Anson stepped forward and took the microphone from Kenzie’s hands. “And speaking of our Christmas parade, we’ll have our very own Miss Southwood in attendance.”
Heat prickled Waverly’s cheeks when Anson motioned for her to stand. She did and gave everyone a pageant wave. “I wasn’t expecting an introduction.”
“Don’t be silly—everyone needs to know you,” Anson went on. “In case any of you missed the crowning on Sunday, Miss Waverly Leverve is our new Miss Southwood and will be our guest judge at all of our town events, like the fair’s big pie-eating contest at the pumpkin patch, and cut the ribbon at all the grand openings, as well as my right-hand lady for the Christmas parade. Now, are we ready to get on with business?”
Whether anyone was ready or not, Anson slammed his gavel back on the podium. Dominic leaned over to Waverly and whispered, “One guess what Mayor Ascot wants for Christmas. Or should I say who he wants.”
“Will you be quiet?” Waverly said between her teeth.
Dominic settled back in his chair. In a deep stretch, Dominic extended his muscular arms to either side of him and rested it on the back of Waverly’s metal chair.
“L-leading up to the, uh,” Anson said, verbally stumbling at the podium. He cast his eyes to the back row, exactly where Dominic’s arm rested. Out of the corner of her eye she swore she saw Dominic give Anson a thumbs-up. Seemingly in order to gather his thoughts, Anson reached for the pitcher of water and the glass on the table behind him.
“While Mayor Anson is pulling himself together—” Kenzie stepped up again “—have any of you had time to think about a theme for the parade?”
“Oh my God,” someone yelled in a joking tone. A few people giggled.
Kenzie brushed off the taunt with a shake of her curly hair. “Surely something has come to mind?”
Crickets. Waverly wished she were quick thinking on her feet, or at least confident enough to speak in front of everyone. She chewed on her bottom lip and summoned the courage to stand. Dominic crossed his arms over his chest and leaned to the side, amusement spread across his face. Kenzie beamed.
“Miss Southwood, do you have an idea?”
Considering Kenzie helped Waverly squeeze into a few dresses last week, there was no need for formality, but Waverly understood.
“Well—” Waverly inhaled “—when you mentioned how old Southwood will be, I thought about all of the pageants I’ve won over the years.”
“Modest, isn’t she?” the woman dressed in leopard said loud enough for Waverly to hear. The ladies with her giggled.
Wearing a bikini or a slinky one-piece, teetering on stilettos or answering questions drawn randomly out of a fishbowl didn’t faze her, but saying this scared her. The room was so small compared to the stage where the overhead lights blocked the prying eyes of the public. “Okay, well, I was thinking the floats could represent the decades past.”
“Brilliant.” Kenzie fist-pumped her.
“Absolutely.” Anson found his voice again. Once everyone realized the mayor had Waverly’s vote, they all cheered.
Dominic reached over and shook Waverly’s hand, never letting go. Tingles consumed her body. Waverly tried to tell herself taking his hand was platonic. “Great idea,” he whispered when she sat back down.
“And who did you bring with you tonight?” Kenzie asked Waverly, drawing attention to the two of them. “Who’s that seated next to you?”
Waverly pressed her lips together and shook her head at her friend’s faux amnesia. She knew exactly who Dominic was.
“She didn’t bring anyone,” Anson answered with a hint of panic in his voice.
“Hi, Kenzie,” Dominic said, lifting his chin in acknowledgment.
“Just the man we could use for the job,” said Kenzie.
“Excuse me?” Anson and Dominic chorused as other people asked what kind of job it was.
A breeze filled the room as everyone’s heads, from the front of the room to the back, bobbed. Waverly bit her lip and looked up at the lights. A group of the committee started whispering insinuations and jokes. Jesus, she thought to herself. The last thing she wanted was another scandal to jeopardize her dream. She just got this title. She could see the memes now: the Miss Georgia crown dangling in front of her like a carrot.
“Will you stop?” Waverly mouthed to Dominic.
