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“Funny.” Caden offered them both a half-hearted grin. “Do I dare ask what secrets you’re spilling?”
“Just the ones that you got me involved in,” said Ebony.
“Don’t make me fire you,” Caden joked before glancing over at Maggie.
A quickening beat jolted Maggie’s heart. She could get used to seeing him every morning. Licking her lips, Maggie cleared her throat. “If he fires you, I’ll hire you as the pageant chef once I’m handed the reins.”
“Speaking of a royal chef for the pageant,” Caden began, “Maggie, what do you think about taking a drive this afternoon to scout out some local market foods?”
“I think that’s a great idea,” Maggie said, perking up. “I want to scratch the stigma that beauty queens starve themselves. Let’s make sure there’s a great healthy spread we can feature in promotion.”
Caden tapped on the wall. “All right, let me get dressed and we’ll head out.”
Ebony began clearing off the table, but Maggie covered her hands. “The least I can do is help you clean up in here.” She paused for a moment while Ebony feigned a heart attack. “Let me guess, Caden’s previous guests didn’t ask to help?”
“Try more like expecting me to serve them breakfast in bed in their rooms.”
Had she woken up in the common room where all of Caden’s conquests slept? Maggie tried not to snarl. She’d be a fool to think she was special. She was surprised Caden didn’t have a revolving door somewhere around here.
“And before your mind starts wandering,” Ebony said, giving Maggie’s hand a squeeze, “you’re the only person he’s ever let sleep in his bedroom.”
“Oh, I, uh...”
“It’s okay.” Ebony gave her a wink next. “I said you were special.”
* * *
“I can’t imagine my brothers or cousins have gotten as much accomplished,” Caden declared later on that afternoon. He opened the passenger door to his Aston Martin for Maggie to slip inside. “We’ve covered half of my mother’s wishes for the fiftieth anniversary. It’s as if you’ve been planning this for years.”
So far the two of them had been able to locate the bakery where Kit had originally ordered a celebration cake for her first contestants. Back when Kit threw her first pageant, clearly everyone wanted to participate and donate. The local dress shop had offered up dresses for Kit’s girls. But that was back in the day. He highly doubted anyone would be so willing to be so generous now, since the pageant was no longer a start-up. But Maggie said she knew a person who could help, and Caden planned on banking on that. Besides contacting the local cake shop, Maggie also was able to get quite a bit of colorful Gullah Geechee artwork donated for the event. Kit originally had a live zydeco band in homage to her New Orleans roots. They also selected a few works of art from the Walter O. Evans African-American Collection at SCAD, the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Maggie shrugged her shoulders, sat down in the car and swung her legs inside. “I grew up around beauty pageants, Caden,” she reminded him while shuffling a bunch of loose papers filled with ideas she’d had for the pageant. Maggie wanted to have the event be pretty much a celebration like the Kentucky Derby, with several smaller pageants before the main event. Caden especially admired her idea for girls in STEM programs, which did not surprise him, given her own coding talents. She wanted a talent show showcasing girls’ science, math and technology skills on a runway, not their model figures in gowns. Caden was in awe. And so was his mother, who green-lit every idea they sent her way.
Not wanting to miss a minute away from her, Caden made a quick dash to his side of the car. “Your sister was in a pageant, right?”
“Kenzie? Yes.” Maggie seemed to beam at the mention of her sister. “There’s a long line of Swayne beauty queens. My father was attending his sister’s pageant when he met my mother.”
“Yikes, who did he root for?”
“Clearly, since we are here, he rooted for my mother.”
Caden liked it when she laughed. Maggie closed her eyes. Her long lashes fanned against the sprinkle of freckles high on her cheeks. “And my aunt Jody never let him live it down. Since then there have been several Hairston—that’s my mama’s side—beauty queens. And then of course the recent winner, my niece, Bailey.”
“Ah, a legacy of beauty queens.”
“That’s more my sister’s pride and joy title.” Maggie laughed lightly.
“You had a look on your face when you brought up Bailey’s name, like you enjoy being an aunt. Love it?”
“It’s the best thing ever,” Maggie boasted. “I get to spoil her and send her back to my brother. Every time Bailey spends the night with me because she’s mad at her dad for some teenager thing she’s done, I get to tell her stories about her dad. It’s great. I take it there aren’t any young Archibalds running around Savannah, huh?”
Caden shrugged his shoulders. At that moment he realized just how removed he was from his brothers. Besides EJ, Caden had no idea who his brothers were involved with. Either way, he knew they came with a string of women and broken hearts. “None that I know of. But I get to somewhat fulfill my role as an uncle in the form of being godfather. One of my frat brothers is expecting his first child in a few months. I wholeheartedly expect to be named the godfather.”
“Wouldn’t the mother have a say over that?” Maggie inquired.
With that, Caden cast a glance at his passenger and gave her a wink. “Zoe loves me. She’d have no problem with Will naming me godfather.”
Maggie’s brows rose. “Zoe Baldwin?”
