To Marry a Prince (35 page)

Lottie gave a crow of delight. ‘So that was what last night was about. You got the rock!’

‘Mmm.’

‘Come on then, give. Has he given you an heirloom?’

‘Better,’ said Bella dreamily. ‘It’s platinum with a yellow diamond, and it’s beautiful. Designed for me. Just me.’

Lottie sat back on her heels, her eyes wide. ‘Cor. I’ve never seen a yellow diamond. It’s a good choice, though. You’ve got yellow flecks in those green eyes of
yours. He must have noticed. Blue-whites are too harsh and emeralds would be too loud. Anyway some people think they’re unlucky. But a yellow diamond … Yeah. He’s got class, your Richard.’

‘So point me at an outfit which returns the compliment,’ said Bella, not dreamy any more.

‘With pleasure.’

Lottie stabbed a finger at three. ‘Not the lacy thing. Too predatory. Buy it for a party some time, though. Try the navy day dress, it’s very elegant, a bit
Mad Men
, no? Or that green wrap-around chiffon dress with the kicky skirt. It’s got a great neckline and the colour would be awesome for Little Miss yellow diamond.’

Bella agreed that both were worth looking at and Lottie was a star.

‘And tomorrow I’m taking you shopping, before you lose your nerve,’ said the star briskly. ‘Sorted.’

After that they creamed each other’s hands, and softened and trimmed cuticles, pared nails and then, ceremoniously, painted each other’s nails gold. And finished the bottle.

The photoshoot was a breeze. She didn’t know what
Mad Men
was and frankly it all sounded rather treacherous, so she had gone with the ivy-green number. With her height the skirt fell just on the knee, but was deemed demure enough by the powers-that-be. And it did show off the diamond beautifully. Bella loved her ring so much that she kept patting it and looking at it against different backgrounds. Each made it appear more perfect than the last. Richard was clearly
delighted. The designer silversmith was there too, a shy self-effacing man who only came to life when he talked about his work.

‘That man is coming to the wedding, isn’t he?’ Bella hissed to Richard, when drinks were served and the posing and snapping were over.

‘If you want him, of course. Put him on your list.’

‘Ah.’

‘You have started a list?’

She winced. ‘Not really.’

‘But Pansy said—’

‘It’s not Lady Pansy’s fault. She’s given me a file and notes and everything. It’s just that I’m struggling with competing proposals at work at the moment.’

Richard had that stony expression which she knew meant he disapproved.

‘I’m really sorry, love. I’ll do it next week.’

The stony expression did not lift.

‘This week, I mean. I’ll do it before Friday.’

‘That would be helpful.’

‘Ouch. Don’t go Royal on me again.’

He looked down at her, startled.

She put her head on one side, looking up at him naughtily. ‘Remember what happened last time.’

The stony expression dissolved.

‘Which reminds me, you still owe me one limerick.’

He could not help himself. He laughed aloud.

It made a fabulous photo for the magazines, the two of them laughing together in a corner, when they thought no one was looking.

Tube Talk
blew it up to a whole front page, under the
headline ‘So Happy and So in Love’. And even the
Daily Despatch
said grumpily that clumsy Ms Greenwood must be doing something right.

Only LoyalSubjekt101 couldn’t find anything nice to say about them. He or she thought the ring was a tawdry stunt, and buying an unbelievably expensive yellow diamond a slap in the face of the British people at this time of public austerity. The whole piece brimmed over with spite, particularly against Bella.

Richard was angry but Bella shrugged it off. ‘You can’t have everyone love you. Or even like you. On the whole, I think our hit rate’s pretty good. Forget it. We’re doing OK.’

Richard nodded. ‘I suppose you’re right. So far so good.’

But there was still the choice of the wedding dress to come and that was turning into a nightmare. For one thing, Lady Pansy had not understood that Bella wanted to look at pictures and get a general idea of the styles of the various designers, since she didn’t know any of them. Lady Pansy had telephoned eight and commissioned original drawings.

