Tilly Maguire and the Royal Wedding Mess

by Emma Grey

  Chapter 53

  ‘Reuben, I quit.’

  His heart thuds. She can’t do this to him. He needs her.

  ‘But we’re a team!’ he says, trying to keep his voice low, even though he’s agreed to meet her in a secluded part of a sprawling public park and nobody can see them. ‘I can’t do this without you.’

  She stands in front of him, resolute.

  ‘Angie, you can’t quit,’ he says, even though everything about her body language tells him she already has. ‘What’s this really about?’

  ‘Belle told me about your plans,’ she says. This is why she’s quitting? But he needs her by his side now more than ever!

  ‘She told you about my proposal?’

  ‘She didn’t outline exactly what you’re proposing, but she told me enough to know I just want to step aside from all of this.’

  ‘Ange. I’m proposing.’

  ‘Proposing what?’

  ‘Proposing.’

  Angie stares at him like he has completely lost it. She struggles to find words, finally spitting some out. ‘Reuben . . . what are you talking about, proposing?’

  He knows it sounds insane, but it’s the only thing he can think of to rescue Belle. If he marries her, she’ll be safe. She doesn’t have any other male friends in her life close enough to pull off this deception. The public would never need to know the true circumstances.

  ‘But, do you want to marry Belle? I mean, setting aside the whole ridiculousness of you even thinking about getting married at twenty-two . . .’

  ‘People do it,’ he argues. He can’t think of many who don’t almost immediately regret it, but it’s not like it’s unheard of.

  ‘But, Reuben! Do you want to? Really?’

  He wearily rubs his forehead. ‘Angie, is there some reason why you don’t want me to?’

  He wants to ask her directly, but it’s really not his place. He doesn’t know how much Belle has divulged.

  ‘Of course I don’t want you to. It’s a huge mistake. I’m not going to have any part in this plan, Reuben. You officially do not have my support. What about Tilly? You’re just giving up? For Belle?’

  He sighs. There’s nothing in Angie’s language that should give Belle any hope that she’s remotely interested in her. And the last thing he wants to discuss is the impact of this decision on Tilly.

  ‘I was wrong about Tilly,’ he says. ‘My judgement was just completely off there.’

  Angie shakes her head. ‘So was mine, I guess. She seemed genuine. There’s a part of me that still believes she is —’

  ‘Stop it, Ange. Please.’

  ‘But why Belle? You two are close, but why not just date each other if you want to go through some sort of weird princess-experimentation phase?’

  He laughs. ‘That’s not what this is.’

  ‘Well, what is it? Apart from crazy?’

  ‘You just have to trust me, Angie. If you knew the whole story, you’d understand where I’m coming from here. I have the best intentions, for all of us.’

  ‘Don’t drag me through your stupid intentions. It’s got nothing to do with me. And even less now, since I no longer work for you. I have to give two weeks’ notice, don’t I? Any chance we can shorten that? To like, two minutes?’

  He looks at her and part of him just wants to cry. He feels distraught enough about Tilly, without also losing Angie. She’s a friend he’d imagined being by his side all through everything that is to come. Not that she even understands the full extent of that.

  ‘There’s something I haven’t told you,’ he says, defeated.

  ‘Is this about the envelope you gave Belle?’ she asks.

  He nods. He’s going to have to tell her . . .

  ‘It’s going to come out in the papers anyway,’ he says. ‘I owe you an explanation. But before I discuss it, I want you to know I really want you to stay with me. We’ve faced all the celebrity stuff together – this is going to be worse. I can’t imagine doing this without you.’

  ‘You and Belle are as bad as each other!’ she accuses. ‘So cryptic!’

  ‘You’ve been wrong about Belle. The princess you see is not the real her. She hates all of this.’

  ‘She told me.’

  ‘Time to cut her some slack, maybe? I think you’re judging her harshly, because as far as you’re concerned . . .’ God. He nearly said it.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Nothing. She cares about you more than you think. That’s all.’

