Royal Engagement

by Chance Carter

  It turned out that the Foresters had spent weeks planning a surprise party for Casey in their backyard. They had rented out a moon bounce and trampoline, set up a slip and slide, and even had carnival foods like snow cones and popcorn. Casey had no idea it was coming, and her foster sister, Clara, had initiated the big reveal. “I can still imagine that moment like it was yesterday,” Casey said. Her eyes were closed as if she was trying to picture it. “I was wearing a pink and purple striped t-shirt, and Clara told me there was something she wanted to show me out back. She opened the door and kind of nudged me onto the deck, and that’s when thirty or forty of my neighborhood friends and classmates yelled, ‘Surprise!’.”

  Casey’s eyes lit up just talking about it. I had to admit that I was guilty of assuming that all of Casey’s experiences in foster care were negative. This was one of the few positive memories I’d heard, and I begged for more. “I want to hear about the good times, Case,” I said, trying to be gentle. “I love how you light up when you talk about them.”

  “Let me think for a minute,” Casey said. We sat in silence as I watched her gorgeous face in the candlelight. “Did I ever tell you about the time I won a raffle at my school’s bingo night?”

  I shrugged. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

  “It was my fourth or fifth foster family, the Bells,” she started. “I was the first foster placement they’d ever had, so they didn’t have a clue what they were doing.”

  “Sounds like a recipe for disaster,” I chuckled.

  Casey rubbed her hands together for dramatic effect. “You bet. Although, all things considered, they got off easy. Anyway, there was a bingo night at my school and I really wanted to go. Mrs. Bell agreed to take me, and we met up with one of her friends, whose daughter was in my class. When the friend’s daughter asked her mother for money for some raffle tickets, I sort of froze. I knew better than to ask my foster parents for anything that wasn’t a necessity.”

  I cut Casey off. “I thought you said this was a good story.”

  “Hush, you,” Casey said. “I’m getting to it. Sooooo, my foster mom, who clearly really wanted me to like her, handed me a $5 bill without me asking and told me to go buy some tickets and put them in for the raffle baskets I wanted. Long story short, neither of us won any bingo games, but I won a raffle basket. I can still remember the look of pride on Mrs. Bell’s face, and the sense of accomplishment I felt, as I went up to get the raffle basket.”

  “That’s sweet,” I said with a smile.

  As if she was part of an infomercial, Casey threw her hands in the air and said, “But wait… there’s more.” I leaned in closer to listen to the rest of her story. “Well, the raffle basket ended up being this huge, decorative basket filled with chocolate bars and all sorts of candy. The Bells made the terrible mistake of leaving eleven-year-old me alone in my new room with a bunch of candy. Needless to say, I ate about ten times my weight in chocolate and threw up all over their house.”

  I laughed, but a thought lingered in my mind. “Is that why you went on to the next foster home?” I asked.

  “Nah,” Casey said. “I lasted there a few more months until they got off the waitlist for an adoption agency. They’d really been hoping for a baby.”

  “Oh.” I wanted desperately to lighten the mood back to how it had been a minute earlier. “So, how many raffle tickets did you put in to win that basket?”

  Casey flashed me a mischievous smile. “All of them,” she chuckled. I loved that Casey and I were still learning new things about one another. I knew she was a closed-off person, someone I would have to learn about layer by layer. I was just glad we were making headway.

  Casey had never looked sexier than she did in the flickering light of the candle. I leaned in gently and took her lips in mine. We kissed passionately as we fell into one another on the picnic blanket. “I have an idea,” Casey whispered. Without another word, she led me back into one of the examination rooms, and I let her have her way with me.

  Chapter 29

  Casey

  “Do I really have to go?” I pleaded with Alexander as he zipped up my blue, beaded cocktail dress. The dress was decent-looking at best, but there wasn’t exactly an extensive selection of dresses suitable for a bachelorette party in the maternity section.

  “Don’t be silly! It’ll be great,” Alexander said. He planted a kiss on my forehead. I walked around in the bedroom I still couldn’t believe was mine to try to get used to walking in my new wedges. Clearly, I looked unsteady, because Alexander added, “Are you sure you don’t want to wear different shoes?”

