The Return of the Duke - Grace Callaway Page 0,125
the most of the ones they’d had. Ernst had lived to meet his three grandchildren, and he had spoiled them shamelessly.
Now Fancy had a small respite in this intimate reception with friends and family. Afterward, she and Knight would honor a three-hundred-year-old tradition and step out onto the castle’s balcony to wave at their new subjects.
Fancy let out a squeal of unqueenlike delight when she saw Tessa, Gabby, and Maggie heading toward her and Bea. She hugged the women as she accepted their felicitations, touched but not surprised that they had made the long journey to her new home. That was what friends were for, after all. In the past few years, the five of them had celebrated countless milestones together, including the births of their children who were at present being corralled in the adjoining room by a team of palace nannies.
“Your gown is ravishing, Your Majesty,” Gabby said. “The embroidery is ever so exquisite.”
Made of white silk, Fancy’s coronation dress was embroidered with hundreds of alpine roses, which weren’t roses at all but a hardy species of rhododendron that grew in the mountains of Hessenstein. She ran her fingertips over one of the flowers, the center sewn with beads of pure gold, and thought of her mother Louisa, who she later discovered had stitched that first bloom on her christening gown.
“Thank you,” she said, smiling. “And thank you for coming all this way.”
“We wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Tessa said with a wink. “Coronations are important.”
Tessa would know, for not long ago her grandfather had stepped down as King of the Underworld, and she had been chosen as its new ruler.
“Heavens, we have two queens amongst us,” Maggie said with a laugh. “I do not know if I belong with such a rarefied group.”
“You belong. We all do,” Fancy said happily.
Looking around the room, she saw the people she loved, the motley bunch who meant the world to her. Her older brothers and their wives were helping their children to the buffet, her younger brothers helping themselves. Da was chatting with Aunt Esther, pausing to catch Fancy’s youngest son, Louis, who had, as usual, escaped his nannies. Da swung Louis up on his shoulders, the little prince chortling with delight.
By the champagne fountain, Toby was impressing a Flemish princess with tricks he had taught his spaniel. Eleanor, who had bloomed into a pretty young lady, was ignoring a group of noblemen and trying to read the book she had hidden in her skirts. Cecily was not ignoring her beaux, of which she had many. Jonas stood with a group of prominent Hessenstein industrialists, expounding, no doubt, upon the technological innovations in which he had taken so much interest since Knight had put him in charge of the weaving business.
Speaking of Knight, where was he?
Fancy was scanning the room when her husband came toward her, a commanding, princely figure in formal court dress. He greeted the ladies, and even after the years of marriage, Fancy tingled when he put an arm around her waist and kissed her temple.
“I was just looking for you,” she told him.
A smile glinted in his eyes. “I was preparing a surprise, sweeting.”
“What surprise?”
“Come and you’ll see.”
Knight led her by the hand, her smiling friends following in tow. He took her to a covered easel placed next to the official royal portrait. Framed in gilt, the portrait on the wall showed their family in a perfect, majestic pose. While Fancy knew it was a beautiful work of art, she couldn’t help but think it was a tad unrealistic.
She was sitting serenely, not a hair out of place. A clean, calm Louis reposed upon her lap. She was flanked by her twins: Ernst Milton, the elder by ten minutes, was to her right, Madeleine Anne to her left. Ernst and Maddy looked like little saints, their grey eyes glowing with boundless goodwill. To Fancy’s mind, the only one who looked true to life was Knight, who stood proudly and protectively behind her and their progeny.
A bell was rung, the guests gathering around. The children came in too, and the twins raced toward Fancy, who bent to receive their sweet kisses…and hear the grievances they each had about the other. Maddy and Ernst were the best of friends and most determined of rivals. Not to be left out, Louis raced into the mix, nearly toppling Fancy in his enthusiasm.
A look from Knight and the children settled for the time being.