  Chapter 54

  It’s a couple of weeks later, when Tilly stops in shock in front of the row of wire news stands outside the convenience store near Kat and Angus’s apartment. She’s been for a run, which just goes to show how deeply in denial she actually is, because running is hardly her routine ‘go to’ in times of stress. It’s more like chocolate. But to get some of that she’d be required to face another human being in a shop, and right now she really cannot bear the inevitable, ‘Hey, aren’t you that girl who was dating Reuben Vaughan? You must be devastated!’

  Her phone lights up with a FaceTime call from Caitlin. Not talking to strangers is one thing. She actually needs a friendly face right now.

  ‘Is this one of those times when the trashy mags have got it wrong?’ Caitlin asks. ‘Please tell me it is.’

  She wishes she could. But, in addition to the explosion of wedding fever across every last publication in the United Kingdom and, no doubt, the Commonwealth, plus America – they’re obsessed with royal gossip there – so, basically everywhere in the English-speaking world – Tilly also has an email from Reuben himself, confirming it.

  ‘I’ll read this, straight from him, Caitlin,’ Tilly says, flicking through her phone and dredging it out of the junk mail folder where she’d promptly filed it. ‘He writes, “Tilly, I hope you’re okay.”’

  ‘Hah! Hardly,’ Caitlin interjects. ‘And it’s all his fault!’

  Tilly continues. ‘“I want to tell you something before you hear it from the media. Belle and I are officially engaged.”’

  ‘Just like that? Brutal!’

  ‘“I know this must seem sudden, and confusing . . .”’

  ‘Maybe she’s pregnant!’ Caitlin says. Tilly had wondered that, too. Until imagining it started doing her head in.

  ‘Then he says, “You’re probably also wondering about my other news.”’

  ‘Er, yes?’ Caitlin says.

  ‘He says, “My mother worked as a nanny in a European palace when she was young. Your age. When she became pregnant, my father sent her home to England and swore her to secrecy. Said he’d leave us alone if she raised me anonymously. Offered to pay her off, basically.”’

  ‘You’re kidding,’ Caitlin says.

  Tilly continues. ‘“My father became very ill when I was eleven with the illness that’s returned now. He’d expected to die, and all his demons caught up with him, I guess. There were several children. The other four were all legitimate heirs, much older, and I guess he felt guilty about me. He offered me a title, effective upon his death.”’

  ‘Oh my GOD!’ Caitlin exclaims loudly as if she’s hearing this for the first time and this information hasn’t already been circulated at dizzying speed around the globe.

  ‘But, Cait, he says, “all this was too late for me”.’

  As she reads, Tilly’s voice catches. ‘“I was too proud of my mum – raising me as a single parent, working two jobs because she refused his money, always putting herself last so I never missed out on basic things. Dealing with her own family’s embarrassment that she’d got pregnant to some guy from the continent. And then she finally allowed him to pay for my education, which is how I wound up at the same school as Belle. I couldn’t stand it. I wouldn’t accept anything from him because he’d hurt my mum so badly. I went for the scholarship and won it. Belle’s the one who encouraged me. I didn’t want to owe him anything. I never wanted this story to get out. I’ve spent over a decade trying to suppress it.”’

  ‘W
ho knew!’ Caitlin annotates. ‘The only thing more attractive than Reuben being some sort of secret prince, is the idea of him not accepting it. That whole refusal of handouts thing? That just makes him even more attractive, if that was even possible!’

  Tilly sighs. ‘Caitlin, dial it down! He’s marrying someone else! And he didn’t say he’s a prince. He just said it’s some sort of title. You’re not helping!’

  Unfortunately, Caitlin is right. Suppressing his official status, when it would have been so easy to ‘cash in’ on it, winning the scholarship on merit, making a success of himself in his career, all without the help that would have been at his fingertips . . . sigh.

  ‘Why does he even think you care?’ Caitlin asks.

  ‘Because I do care,’ Tilly admits miserably. The whole thing is breaking her!

  ‘He’s embracing this aristocratic thing now, though, isn’t he? To be with Belle? I mean, surely that’s the only reason he’s gone public on his secret lineage? So they can be together?’

