Spare Me

Chapter 22

“ S orry I’m late,” Alex gasped, striding into the private greenhouse at One Marylebone restaurant ten minutes late. Maddy was sitting at the table and put down her phone to stand as he rushed in.

“That’s okay,” she said, pushing onto tiptoe to kiss him sweetly. Alex resisted the urge to draw out the kiss, knowing that once he started he wouldn’t be able to give her up. “How was your day?” she asked as she retook her seat and slipped her phone into her purse.

“Busy,” he said, running a hand through his hair distractedly and pulling a menu toward him. “I swear they have five wedding planners, and yet somehow my parents want all of us to be involved in every aspect of this wedding. Aside from the dress, poor Hannah probably hasn’t had a single unilateral choice about her own wedding.”

Maddy smiled ruefully. “I mean, presumably she knew what she was getting into. She’s a Cromwell, for Christ’s sake. I imagine even before she and your brother started dating she knew how things like this went in your set. And it’s not like they started dating last year or anything. ”

“True,” Alex agreed. “But still. When I managed to disentangle myself from the wedding war room, they were going back and forth on what kind of flowers should go on the cake and whether they should mirror the wedding flowers or should they be another opportunity to bring in additional symbolism or some nonsense like that.”

Maddy looked at him placatingly. “Well, you’re here now.”

“I am here now,” he said, taking a deep breath and trying to recenter himself on the beautiful woman sitting across from him and shed the contagious frenetic energy he’d absorbed from the chaos he’d left at Buckingham Palace.

“How was your day?” he asked, taking a sip from the glass of water that was already sitting in front of him.

“Oh, fine,” she said. “Nothing too exciting. I went with Mrs. Stewart and the girls for the final fitting for their dresses for the wedding.” In addition to being the American ambassador, Andrew Stewart’s relationship with King Alfred went back to his days in the service when they’d both been involved in the NATO efforts to defuse tensions in the Balkans, which had garnered their family seats at the royal wedding. Alex thought she looked slightly wistful as she said, “Amelia is so excited she could barely stand still, and Audrey is so bored by the idea that she could barely be bothered to stand up.”

Alex laughed. He’d only met the Stewart twins a few times in passing, but Maddy’s description of the fitting tracked with what he knew of their divergent personalities. “So about that,” he began slowly, but was interrupted by the server coming to take their dinner order.

“Sorry, what were you saying?” Maddy asked, taking a sip from the gin cocktail she’d ordered and looking over at him.

“Right,” he said, trying to decide where to begin. “So, I know we agreed that this was strictly casual and out of the public eye… but have you told anyone about us?”

She seemed a little puzzled by the question, but answered readily enough. “Nadia knows I’m seeing someone. I told her about martini-gate and that I’d started dating the guy who dropped a whole drink on me, and that his name is Alex. But that’s all. Why do you ask?”

“Well,” he said, “my brother kind of figured out something was up, so I had to tell him.” He was slightly worried she might be upset.

“Oh, that’s fine,” she said mildly. “Of all people, I’m sure he understands why we’re not going public with it.”

“He wants me to bring you to their wedding reception.”

Maddy coughed, choking slightly on a sip of gimlet that had gone down the wrong pipe.

“I’m fine,” she wheezed, gulping from her water glass. “I’m just. He what?”

“So there will be an official early afternoon reception at Buckingham Palace for like half of the gazillion people who will be at the ceremony,” Alex explained. “And then in the evening my parents are hosting a more intimate dinner party for like two hundred and fifty of their closest personal friends. And then after that there will be an actual party for just people Ben and Hannah actually know and like. Cocktails, dancing, no press, no parents. Ben was hoping I’d bring you to that.”

“But he doesn’t know me?” she said, baffled.

“No, but he wants to meet you.”

“At his own wedding?” Maddy asked, still confused.

“I guess?” When he thought about it, it was kind of a strange context in which to meet one’s brother’s secret girlfriend. “I suppose he also figured I might enjoy having someone to dance with.” He smiled at her, suddenly worried that maybe she didn’t want to come. Maybe this was too much too fast. “But of course you don’t have to if you don’t want to come.”

“I… I just…” Maddy seemed to be searching for a way to put words in the right order. “Of course I want to come,” she said, smiling at him. “Obviously I want to come. It’s just— I…it feels risky. And decidedly not casual.”

“I mean, is it entirely without risk? No. But for one thing, by the time this is going on, it will be the end of the day. People will have done all the people watching they want to do. We’ll slip you in when the dancing starts. And no offense, darling, but most of these people are a) too self-absorbed to notice anyone else, and b) going to be more concerned with seeing how close they can get to Adele and Ed Sheeran and my brother than with me casually whisking you around the dance floor.”

Maddy barked out a laugh. “Fair point.” She paused again. “I also have no idea what the dress code is for something like this, but I feel confident I don’t have anything nice enough to wear.”

