The Surprise Princess (20 page)

“
Is
there such a thing as a normal family? Some fortunate people have wonderful families, like the Monroes – oh, make sure I introduce you to Paul’s mom and dad at the wedding, they’re terrific – or Tris’ family. The rest of us make up our families. A relative here, a friend there, piecing them together to create what’s important to us.”

“I don’t know about families of either kind. My upbringing was … distant. I have it on good authority I don’t let people be my friend.”

“Oh, I don’t know, I think you’re making progress.” April grinned and she couldn’t help but grin back.

“Maybe I am. But not on the other part of this – King Jozef’s family is
royalty
. I’d have no idea who Princess Josephine-Augusta
is
. How could I possibly be her?”

“You’ve got it backward. You wouldn’t have to worry about being her. She’d have to be you.” April folded her napkin and set it on the table. “We can talk about this later. Right now, c’mon, let’s get Hunter.”

April was right. Katie loved Gunston Hall.

There was something about the brick house and its grounds that struck a chord. She’d been fascinated to learn both about the man who wrote the Bill of Rights for Virginia, which became the basis for the federal version, and about life on a Potomac River plantation.

She and April were talking about the river being the plantations’ primary thoroughfare when Hunter exited the parkway. Katie didn’t know the area well, but this exit—

“We’re swinging by the airport,” Hunter said, unnecessarily, since road signs proclaimed that. He met Katie’s eyes in the rear view mirror. “You can ask April while I go inside.”

April suddenly had a lot of directions to give Hunter, keeping her too busy to talk until he’d pulled up to the terminal, Hunter got out, and April took his spot behind the wheel.

“April—”

“Wait until we’re in the cell phone lot. Drivers get crazy here.”

After she’d parked, April turned off the engine and swiveled in the seat to face her. “Hunter’s gone in to get Brad. I told you we’d invited him.”

“You— I thought you meant to the wedding.” And he’d never said a word.”Oh, no, he’ll be here the rest of the week, doing all the fun stuff with us.”

“April, I don’t want you to think Brad and I are …” She had no idea how to complete that sentence.

“Dating? Oh, I know that.” Something in her overly breezy tone made Katie edgy.

“April—”

“It won’t be you two alone together all the time like on a date. But even if it were, how could you object? He’s a great guy, fun and smart and so attractive, though he is awfully tall, and I wonder about… Besides, you can’t tell me you’re not interested in him.”

Her head jerked up and she faced April’s knowing smile. She tried anyway. “Where did you get that idea? That’s—”

“I got that idea from how you reacted – or didn’t react – to Derek Kenton.”

“What?”

“I watched you with Derek. He’s very good looking. And nice. And he has his fair share of The Jaw.”

“The what?”

“I’ll tell you later. Let me finish this first. Derek gave you a little of the once-over but there was no reaction from you at all. On the other hand, I’ve seen you light up when Brad walks into a room – heck, when he stumbled into your kitchen after a night on the couch, looking far, far less than his best. So, that was one clue. Plus the Kenton Test. If I’d been more attuned to my own feelings I would have realized right off that having no reaction to the Kenton Test showed I’d fallen for Hunter. Of course, Hunter is the perfect specimen of The Jaw.”

“That again.”

“Okay, let me tell you about my theory of The Jaw. I have to admit a couple women I’ve told my theory to have not gotten it at all. There was a former neighbor …”

It was only much later – long after she’d concurred with April’s theory of The Jaw, as well as long after they’d picked up Brad and Hunter at the terminal, and also long after her heartbeat had nearly returned to normal after its first-sight-of-Brad sprint – that Katie realized she’d never straightened out any lingering misconception about her relationship with Brad.

That was because she’d been thoroughly distracted by April’s casual comment to Brad on the way to the hotel that they were all having dinner tonight at Leslie and Grady’s house … and King Jozef and Madame would also be guests.

“Who’s Madame?” Brad asked.

“A force of nature,” April said. “And, it turns out, she’s related to Hunter. So you should ask him.”

“April.”

“Okay, okay. I’m clearly being told not to say anymore. Except I’ll repeat what I told Katie – Madame
has
loosened up a lot in the past six months.”

