AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 1
CAITEY
Caitey Belgrave stomped on the brakes of her SUV, peering through the windshield at a forest thick with redwoods, towering oaks, and pine trees that blinded her to everything else in the vicinity.
The abrupt move caused the wedding items piled on every surface in the rear of her SUV, including the back seat and the passenger seat, to shift and slide while she cringed in terror at potential breakage.
Thank goodness nothing fell to the floor. Wedding paraphernalia was coming out of her eyeballs!
Even so, Caitey threw out a hand to prevent the bride & groom crystal goblets, specially ordered by her cousin, Jenna Thornton—AKA “the bride”—from smashing into slivers of broken glass.
Jenna had sent Caitey darn good money for the gorgeousthings, and she’d had them specially engraved with Jenna’s and her fiancé Logan’s names in beautiful gold letters.
The narrow, winding road was dense with foliage. After several hairpin turns, Caitey’s stomach was roiling. Taking the last sip from her water bottle, she was tempted to pull over and get some fresh air after the nearly four-hour drive from San Diego.
So far—after twenty minutes of slow driving up the mountain road from the highway exit—she’d passed estate after estate; gorgeous homes with multiple acres of forest, manicured lawns, and flower gardens.
There was money up here—lots of it.
Jenna hadn’t told her that she was about to marry a millionaire!
Address numbers disappeared a mile behind Caitey. How would she find the right place? Pausing on the empty road, she consulted her phone map again.
She startled when the British-accented AI woman’s voice suddenly announced: “You have arrived.”
“Oh, yeah?” Caitey muttered, gazing at dense trees and a road that curved endlessly. “Brilliant.”
Taking her foot off the brake, the vehicle slowly inched forward—and that’s when she spied an address marker about two hundred yards further on.
Well, maybe not. No numbers. No street name, even. Or maybe she missed it due to too much overwrought nature!
All at once, she spied a massive and spectacular ironwork of arched front gates to the next estate. She stopped again,putting the car in park so she could lean across the passenger seat. Pressing the button to roll down the window, Caitey gulped at the impressive entrance.
“Thisisit,” she whispered aloud.
The name of the mansion house was crafted into the ironwork of the front gates in fancy letters.
HEARST WOODS ESTATE
All at once, she felt tiny and insignificant. She glanced at the contents of her loaded car, the packed trunk, and backseat crammed with wedding stuff, and knew it wasn’t enough for a site as large as this mansion.
What was Jenna thinking hiring a still-new, small wedding planner for an estate of this magnitude? Caitey hoped her cousin wouldn’t hate her later if she couldn’t properly pull it off.
Especially after the debacle of her first job at the prestigious interior decorating company. She’d received an excellent salary straight out of college but found herself working double shifts with expectations that changed daily.
And her boss, a dragon lady named Darla Wolff—who gave her little training—yelled all day long. Even when small, easily fixed things didn’t go precisely asDarlawould have done.
After all, Caitey wasn’t a mind-reader! Eventually, she found herself dreading going to work every day. A few years later, she was unceremoniously firedin front of the entire staff, on purpose to humiliate her. Ms. Wolff told Caitey that she would never work in the industry again. No recommendations, no referrals, no references.
Months went by while Caitey pounded the pavement for another job until the day Jenna called her up and begged her to create her wedding at a country estate. At the time, she didn’t realize it was one of the biggest family names in California—the powerhouse Hearst family!
Talk about stress! Of course, Caitey said yes—since her bank account was down to zero—and the plans began!
Now that it was here, she couldn’t help but second-guess her expertise and ability to do right by her sweet cousin. Caitey took a sip from her water bottle, stuck her Nissan SUV in Park and exited, walking apprehensively toward the massive double gates. How did she get inside? No one appeared to be on the premises. She couldn’t even catch a glimpse of any actual house through the forest of trees.
Then she saw the keypad and remembered that Jenna had given her a code to use since she would be the first to arrive.
Pulling out her phone, she found the gate code and entered it.
