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King Claudio hasn't warmed up to me exactly, but he's stopped glaring at me like Public Enemy Number One. I'm taking that as a win.
I'm not worried. The more I see of him, the more he reminds me of my dad.
The king will come around. He just has to do it in his own time. My own dad isn't exactly all sunshine and approval with Rio, though he is showing a little more tolerance every day for the man who had dared to marry his daughter.
A lot more worrying is Giannetta Bellini, the daughter of one of Isole dei Re's top diplomats. And apparently a very good friend of the family.
Also the woman who expected to marry Principe Vittorio Micheli Scorsolini, if I don't miss my guess.
Rio told me his dad had someone in mind for him that he refused and I'm pretty sure it's Giannetta.
She'd been helping Queen Therese plan the reception already and has managed to insert herself in the middle of the transformation to formal wedding announcement and reception. Rio's mom likes Giannetta. A lot. And relies heavily on her.
But Giannetta doesnotlike me.
She's made several oblique comments that imply she thinks the wedding announcement is premature.
But this morning? She is in top form.
"Perhaps we should consider keeping the elopement completely under wraps until a traditional wedding can be planned. No public relations effort will prevent speculation if the nature of the prince's liaison with Ms. Menendez comes out."
We?Giannetta is not a member of the Scorsolini family, no matter how much she wants to be and she's sure as heck not part of mine. Neither is she on the PR team in charge of the announcement.
"Unfortunately, that will not work," Queen Therese says. "A wedding would take a minimum of a year to plan."
"Two would be better," is my mom's unsurprising contribution.
I dread my five-year anniversary because no way will Amber Menendez pass up the first milestone opportunity to host a formal wedding with a renewal of vows. She'd do it at our first-year wedding anniversary if she wasn't firmly on Team Tanzi.
She says being a first-time mom is one of the hardest transitions I will ever make in my life. I believe her and I have no desire to add a huge, stressful event into the mix when my baby is only a few months old.
Shock washes over Giannetta's face. "She'spregnant?"
"Yes, but we are not announcing it until later. We don't want everyone saying Vittorio and Constanza only married because she is pregnant." Queen Therese smiles at me. "No one who spends even ten minutes with the two of you could doubt your love, but the press in unforgiving."
If looks could kill, I'd be dead on the floor from the one Giannetta is sending me right now. But when the queen looks at her, she's all smiles and assurances.
When I tell Rio about it, he shakes his head and laughs. "If my own parents, the reigning monarchs of my country, don't get a say about who I marry, friends definitely don't."
I don't think Giannetta is his friend and I'm positive she's not mine.
CHAPTER 16: Tanzi
Setting the Record Straight
I wear a strapless vintage Alexander McQueen gown (that mom convinced the design house to pull out of their vault) to the reception.
My jewelry is just as stunning. Mom and dad paid a favorite jeweler vast amounts of money to create a diamond and ruby choker and earrings fit for a princess that match my engagement ring in time for the party.
The complimentary ruby and diamond tiara placed carefully amidst the gold and brown curls swept up in an elegant pile on my head is a gift from the king and Queen. And it's not recently made.
According to Queen Therese, the tiara was favored by King Claudio's third-great-grandmother.
"You look like a princess, even if you never expected to be one." Rio's eyes are hot with admiration.
I grin up at him while we wait at the bottom of the grand staircase of the cavernous ballroom with both our parents to greet the guests. "Thank you. I like the prince togs too. Who knew epaulets could be so sexy?"
He laughs, looking amazing in the formal suit of Isole dei Re royalty.
