A Royal Wedding(117)

The child nodded solemnly.

He grinned at her again. “What do you know? For a moment there I thought you might be Tom Sawyer.”

“Andre!” Julienne remonstrated.

“I’m Lily,” she said. “Are you the Prince?”

“Yes, I am.” He bowed low to her. “At your service.”

Her dark eyes took him in and seemed to approve. “Mother says I can be a princess if I want to be.”

“Do you want to?”

She made a face. “Heck, no. They have to sit on silk pillows and eat yucky food and wear frilly pink dresses that stick out.”

He exchanged a quick look with Julienne and both of them tried not to laugh.

“Is that what your mother told you?” he asked her.

“Uh-uh.” She shook her head. “I read it in a book.”

“Well, I’m here to tell you right now your mother didn’t spend a lot of time sitting around on silk pillows when she was your age. And, while it lasted, your mother made a wonderful princess.”

Lily seemed pleased with that. “But she didn’t like it. She told me she didn’t ever want to be one. And I don’t either.”

“No frilly dresses for you, huh?”

She shook her head emphatically. “I like my clothes just fine,” she said, kicking the dirt with her bare foot.

Andre gave Julienne a significant look that she knew was meant to convey how sad this was for Giselle, who must be regretting what she’d given up every day. And he might be right. But that didn’t mean Julienne would regret giving up the royalty business. She wasn’t Giselle.

“Hey, Your Highness,” Lily was saying, looking over the chrome and black beast before her. “I sure would like a ride on that motorcycle.”

“Uh.” Andre looked at Julienne and she waved her permission, jumping down herself.

“Go ahead. Give her a ride. Take her on in. I can walk. In fact, I’d like to. It’s so pretty in this valley. Let me take some time to enjoy it.” She handed over her helmet to the little girl and started off.

The snow pack had been a good one this year, and the wild flowers were taking advantage of all the extra runoff water. The entire valley was a riot of color.

She laughed as she watched Andre take Lily for a tour through the village, giving her a thrill with a couple of little wheelies while he was at it. Those elicited shrieks of happy excitement from Lily.

Before she arrived at the cottage at the bottom of the hill a woman emerged from inside and waved at her. Probably in her mid-thirties, she had a full, sensual beauty that looked a bit careworn but must have been something spectacular when she was younger.

“Hello,” she called out. “You must be Princess Julienne. Welcome! We’re so glad to see you.”

Andre arrived with Lily in tow, and two other little girls gathered around, begging for a ride as well.

“After lunch,” Giselle told them. “We’ve got salad and finger sandwiches. The girls made the sandwiches themselves.”

Going into the cottage, they all sat down around a large table. The sandwiches were free-form, as you would expect when such young ones did the cutting. But everything was great—in a homespun way.

But as Julienne began to look around the room she began to notice something. Everything was very simple, but there was a spare elegance to it that bespoke something other than poverty. As she studied her surroundings she noted more and more items that were first-quality and looked very expensive. One way or another, this family was doing quite well for itself.

But Andre didn’t seem to have noticed.

“Whatever happened to … what was his name? Tavist?” he asked his cousin.

“Tavert?” Giselle looked at him, bemused. “You mean my husband?”

Andre looked surprised. “Was that his name?”

“It was, and it still is.” Giselle grinned at him.

“Oh. I thought he was gone?”

“He is gone, but he’ll be back. He’s in Paris right now, negotiating with a major distributor.”

Andre was looking more and more confused. “A major distributor? Of what?”

“Garden decor. Mainly statuary. You didn’t notice on your way in?”

She led them to the window and pointed out the many fantasy creatures inhabiting the yard, from unicorns to geese to garden gnomes.

“We started experimenting with cement forms and casting from our own designs. We sold a few in our little shop, but things didn’t really take off until we started selling on the internet. Now we have customers from all over the world.”