by Kim Desalvo
“Your mum doesn’t know, though, so it’ll be a surprise to her, remember.”
She clicked their number from her contact list, and they answered almost immediately. “Happy New Year!” Tia exclaimed!
“Happy New Year to you!” her mom said. “Although we’ve got a ways to wait for midnight here. It’s not even nine in the morning yet.”
“Did you two have a nice New Year’s Eve?” her dad asked, the hint of knowing in his voice.
“Oh Mom, Dad…I have the most exciting news!” She paused for a moment to catch her breath. She still couldn’t believe she was saying this. “Dylan and I are engaged!”
The look on her mom’s face was priceless, and Tia was so glad, that even across oceans and time zones, she could see her mother’s face light up when she heard the news. How she wished she and Dylan had this connection while he was in New Zealand, she thought. It could have been a game changer.
“Engaged?! Did you hear that William? Our baby’s getting married!!” Tia watched as her mom visibly choked up, and her smile lit up the whole screen.
“We’re so happy for you!” her dad said. “Welcome to the family, Dylan. I’m proud to call you my son, and I know you’ll take good care of our little girl there.”
“The best,” Dylan agreed.
“Well, let me see the ring!” her mother urged, and Tia held her hand up in front of the camera. Dylan reached over and helped her steady it—she was still shaky whenever she looked at it.
“Oh my goodness,” her mother breathed. “Is that a real diamond? I’ve never seen anything that big!”
“It better be,” Dylan laughed.
“Oh, it’s so beautiful! Exquisite!” she breathed. “I’m beyond words right now, you guys—I’m just so incredibly thrilled for you both…”
Dylan piped in. “Listen, I really want to thank you both for being so welcoming to me, especially in light of the…situation. I do promise you that I’m dedicating my life to your daughter’s happiness, and that I feel incredibly honored that she’s agreed to be my wife…” he turned to Tia. “Damn it feels good to say that!”
They smiled at each other and then back at the camera. “I’m the happiest girl in the world right now,” she told her parents, “and I’m so glad you gave Dylan your blessing, Dad. It means so much to me. To both of us.”
“You knew?” Danielle’s head turned; the surprise evident in her voice.
“He asked for my blessing and I gave it,” Will replied, pulling her in and giving her a squeeze. “I knew better than to let you in on the secret,” he said with a taunting smile.
“We’ll talk about this later,” she smiled at him, “and let’s just say that you’re very lucky that I’m so excited right now; excited enough that I might let you off easy—this time…”
They spent some time catching up on news from home—it seemed that the media had found Will and Danielle, and their phone was ringing off the hook. There was also a small entourage occasionally camped out in the street in front of the house looking for comments, interviews, anything that they could use to fuel the fire. “Barbara Walters’s people called me,” her mom said. “I told them I wouldn’t speak to anyone but Barbara herself, and they said they’d see what they could do! If she calls, can I talk to her?”
“Sure,” Tia agreed after getting a nod from Dylan. “But don’t spill the news about the engagement until we go public, OK? I don’t want any of my friends to find out on the news. We’ve got a lot of calls to make first.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to see the look on Martha Granite’s face. Do you know she’s been trying to hook Dakota up with some pro golfer that her cousin knows ever since the day you brought Dylan to the club? She just can’t stand the fact that someone else’s daughter is dating a celebrity and hers isn’t. She’s going have a fit.” Her mother especially liked the attention she was getting at the country club, at her bridge club, and pretty much everywhere she went. She was like a movie star, she said, and she was positively basking in it.
“Not yet, Mom,” Tia warned.
“Give us 48 hours,” Dylan added. “It’ll be out by then.”
“Oh, it’s going to be so hard! I mean, who doesn’t want to brag that their daughter is engaged?” Tia shot her a look with narrowed eyes and pursed lips. “But I’ll do it, I promise. I’ll be as good as Lexi.”
“We better make those calls fast,” Dylan smiled after they cut the connection.
