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“Happy to hear how exuberant you are, Mon Amour. As am I. I missed you last night and can’t wait to see you enter the chapel. I won’t hold you from your preparation. I love you, Blair.”
“I love you, Luc,” I whisper as tears sting my eyes.
We end the call just as a knock on the door precedes my Mum’s entry.
“It was a good idea to keep the boys busy in Paris overnight and until the ceremony this evening. Tradition is important, Blair.”
I nod and smile at my mother as we walk to a salon in the château.
Luc had it transformed into a mini spa so my girls and I could get pampered before the wedding. He arranged for my favorite day spa in Paris to set up multiple stations and rooms for our treatments.
My mother and I have facials done in an area separated by an antique, hand-painted Chinese partition. While Jillian, Lola, Leonie, Starr, Anita, and Billie Chandler—Lola’s West Coast administrative assistant—have five-star massages, scrubs, and waxings. We’ll all end up together in the manicure and pedicure chairs.
We started the day with yoga led by Anita, followed by meditation with Starr. So, this is a much-needed respite. So relaxing and rejuvenating!
“Yes, Mum, I agree. We don’t want any bad vibes on our wedding day!” I giggle. “We only want good times for sure!”
The aesthetician tsks when my giggles turn to snorts, causing her application of cream to miss its mark. Which makes me laugh even harder. I can’t help the giddy feelings swirling through me. I’m just so ecstatic!
“What’s so funny, love bunny?”
Billie’s silly question evokes more snorts to the point I sit up from the table and fan my heated face. The cucumbers roll off my eyes and plop onto my lap.
“Ha! She’s hysterical! Blair is losing it, folks!” Lola says, bouncing on her feet and clapping her hands.
Everyone laughs, even the aestheticians, albeit discreetly.
Again, I don’t care. Call me mad because I’m crazy in love with Luc Montaigne!
Jillian walks over and plucks the cucumbers from my lap and says, “Oh, let her be. It wasn’t so long ago you were in the same position, Mrs. Sebastian Steele.”
Then, with a wink, she adds, “Although I can understand why… You girls have fine catches!”
“Up and at ’em! We’ve got a schedule to maintain,” my mother says as she slips off her table and joins the others at the mani/pedi chairs.
Lola and I glance at each other and bust out laughing. We thought Shelley—her mother-in-law—was a sergeant with Lola’s wedding. Well… my mother is just as bad!
As our nails finish drying, one servant enters the living room-cum-spa with a beautifully wrapped box in her hands.
Throughout the day, Luc sent gifts to me. A photo album of us over the last few months. A red suede bound book filled with love letters he’d written to me. A themed playlist of love songs he curated. Each precious and heartfelt.
I thank the servant. Then I lift the top—of course Luc thought to make the gift easy to open after I had my nails done. Inside is a flat blue velvet box. I press the sapphire cabochon closure, and the lid lifts to reveal an exquisite suite of diamonds set in clusters of pear-shaped stones in various sizes: a tiara; a pair of earrings; a bib necklace; two bracelets. They glitter as the light bounces off their flawless surfaces. Simply dazzling.
“Whoa! Someone pass my shades to me, stat!” Exclaims Billie as she shields her eyes from the brilliance of the diamonds.
Leonie claps and adds, “Le Renard Argenté knows how to treat a lady, or rather une duchesse!”
Indeed, he does. I smile to myself as tears of absolute joy fill my eyes. Sure, the jewelry is phenomenal. But it’s the entire package—a man who loves me and our twins and with whom I’ll spend the rest of my life.
It doesn’t get any better than that.
We head to the solarium for the bridesmaids’ luncheon. To go along with the spa theme, the menu comprises green salads, grilled herb-crusted salmon, roast chicken, and citrus-infused water. We prefer to eat light before putting on our gowns. Besides, I’ll waddle soon enough during my pregnancy. No need to waddle down the aisle now…
I giggle at the thought.
“There she goes, again,” Lola says gleefully as she twirls her finger in a circle by her temple. “Looney Tunes alert!”
Afterwards, we return to our rooms to dress.
