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Before Theo could respond, Mother shifted her focus to Grace. “You’ve caused quite enough wedding chaos yourself, Miss Fullerton. My damaged dress, the unwanted guest in the palace, and the alarming quantity of peacock droppings that are still being found in the royal garden as I speak. And, I was just alerted to the fact that the lavender wedding candles that arrived for the wedding ceremony are black-licorice scented.”
“I just ordered what was listed in the wedding files,” Grace defended.
“And you think black licorice is a popular wedding scent?” Mother asked. “You should have spotted the discrepancy and at least inquired about it.”
“Maybe you’re right, Your Majesty,” Grace admitted. “Maybe I would have noticed or questioned it if I had been here when they had arrived or had actually seen the boxes to begin with. But that doesn’t give you the right to treat me this way, queen or not.”
“I beg your pardon!” Mother said.
Grace stood and boldly took a step toward Mother, her gaze unwavering. “You’ve got anger issues. You need to work on that.”
I didn’t know whether I should cheer for Grace’s gumption or step in front of her to protect her.
“How dare you talk to me in that tone!” Mother said.
“My tone?” Grace said, not backing down. “Just because you have the title of queen does not give you the right to be mean. I admit I’ve made mistakes, but the peacocks were not my fault. The candles were not my fault. Aunt Honey was not my fault. And the tiara was obviously not my fault. It feels impossible to please you when I am mis-characterized and blamed for things I can’t control.”
Grace’s stance was impressive. It made me like her even more, but it was difficult to intimidate the Queen of Verdana. In fact, it was almost an impossibility.
Mother held her ground as well. “None of those issues would have occurred under the supervision of Miss DuPont. And as for respect, it is not given freely, like candy to a child. Respect must be earned.”
Grace nodded. “You’re right. So, I will let you know when you have earned mine. Because right now, I have no respect for you at all.” She glared at Mother for a long moment, then walked toward the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Mother asked. “This meeting is not over!”
Grace stopped and turned around to answer, but I interjected, growing weary of the negativity in the room. “Mother, you’ve made your point. This kind of talk is not healthy. Let’s just end this now.” I stood and walked over to Grace, stopping next to her.
“On the contrary, Oliver,” she declared, her stern gaze fixed on me. “We haven’t even touched on your unimaginable deceit.”
This meeting took another unexpected turn. I could feel the weight of her words pressing down on me. I swallowed hard, wondering how much she knew.
“You had knowledge of the missing tiara, but said absolutely nothing,” Mother said. “Did you not?”
There was no use lying now. “I did.”
“And when you had told me that Grace was the new wedding planner, I said I would expect nothing less than perfection and stellar reviews. I specifically asked you if she had achieved that level of client satisfaction, and you replied people couldn’t stop talking about Grace.”
I nodded, wondering when she had suddenly acquired the memory skills of an elephant. “That was the truth.”
“But also misleading, since they could not stop talking about her negatively,” Mother said. “You also left out the part where her clients were suing her.”
“I object!” Grace said. “Suing me doesn’t mean I’m guilty. They’re opportunists, nothing more, looking to make a buck.”
Fortunately, a disturbance in the halls of the palace distracted Mother, at least for the moment.
“What is going on out there?” she asked.
The noise was getting closer, and much to my surprise, the lively conversation was in Italian.
“The Tuscany Twins,” I mumbled in disbelief.
Lorenzo and Vincenzo Vitale, otherwise known as Renzo and Enzo. They were distant relatives on my family tree, third cousins connected to my great-grandparents on my father’s side.
And one more nightmare for my mother.
I had a feeling I knew the answer, but I still had to ask Grace. “Did you invite Lorenzo and Vincenzo Vitale to the wedding?”
She nodded. “Yes. They were on the backup list, just like Aunt Honey.” She studied me and grimaced. “They were not supposed to come, were they?”