Chapter 19
The first two calls to Lexi went unanswered, so Tia tapped her screen again. She was just about to hang up and try once more when Lexi finally came on the line, her voice a barely audible whisper. “This better be the goddamned lottery office calling to tell me I’ve won millions,” she croaked.
“It’s way better than that!” Tia sang happily into the phone. “Turn on your computer and pull up Skype—I’m calling back in five minutes with big news!”
“I’ve only been in bed for like five minutes,” she said. “No brain function. Call back later.”
Tia laughed. “Oh, OK. I guess you can just read about it in the papers later, with the rest of the general public. Sleep well,” she said, hanging up without further explanation. She waited only a couple minutes before the little box popped up at the bottom of her computer screen, telling her that Lexi was online.
Lexi answered the call without video. “This better be good,” she grumbled. “And it better be short, too, because I am in desperate need of more beauty sleep.”
“You have to have the video on!” Tia said. “I can’t continue this conversation until you do.”
“Shit,” Lexi croaked. “I just got back from freaking California an hour ago; I was there doing an interview for you two, I’ll have you know—Bo was on the show with me. I seriously just got into bed, and we’ve got a party tonight that’s going to go late. I look like death warmed over—no way you’re seeing me. Video stays off.”
“Well, this conversation is pointless then,” Tia teased. “I wanted you to be among the first to know, but there’s a necessary visual component, so if you absolutely refuse, I’ll just call someone else. But I don’t want you to be bitching at me later that I didn’t tell you first…”
“Ohhhh shit, this better be good,” she mumbled.
“Not one more word until you turn on the video. I need to see your face, and you need to see something too.”
“Christ,” Lexi muttered, but she turned on the video feed. Tia waited a few seconds for the images to load, her heart beating a mile a minute. “What the hell is that?” Lexi asked when the image popped up on her screen. “Holy shit, is that a fucking ring?”
“We’re engaged!” Tia exclaimed, moving her hand from in front of the screen and getting her first glimpse of Lexi; her normally coifed hair matted down on one side and sticking out in all directions on the other; a raccoon-ish smudge of mascara beneath both her eyes.
“Yikes!” Tia teased. “You weren’t kidding about the beauty sleep, honey…”
“Never mind that,” she said excitedly, her eyes widening. “Is this for real? You guys are getting married?” Her head turned from the screen and her face pinched. “Crap,” she said, trying to tone down the excitement in her voice, “I woke Ryan up. He’s going to be pissed.” She smiled back through the camera. “I can’t believe it—I mean, of course I can believe it, but I wasn’t expecting it so soon…oh my God, congratulations!”
Dylan’s smiling face appeared on the screen. He took one look at Lexi’s image, and his expression morphed to exaggerated surprise. “How much of that beauty sleep are you allowing yourself, Lex? Tonight’s New Year’s Eve, you know.”
“Screw you Miller!” she laughed. “And don’t you dare tell Bo you saw me like this…I have to remain the perfect princess in his eyes.” She frowned, feeling the sense of loss and confusion from the previous night settling down on her. She may never be anything to Bo again, she thought sadly.
“Not a word from me,” Dylan teased back
. “I wouldn’t even know how to begin to describe it…”
Lexi very purposefully scratched at the end of her nose with her middle finger. “I’ve seen Tia in the morning too, and it isn’t any better.”
“I’ve seen her plenty of mornings,” he chuckled, “and she always looks beautiful.” He put his palm up to block the view of the camera, and smacked a loud kiss on Tia’s cheek.
“Alright, enough talk about my natural attributes,” she said. “You’re engaged! Holy crap, after all you guys have been through, you so deserve to be happy. I’m so excited for you!”
“Can you believe it?” Tia shouted. “It’s been a hell of a year, but this new one’s going to be nothing but awesome!” She recounted for Lexi how Dylan had popped the question, and happily granted every request to see the ring.
“That thing is enormous,” Lexi said. “Are you sure it’s real?”
“It bloody well better be,” Dylan said, “Why do people keep asking me that?”
