In an hour, they were supposed to be downstairs for dinner, but eating was the last thing on Olivia’s mind. Her stomach had stopped gurgling finally, but the thought of food had her glancing towards the bathroom. She’d spent the past few hours catching Helen up on everything, including her relationship with Quincy. She was the only one Olivia could trust, and from the look on Helen’s face, she was still trying to absorb everything.
“You know when I told you to find a man down here, I didn’t mean your future stepbrother,” Helen said.
“I didn’t mean to fall for him,” Olivia groaned. “It just happened.”
“So you love him?”
“I love him, he loves me, and now I’m pregnant with our child. I’m about to cause the worst scandal this tiny kingdom has ever seen, he’s going to lose the crown, and it’ll be all my fault!”
“Olivia, calm down,” she said and took her friend’s flailing hands. “Just… deep breath. We’ll figure something out.”
“Like what? I’m supposed to start courting Edric. I can’t do that when I look like a blimp! People will notice eventually,” she screeched, her plan to keep her voice quiet leaving her. They’d moved the conversation inside and closed all doors and windows in case anyone walked by. “I messed everything up.”
Helen screwed up her face, and Olivia knew she was trying to think of something to say to make her feel better. “Yeah, I got nothing. You sure found a way to make life interesting.”
“Thanks. You’re a big help.”
“How far along do you think you are?”
Olivia counted back to the first time they had sex. “Well, it’s been almost a week since the last time, but we had sex a week after I’d been here. At most, two months?”
“And you’re not showing yet? That’s lucky.”
“Helen!”
“Sorry, I’m just saying the second you start showing, there’s going to be problems. The wedding is what, two weeks away?”
“Week and a half.”
Helen paced around the room and muttered under her breath. Then she clapped her hands and turned back around with a wry smile on her face. “Okay, this is what you’re going to do. My flight leaves the day after the wedding. You are going to come with me. Say you have to get back because your professors need to talk to you about your portfolio… Whatever, just make something up. We’ll be home before you start showing.”
Olivia’s lips thinned. “And what happens when I do start showing? I wait until I have the baby and tell my mom I had a one-night stand with Joey?”
“Oh, God no, pick someone a little cuter.”
“This isn’t going to work. She’ll know. She’ll figure it out, and then what?”
Helen knelt in front of her friend’s chair and told her to calm down for the baby’s sake. “One step at a time, alright? Let’s get you back home, and we’ll go from there. I’ll be there with you every day so we can figure it out.”
Olivia nodded and hugged Helen. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Go crazy, of course. Now, we have a dinner to get to.”
“Great, dinner with the man I’m supposed to start courting and the father of my child who happens to be the prince,” Olivia muttered. “I don’t know if this could get any worse.”
By the time they made it downstairs to dinner and stepped inside, Olivia realized it was much worse. Lady Gigi sat beside Quincy, flirting with her hand on his shoulder, laughing about something he said that from the look on his face was not meant to be that funny.
“Ah, Princess Olivia,” Edric said and rose from the table. “Pleasure to see you, as always.”
“Edric,” she replied and smiled, thinking about her hand on Quincy’s neck instead of Gigi’s. When that failed, she thought of throwing Gigi off the nearest cliff. “I’m glad you could make it. This is my friend Helen from Nebraska.”
Olivia stepped to the side and watched Edric’s eyes light up as he took Helen’s hand. “Helen, an honor to meet a friend of the princess,” he said and kissed the back of the hand he held.
Helen’s cheeks turned bright red and she giggled. Giggled! Olivia stifled a laugh herself. “Thank you… Edric.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“My lady—wow, I’m not anything special, I promise you that.”
“I beg to differ,” Edric said. Olivia’s eyes widened as she watched the exchange in happy disbelief, though she really couldn’t complain. An idea of those two getting together sprouted in her mind, and she saw one of her potential problems going away.
The three of them moved to the table, and Edric pulled out her chair, but she insisted Helen sit there instead. When Edric looked confused, she said she had to speak with her mother about something, and Helen had some fascinating stories to tell him of home. It didn’t bother her when his face lit up, so he quickly sat Helen beside him, leaving Olivia to sit on the other side near her mother.
“Olivia,” Melinda asked quietly as she leaned closer, “what’s happening there?”
“Well, Mom, I think the old phrase ‘love at first sight’ has just been proven,” she said with a laugh. “Oh man, Helen found a guy she can tolerate for more than five seconds.”
Melinda frowned. “But I thought you liked him, hon?”