Isabella decided she was going to go the extra mile to look good and feel good tonight. She resolved to release her anger and cast aside her worries and annoyance and just focus on having a good time. After all, she was young, single, and a princess, for goodness sake. And she lived in a palace! If she couldn’t be happy, well, then, who could? Wrongful penis cake on your birthday? First-world problems. She could handle that. She was a big girl. Besides which, she was certain she’d never see that Sawyer character ever again; no doubt he was on the first train out of town after the whole scene, tail nicely tucked between his legs.
With that in mind, she rifled through her extensive closet and pulled out a sexy yet simple, fitted Victoria Beckham strapless emerald-green dress, piled her hair up casually, threw on some dangly diamond earrings, and took a final look in the mirror to confirm what she already knew: she looked amazing.
Just as she was about to call for her driver, she got a message from Clementine.
Change in plans. Miracle of miracles, I talked Edouardo into joining us tonight, and he’s offered to drive. We’ll pick you up in twenty.
Clementine’s brother Edouardo was punctual. You’d have thought he spent time in the military he was so rigid in so many areas of his life. No one ever took him too seriously because he did a good enough job taking himself too seriously. Bella hoped one day the man would find someone to inject some levity into his uptight personality. She hated that he was so closed up: he was a handsome man, with wavy blond hair and expressive, earthen eyes. Surely some woman could look past his uptightedness (if that was even a word) and fall for that seemingly ice-encrusted heart.
Clem texted Bella to be at the ready, so she stood at the base of the palace steps when the two pulled up.
“I’ll let you ride shotgun,” she said as she got out and held the door for Isabella. “Damn, you are rocking that jewel-tone dress, girl! So happy you’re here with a newfound lease on life. I worried you’d commit hari-kari over that whole birthday party thing.”
“And no penis cake is worth committing hari-kari over,” Edouardo said, cracking a smile.
“Wait, Edouardo? Actually cracking a joke?” Bella said. “I’d almost be annoyed at that comment were it anyone else who said it but you, well, you get a free pass because I know it’s part of your grow-a-personality therapy.” She smiled back at him.
“Touché,” he said, licking his fingertip and swiping the air with his pointer finger as if keeping score. “Edouardo, one, Bella, one. Looks like we’re even.”
“Okay, so, here’s your primer on tonight’s party,” Clem said. “Gabriella is back from living in the States. You might remember she was about to marry some fellow she met in Washington, DC, but she wanted to come back to Monaforte and he refused, so that was that.”
“Last time I saw Gabriella, she’d gained a bit of weight,” Bella said. “Brokenhearted over that other guy she met at university. I think he was in the Royal Armed Guards or something?”
“Yeah, poor Gabriella lost the guy, gained the weight. Hardly fair.”
“But she was always lots of fun, right?” Bella said. “I mean, I just remember her from hanging out with the larger group of friends. Not like she and I ever did stuff together.”
“Oh, God, Gab is a riot sometimes,” Clem said. “Always the practical joker. But isn’t she some distant cousin of yours, Bell?”
“Great, I’ll be sure to stay off her radar,” Isabella said. “I do think we’re somehow related—she’s like a first cousin once removed or something like that from my father’s side of the family. She’s some sort of contessa harking back to the days of Italian royalty.”
“I think it will be fun to see her after all this time.”
“Speaking of never seeing someone: Edouardo, what brings you along tonight? You’re usually holed up in that estate, never to be seen by the light of day.”
He cocked his head toward the backseat where his sister sat. “Clementine threatened to post pictures of me on Instagram in my underwear binge-watching American television shows if I didn’t come along.”
“Was this because you wanted a designated driver or because you care for your brother’s welfare?” She nodded at Clementine with a smirk.
Clem hesitated, then started to laugh. “Seriously, it was a hundred percent because my brother needs to get a life. Ever since Papa passed Edouardo is acting all paternalistic and like his whole life needs to be about taking care of me and our mum.”
The car pulled off and up to yet another palatial looking estate. “Oh, we’re getting Sebastian too?” Bella said.
“Yep, he couldn’t pass up the designated driver. That was his sole concern,” Clem said. “Well, that and me in the backseat next to him.” She batted her eyelashes.
“Don’t do anything gross in my backseat or I’ll drop you off on a lonely stretch of highway,” her brother said.
Clem rolled her eyes. “Maybe you could learn something, Mister Boring.”
Sebastian climbed in the back seat car and refereed the two of them until they arrived at Gabriella’s.
“Okay, so you’re ready for this, Bella?” Clem said as they got out of the car.
“Why do I feel like I’m making a big mistake?” she said.
“Trust me,” she said. “You are going to have the night of your life.”
A promise Isabella was worried she’d heard far too often lately from her friend.