PRINCE CHARMING: A Stepbrother Secret Baby Romance(21)
Allete held the door open for her and Olivia walked out, followed as usual by Allete, her other ladies, and one guard. Melinda would be waiting for her in the car so they could ride into town. They had a lunch to attend to with several other elite women of the court, and after that, it was time to get fitted for her bridesmaid dress. Olivia was excited about that, but her mother did tend to have an eccentric side, just as she did.
“Olivia, you look stunning,” Melinda said when she spotted her daughter.
“You say that every day,” Olivia said as she reached the bottom of the steps. “Are you trying to say I didn’t look good enough as plain old me?”
Melinda stared at her daughter, ready to apologize until she saw the smirk on her lips. “You’re terrible. You know I love my jeans just as much as you, but you have to admit, this is kind of great. Dressing up every day?”
“If that’s what you think, Mom,” she said. “Who is going to be at the lunch?”
“Most of the women from the dinner the other night and their daughters. It should be a great time.”
Olivia tried hard not to cringe. The daughters from the other night. She hadn’t minded most of them, but Gigi was most likely going to be there, and that woman made Olivia want to run in the other direction. She was nice enough on the surface, but underneath, Olivia suspected exactly what she was after and what she would do to get it.
The drive into town wasn’t long, and Olivia and Melinda were escorted into a small café, closed for the afternoon except for the ladies of the court. Olivia watched all the curtsying and greetings as they waltzed into the café and to the head of the large table that had been set up. Melinda was a hit amongst the ladies, and Olivia sipped her iced tea while she listened to her mom act like it was any other luncheon with friends. Olivia was seated between Gigi and a young woman around the age of eighteen who happened to be Edric’s little sister. Her name was Cheree, and Olivia liked her right away.
“Edric said he had a chance to meet you at the dinner the other night,” she said. “He said you were pretty, and he was right.”
Olivia laughed. “Thanks, Cheree. I wanted to talk to him longer, but Prince Quincy came outside and quite rudely interrupted us.”
“Prince Quincy is anything but rude,” Gigi defended from the other side of Olivia. “And for you to say such a thing is outrageous. It could very well damage his reputation.” She sipped her drink and shot Olivia a glare over the rim of her glass. “Besides, you hardly know him enough to say he is rude.”
“I was only teasing,” Olivia said as Cheree hid a smile.
“You should not do such things in public.”
“Fine, then I will tease him in private,” she replied and grinned widely when Gigi’s scowl tightened. “After all, we do live right next door to each other. Already shared quite a few laughs together over a bottle of wine or two. He’s going to be a great stepbrother.”
Gigi’s snobbish smile returned as she shrugged and picked at her salad. “Well, that’s all he can be to you, isn’t it? A stepbrother. But not for me.”
Olivia nodded. “Well true, but I’m not sure what you mean. As far as I could tell from dinner the other night, he has quite a few admirers besides you, Gigi. Though I wish you all the best in winning his heart. Not such an easy feat.”
“Edric, on the other hand seemed quite taken with you,” Cheree interjected. “He couldn’t stop talking about your gown.”
“It was pretty,” she said, remembering how it had hugged her body.
“It was from last year, I thought. Not exactly up to date with the current fashion of the isle,” Gigi commented.
“Better than my blue jeans and flannel,” Olivia replied with a bright smile, making Gigi choke on her mouthful of food and Cheree laugh loudly. “If I could set that as a new fashion statement, I would.”
Cheree continued laughing as Olivia worked on finishing her lunch and Gigi muttered under her breath. By the time lunch had ended, Olivia had learned quite a lot about Edric and was pretty sure Gigi hated her with a burning passion. It had probably not been the best idea to piss off someone who might one day become queen, but that’s what Gigi got for being a spoiled, entitled snob.
Melinda and she walked down the street from the café, followed by several of their ladies and a full detail of bodyguards. They headed towards the dress shop to look at wedding and bridesmaid’s dresses. Olivia was, at least, the only bridesmaid, so she didn’t have to deal with anyone except her mother, who might freak out over the next few months.
“Mom, you haven’t told me what this dress is going to look like,” Olivia said as the seamstress, a young woman with beautiful ebony skin and short, black and caramel hair, bustled around, taking measurements of the soon-to-be queen.
“You are going to love it, I promise,” she said, and the seamstress nodded in agreement.
“It is true. I have already made most of it, but your mother, I think, has another surprise for you,” Bernice, the seamstress, said.
Olivia frowned as she lounged in the plush chair. “Surprise, huh? Not sure how I feel about this. Think there have been too many surprises lately.”
“Oh, you’ll like this one, I promise.”
The seamstress disappeared into the back as soon as she finished with Melinda’s measurements. Olivia wondered what the hell was going on, but that lasted only a minute before her mom went to a dressing room with a curtain over the doorway and pushed it aside. The dress that hung behind it was ivory with a turquoise underlay of tropical fauna that ran throughout the skirt, and a train spread out around the back of it.