  I frowned in his direction and made sure he saw it. “I only get one bachelorette party,” I said. “And I want to feel like a princess. I already feel more like a beached whale.”

  Alexander took my hand in his and pulled me over to the bed. “You look beautiful. And that bump, that thing you say makes you feel like a beached whale, is going to be our baby pretty soon. If that’s not magical and majestic, I don’t know what is.” He always had the ability to look at things in a positive way, and to get me doing the same. I supposed it was pretty magical. Either way, this was the only dress I had that was bachelorette party-ready and also fit over my enormous stomach.

  All in all, I had mixed feelings about my bachelorette party. On one hand, it was exciting to have a night out with my friends. It had been a while since I’d had a girls’ night. Liana had invited Jane, two of our other friends from college, Stacey and Angelica, and a girl I was friendly with at work, Grace. It was an interesting mix of people, and I was sure they would be a fun group. On the other hand, I couldn’t have alcohol, my ankles were swollen, and I had to pee every half hour. Oh well. There was no turning back now.

  I shooed Alexander away so I could do my makeup. I hadn’t gotten much further than blush when Liana arrived. After gushing over the house—especially the chandelier in the foyer—she took over makeup duty and got me dolled up and ready to go.

  “Don’t go over the top, Li,” I said.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Liana replied. I knew what that meant. She ditched most of my makeup in favor of glittery eyeshadow, metallic eyeliner, and bright red lipstick. I was more of the natural makeup type, but there was no use in resisting. One of the cores of my friendship with Liana was our mutual stubbornness. Besides, Liana’s sister had thrown her a lame bachelorette party a few years back, so I knew that Liana was determined to make mine extra special. If that included obnoxious, over the top makeup, then so be it. At least it would be better than Liana’s chain restaurant bachelorette party that had lasted less than two hours.

  As Liana took a curling iron to the back of my head, the doorbell rang. “I thought we were meeting the girls downtown,” I said.

  Liana shrugged. “We are. Must be the guys for Alexander’s shindig.”

  “They’re meeting at Flanagan’s,” I said, shaking my head. I let Liana finish the curl she was working on before leading her downstairs to open the door.

  “We better hurry up,” Liana pushed. “We don’t want to keep everyone else waiting!”

  I rolled my eyes. This was my big night, and I wasn’t going to let anyone rush me. “I’m not sure who this is. Maybe a solicitor, but who would be selling something door-to-door this time of night?” I said. “Maybe it’s…” My voice trailed off once Liana pulled open the mahogany door and revealed the culprit.

  “Surprise!” Emily squealed.

  “Oh my gosh!” I tried to wipe the shock off my face as I gave Emily a hug and helped her with her suitcase. “You came all the way up here for me?!”

  Emily laughed. “You think I would miss my future sister-in-law’s bachelorette party?!” She paused to motion to Liana. “You’ve got a pretty great friend here. She arranged the whole thing.”

  I thanked Liana and introduced the two, then brought them both back upstairs to help finish my half-curled hair. After two more bathroom trips and one curling wand burn, I said goodbye to Alexander, who promised to stay in touc
h through text messages, and we headed off to my pre-wedding celebration.

  The limousine that sat out front of the house was yet another surprise I wasn’t expecting. I thanked Liana for her thoughtfulness, and it occurred to me—not for the first time that evening—that we probably weren’t going to be having the low key dinner and dancing Liana had promised.

  “Liana, this wasn’t necessary,” I said, as we started on our way to pick up Jane, Stacey, Angelica, and Grace. “This was so sweet of you.”

  Liana offered up a sly grin. “Actually, this is more for us,” she laughed. “We didn’t want to have to worry about having to find another DD.”

  The three of us shared in a laugh. “We aren’t just going to dinner and dancing, are we?” I asked.

