kicking in. And they went after her and shamed her. It’s sick, Poppy. Utterly sick.”
My heart aches for her. “May I call her? Would she be all right if I reached out to her? No woman should be made to feel the way she has been made to feel.”
I feel Xander watching me as I speak. I glance at him, and his eyes are locked on my face, studying me as I talk to Liz.
“That would be lovely,” she says. “I’ll give you her number, but first, there’s another reason why I’m calling. I want to put together a plan to help Bella.”
“How so?” I ask.
“Don’t tell her I’m doing this when you speak to her, but can you come over to Helene’s apartment at Kensington Palace on Friday night?”
I suck in a breath as another reality check hits me. “Helene” is Princess Helene, a much-loved member of the royal family who has one of the busiest schedules of working royals, according to the court circular that tracks past royal events.
“We’ll have cocktails and dinner, but I’m rallying all the girls so we can come up with a plan. For Bella to feel fantastic about herself, absolutely as she is, and shine brilliantly for the world to see at the wedding.”
I pause for a moment. “And you want my help?” I ask, utterly amazed that I’m being asked to a family meeting about her sister.
“You are part of the squad now,” Liz says matter-of-factly. “We stand together for each other. So can you make it?”
I say yes, I’ll be there. Then I hang up and turn to Xander.
“I’ve been asked to cocktails and dinner at Princess Helene’s apartment on Friday,” I say. “Liz wants to come up with a plan to help Bella feel amazing about being in front of the cameras for the wedding.”
Xander smiles softly at me. “They like you. Liz wouldn’t have asked you if she didn’t think so highly of you.”
“I’m glad they think so,” I say. Then I shake my head. “But what that paper said about Bella is disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. I’m going to text her in a minute and tell her how sorry I am about that whole rubbish article.”
“Thank you for being so good to my family,” he says, his eyes shining warmly at me. “That means a lot to me.”
“It’s easy to do. They are lovely, Xander. Just like you.”
He’s silent for a moment. I can tell he’s weighing out his words, what he will say next. Finally, Xander clears his throat. “One day, the press will say horrible things about you. It’s the one thing I can never protect you from. And it kills me that I can’t and that you will be just as hurt as Bella is now.”
“Hey,” I reach for him, touching my palm to his cheek, “I promised you earlier that I won’t let that drive me away from you. I mean it.”
Relief flashes across his face. He takes my hand and draws it to his lips, kissing it.
“I believe you,” he says.
“Good,” I reply.
As Xander goes back to his speech, I sit still, my brain taking in everything that has transpired today.
Whatever the press says about me, I have to trust it won’t damage Xander and the monarchy he wants to shape one day.
But at least I don’t have to cross that bridge now.
The bridge that does need to be crossed, however, is rallying around Bella.
And on Friday night, the squad will come up with a way to make Dishing Weekly eat their words about her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Stretch and Pull
By nine o’clock on Friday morning, I’m a whirl of activity. I’m working on a three-tiered, blush-and-white marbled wedding cake, with a rose sponge filled with a strawberry preserve between the layers and a gentle, rose-kissed white chocolate ganache, for a wedding reception at the Royal Botanical Gardens tomorrow.
Xander would hate this, I think with a smile as I knead the white fondant on my board. He doesn’t like any kind of florals mixed with his food.
I’m happy I’m working on this cake this morning. It’s a modern cake, with a beautiful marble pattern that I make by mixing two fondant colours together. I find working with fondant to be therapeutic, as I get to knead and then stretch and pull the white and the blush together to make a sleek, beautiful marble effect.
I press my hands down into the white fondant, glad that it is Friday. What a week. Our shop traffic has been way up