Seven Exes Are Eight Too Many

by Heather Wardell

  "Let's cut to the chase. You quit the contest so the Princess wouldn't be embarrassed about throwing herself on you in bed."

  "I didn't," Kent said at once. "And I didn't know about it anyhow. I quit because I was tired."

  No. He did quit that contest for me. He'd thought I'd be devastated by what I'd done, and he'd done everything he could to keep it from being revealed.

  He'd been trapped. Just like when I'd fallen, and when he'd tried to get me a phone call, and even with the stupid snake's name. Each time he'd been stuck with no time to think, his immediate reaction had been to take care of me. To stand up for me. So different from before.

  He did love me, he had to.

  "Well, I'll take your word for it. So, this is your last chance, Prince. Anything else you'd like to say?"

  Kent sat silent. Now that it was obvious, to me anyhow, what he'd done, surely he'd admit it, admit he still wanted me. He knew how I felt, so why pretend any more?

  "No," he said at last, and my heart lurched. "I've said everything I need to say."

  "Nothing to say to the Princess?"

  I looked up. Kent's eyes met mine, the sadness in them painful to see. "I hope you find everything you want and need, MC. You deserve it."

  "Thanks," I managed to get out, then added, "You too."

  That was it? I couldn't understand.

  "Any last words before we get to the million dollars, Princess?"

  I shook my head. Nothing I could say here, at any rate.

  "Okay," Peter said, sounding annoyed, and asked our exes for their final thoughts.

  I thought as hard and fast as I could. What was I missing? Kent had stepped up, done everything I could ever have wanted. He'd gone miles for me, but wouldn't go the last inch and tell me how he felt. Was he going to tell me after the show? It didn't feel like it. I was still sure he wanted me back, but then why the sadness in his eyes? He knew how I felt, so--

  Cold swept over me. In the clip of Aaron's seduction, to which I'd nearly succumbed, I'd sounded utterly uninterested. On my private island with Kent, he'd said the sweetest things I'd ever heard and my reaction had made him think I was angry. Aaron saying I lied well, someone else saying I should play poker... maybe Kent didn't know. I'd been trying to hide my feelings. Had I succeeded too well?

  I'd talk to him after the show, tell him how I felt and see if he felt the same way. Maybe there was still hope.

  A good plan, but something still felt wrong.

  "And now, the moment you've all been waiting for," Peter said, and I knew what was wrong. The money would make everything different. I had to do it now. Right now. Had to undo the things I'd said about him, all the times I'd pretended I didn't care. I'd done them in public and I had to undo them the same way.

  But I couldn't do it in front of everyone. But if I didn't, I'd lose him.

  "No!"

  The audience fell silent and every eye turned to me. I swallowed hard, my heart beating so fast I felt dizzy, and forced myself to think. If he'd seen my feelings anywhere, where would it have been? Where had they been at their strongest? "Peter, can I see the last contest again?"

  He frowned, but said, "Of course, Princess. May I ask why?"

  "No." The crowd snickered. "I just want to. The end of the contest and right after."

  Peter looked off-stage for approval, and the clip began. Instead of watching Kent step off his post and walk toward me, I forced myself to watch my own face. I'd felt so many strong emotions; which had he seen?

  None.

  After my initial shock at his quitting, there'd been nothing. My happiness at being finished, the anger when I'd thought he meant I was weak, my sympathy when his exes attacked him, even my hunger to hug him before he left the clearing... none of them showed.

  He didn't know how I felt. How could he?

  "Did you see what you wanted to see, Princess?"

  I couldn't fix it. I'd called him names and told the guys I didn't want him. The show had broadcast so much of what I'd said. How could I ever take it back?

  "Princess?"

  Too late. What's done is--

  A shiver swept me. No. Not this time. What was done could be undone. I could stand up for him, for us, and tell him how I felt. I could risk embarrassment for him. He'd fixed his mistake. I had to fix mine.

  I turned to Peter, and the knowledge of how many people were watching flooded me, cutting off my breath as though a hand had snapped down over my mouth. I couldn't tell everyone. I didn't have the strength to open up like that. I hadn't changed that much.