“Uh, maybe because stones that big are usually only found in quarries? Oh my God, when are you going to do it? You think you’ll get married this year?” Lexi asked.
“We haven’t gotten that far yet,” Tia said at the exact same time Dylan answered, “As soon as possible!”
Tia knew instantly what she was thinking. “Not July, Lex, don’t worry about that. We’ve only been engaged a couple hours—we haven’t even started that discussion…” It was the month of Lexi and Ryan’s wedding, and Tia was the maid of honor. She’d never consider treading on that.
“July?” Dylan interjected. “No way I’m waiting that long.”
Tia looked up at him, narrowed her eyes, and shook her head. “Obviously, my fiancé…” she said, loving the sound of the word rolling off her tongue, “has no clue about how much time it takes to plan a wedding.” She smiled up at him.
Dylan sat down beside her on the loveseat, bringing his face back into the camera’s view. “Obviously, my fiancé,” he said with just as much emphasis, “has no clue about the perks of her new celebrity status. Designers will be knocking each other over for the chance to design her dress, and the same goes for florists, cake decorators, caterers…plus, we have a secret weapon,” he added. “Guess what Jessa did before she started working for me?”
“Holy crap,” Tia breathed. “She was a wedding planner!”
“That’s right,” Dylan boasted. “No way I’m waiting until July. I was thinking more like May. I think I could be available on Memorial Day weekend.”
Tia sucked in an audible breath. “That would be the one year anniversary of when we met!” she said.
“It would,” Dylan smiled before he caught himself. “Oh bloody hell,” he said, “I’m an idiot. It would also be the anniversary of Nick’s…”
Tia cut him off. “No Dylan, it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t be the same day. Besides, it would be good to associate something happy with that time of year too. And if Nick could hand pick the guy I’d be with, it would definitely be you. I love the idea!” She turned back to the camera. “Of course you’ll be my maid of honor, right Lex?”
“I’d kick your ass if you asked anyone else,” she said. “Holy shit, I can’t believe you’re going to get married before me—I’ve been planning this thing for over a year!” Her eyes widened, and she looked right into the camera. “Oh, T, it’s going to be so much fun doing some of our wedding plans together. Have you thought about where you’ll get married? I mean, your family is in Chicago and his is in freaking Australia, for chrissakes. Can’t get much further apart than that. It won’t be that warm here in May yet, but it’s almost winter there, isn’t it?”
Tia turned to Dylan. “Wow, that is going to be a tough one,” she said to him. “Not only that, but you have friends in England, Colorado and California, too. How are we going to get everyone together in one place?” she asked.
“I have an idea about that, but I’ll talk to you about it later,” he said.
“What later?” Tia said, punching him on the arm. “You’ve already considered this? You know you have to tell me…”
“I think this is the spot in the conversation where I check out and go back to bed,” Lexi said, “although I don’t think I can sleep anymore. You’re getting married! I’m so excited for both of you! Happy New Year—love you both!”
“Love you too, Lex—have fun tonight!” They cut the connection, and Tia immediately turned to Dylan, hands on her hips.
“OK, spill. You have an idea about how we can get everyone together for our wedding?”
“I have a great idea,” he smiled at her. “It may sound a bit off at first, so listen to the whole plan before you decide, OK?”
“OK,” she said suspiciously. “I’m all ears.”
“Where to start,” Dylan pondered. “OK. So first of all, our wedding is going to be big news—I wish it wasn’t that way, but this media circus has gone beyond my wildest imagination, and it is what it is.”
Tia nodded. “Yeah, it’s gone above and beyond, that’s for sure.”
“What that means,” he continued, “is that the media is going to do everything it can to get access to the wedding—everyone’s going to want an exclusive, or a picture they can sell…but if we can control the media, we can still have a private wedding and have the final say in what gets published.”
“Yeah, but who can control the media? The tabloids don’t take no for an answer, and they certainly aren’t polite.” She groaned. “Oh Dylan, the last thing I want is for our wedding day to be a three-ring circus.”