Katie had to fight to keep her jaw from dropping at Leslie and Grady’s three-story brick home in Old Town Alexandria. She might have thought they’d stepped back to the era of Gunston Hall when Grady opened the door for them.

“This is … stunning,” she said, trying to see everything at once.

“It’s all Leslie’s doing,” Grady said,

“He doesn’t mean that as a compliment,” Leslie said, coming toward them down the hallway beside a magnificent stairway. “Good to see you, Brad. So glad you both could come join us tonight.”

“It’s a pleasure,” he said. “This is a great place.”

“Thank you both. Can you believe a developer wanted to gut this interior and make it all modern?”

“Oh, no,” Katie breathed.

Leslie hugged her. “Exactly what I said. I had to save it, even if it was a little more work.”

Grady and April snorted simultaneously and grinned at each other. “A little more work,” April muttered.

“Okay, a lot more work and a lot more money,” Leslie conceded. “But worth it.”

“Worth every penny,” Grady agreed, squeezing her shoulders. “Especially when we put on the addition so we didn’t have to cook in a fireplace or make guests use an outhouse. C’mon, Leslie will give you the tour. Sometimes I think she invites people in off the street to tell them about preservation.”

Leslie conducted Katie and Brad around the eighteenth century structure, restored to its original elegance with its modern infrastructure cleverly hidden away.

“Katie’s restoring her house in Ashton,” Brad said as they started upstairs to see the next floor.

“How wonderf—”

“Nothing like this,” she objected. “Small house, paint, a few little changes. A work in progress and—”

“It looks good,” Brad said.

“You just like the curb appeal now,” she said and he grinned.

Katie became aware of Leslie watching them. “Leslie, this staircase is amazing.”

Leslie chuckled knowingly. “I get it – your topic of choice is architectural features.”

The tour ended on the ground floor of a three-story addition that T-d off the original building. This was clearly the nerve-center of the home – updated conveniences and comfort beautifully married to mellow history in a kitchen and gathering room for an active family.

Bette, Tris, Michael, and Grady were cleaning up a table near the bay window overlooking a back yard enclosed by a red-brick wall. Paul herded the gathered kids toward French doors and a smiling dark-haired teenager holding it open. “Everybody out to play. Do what Marc tells you. And do not bother the nice men with earpieces and sunglasses standing outside the wall,” he said.

Leslie propped her hands on her hips. “Where’s Arancia? If you ruffians have scared off the most important person tonight, I will have your heads.”

“Relax, Les,” Tris said. “She’s doing a final check on the dining room. Said dinner’s right on track.”

Hunter came in from another doorway. “They’ll be here in two minutes.”

Leslie patted his arm. “A hostess’s dream. You truly mean two minutes. Not one, not three. Front door or garage?”

“Garage.”

“Okay, everyone, let’s adjourn to the front parlor.”

Most of them did, while Hunter and Grady went in another direction. After two minutes, Derek Kenton walked in, surveyed the room then exchanged a nod with Grady behind him. In another breath King Jozef entered, accompanied by a woman of a similar age. Straight-backed and dignified, she wore a black dress that wouldn’t consider stooping to being fashionable.

“Your Majesty, welcome to our home. I believe you know all the other guests,” Leslie said. “Madame, may I introduce Katie Davis and Brad Spencer. Katie and Brad, this is Madame Sabdoka.”

Madame Sabdoka’s gaze pinned Katie with concentrated focus.

No notice. Draw no notice.

And then there was Katie Davis, working so hard to not be noticed…

She straightened and extended her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Madame Sabdoka.”

The older woman hesitated for less than a blink, took only the tips of Katie’s fingers and dropped her head slightly. “Miss.”

Katie was aware of a zing of looks going around the room, but didn’t have time to sort out what they meant.

“It is very good to finally see you again, Katie,” the king said.

“And you, Your Majesty.” That sounded stiff. She felt stiff. She surely looked stiff. How could April possibly think she could—

Brad stepped up beside her. She knew it even before she felt his hand encircle her arm above her elbow. She doubted his hold was visible to anyone else, but she felt its warmth and support.

“Madame Sabdoka. Your Majesty,” he said.

“One greets the monarch first,” Madame Sabdoka sternly told him. “It is protocol.”

