all arrived at the same time. She showed them the layout and the incredible amount of food the caterers had already set up.
“I think it’s called a craft table,” Silver said, eyeing the Danishes. “Or maybe not.”
“We’re so Hollywood,” Carol teased.
Verity looked around. “Renee, you’ve done a wonderful job.”
“Thanks. Do you want to check out your room where you’ll be doing the readings?”
Her mother smiled at her. “Has it changed from yesterday?”
“Odele was going to get the camera set up in it, so there’s that.”
“Then we should probably make sure it’s as I remember.”
“You think I’m overmonitoring the details.”
“I think this is you doing your job, which you do very well.”
“I appreciate that.”
Renee told Pallas she and her mom would be right back, then they went inside to the groom’s room. Sure enough, it was as it had been the day before, with all the furniture removed and cushions and a dog bed on the floor. A guy was setting up a camera. Two big lights had been placed at one end of the room and there was a chart on the wall, detailing the order in which the dogs would come in.
“You’re going to be busy,” Renee said. “That’s a lot of dogs.”
“I’ll be fine. This will be good practice for me before the show starts.”
They confirmed everything was in place before starting back to the main event area. Partway there, Verity came to a stop.
“I want to talk to you for a second.”
Renee looked at her mother. “Is everything all right? You’ve been so busy working, I’ve hardly seen you for the past week.”
Verity glanced away before returning her attention to her daughter. “Yes, well, there have been some things to deal with but it’s all good. Very good, in fact. But that’s not what I want to talk about. I’ve been thinking about what you told me about Pallas wanting you in the business.”
“What? We didn’t talk about that.” Renee was nearly sure of it. She’d told Jasper, but that was it.
“Of course you did,” her mother told her. “Anyway, I’ve been thinking that I would very much like to give you the money to buy in as a full partner.”
“What? No. Mom, no. That’s impossible.”
“It’s not. I have the money I made when I sold the salon, plus my payment for the show. I want to help.” She smiled. “Renee, I’ve never been able to give you much financial support. You went to college on scholarships and before that we were always scrimping to get by. I want to do this. It would make me so happy.”
Renee couldn’t take it all in. “Mom, that is incredibly generous and I want to talk about it, but not right now, okay?”
“Of course. I just want you to know I love you and I’m so proud of you.”
“Thank you. I love you, too.”
They hugged before returning to the prewedding frenzy. Renee pushed thoughts of her mother’s offer from her mind. She would deal with it later. No way would she take the full amount from her mother, but even the money for a quarter of her share would be fantastic.
They stepped outside in time to see Bethany arriving, with two tall men trailing her. She hurried over, her expression both apologetic and exasperated.
“These are my bodyguards,” she explained. “They go with me everywhere and they make me insane.”
“What about at the ranch?” Pallas asked. “They can’t be there all the time. They’ll spook the horses.”
“They keep their distance, but there they are. Lurking. I hate lurkers.”
“Poor you.” Silver put an arm around her. “What are you going to do?”
“Endure. Be passive-aggressive with my parents. Plot my escape.” She sighed. “If it’s like this now, what is it going to be like when I have the baby? My parents are literally going to smother me with their concern.”
“What does Cade say?” Renee asked.
“He says we should surrender to the inevitable and move to El Bahar when I’m about six months along. Then I can just be there for the birth before we come back here. But I don’t know.”
“Not a decision you have to make now,” Pallas told her. “Although if you do go to El Bahar for three or four months, we are so going to visit.”
That made Bethany smile. “Really? You’d do that for me? I’d have my dad send a plane.”
Wynn put her hands on her hips. “Well, yeah. It’s not as if we would go without your dad sending a plane!”