“I didn’t do anything,” Dominic defended himself.
“Dominic,” Kenzie said with a giggle, “I apologize for putting you on the spot. Most of us have seen your Crowne’s Garage logo on the back of our Little League team shirts, but not a lot of us have met you. Would you mind standing?”
Dominic rose as asked. Waverly couldn’t help but keep her eye line at his tight butt in his chinos. She pressed her lips together and let her eyes trail down to the definition of his thigh muscles, where the fabric pressed against his legs. She bet he looked good in a pair of boxer briefs.
“I understand Mr. Myers is trusting you with his car,” Kenzie went on. “I would like to ask everyone in this room that if your car or your grandparents’ old car needs fixing, to set up an appointment with Dominic to fix it, because I am going to ask everyone with an old-timey car to participate in pulling the floats. We can use the cars of the decades, too, right, Waverly?”
Eyes widened. Waverly shrugged. “Sounds great to me.”
“Well, great.” Kenzie beamed again. “And now the more I think about it, the more I realize the two of you could work together, gathering up some old outfits.”
“Wait, what?” Waverly asked.
“I can think of a dozen people around Southwood who have a wardrobe filled with vintage clothes from the sixties. I bet seeing you riding around in one of Mr. Crowne’s restored antique cars from that era will spark up their memories of what they used to wear back in the day. Maybe they’ll want to schlep through their attics for some cute outfits the kids can wear on the parade floats.”
Beside her, Dominic brushed his leg against hers. “Sounds like a great plan to me.”
Great, Waverly thought. She and Dominic in close quarters. How was she supposed to follow her morality clause?
Chapter 5
As Miss Southwood, Waverly’s schedule was hectic and busy to say the least. Her summer of reign dipped into the fall schedule. Waverly and Dominic made appearances in various surrounding counties. She kicked off fairs, cut the ribbon for several restaurant and business openings and judged events at surrounding county fairs, from pig races when there was a tie, to small beauty pageants. A lot of these brought some of the other Southern pageant queens to the stage. With everyone vying to enter the Miss Georgia competition, things became testy. Waverly witnessed a few elbows and slight hip bumps that had made another beauty queen stumble; a few had fallen off a shared stage. The pageant world was becoming a contact sport and social media captured every slip and fall, and added them to the epic-fail category.
Thank goodness Dominic stood by her side and always pulled Waverly out of any confrontation, keeping her morality clause intact. Each time her hero kept her out of harm’s way, it became harder for Waverly to concentrate on her goals. Every morning before working with Dominic, Waverly gave herself a little pep talk and reminded herself that she needed the crown, not a man. Dominic didn’t make the resistance any easier showing up in a pair of jeans and a plain white T-shirt or even a suit on some occasions. Waverly’s first thought after seeing him was to rip off his shirt and run her hands over every inch of his muscular body. Dominic’s body wasn’t just a turn-on. His mind and patience were, as well. He took the verbal jokes about being Mr. Southwood or Miss Southwood’s handmaiden in stride. The memes died down a bit as she spent more time in Southwood. However, after the last event at a small county fair, someone took the infamous picture of Waverly tearfully handing over her tiara and made it appear she was e
xchanging her crown for a shovel.
Waverly enjoyed the local Southwood events she attended where she didn’t have to share the spotlight with other beauty queens. Just before little kids went back to school, Waverly was able to emcee the annual bachelor auction, which every single—and not so single—woman loved to attend.
One of the better parts of being Miss Southwood and part of the Christmas Advisory Council was being able to spend extra time with Dominic. She enjoyed their camaraderie and she immensely enjoyed not having to talk about the pageant world all the time with him. He didn’t pressure her about her family history or her relationship with her mother and she gathered early on he did not enjoy talking about his father. Thanks to sticking to her new diet, there were no more misdelivered pizzas, either. Dominic proved his muscle worth by helping her work out at the Southwood Premier Gym. He had a personal workout area at his ranch but Waverly didn’t want to chance anything. It was hard enough watching his muscles flex or the gentle way his hands caressed her backside to help her with some of the workout machines.