‘You mean, I’m paying for eight exclusive designs?’ said Bella, hollowly. She couldn’t begin to guess what it would cost but she was fairly sure that it would increase her student debt exponentially.

Lady Pansy waved aside the vulgar consideration. ‘They won’t charge. It is a great honour for them to be asked. Of course, they will let their clients know that they are in the running.’

‘That doesn’t seem very fair. I can only choose one and they will have done all that work for nothing.’

‘Only in outline. They won’t actually have bought any fabric or
made
anything.’

‘You’re clearly not creative,’ said Bella. ‘They will have worked on it, eaten, slept and dreamed of it. Raising their hopes like this is callous. It’s not right.’

Lady Pansy stiffened. ‘It’s the way we always do things.’

‘Don’t tell me,’ said Bella wearily. ‘Tradition.’

But it was even worse when she looked at the drawings. They were all, every single one, huge-skirted, frilled and furbelowed, with swags of pearls or bows of lace in every conceivable crevice.

‘I’ll look like a duvet cover while it’s being changed,’ she told Lottie gloomily. ‘Some right-thinking person will jump out of the crowd and try to beat the lumps out of me.’

‘It can’t be that bad. You’re being paranoid again.’

But after she’d looked through the portfolio that Bella had brought home, Lottie had to admit that it was not paranoia. They truly were …

‘Frightful,’ said Bella.

‘Not your style,’ amended Lottie. She peered at the signature on a crinoline so huge that it could probably double as an air balloom. ‘
Lawson?
What on earth? He’s the guy who usually sends brides down the aisle with the back of the wedding dress cut down to the bum. Known for it. It’s his signature quirk. This thing has got a liberty bodice sewn in! He must have gone mad.’

Bella clutched her hair. ‘It’s almost certainly Lady
Pansy. She briefed them all. It has to be traditional, it has to please Middle England, and it has to make me look like the biggest laundry bag in the world.’

Lottie looked at the drawings again and made sympathetic noises.

‘She’s the Queen’s best friend. She’s known Richard since he was in the cradle. They all love her and they’re certain she knows best. And I can’t prove she doesn’t, because I’m letting it all get on top of me. Oh, God, Lotts. What am I going to
do?
’

‘Bridesmaids and Vikings’ –
Morning Times

Oddly enough, it was Janet who came up with the solution to the problem. She had come up to Town for lunch with Bella since it was, she said, the only way she got to see her daughter. Conscience-stricken, Bella booked a table at a small wine bar round the corner from the charity’s offices. But, though her mother was in a determined mood, there were none of the reproaches that Bella was braced for.

‘Look, Bella,’ she said, ‘Kevin and I have been talking. I know that your father has washed his hands of the wedding. Has he even spoken to you?’

Bella had to admit he hadn’t. ‘But that’s happened before, Ma. You know what he’s like. And I was pretty rude to him.’

‘Good for you,’ said Janet, surprisingly. ‘It’s your life. But anyway, Kevin wanted me to say, he would be delighted to help out in any way. For instance, neither of us feels quite comfortable with the way the Palace seems to have taken you over.’

Bella was startled. ‘Doesn’t sound like you, Ma.’

Janet pressed her lips together. ‘I admire the Royal
Family. But it does seem that they are riding roughshod over you sometimes. Whenever I speak to you, you have to break off to take a call from Lady Pansy in the middle of it. And it seems to me you’re rushing from pillar to post, trying to keep up with it all. So Kevin says what you need is a proper, trained Personal Assistant. He says that would take some of the strain off you. And he would like to pay for it.’

Bella was so touched that for a moment she could not speak.

Janet began to look nervous. ‘Is that all right? We don’t want to interfere. I just hate to see you looking so frantic.’