  “The itinerary is a surprise,” Emily cut in, before Liana had the chance to answer. Liana nodded in agreement. By the time we finally had all the other girls in the limo, an hour had passed and my stomach was grumbling. Liana must’ve heard, because she offered up a bag of cashews from a compartment in the limousine I hadn’t even noticed.

  My main worry of the night had subsided. My immediate reaction when I saw Emily at my door was excitement, but I slightly panicked that she wouldn’t hit it off with the other girls. I also worried because Grace didn’t know anyone and Angelica hadn’t seen the others for at least three or four years. Luckily, a bachelorette party and booze seemed to be the perfect recipe to get everyone chatting like they’d been friends for years.

  “Miss you already. Boys took me to some mega arcade,” Liana said during a rare quiet moment. It took me a minute to realize she had swiped my phone off the seat between us and was reading a message Alexander had just sent. Everyone laughed, and I was just thankful that the text message hadn’t been something inappropriate—especially since his sister was sitting just a few feet away.

  As we pulled up to the restaurant, Jane pulled a white sash from her purse. “The bride-to-be has to put this on,” she said.

  “That’s ok,” I replied. “It’s really not necessary.” A chorus of “boo” and “c’mon” left me no choice. I slipped the “Bride-to-Be” sash over my dress and bump as everyone cheered me on.

  Dinner was at a family-style Italian restaurant I’d been to a few times over the years, normally for birthday celebrations and office holiday lunches. For once, I was glad to have the excuse that I was eating for two, because the food at the restaurant was incredible. For the seven of us, we ordered Caesar salad, fettucine alfredo, chicken marsala, eggplant parmigiana, and meatballs. Needless to say, there were tons of leftovers, and I heard more than one complaint from the girls that they wanted their dress to fit well for the wedding and the delicious meals weren’t helping.

  I had to admit that Liana had picked well. I would’ve never considered the restaurant for a bachelorette party, as there were plenty of Italian restaurants closer to my side of town, but it was a great choice.

  “Where are we off to next?” Grace asked. I was glad I wasn’t the only one who felt completely out of the loop.

  “Emily and I are the only ones who know,” Liana said, smirking. “Let’s go find out!” We paid the bill and went back to the limousine. We couldn’t have been driving for more than five minutes when we stopped outside of a bar. I couldn’t quite make out the name from the angle I was sitting at, but I did see something that left me puzzled: a light-up sign with the words “Strip Club”.

  I turned to Liana. “Liana, what the hell is going on?” I asked, confused more than anything. “Strippers?”

  “I think this is a strip club for dudes,” Angelica, not the sharpest tool in the shed, added.

  My eyes went back and forth from Liana to Emily, searching for answers. “Trust me, Case,” Liana said. “Follow me.”

  Liana went up to the bouncer and spoke with him briefly. The next thing I knew, we were shuffling into a dark building filled with glitter and the smell of sex. Liana, who had taken the lead, motioned to us to follow her, and, with no better plan in mind, we obliged. We walked right past the men drooling over the dancers, men who had no better way to spend their Saturday night, until we were finally in another, smaller room.

  The room had a small stage with a few poles, and a crowd of chairs on the floor beneath it. A waitress, dressed in little more than what I wore to bed on nights I wanted to feel sexy, followed us inside. “Renee will be with you in a few,” she said. “Can I get you guys something to drink?”

  “Vodka cranberry for me,” Emily said.

  “I’ll have a Long Island Iced Tea, please,” Jane said, catching me by surprise. She was usually more of a stuck-up drink kind of girl.

  “Can I have a Mai Tai?” Grace asked.

  Liana opted for a martini, while Stacey and Angelica ordered some drink I had never heard of. It was my turn to order.

  I shrugged. “I’ll have a Shirley Temple.” Apparently, my contrast in drink choice was laughable, because even the waitress let out a small laugh. “What?” I giggled and glanced down at my bump. “I want something special to drink, but little miss here won’t let me have the good stuff.”

  We took turns guessing why we were at this strange strip club as we waited for Renee—whoever she was—to join us. The waitress came back a few minutes later with our drinks, to a roaring round of applause for my friends who were already a bit tipsy from killing two bottles of wine at dinner.

