Acaravan of SUVs ferried them back to the airport the next morning, where Maxence had scheduled the jet to be on the tarmac and warmed up. As they walked through the private terminal, their passports were screened in the most cursory of manners, and the plane sped down the runway and lifted off into the sky.
“So, Wulf and Rae are coming to the enthronement next month? I can’t believe they’ll be traveling with a baby that’s only three months old!” Dree said to Maxence.
He smirked. “Knowing Wulfram, he has probably organized their childcare regimen like he does everything else. Nothing woulddarego wrong.”
Dree asked him, “How many people do you think there will be at the enthronement? Like, a couple dozen or so? Maybe a hundred? That throne room isn’t that big.”
Maxence glanced up at her from where he was thumbing something into his phone. “It’s not going to be in the throne room. We carpet the Court of Honor that’s inside the castle walls. There will probably be a thousand people there, possibly including your American president. Your government will certainly send someone.”
A thousand people.
They were going to convert the courtyard into a throne room, anda thousand peoplewere going to be there.
Dread settled over her. Chiara had said that the Monegasque citizensdeserveda royal wedding. She’d said that the prince wouldoweit to them. “Maxence?”
“Yes,chérie?”
“Where’s our wedding going to be held?”
Maxence set down his phone with the screen facing down on the table between them. He kept staring at it for a moment, chewing his lip, before he looked up. “It’s the bride’s prerogative, of course, but Monaco has not had a royal wedding ceremony at the palace since my uncle married forty years ago.”
“What about Pierre?” she asked, stalling.
“Flicka insisted on being married in Paris. She had three receptions, two of which required sizable donations for an invitation, which went to her charities. She raisedmillionsthat day for her work. It was of great benefit to the world. She oversees her charities like Wulfram organizes nanny services, but Monaco missed out. It was a great disappointment to our citizens.”
The arms of the airplane seat felt like they were shaking under her fingers. “So there’s no chance of us getting married in a barn in New Mexico, is there?”
“You and I can sneak off and have any ceremony you want, anywhere you want, but Monaco needs a royal wedding. In the past, tradition has been a civil ceremony in the throne room, where we would be legally married by a government magistrate. The next day, there is usually a large celebration with the religious ceremony, often a full Mass. The courtyard is consecrated to use as a church. That’s where my grandparents were married. The video of it was beautiful. Afterward, the reception is held someplace large. The Grimaldi Forum should be renovated by the time we get married in a few months.”
Dree was chewing on her lip as the thought of planning such an enormous wedding settled in. She couldn’t even imagine what the cake was going to look like. “Can my parents come?”
“Of course,” Maxence said and picked up his phone. “We’ll send the jet for them a week or so ahead of time. That way, if they want to do any shopping, they have plenty of time to do it at their leisure.”
“How many people are going to attend our wedding?”
Maxence set the phone down again. “About the same. Around a thousand. Perhaps a bit more.”
Her breath fluttered in the top part of her chest. “Where are they all going tosit?”
Maxence explained, “We have seating for events like this. If you hate the chairs, buy new ones.”
“A thousand chairs? You want me to buya thousand chairs?”
“Only if you want to.”
“There’s going to bea thousand chairsat our wedding.”
“Dree, what’s going on? There will be a thousand guests, so there will be a thousand chairs.”
“I can’t makea thousandflower bunches and bunting to wrap arounda thousand chairs!And the swag bags! How am I going to make upa thousand swag bagsfor all the guests? I mean, I was thinking about maybe some pretty little candles in red and white because those are Monaco’s colors. And a few squares of chocolate. Maybe some hand sanitizer. But if I do that, then it’sa thousand candles,anda thousand mini-bottles of hand sanitizer,andthree thousand squares of chocolate!”
Maxence wasn’t exactly smiling. His expression was more in wonderment of her naïveté.“Youdon’t have to make the bunting for the chairs, andyoudon’t have to make the gift bags. All you have to do is tell the planners what you want, and it will all happen without youdoinganything about it. The only thing you need to do is go shopping for a dress, pick it out, and go to the fittings. Other than that, point at pictures of what you want, attend a scaled-down mock-up of the event for a few hours, and sign off on the approval. You should probably tell me what the colors are, though they’ll arrange for the boutonniere and such.”
“Well, it should be red and white, shouldn’t it? Because ofMonaco?We should do red and white,right?”
His smile turned gentler. “That’s one of the major decisions for the wedding, and you’ve just made it. We’re settled. Red and white it is.”
“Is that okay? It doesn’t look like I’m trying too hard, does it?”