  Then I looked across at Kent, staring down at the carpet, and it hit me. I didn't have to tell everyone. I only had to tell him, and I'd always been able to tell Kent anything. As long as he heard me, it didn't matter who else did too.

  I pushed myself to my feet and took a deep breath, breaking through the restriction that kept my mouth closed. "It wasn't there to see."

  Peter flicked another look at the off-stage producers. "What do you mean?"

  "You could tell I was surprised, but who wouldn't have been?" My voice shook, but I kept talking. "But I was feeling a lot more and it didn't show."

  I took a step forward, the hardest step I'd ever taken, and Kent raised his head. Holding his gaze gave me strength, although his obvious shock frightened me. Had I read him wrong?

  Another step. He'd stood up for me without knowing how I'd react, and I had to do the same. If I'd read him wrong, so be it. I needed to do this and I was doing it. He deserved it.

  "You couldn't see how grateful I was to be finished," I said to Kent. The closer I got to him the easier it became to walk forward. "Or how much I appreciated everything you did for me, then and when I fell and all the other times. I said terrible things on the show, and I didn't mean a single one of them. But you couldn't see that either."

  Summer pulled her chair away from Kent's as I approached but I didn't even glance at her. Nothing else mattered but him. "You couldn't see that... that I forgive you." The image of him stepping down had forever eclipsed my memory of his not being there for me. "For everything."

  His eyes darkened at that, sending shivers through me. I reached him with two more steps, my heels loud in the tense silence, and he stood up as I said, "And there's one more thing you couldn't see."

  The words wouldn't come. My heart raced, I couldn't breathe, my arms and legs tingled. The disbelief in his eyes might have stopped me permanently if I hadn't seen the hope there too. I could tell him. I was tough enough. I'd survived twenty-one days on an island with my exes, for crying out loud. I looked into his eyes, my feelings for him swirling through me, and said it. "I love you."

  The crowd erupted, and I said, "Kent, I love you, and I want you back," not caring if they heard me, knowing he did.

  He stared, only disbelief in his eyes now, and as my 'so be it' attitude began to crumble he said, not looking away from me, "Peter, can I talk to her in private?"

  My heart dropped to my knees, which began to shake.

  "Sorry, no." Peter sounded genuinely regretful. "I can't let you leave the stage."

  Kent shut his eyes for a second that felt like a million years, then opened them, slipped out of his suit jacket, and draped it over both our heads.

  I heard Peter saying, "Get them out of there," and a lot of other commotion, as Kent plucked the microphone from the neckline of my dress then pulled off his own and dropped them into his pockets.

  He put both hands on my shoulders and moved in, and the unseen crowd whooped. Kent muttered, "Damn it, shut up," then said into my ear, "There's stuff I have to tell you."

  "Okay." Our sudden closeness made it hard to breathe, never mind talk.

  "I did know. I wanted to hold you so badly while we were falling asleep, and when you put your head on my shoulder I couldn't help myself. But when Peter brought up that night--"

  My heart leaping at the "wanted to hold you", I said, "You didn't want him to say I'd caused it."

  "I never meant fo
r people to think you were weak." The words tumbled from him. "I didn't have time to think it through, I just couldn't let him upset you. And I threw the phone call contest too because--"

  "Kent!" I pulled back so I could see his face, so serious in the bright stage lights filtering through his jacket. "We can talk about all that later," I said. "I have to know what you think... about..." I couldn't finish the sentence, but I didn't have to.

  He touched my cheek, and his eyes told me the answer before he said, "I think you're brave, and beautiful, and I know I love you." As joy flooded me, he added, his voice roughened and his eyes dark, "MC, will you marry me?"

  The joy intensified to a near-painful level and I couldn't hold back my grin. "Yes. Yesyesyesyesyes."

  He pulled me close, wrapping his arms around me just the way I liked it, and the crowd's noise swelled again, fortunately not enough to stop me hearing him say, "I love you, angel."

  I squeezed him hard. "I love you too."

  We held each other for a long perfect moment. Then he leaned back and said, "Okay, got a plan for getting us out of here?"