  My phone buzzed. Brett’s already hammered as can be, Alexander’s text message said. I replied with a laughing emoji and took a sip of my Shirley Temple. If I wasn’t going to get a martini, this was the next best thing, I supposed.

  “Welcome, ladies,” a voice said. We looked up to the stage to see one of the most toned women I’d ever seen. Her abdominal muscles peaked out between her high-waisted shorts and sports bra, and I had to admit that I envied her a bit. I was self-conscious enough as it was, but, with this watermelon-sized stomach of mine, it had gotten to a new level. “I’m Renee, and I’ll be your instructor today.”

  I gulped. “Instructor?” I asked aloud, directing it both at Renee and Liana.

  “We’re going to spend the next hour or so learning the ins and outs of pole dancing,” Renee said.

  There it was. I knew Liana too well to think she would keep thing simple—and appropriate. I looked around to gauge the reaction of my friends, especially Emily, who I still didn’t know all that well, but they all seemed surprisingly excited. Grace, who was Miss By-The-Books at the clinic, even mumbled something about learning new moves to impress her man.

  “You guys really want to do this?” I whispered to Emily, Jane, and Angelica, who were sitting to my left. They all nodded without hesitation. “Alrighty, then.”

  I soon came up with the excuse that none of us were wearing the right clothing for pole dancing, but, yet again, Liana was one step ahead of me. She had subtly asked everyone for their shirt sizes a few days earlier and gotten custom shirts made for each of us. Each girl got a “Casey’s Last Fling Before the Ring” tank top and a pair of matching sh0rts to wear. As bummed as I was to not have an excuse not to partake in the pole dancing, I was touched by how much thought Liana had put into everything. I couldn’t believe she had managed to plan all this on top of helping me with the invitations, and the centerpieces, and the place cards, and the décor.

  We all hurriedly changed into our new outfits, took a quick group picture, and stretched before we began. As I put my blue dress on the chair I’d been sitting on, I checked my phone one more time. There was one message from Alexander. This is Benji. Your future hubs has definitely exceeded his regular alcohol consumption… by a mile. Disregard any messages he may send. Hope you’re having fun!

  I couldn’t help but chuckle. It was his bachelor party, so of course he was going to have some drinks. Thanks for the heads up! I wrote. Good to know. I was a firm believer in the idea that a drunk man’s words were a sober man’s thoughts, but I also wanted Alexander to enjoy himself. After all, he’d gone from a bachel
or living the single life to a soon-to-be husband and father in less than a year. He deserved to have some fun. It was time to get my pole dance on.

  As the guest of honor, I was the one invited—well, forced—to be Renee’s test dummy. We started by learning about loosening up our bodies, then moved on to “becoming one” with the pole. This was possibly the furthest thing out of my comfort zone I’d ever done besides sleeping with Alexander before the first date, but that had turned out well. I tried to throw my reservations to the side and focus on the task at hand. Maybe Grace was right, and we could leave here with some impressive new moves for the bedroom.

  I had to admit that pole dancing wasn’t nearly as intimidating as it sounded or looked. In fact, I’d even say it was fun, to a degree. It required strong abdominal muscles, which I didn’t have, and a great deal of concentration, which wasn’t my strong suit, but, for a bachelorette party, it ended up being a blast. I tried my best to focus on following Renee’s instructions, but my natural clumsiness got in the way. Split. Shimmy. Grip the pole. I knew I wasn’t great, but the girls all cheered one another on like we were Olympic-level pole dancers.

  We ended the session with a dance-off, with each of us putting on a little show for the rest of us, and ultimately voting on who was the best. The surprise came when Emily put us all to shame. Even Renee was impressed by how quickly she’d taken to the pole. “It’s all thanks to medical school,” Emily explained. “It taught me how to pay attention and memorize things without thinking too much about them.”

  Liana had booked the private room for another hour, so everyone got another round of drinks as we chatted about my upcoming wedding and the baby. “So, when’s the baby shower?” Jane asked.