For this protestation, Alex had at least been prepared. “If I told you you didn’t have to worry about it, would you agree to come with me?”

Maddy paused again, just momentarily, and then seemed to decide. “Yes,” she said. “But why wouldn’t I have to worry about that?”

Alex pulled a small white card from his interior jacket pocket. “This is the name of Hannah’s personal shopper at Harrod’s. Just text her and set up a time to go in. She’s expecting to hear from you.”

Maddy’s eyebrows shot up as she accepted the card. “Wow,” she said, looking at the letter-pressed black writing. “Okay,” she said, still sounding a bit uncertain. “If you really want me there.”

His heart warmed. “Darling, there’s nobody I’d rather dance with. ”

Two days later, Maddy was walking somewhat trepidatiously into the iconic main entrance of Harrod’s and, after locating the elevator, took it to the fifth floor as Hannah’s private shopper, Liz, had directed via text. Alex had assured her that Liz would know exactly what she needed, although Maddy was a little afraid the limit on her credit card wasn’t high enough for that. She reminded herself that this was literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and she’d figure the money out later, and took a deep breath before approaching the entrance to the penthouse.

Maddy tried to exude confidence she did not feel as an attendant led her into the sumptuously appointed white and black suite of rooms. A tall woman with a bouncy blonde ponytail who looked to be in her late thirties or early forties walked towards Maddy, her hand extended warmly. “You must be Maddy. I’m Liz.” She air-kissed Maddy on both cheeks as Maddy’s khaki trench coat was taken by the attendant, who, after Maddy declined the champagne they offered, left them.

“Come right through here,” Liz said, leading her toward a smaller room to the right. “Now, I wasn’t sure exactly what you’d like, so I pulled a bunch of different things and we’ll just start trying them on and see what suits you.”

Maddy’s eyes went wide as she walked into the fitting room. The furniture was all rose tufted velvet with gold accents. Soft uplighting seemed to exude from behind the walls, and a rack of dresses in almost every color waited at one end of the room.

“Why don’t you slip into this and then we can talk a bit,” Liz said, handing Maddy a cream satin robe.

“Okay,” Maddy said slowly, trying to not let her complete and total overwhelm show.

“It’s okay, love,” Liz said conspiratorially, “this will be fun. Just let me take care of everything.”

Maddy took a steadying breath, nodded, tried to smile at the enthusiastic woman, and watched her leave the room. Stepping out of her nude heels, Maddy forced back the feeling that she’d made a terrible mistake by agreeing to attend the reception with Alex. She was an army brat from everywhere and nowhere. Sure, she’d attended her fair share of Army balls with Evan, but never anything like this, and from the looks of the dresses Liz had pulled for her, her wardrobe was even farther from appropriate than she’d thought. Trying not to think about how much the dazzling rack of gowns cost and how far from casual attending the royal wedding after-after-party fell, Maddy slipped out of her tan pantsuit, thanking her lucky stars that she’d remembered to wear shapewear, and was just tying the robe around her waist when Liz came back.

“Look who I found!” Liz crowed, moving into the room.

Maddy’s jaw just about hit her chest as Hannah Cromwell followed Liz into Maddy’s dressing room. Maddy hardly had time to react before the statuesque woman with incredibly shiny dark hair who would one day be the queen of England was… hugging her? “It’s so nice to meet you, Maddy!” she gushed.

“I… you too…” Maddy said, knowing the shock was written on her face and too stunned to even try to hide it.

Hannah beamed at her as she pulled away. “Sorry to just burst in like this, but Alex said you’d be here?—”

Finally recovering both her voice and her wits, Maddy burst out, “He didn’t put you up to coming here, did he? I know you’re so busy.”

“Of course not, silly. I’ve been dying to meet you, and so when he said you’d be here, I decided to capitalize on that opportunity!”

There was a quiet knock on the door, and the attendant who’d brought Maddy in returned with the bottle of champagne that Maddy had declined but Hannah had clearly accepted, along with two coupes. Hannah pressed one into her hand before clinking the rims together. “Cheers, darling!”

“Cheers…” Maddy said, still trying to get her wits about her. She was in a private shopping area of Harrods. With the future queen of England. Getting ready to try on dresses that probably cost more than three months’ rent on the last house she and Evan had lived in in Fort Bliss, Texas.

“It’s a lot, isn’t it?” Hannah said kindly, putting an arm around her and guiding her over to the rack of gowns. “I mean, I grew up on the periphery of all this, and even for me it took some getting used to.”

Maddy tried to force herself to relax. “Yeah.” She exhaled shakily. “I just…” She trailed a hand down the row of pinks and blues, blacks and golds, satins, silks, and sequins.

“Suck that down and grab the one that speaks to you most,” Hannah said decisively. “We’ll start there.”