  "Nope," I said. "I'm surprised they haven't dragged us out yet, but I guess we have to go tell them what's going on."

  He grinned. "Hey, I could ask you again out there. Give the crowd a thrill."

  I laughed then sobered. "But this was the real one, right?" I didn't want to share it.

  "Absolutely." He gave me a kiss, short but so full of love my eyes filled with tears. We smiled at each other then he said, "Try to look sad", shot me a wink, and pulled the jacket away.

  Blinking in the stage lights, I didn't try for 'sad' since 'shocked' came so easily. We stood surrounded by our exes. Not all of them: Phillip and half of Kent's exes still sat, glowering, in their seats. But the rest of my guys, accompanied by Summer, Lily, and Ashley, were blocking the production crew from reaching Kent and me.

  Overwhelmed by their support and by all the emotions of the night, I started to cry. The crowd groaned. Aaron reached for me, but Summer pushed past him and grabbed me in a hug.

  "He does love you," she whispered urgently. "I kissed him on the island because he said he'd given you the phone call. I'm sure he loves you." I squeezed her back, not wanting to ruin Kent's little game by admitting I already knew he loved me.

  He loved me.

  Pure happiness flooded me again, pushing away the tears, and I bit my lip to keep from screaming it to the crowd.

  "You wanted me to talk before, but now I actually have something to say," Kent said into his microphone, and the crowd quieted to a breathless hush. Summer let me go, and I turned to face Kent, our exes standing on either side of us like a wedding party.

  He stretched out the pause, while I fought to keep from grinning, before sinking onto one knee and offering my microphone to me as if it were a ring. The crowd erupted, but he waited for silence before saying, "Madeleine-Cora Spencer, please be my wife."

  He'd used entirely different words, keeping his original proposal for us alone, and it touched me so deeply I couldn't speak. The audience sat frozen as I took my microphone from his outstretched hand and reattached it. Even after I'd recovered from my emotion, I still held out, staring into Kent's eyes and making the crowd wait, then said, "Absolutely."

  The audience released its held breath in a storm of cheers and laughter, and Kent took my face in both hands and kissed me. When our lips touched he drew his hands forward until his little fingers were nearly touching my mouth.

  Puzzled, I opened my eyes enough to realize he was shielding our kiss from the cameras and the audience. Privacy on a reality show. How could I not love this man? I kissed him back with everything I had, until a hoarse voice yelling, "Attaboy, Kent!" above the other cheers made us burst out laughing.

  "Ron, man, you're wrecking the moment," Kent called.

  Summer hugged me tight. "I'm so happy for you guys," she said, crying and laughing at once. "Took you long enough, but it's awesome."

  "You're sure?"

  "Totally. You're meant to be together." She pulled back and grinned. "And I've got other targets in mind."

  She released me, blew a kiss at Aaron, and threw her arms around Kent, and Aaron said, "Yes, I'll be in your wedding party."

  "Don't remember asking," I said, laughing and hugging him.

  "No need to ask, baby, I'm there for you."

  After a few moments of congratulations, including my dad rushing the stage to hug me and shake hands with Kent, Peter said, "Okay, folks, we still have a few loose ends to tie up. Could you take your seats, please?"

  I turned toward my chair, but Kent caught me around the waist and pulled me to his chair and onto his lap instead. "I'm not letting you get away again," he said, and the audience cheered.

  When they calmed, Peter said, "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you both say you wouldn't be dating again?"

  I widened my eyes at him then turned to Kent. "Did we?"

  Kent furrowed his brow. "Maybe. But we're not dating."

  I giggled. "No, we're engaged." It hit me all over again. "We're really getting married?"

  He grinned. "You better believe it."

  "No time like the present," Peter said. We both turned to him, startled. "Hey, this is Vegas. We can have you married in ten minutes tops."

  "Be spontaneous, baby," Aaron called across at me over the roar of the crowd.

  I'd been more spontaneous than I'd ever been before, but having my wedding here, and on television? Kent touched my cheek and our eyes met. We looked at each other for a moment, then he said, "Peter, thanks but no. I think we've had enough exposure for one lifetime."

  Amen. I smiled at him, thrilled he'd known what I wanted, and he squeezed me.