People seemed to enjoy watching the two of them together. They were the beauty and the brawn. Together they traveled around town and made appearances at the Senior Citizen Center for donated vintage clothes for the Christmas parade for the participants to wear. During the week, Dominic worked in his garage. On the weekends she and Dominic—with Kenzie and Anson in tow—drove around and gathered donations from just about every decade possible from local sources.
Lexi offered to store the dresses in her boutique and alter them if needed. The list of Christmas parade participants grew each day. Waverly wondered if there’d be anyone standing on the sidelines to watch.
The biggest concern for Waverly right now was Lexi. Stephen Reyes had sent a group text to everyone; Lexi was in labor. Thankfully Waverly was with Dominic at the time in a 1970s Corvette, and he got Waverly to the hospital just in time to learn Lexi needed an emergency C-section. While they waited, Waverly couldn’t help but wonder about her future. According to her life plan of obtaining tiaras, Waverly would be almost in her thirties before it was time to settle down and have children. A part of her heart ached at the idea of waiting so long.
Kimber, Lexi’s niece, paced the floor. Stephen and his brother Nate had rearranged their lives to move to Southwood to take care of their nieces when their brother, Ken, and his wife passed away.
Waverly wrapped her arms around Kimber’s shoulders to comfort her. Philly, her eight-year-old sister and a pageant queen in her own right, ran over to Waverly and Kimber to make herself a part of the group hug.
“She’s going to be okay,” said Amelia, Nate’s wife. Amelia came into the picture last year; Waverly hadn’t been in Southwood at the time, but she’d heard the stories. Amelia returned to Southwood hell-bent on revenge on Nate; she purchased Nate at the annual bachelor auction for the highest price to date. Waverly wondered whatever happened to the revenge plot. Clearly it backfired on her. The former reality show producer and now part owner of The Scoop, Southwood’s premier ice-cream parlor, patted the girls on their backs. She knelt down to Philly’s level. “She and the baby are in good hands. I vetted the doctors personally when I proposed a reality show in town.”
“Yeah,” Nate chimed in. “Everything is going to be fine.”
Waverly gulped down a large lump in her throat. She prayed Stephen was right. She didn’t know what she’d do if something happened to Lexi.
“Hey—” Dominic spoke up “—why don’t I get everyone some coffee?”
Philly turned her head upward for approval from Amelia and Waverly. Nate answered for them, “No, you can’t.”
“How about some hot chocolate?” Dominic offered. “With marshmallows.”
“Can I have as many as I want?” Philly asked.
Lips quivering at Dominic’s gentleness, Waverly placed her hand over her heart. She’d been so busy all her life planning her pageants, she never stopped to think about a family. Waverly told herself she loved pageants. She did. But she wouldn’t be in this world if it weren’t for her mother. Yes, Jillian had sacrifices, but so had Waverly. She didn’t have a traditional upbringing and missed out on a lot of typical teenage things, like sleepovers with friends. At a young age, Waverly had decided if she ever had children she would never force the pageant world on them. This tender side of Dominic’s, however, made Waverly rethink her whole life, especially when he knelt to Philly’s level.
“You may have two,” Nate warned, putting two fingers in the air.
Dominic gave Philly a wink, which wiped away any worry lines off Philly’s face. He held out his large hand for her to take. “Why don’t you come with me and we’ll get everyone something?”
Philly eagerly left the huddle to go off with Dominic. She squealed in delight when he picked her up to ride his shoulders. They left the waiting room and Waverly led Kimber over to the couch.
“Quite the man you have there,” Amelia pointed out, bumping Waverly’s shoulder when she sat down next to her.
“He’s not my man,” Waverly said, but she beamed. She loved the idea of Dominic being hers—more than she wanted to admit.
“Good to know.”