  Tilly can’t deny that’s exactly how it looks.

  ‘He talks about the timing, Caitlin. He says, “I’ve given it thought, and while I was always going to cut all official ties to that side of my family when I reached this point, I’ve decided not to. Belle is in a very difficult position. As her friend, I can help. With the title – it’s just easier. There are complex family circumstances – I can’t go into it. I couldn’t keep this secret forever, Tilly. I was actually going to tell you on the rooftop, before we were interrupted by the police.”’

  Caitlin laughs as if she finds this all very convenient. ‘So, he chose Belle,’ she says. ‘What I don’t get is why he felt the need to let you know all of this personally. What was the point of that? Is it to make you even more miserable?’

  No, Tilly thinks. The opposite.

  ‘Caitlin, this is going to sound crazy, okay? But hear me out. I haven’t given up hope yet.’

  ‘On Reuben?’

  ‘I can’t describe it. It’s just this connection …’

  ‘Tilly, you’re sounding like the delusional superfan you used to be. Seriously. Stop this.’

  ‘I can’t. I won’t give up until I see him make his vows.’

  ‘Do you know how desperate you look?’

  ‘I don’t care. And I also don’t care how crazy the media gets between now and the wedding,’ Tilly says.

  ‘But he’s telling you in his own words.’

  ‘Yes, but wait till I read you the last bit. He says, “I’m glad I met you. Promise me one thing: You won’t believe everything you read.”’

  ‘That’s it?’

  ‘That’s it.’

  ‘That’s emotional manipulation.’

  ‘It is not! I think it’s code.’

  Caitlin’s face is twisted in outrage. ‘Don’t make me come over there and stage an intervention! It’s over, Tilly. Move on. Write your book. Do something! Anything but pine over Reuben Vaughan and continue to make an idiot of yourself like this. It’s mortifying!’

  Mortifying it may be, but Tilly can’t help it. Where there’s life, there’s hope. He wrote to her, personally. He made her promise not to believe everything she reads.

  And that can mean only one thing. Behind the super-intense hype, there must be more to this story.

  Chapter 55

  The media circus Reuben is used to has nothing on the chaos that exploded as soon as the news first broke. It’s like he and Belle have delivered everyone the glittering fairy tale they always wanted: gorgeous princess who never puts a foot wrong marrying talented pop star and recently discovered nobleman, whom half the country adores already. The public can’t get enough of it. There’s talk of a Netflix adaptation before the newsprint is even dry.

  They can’t go anywhere without attracting a riot of photographers. Thankfully they’re both media trained and experienced, but even then, it’s completely crazy. It’s so bad the band has to postpone a studio booking they’d made to record some songs for the next album, although the others are mostly grateful for the extended break. Even if each one of them seems wary about Reuben’s decision.

  He’s agreed to go ahead with this only if he can continue his music career. It’s not traditional, but Belle’s parents finally caved when he’d come up with the idea of pouring every cent of his future personal earnings into royal charity projects. Whatever. This isn’t about the status or the wealth. And it’s obviously not about the romance, no matter what the magazines spin. This is about friendship. And fairness.

  ‘You realise you’ve taken your chivalry to a new level,’ Belle says as they avoid the media hype one weekend and try to watch a movie at home, just like any normal couple. ‘We’ll be knighting you next.’

  He throws a cushion across the room at her. ‘Don’t you dare.’

  He doesn’t want to prolong the wedding fever any longer than necessary, but even rushing it will take months. If only they could elope and get married on a beach instead of having to do it in a cathedral, where every tiny glance will be witnessed and scrutinised around the world by an audience of billions . . .

  ‘How well do you act?’ Belle asks him during one of the calmer moments they steal to hang out, even though it’s right before they front up at a very public press conference.

  I can’t act. The memory of Tilly’s kiss outside the restaurant haunts him. Everything about her haunts him. It’s why, as insane as it seems to be going through with this, he doesn’t really care anymore. About anything. He’s going to be miserable either way, but Belle will be safe. And from inside their staged relationship, she’ll be free.

