Pierce shakes his head and chuckles. “Prick.”
Harrison pipes in with, “Hey, come on. Don’t be slagging my new sister-in-law’s brother-in-law.”
“So, what? You’re suddenly all best friends?” I ask, staring from one to the other.
“Maybe not, but there’s definitely potential,” Rosy says, walking over to Gran, linking her arm through Gran’s. “It turns out, your grandmother and I have something in common.”
Gran nods. “We both love looking at young men.” She leans in toward me. “Apparently, the FedEx guy who comes here has the best buns in the world. When we’re done here, I’m going to her office to wait for him.”
I glance up at Will, not sure what to think. Lowering my voice, I say, “Are we buying this?”
He nods, his face spreading into a wide grin. “Everything they’ve said is so odd, it makes me think it must be genuine.
“So, maybe we don’t elope?” I ask.
Will mutters, “Do we have ten million dollars to pay the network back?”
I nod, but then add, “It would be a rather large cut of my inheritance though, to be honest.”
“Hmm…and then there’s letting Dylan win,” he says.
“God, I’d hate that.”
“I know you would,” he says. Glancing up at his family, he says, “And I know I said I had never thought about my wedding, but that’s not true. I have thought about it…a few times actually. And in every version, it includes my family.”
“Oh,” I say, my face crumpling. “That’s so sweet.”
Will shrugs. “What can I do? I love the crazy bastards.”
I turn to our families. “Has anyone looked at the buzz online about the big fight?”
They all nod and start murmuring about how bad it is. Sighing, I say, “How do we fix it?”
Arthur lifts one hand. “We were brainstorming before you got here, and we may have a plan. It’s utterly insane, but we all agree a high degree of insanity is necessary given the situation. Also, Arabella, you’re going to love it and since you are the bride…”
Chapter 27
The Part Where the Families Embarrass Themselves on Live TV to Make the World Forget Their Big Fight…
Will
“Areyou absolutely certain you want to do this, sir?” I ask King Winston, who is currently dressed in a red sequined pantsuit ala Sisters Sledge. Apparently,We Are Familyis a big number at the resort show, so they already had the choreography, and the costumes are loose enough for most of us to fit in (although some of us are stretching the seams—I’m looking at you, King Winston).
So, yeah, we’ve spent the last two days rehearsing and learning all the words while Rosy’s niece babysat the kids. Now we’ve donned the ridiculous red sparkly jumpsuits and are about to humiliate ourselves on live TV in exchange for the film crew leaving first thing tomorrow morning so our families can have a proper holiday together. Oh, and because it’ll replace the video of Libby baby-bumping King Winston off the yacht as the new clip that plays every hour until the wedding.
“Not at all,” he answers, tossing his sparkly red scarf over his shoulder. “In fact, it’s a terrible idea, but I guarantee it’ll work. Also, I’m a little drunk so I don’t care as much as I probably should.”
Reynard and the resort’s dance/yoga instructor/choreographer, Hadley Jones, have worked their buns off to help us get this routine down and some of us definitely have struggled more than others with it. King Winston, Pierce, Harrison, and I are all in the back because we suck hard. Libby, Emma, and Tessa are in the middle, with Arabella, Arthur, and Rosy, who have ‘natural talent,’ in the front. The Princess Dowager is sitting backstage in a black ball gown after using her heart as an excuse to get out of making a fool of herself. I feel like it’s a valid reason, but the royals aren’t buying it. She’s going to come out at the end and wave to the crowd. We’re currently waiting behind a big curtain on the outdoor stage for showtime. On the other side, the crowd of hotel guests grows restless, and I feel like I want to vomit.
“I can’t believe Arthur made front row,” King Winston tells me. “He’s not even that good.”
“Agreed,” Pierce says. “I think he charmed Hadley into the front.”
King Winston nods. “That’s so Arthur. Prick.”
Arabella hurries over to us with a huge grin. “I can’t believe we’re doing this!”
“Me either,” I tell her with a deadpan expression.