  Peter said, "Well, then I guess that's all we have time for today, folks. I hope you've--"

  The audience's loud protests stopped him. "What? Am I forgetting something? Oh, right, the million dollars. Do we still care about that?"

  The audience and our exes made it clear they did, and Kent said into my ear, "I'm only marrying you if you win the money, you know."

  I grinned at him. "Same to you."

  "The final third of the contest involves our web site. Each week, viewers voted on whether they thought the Prince or the Princess did a better job that week. Whoever has the most votes wins the money." Consulting his clipboard, Peter said, "Over the seven episodes, the Prince received thirty-one million, four hundred and seventy-two thousand, seven hundred and fifty votes." He pointed dramatically at the screen behind him and Kent's vote total appeared on all three screens. "Now, are you ready to hear how the Princess did?"

  As the crowd cheered, I looked down at Kent, and the love in his eyes made me kiss him. He wrapped his arms more tightly around me and kissed me back, so sweet my heart melted but with passion pulsing through it that set my body ablaze. I never wanted it to end.

  My guys cheered and Kent's exes groaned as Peter gave my vote count, but Kent's kiss didn't waver. He was the only prize I wanted.

  I'd never felt more like a princess. Make that a Princess.

  To: editor@RealityTV-MyGuiltyPleasure.com

  From: geneeTVaddict@gmail.com

  Subject: My interview with Kent and MC

  Hope you like it!

  -G-

  Greetings, fellow reality TV devotees!

  I caught up with MC Spencer and Kent Lawson at a restaurant two weeks after their dramatic final episode, and being the pushy Genevieve you know and love went straight for the tough question. "Winning by seven hundred and eight votes basically means you tied. Does that bother you, MC?"

  Kent stepped in. "If she'd beaten me by a lot, she'd have bragged about it," he said, giving her a smile so innocent-looking it clearly belonged in jail for life. "So it's good."

  "What he means is he'd have whined if he'd lost by more points," MC said. "Nobody loves a whiner, so I'm glad we tied. Well, sort of tied. I did win."

  He rolled his eyes and she laughed, and grinned
at me. You know my cynical nature, but I have to admit, I think these two are for real.

  Her engagement ring's certainly for real, a nice big stone but not the rhinestone-like monstrosity so many reality TV stars go for. Being nosy, I asked where they bought it. Mushiness alert... the diamond came from her late mother's engagement ring. Kent took it, with her dad's permission of course, and had the ring designed for her. They'd picked it up that morning and she couldn't stop looking at it. Sweet, huh?

  Since they didn't blow the million on her rock, I asked what they had done with it. They wouldn't tell me! Not in detail anyhow. They did say his parents and her godson each got a hefty chunk, and they'd given each ex an equal share of the rest.

  Were the exes happy? Again, the Royals weren't exactly forthcoming, but MC did say everyone reacted about how she'd have expected. I translate this to mean Aaron said something goofy and suggestive, Phillip insisted he was worth more than everyone else put together, and Summer spent her share on an experimental llama farm or something like that.

  "Okay, but how much did you keep for yourselves?" I asked. Kent said they'd kept six thousand to help finance their wedding and "to make the math come out evenly" while dividing up the million. Only six grand? Not much for three weeks on a crappy island!

  And, the rumors are true: they were offered another million dollars to air their wedding preparation and the wedding itself. But don't check your TV listings: they declined.

  MC said, "We really want to keep the wedding private. Just friends and family."

  "Still, another mill never hurts," I said, pointing out the obvious as I do so well.

  Kent put his arm around MC and she leaned against him. "It might," he said. "And we have everything we need already."

  Knowing I'd be shunned by the lot of you if I ended on such a sappy note, I asked if they'd booked the wedding date or location yet.

  Man, National Defense could learn a thing from these two. You know I'm good at getting people to spill their guts, but not a drop of gut was spilled. (Revolting image. Sorry.) MC let Kent handle the questions, and that guy makes corrupt politicians look forthcoming. The only detail I managed to extract came when I asked about the honeymoon. Specifically, I asked for a location, and they looked at each other and said, "Not an island!"