Brad grinned. “Maybe in Bariavak. But in the house where Andrea Colecchi Spencer rules,
one
greets a lady first.”

King Jozef made a sound that might have been the start of a chuckle. Madame, though, was not amused. Even so, the moment eased the tension. The others guests greeted the new arrivals with cordial respect and champagne was passed out for a toast to the soon-to-be-married couple.

Katie relaxed as the evening went on. It wasn’t much different from many of Carolyn and C.J.’s dinner parties. Perhaps the conversation did trend more toward national and international topics than basketball, English literature, and university politics. But the underlying current of affection and respect among those present was similar.

Except for the King of Bariavak being on hand, along with unspoken tension about whether she was or wasn’t his granddaughter and whether she would or wouldn’t take a DNA test that might or might not prove it.

That was all.

At his farewell, the king held her hand and her gaze for two extra beats before simply bidding her goodnight. Madame’s look was assessing. And it included Brad.

When they left the room, once more accompanied by Hunter and Grady, Katie released a long breath.

April patted her shoulder. “You did great.” She gestured and they sat on a loveseat at right angles to its twin.

“I doubt Madame would agree with you,” Katie said dryly. “So that’s loosened up?”

April chuckled. “Compared to six months ago it is. Really. She’s mellowed.”

“Does it have to do with her being related to Hunter?”

“I’m going to jump in here to say the less than discreet thing so April isn’t tempted,” Leslie announced as she and Bette joined them, sitting on the other loveseat. She turned to Katie. “I suspect it has to do with Madame and King Jozef, ah, re-establishing a rapport they enjoyed as young people. Now, there, wasn’t that tactful?”

“You’d be an asset to the diplomatic corps.” Michael took a nearby chair. “Hope you don’t mind my crashing your group. My wife’s arguing basketball with Paul and I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing I agree with him, so I’ve left Brad to referee.”

“You are a wise man, Michael,” Leslie said. “Now, proving the diplomatic corps overlooked a gem when they didn’t beg me to join, I am going to adroitly change the subject to what I want to talk about. Katie, you must agree to April’s plan to show you and Brad around Charlottesville on Thursday. It is an absolute tradition that the about-to-be-married couple gets to boss their special guests around at will the week before the wedding, isn’t it, Bette?”

“Those were certainly the rules my dear husband established when he started this tradition,” she replied with dry humor.

“Have you ever been to Thomas Jefferson’s home – Monticello?” April asked Katie.

“I haven’t and I’d love to, but we can’t impose on you any more than we have with all you have to do for the wedding Saturday.”

April chuckled. “I can hardly believe it myself, but it’s pretty much all done.”

Grady walked in, smiling to all, but going directly to his wife and resting a hand on her shoulder. Her hand automatically came up to meet his.

“We’re talking about Katie and Brad coming to Charlottesville on Wednesday night to meet up with April and Hunter for touring on Thursday.” Leslie tipped her head back to smile at her husband. “All the rooms are spoken for at Grandma Beatrice’s with this crew staying overnight, but surely we can recommend places for them to stay.”

For a moment, Katie thought Grady was so absorbed in looking at Leslie that he wouldn’t respond. But then he nodded. “Great idea. In fact,” he slanted a grin at his wife before addressing Katie, “we know a place on the way to Charlottesville that we highly recommend.”

Leslie sat up, turned to him, and put both hands around his. “Oh, what a fabulous idea, Grady! Perfect.” She faced Katie. “We’ll make all the arrangements.”

“There’s no need—”

“It would be our pleasure.”

“But—”

“Good, it’s all settled,” Grady said. Katie had a feeling it had been settled for him the instant Leslie voiced her enthusiasm. “We’ll get it set up and I’ll get the directions to Brad.”

A
fter early fittings Wednesday at Maurice’s, April left for Charlottesville, while Katie met Brad at the hotel to walk the few blocks to the National Mall, goggling at the White House on their way.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” Her question appeared to surprise him less than it surprised herself. “You’ve known for weeks and you kept it to yourself.”

“I could say because you didn’t ask.” He turned his head toward the Ellipse and away from her. “Truth is, I wasn’t sure I was coming. Maybe I shouldn’t have. There are plenty of folks here to look out for you.”