The three ladies left in the waiting room all glanced up at the doorway. Waverly’s lip moved upward at the sight of Vera. The current Miss South Georgia wore a white-and-royal-blue sash over a silver-and-royal-blue pageant gown. While Waverly wore her tiara, she paired it with something more casual, like her pink sweats—typical Saturday-afternoon attire for cleaning out the back of Grits and Glam Gowns.
“Hi, Vera.” Amelia stood up and greeted the competition with her arms stretched out. “What are you doing here?”
Vera gave Amelia an air kiss on both cheeks and a light pat on the shoulders. “I was fulfilling my duties as Miss South Georgia, visiting the children, when I passed Philly in the corridor. She said Lexi was in labor. How is she?”
“She’s fine,” Kimber said coolly. “You should really go. This is for family.”
Stiffening, Vera rolled her eyes. “I’ve known Lexi longer than any of you. If anyone deserves to be here, it’s me.”
“Everything okay, babe?”
Waverly leaned back in her seat at the sound of the familiar voice. The journalist who agitated her in the infamous interview sidled up to Vera’s side. A camera hung around his neck with a guitar strap. His beady eyes bore down on Waverly, then widened with surprise.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Waverly came to her feet and Kimber followed. “Get this jerk out of here.”
“Jerk?” Vera’s head bobbled back and forth. “This is Blu Fontaine.”
“I don’t care who the hell he is,” Waverly snapped. “You know exactly what he did.”
“Is this the jerk who antagonized you?” Kimber asked, her hands on her hips.
“Yes, it is.” Waverly fought the urge to clutch the opening of her shirt. This was the same man who asked her to take her top off and tried to lure her into his bed.
“Now, hold on a minute.” Blu held his hands out to slow everyone down. “I believe we have a misunderstanding.”
“The only misunderstanding is you thinking that tiara meant you could hit on me and then manipulate the footage to make me look crazy.”
“What?” Vera reared her head back.
“Babe,” he sputtered.
“You weren’t supposed to hit on her.”
Hearing the truth come out, Waverly’s blood boiled. Anger washed over her. Vera always played dirty behind closed curtains. She was known to take someone’s heels, hide a bow from a violinist moments before talent portions and even tattle to the pageant committee when contestants got together to party. But this took the cake. She was evil. “I knew you had something to do with it.”
She balled her fists. In her lifetime Waverly had never struck
a person, but she’d be damned if Vera hadn’t brought her the brink of violence. Waverly advanced a step. Vera didn’t back down. Instead the other woman squared her shoulders and tilted her chin forward, daring her.
“Go ahead.” Vera sneered. “You’ll be just like Johnny Del Vecchio.”
The mere mention of Waverly’s ex sent rage all through her being. The first time Waverly met the Morality Committee had been when they’d showed up at a street race Johnny was in. The commotion brought the local reporters, who were champing at the bit to expose unruly beauty queens. The committee had been sent an anonymous tip. Waverly had always suspected Vera. “Another thing you had something to do with.”
“You can’t prove a thing,” Vera said, miffed.
“I got enough.” Waverly seethed, raising a fist.
“Whoa!” someone yelled into the waiting room.
Several people stopped the interaction. The room spun as someone grabbed Waverly around the waist and twirled her to the other side of the waiting room. Anson tugged Vera out of the way; Blu stood behind his camera, taking pictures, and in the entrance of the delivery room stood Stephen, dressed in mint-green scrubs and a face mask. Waverly didn’t need to see his entire face to read the look of horror in his eyes. Everyone stopped yelling and moving. Someone set Waverly right on her feet.
“I hate to interrupt,” Stephen said, “but it’s a boy. Lexi and Kenneth are resting but doing fine. Not like I can say the same for everyone out here.”
* * *
“Ladies,” Mayor Ascot said to the room of witnesses from the waiting room, the police chief and members of the Morality Committee, a group of former beauty queens committed to preserving the sanctity of the tiaras and titles of regional pageants. “We can’t have altercations going on in our city. The emergency Morality Committee has come to order.”
A Tiara Under the Tree Page 7