“Good idea,” Maddy said, appreciating the other woman’s direction. She swallowed the second half of her coupe of champagne and, after taking just a moment to glance at what Liz had pulled for her, selected a black McQueen gown.

Liz took it and hung it on the backside of a privacy screen, unzipping the gown on its hanger before pushing Maddy behind it to change. She slid into the black crepe, luxuriating in the feel of the fabric. Apparently this was the difference between designer and regular clothing. The materials felt amazing.

“Alright, let’s see you!” Liz’s voice called from the other side of the screen, and Maddy stepped out. As she emerged, Liz bustled behind her, zipping up the back of the dress and smoothing it over her hips.

Maddy walked toward the mirror. The black column dress made her feel a million feet tall with its simplicity and long lines, adorned only with large metallic floral appliques at each shoulder. She couldn’t suppress a smile at her reflection, and she saw Liz and Hannah look at each other knowingly behind her.

Hannah came to stand next to her. “So you look absolutely fantastic in this… and this is also exactly the kind of dress that Alex sent me here to talk you out of.”

“So he did put you up to this!” Maddy said, turning to her accusingly.

“He just mentioned you would be here and could use a friend.” She moved on quickly. “Okay, now that you’ve got a bit of confidence, let’s find something that will really make his jaw drop.”

Liz and Hannah coaxed Maddy in and out of half a dozen other gowns—strapless, long-sleeved, plunging necks, plunging backs, delicate embroidered flowers, sequins, she tried it all. They’d tried valiantly to talk her into a head-to-toe sparkling gold number, but she’d insisted that it made her feel like an Oscar and they finally relented. Maddy was just starting to worry that maybe she just wasn’t fancy enough to wear dresses like this when they found it.

As she walked out from behind the screen in the dark green Jenny Packham gown, she could tell by the looks on Liz and Hannah’s faces that it was the dress. It had short sleeves and a plunging V-neck that might have felt too risqué except for the delicate green illusion netting that held everything in place. The fabric gathered just below her rib cage and then cascaded to the floor in a waterfall of sequins. Despite the total glitz of it, it still managed to feel slightly understated and, as Liz zipped her up and Maddy stepped to the mirror, she knew they were right. This had to be it.

“It’s perfect,” Hannah breathed. “Alex is going to go absolutely bananas. I’ll be lucky if he doesn’t just whisk you away before I even get to see you in it!”

Liz nodded. “Yes, this is definitely it. Not too long to dance in, not too fussy, and it fits you like a glove.”

Maddy flushed and knew they were right. She started to reach for the tag that she could feel dangling by her ribs, but Hannah swatted her hand away. “Don’t even think about the price, darling, this is the one.”

“Yes, but—” Maddy started.

“Liz, put this one on my bill.” Hannah said, steamrolling over Maddy’s protestations.

“Hannah, that’s very?—”

“Maddy,” she said, turning Maddy to face her and placing her hands gently on her shoulders. “For one thing, this is a drop in the bucket for my future in-laws. Nobody will think twice about it. For another thing, Alex has been different these last few months. More confident, happier, less brooding. And I can’t say for certain, but I’m pretty sure you’ve got something to do with that. So at least let me do this to thank you.”

“Hannah,” Maddy stammered, “I don’t know what to say.”

“Really, darling, I should be thanking you ! Even when Sarah is around, the testosterone in that family is overpowering. At least now the score will be a bit more even.”

“Oh, we’re not— I mean—” Maddy stammered, trying to tell her that she and Alex were casual, that she doubted she’d ever meet his parents.

“Okay, I have to run to my next meeting. Lovely to finally meet you, darling, and I’ll see you in a few weeks, yeah? Oh, and Liz? Don’t forget shoes and a bag!”

“Oh, but I have—” Maddy tried to get out.

“Shoes and a bag, Liz!” Hannah called, waving over her shoulder as she disappeared in a cloud of expensive-smelling perfume and bouncy hair.

Maddy stood, still wearing the green dress, shell-shocked.

“She’s a force, isn’t she?” Liz said, coming to stand beside her .

“Uh-huh,” Maddy managed, still trying to wrap her brain around everything that had just happened.

“Now let me just find you shoes and a bag, and we’ll get you all set up,” Liz said, patting her shoulder as she bustled out in search of accessories.

Text Thread “The Heirs and the Spare”

Hannah

OMG Alex, she’s a gem!

Ben

Wait, you MET her? How?!

Hannah

Yes! I helped pick out her dress for the after party. Alex, you’re going to DIE

Ben

Well! What’s she like?

Hannah

I mean, to be fair, I think she was a little surprised, but I can tell she’s got a feisty side. And she’s a stunner, that’s for sure.

Ben

I bet she does have a feisty side…

What did she pick?

Hannah

You’ll just have to wait and seeeee

HANNAH!

Hannah

I promised not to ruin the surprise. But trust me: she’s not going to blend in and you’re going to be very happy.