  ‘You’re the perfect girl. It’s not that much of a stretch to seem infatuated with you, is it?’

  But they both know it is a stretch. A huge stretch. Which is why, an hour later, with microphones stuck in their faces, it feels so awkward when a reporter yells at them to give a PDA.

  Reuben’s heart quickens at the suggestion, and not for the right reasons. Belle looks serene though, beside him. God, she’s unflappable. She smiles coyly and glances his way. Etiquette says they can’t kiss yet for the cameras – it’s why the balcony kiss after the wedding ceremony is such a big deal – but she does take his hand and bring it to her lips.

  There’s a frenzy of flashes. They are the darlings of the press.

  Reuben tries to look besotted, and Belle puts a finger to her lips afterwards. Like she’s savouring the touch of his hand on her mouth, even though he knows in reality she’s probably wiping off the ‘boy germs’.

  ‘Sorry,’ she says in the car afterwards. ‘I thought they’d be relentless about it. Better to get it over with.’

  ‘Was it that awful?’ he asks.

  She pulls a face. ‘Intellectually, I can see that you’re quite attractive.’

  ‘Thanks?’

  ‘But . . . ew.’

  He laughs, and she takes his hand.

  ‘It’s good to see you smile again,’ she says. ‘Have you heard from her?’

  He hasn’t. Not since the moment he got out of the car and walked away. Of course he’s not likely to, now. Not with this galloping fairy tale underway.

  ‘I was wrong about . . . all that. I knew there was a reason I never had a serious girlfriend, Belle. It’s too dangerous to get close to someone. Really, this arrangement between us is perfect. Uncomplicated. Risk-free.’

  It sounds like a business deal.

  ‘You’re sure this works for you?’ she asks.

  He wants to convince her. ‘You were there for me at school when things fell apart. You always have been. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have won that scholarship. I wouldn’t have joined the band —’

  ‘Those are just things friends do, Reuben. You don’t owe me anything.’

  ‘This is not about owing you. You and I have had enough conversations about how outdated we think marriage is, to know we’re on the same page about what we’re doing here. It’s just a formality, okay? Nothing has to change.’
r />   ‘Except where you live?’

  ‘Yeah. That’ll be rough. Can’t have everything in a relationship, I guess —’

  She looks at him, and he wonders if she’s thinking what he is. That this whole thing is a shell of how it should be. But enough of that.

  Chapter 56

  ‘Come to a movie with me,’ Angie insists, weeks after Tilly has gone to ground. ‘You can’t stay captive in this apartment forever.’ Angie isn’t one to hold a grudge, and it hadn’t taken her long to reach out to Tilly to see if she’s okay.

  ‘I don’t want to see people,’ Tilly objects.

  ‘We’ll be in the dark. Seriously. You need to breathe.’

  Angie is hard to say no to. Even harder when she’s right. Tilly knows she can’t spend another entire day in her pyjamas, pretending she’s okay, when she clearly isn’t.

  She showers and changes into a black top and denim pinafore dress, hoping it’s unremarkable enough that she will blend in. She wrangles her hair into a ponytail and grabs a scarf and a pair of big, dark glasses. And a hat. She totally wants to dye her hair, or cut it short, or something as some kind of disguise, because it’s always the first thing people see, but there’s no time. Angie is waiting.

  ‘See! You look better already,’ she says when Tilly emerges downstairs. ‘This is a good decision, I promise.’

  They get a cab to the theatre. Tilly’s stomach knots when she realises which one it is. There’s no red carpet this time, it’s the mid-afternoon screening and she’s not having a panic attack, so maybe it will be good to revisit one of their ‘places’. Maybe it will help her move on.

  They jump out of the cab and rush inside. Angie has bought tickets online so they escape the queue and go straight in. So far, so good. Tilly sinks into the darkness of the back row and slumps into the seat, while Angie sends a couple of messages, then switches her phone to silent.

  About an hour into the movie, Tilly notices Angie’s phone light up. Angie glances at the message but doesn’t reply. Ten minutes later, she leans over and whispers into Tilly’s ear, ‘Choc top?’