“Absolutely not,” he said. “That’s where this idea comes from. Remember, I have a very good friend who is a media mogul…”
“Tony.”
“Exactly. His influence runs deep. He made me an incredible offer—one that has the potential to be a win-win-win-win situation. I think he threw a few more “wins” into it when he pitched it to me, but it really could be the perfect solution. But the decision is ours, Tia, so don’t feel like you have to take him up on his offer if it isn’t what you want. Just hear it all out, and then give it some thought.”
“That’s an awful lot of ‘wins,’” she smiled, “but I’m not getting married on TV, if that’s what he’s thinking.”
“No way. I wouldn’t even consider that for a minute. However, we do have a responsibility to our fans, so try to have an open mind, OK?”
“Oh…alright,” she said grudgingly.
“So Tony has his own island in the Bahamas…” he paused and let her soak that in for a minute, smiling when he saw her perk up and a smile touch her lips.
“…and he’s been developing it, building a very small and exclusive resort for the rich and famous. It’s going to be operational sometime in mid-May, if everything stays on schedule, and he’s pretty confident that it will. It can accommodate around 150 people, maybe a few more, and he’s offered to give us our wedding, on his island, as a gift. We’ll have the entire island to ourselves for the whole Memorial Day weekend.”
“Wait…are you saying we could get married on the beach, on a private island?” Her eyes widened and then narrowed as she contemplated the idea. Dylan imagined he’d run much the same gamut of emotions over his own face when he first heard the news, and he’d only shown Tia the tip of the iceberg thus far. He smiled, contemplating the next concern she was likely to voice. He had solutions for every single one of them, he thought, as he’d considered them all during his discussion with Tony, as well. “Oh Dylan, it sounds positively wonderful,” she started, “but remember, my friends and family aren’t rich. How can I ask them to spend so much money to fly out for a weekend? I mean, Lexi and Ryan and my parents could afford it, but my teacher friends…”
“That’s one of the ‘wins,’” he said. “Tony has a couple planes, and one of them’s a corporate jet. He’s offered to fly our guests over and back. They wouldn’t have to pay anything.”
“Whoa,” she breathed, her mind racing, “seriously?”
“Our wedding would be the ‘grand opening,’ for lack of a better term, of his resort, and so for him, it would be a test run of how the whole place will work. He’s got a full staff—cooks, housekeeping, groundskeepers, the whole deal—and he wants a chance to fill the place and make sure everything is perfect before he opens it officially. So all of our guests win—they get a free weekend at an exclusive property on a private island—a place that’ll only be accessible to people willing to pay big bucks after that weekend. Tony’s going to be charging a small fortune to stay there once it opens officially, and our guests will always be able to say that they were the very first to christen the place.”
“Oh wow, I’d call that a huge win!” she exclaimed, her smile growing wider.
“And of course we win, because we get a perfect setting for our wedding and the media doesn’t have to know about it. We’d keep the location secret—we’d just tell people to save the weekend, and tell them to pack swimsuits. They wouldn’t know where they were going until they were on the plane, so the details won’t even have a chance to leak out. We can have our day without helicopters buzzing overhead or reporters standing outside the church.”
“OK,” she said, contemplating, “I definitely like the sound of that. I can’t even imagine having paparazzi invade our wedding day—that would be awful. And getting married on the beach…that’s been a dream of mine since I was a kid…” her eyes glazed dreamily as she envisioned it in her mind. “But that’s two wins—us and our guests. What are the other ones?”
“Well, believe it or not, Tony wins a few times.” Tia raised her eyebrows. “He’s an investor, and a shrewd one at that. There’re a few things in it for him, but none of them impact our bottom line. First of all, he gets the trial run for his new resort and business venture—we do have to be prepared for the possibility that there may some bugs—it’ll be the first time the place is up and running, the first experience for the staff; things like that. He doesn’t anticipate any issues, because he’s got a whole team of people working proactively on the final outcome, but he wouldn’t want anything to go wrong if he had paying guests—and like I said, people who stay there are going to pay big.