But acknowledging what’s really going on with me—the real reason I’m feeling like this—has wiped me out emotionally. I know there’s more to my life than having a child. At the moment, though, I can’t seem to remember what that is.

  My door opens. I don’t have to look to know it’s Andrew.

  He clears his throat, but I still don’t turn.

  After another moment, he finally speaks. “You should have told me.”

  “That wouldn’t have made for much of a surprise, would it?” I still can’t seem to force myself to turn around. I somehow know that if I make eye contact with him, I’ll find myself in another puddle of tears.

  “I think…” He must take a few steps closer, because his voice sounds like he’s right behind me. “Perhaps you don’t give me enough credit.”

  “And what is that supposed to mean?” I finally turn to face him.

  His expression is softer today. The anger that had filled his eyes after I told him what I’d done is gone, replaced by something else, though I’m not quite sure what it is.

  “It only means…” He lets out a long breath. “It only means that I would have wanted to be there for you. I wouldn’t have allowed you to suffer through something like that alone.”

  I shake my head. “But that was the point. I didn’t want us to both have to suffer.” My bottom lip begins to quiver, and I know I’m about to lose it again. “There was no reason for us both to be disappointed when it didn’t work. It was…it was a long shot. The odds were against me from the beginning. I just hoped…” I have to fight to keep my tears from falling again.

  He walks over to me and places a hand on my cheek. “My love, don’t you see? It doesn’t matter.” He kneels in front of me, dropping his hand to pull mine into his. “I love you. I don’t understand why you don’t feel like you’re enough. I don’t understand why you don’t feel like a whole person—”

  “It isn’t about not feeling like a person, Andrew.” I let out a defeated sigh. “This is about not feeling like a whole woman. I don’t expect you to be able to understand. I mean…I might have never chosen to have children, and that would have been fine. But I don’t have the choice. I don’t…” I shake my head and bite my lip, trying to keep the flood of tears away.

  He brings his other hand up to grasp the one he’s already holding. “You’re right. I don’t… I couldn’t possibly understand. But what I do understand is that I love you. And I do have a choice, Victoria. And I still choose you.”

  I look into his eyes, still blinking back the tears that now no longer feel like sadness—they feel more like tears of absolute joy. I’m not sure how I got so lucky—how the man of my dreams accepts me for everything I am. And I can’t ask for anything more. He’s all I need.

  “I love you so much, Andrew.”

  His lips turn up into a slow smile. “I can’t begin to tell you how much I love you.” He rises from his knees, pulling me up to stand beside him. “Now, get your coat. I have something to show you.”

  “It’s too cold. And the snow…” I shake my head. “We can stay here. We can hole up here until the wedding—”

  Something about his expression interrupts me. I can’t quite read him, but I know enough to know I shouldn’t be arguing with him. Not now.

  “Okay.” I drop his hand and go over to pull on my coat and boots.

  He leads me quickly through the palace, and we go outside toward the gardens. Even though the wind is icy—it almost feels as though it could pierce my skin—it is beautiful out here. The way the snow sits atop the shrubbery makes it look almost like the gardens were planned as much for winter as they were for the spring and summer.

  After a few more minutes, I see where it is he’s leading me. I look up at him, and he grins. It’s too windy for us to speak without yelling at each other, but there’s no doubt about where it is we’re going.

  A small thrill runs through me. Andrew and I have spent many nights in the small gardener’s cottage. And sharing another memory before our wedding might be just the thing we need.

  It takes a few more minutes to get there, and I see he’s planned this well. There is a warm glow coming from inside—he must have come here before he came to my room to get a fire going. And I’ll admit—nothing sounds more appealing at the moment than lying with him beside a fire.

  As soon as we step inside, I see the glow isn’t coming from a fire. There must be a thousand candles lit in the small living room, and a man I only vaguely recognize is standing in front of the fireplace.

  Andrew helps me with my coat, and as soon as he takes his off, he pulls my hands into his, leading me over to the man.

  “This is Robert. He works in the palace…” He turns to the man. “Do you have an official title?”

  Robert chuckles. “I do whatever is asked of me, Your Highness.”

  “Right.” Andrew turns back to me, giving me a grin so giddy, I almost wouldn’t recognize him if I wasn’t standing next to him. “Robert is also an officiate.”

  My mind goes blank—I’m sure I didn’t hear him right.

  “We’ll still have our wedding, of course. The grand wedding in two days can be for everyone else. This one…” Andrew glances over at Robert before turning to me. “This one is for us. Just for the two of us.”

  Tears fill my eyes again, and Andrew swipes them away with his thumbs as they begin to spill down my cheeks.

  He really does
love me. I can’t think of any other way he might have proved it. “It’s…perfect.” I can barely whisper the words.

  “Is that a yes?” He’s still grinning—I don’t think I’ve ever seen Andrew so happy.

  I nod. “Yes,” I whisper.

  He lets out choked laugh as he turns to Robert, nodding at him. “Then let’s get married.”

  The ceremony is quick—much shorter than the one planned for this weekend. I repeat the words Robert says—I take you, Andrew, to be my husband. My husband.

  My God, he really is mine now. And I’m his. Forever.

  It’s over before I know it, and Robert leaves us alone in the cottage.

  Andrew pulls my hand to his lips, kissing each of my fingers as he looks into my eyes. “We’re married now.”

  I let out a short laugh. “Yes. We’re married now.”

  He grins as he drops my hand, sliding his arms around my waist. “I suppose this means we should have our wedding night. It’s been far too long since we’ve been together.”

  A jolt of electricity runs through me and I slide my arms down his back, pulling him against me. “It’s a damn good thing we’re in our favorite cottage then, isn’t it?”

  Leopold

  Two days until my wedding, and I’m still no closer to home.

  I swear, if I don’t get out of this place soon, I’m going to start murdering people. And despite my mandatory military training, I’m not exactly proficient in the art of killing people, so no doubt it would be a messy, painful affair for everyone involved.

  Instead, I decide to play to my strengths. If you can’t beat them…charm them. When I can’t sit still any longer, I make my way back to our pilot’s room and knock on the door. When she answers a moment later, she finds me with one hand propped casually on the doorframe, giving her my most charming of smiles.

  “Good afternoon, Miss Greene,” I say cheerfully.

  Her eyes immediately fill with suspicion. “What is it now, Your Highness? I told you, until the snow stops—”