‘Ma, you’re wondrous. And Kevin is undoubtedly the best stepfather in the world. They did say they were going to employ me a PA. But in the end Lady Pansy just hired a couple of girls without consulting me, and they work for her in the office in the Palace. Lottie helps me think and keeps me sane, mostly. And there’s Carlos and everyone at the hair salon. But …’

‘I know,’ said Janet. ‘Everyone’s busy. So is that all right then?’

Bella nodded. ‘I’d be so grateful. I can’t tell you.’

Janet looked delighted. ‘I’ll tell Kevin. He will be so pleased. Um – any chance of you coming to stay at all?’

Bella consulted her schedule. These days she downloaded Richard’s week first and then fitted her own activities around his.

‘Well, Richard’s away on some Schools Sports thing this weekend. I could come though, if you don’t mind just me?’

Janet brightened. ‘That would be lovely. It’s beautiful at the moment. The daffodils are all out and there are primroses along the river.’

For a moment Bella had such a pang of longing it was almost physical. She loved London but she was a nature girl at heart and it was a long time since she had smelled the damp of impacted leaves and the sharp clean scent of things pushing up through the warming earth. Spring was always beautiful in the New Forest.

‘Oh, yes, Ma. I’d love that,’ she said from the heart.

‘Good. I’ll ask Neill and Val, if they’re free.’

‘You won’t get Neill. He’s got his Viking thing on Easter Monday. He’s training every moment he gets.’

‘Well, Val then. She seems much happier these days. And Georgia perhaps. Oh, it will be just like old times.’

Bella put it into her schedule and copied it to Richard and his office.

He texted back at once:
Good idea. Wish I could make it. Give Janet my love
.

She passed it on, they finished lunch and her mother went back to Hampshire.

Kevin was on the phone within half an hour of Janet’s departure. ‘Don’t know if you have anyone in mind as a PA,’ he said gruffly. ‘But the Head of HR here says they could probably help. Young woman with small children, delighted to work from home, that sort of thing. If you would like, I’ll send you her email. Don’t want to interfere, though.’

Don’t want to interfere
. That’s what her mother had said too. How different Kevin and Janet were from Richard’s family, thought Bella. And then thought, no, it’s not his
family. Apart from Queen Jane’s outburst in Andorra, none of them had even tried to interfere, and that had been much more about the Queen’s own life than Bella’s and Richard’s.

No, the interference, the plethora of petty details, the comments, the criticisms of anything she wanted to do, that all came from the blasted Private Offices via Lady Pansy, with Lady P herself putting her oar in at every opportunity. Were they making work to keep themselves important?

Bella squashed the thought at once. But could not quite banish it.

So she said to Kevin that she would be grateful for any help she could get.

Before the end of the week, she had a friendly human dynamo in the shape of Trudy, mother of two and hotshot administrator, who was going spare at home while the children were busy with nursery school and playgroup. Within two days she had set up a spreadsheet with a To Do list plus target dates and notes of people to be consulted.

She also gave Bella some shrewd advice. ‘Lady Pansy is straight out of the quill pen era. Not her fault, but she needs managing.’

Bella gave a hollow laugh. ‘But
how?
’

‘You have to pre-empt her. Be pro-active. Set up meetings with her, put them in the diary, keep them short. Make her feel key to the whole process, but stop her picking up the phone every time she thinks of something else.’

It worked.

Of course, Lady Pansy didn’t like it. To begin with she forgot to copy her messages to Trudy. But when she found that Bella re-routed all her text messages to her new PA and kept her telephone permanently set to voice mail, she gave in. There was a difficult little meeting when she suggested, with great sweetness, that Bella was finding her new role too overwhelming.

‘Maybe you ought to move into the Palace? I can mention it to Her Majesty. We are having coffee this morning.’

The prospect was hair-raising. Bella knocked it on the head fast.

‘That’s very kind, Lady Pansy. But not necessary, thank you. I think I have worked out how to balance my
work
life with everything I need to do for the wedding. I’ll review the situation with Richard in a few weeks. And this is how I see it working …’