The Princess Problem (12 page)

She laughed softly to herself as she realized that nothing could spoil the day.

She looked down at the tiny little face as she rocked the sleeping babe in her arms. He was simply adorable. Once the wedding reception had started to wind down, both her and Callie, Alicia’s mother, had taken turns holding him. Callie was hoping for a grandchild soon and vocal about her desire, but Alicia just laughed at her mother, saying she’d make no promises. Willa might keep her thoughts on the subject to herself, but she hoped they didn’t wait too long.

Willa looked around at the friends and family enjoying the reception. When Jonas had asked Alicia to marry him at Christmastime, Willa had tentatively suggested a June wedding. She hadn’t been sure Jonas would be willing to wait, but the flowers were at their best in June and, when Alicia had agreed, Willa had been ecstatic. Her longtime dream of seeing her only child married among her beautiful roses was now a reality. Steven would have been so happy.

Tate, coming out of nowhere, handed Willa a tissue and she dabbed her eyes with it, laughing self-consciously. “Alicia’s a beautiful bride, isn’t she?”

“She is,” he answered, his deep voice firm.

Across the garden, Willa could see Alicia’s long, dark hair curling down the back of her traditional, lace-covered wedding gown. Alicia called this their princess wedding, complete with honeymoon planned on a Disney cruise. Jonas had gone along with good grace, pretty much letting Alicia have whatever she wanted.

Alicia’s two brothers, handsome twins of about seventeen, rushed past her through the gardens with some of their younger cousins, no doubt up to no good, as Jonas had been at that age. Willa already loved Alicia’s family. They’d come to town several times in the past six months and had made Jonas, and Willa, feel part of the family.

Jonas and Alicia stopped nearby, on the other side of the arbor, and Alicia laughed up at him. She straightened his tie, and smiled flirtatiously. “I still say you would have looked good in tights.”

Jonas smiled down at her, as happy as Willa had ever seen him. “You’re lucky you got me in a tux, Princess,” he said, then kissed her, before they moved away to join some of Alicia’s college girlfriends, her ex-roommates, who all seemed very close to each other.

Willa sighed and Tate handed her another tissue. “Hiring Alicia was one of the best things we’ve ever done, don’t you think?”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

Willa was thrilled with her new daughter-in-law, and thrilled at the success of both of the commercials she’d made. Even Jonas had admitted he was wrong for doubting them in the beginning. Alicia had insisted they release them one at a time, first the one featuring the prince, and two months later, she’d released the one featuring her and Jonas. Not only had both commercials had a tremendous reception locally, but Alicia had actually won an award for the one with the prince, though Willa still liked the one with Jonas better.

Eight months later both commercials were still running, and customers commented frequently on having seen the commercial before coming in. The bed–cordoned off--remained a conversation point, and a basket of The Princess and the Pea books were available for free beside it.

Alicia thought it might be time to make a new commercial, but Jonas had insisted on running them both for a full year before he’d consider making any changes. Alicia had privately told Willa that after the wedding, she’d start work on her
No More Monkey’s Jumping on the Bed
idea,
and since Jonas couldn’t deny her anything, Willa figured they’d have a new commercial out soon.

“You do think they’ll be happy, don’t you?”

Tate placed a hand on her shoulder and she glanced up in surprise. “Yes, my love. I do. I really do,” he said.

Mouth parting, Willa met his questioning brown gaze.

Tate studied her, his expression serious. “Don’t you think it’s about time you started to think about being happy again, too?”

Without hesitating, Willa grasped the hand on her shoulder and smiled up at him. “Yes, Tate I do. I really do.”

The End

Thank You!

I hope you enjoyed reading
The Princess Problem.
If you did, you might also like to read Honey’s story in
She’s Just Right.
Also, please watch for Katie’s story,
Straw Into Gold,
coming soon.

To sign up for my mailing list please visit
www.DianeDarcy.com.

If you liked this story, please consider leaving a positive review. Thank you.

Other Books by Diane Darcy

Serendipity

She’s Just Right

Once in a Blue Moon

A Penny for Your Thoughts

The Christmas Star

Steal His Heart

She Owns the Knight

To sign up for my mailing list please visit
www.DianeDarcy.com.

Acknowledgments

As always, thanks to Heather Horrocks for the fun plotting day, the help with the cover, and the many conversations about make-believe characters. You’re awesome!

Also, thanks to my first readers, Heather Horrocks, L.L. Muir, and Melody Chase, for giving me valuable feedback and for doing it so dang fast!

And thanks to my family, for the love and support. I love you back!

Excerpt of She's Just Right by Diane Darcy

Someone's been sleeping in his bed...

Once upon a time, golden-haired realtor Honey Stevens fought with her fianc
é
before leaving for a three-week business trip to a small Northern California town. Following a map to the cabin in the woods where her important clients insist she stay, she goes inside and--as instructed--makes herself at home to await their arrival. What she doesn't know is that some local boys, intent on revenge, tampered with the house numbers and she’s at the wrong place!

Divorced game warden Trevor Baron comes home after a long, hard day on the job in desperate need of peace, quiet, and a good hot meal. Instead he finds someone has been eating his dinner, breaking his chair, and sleeping in his bed.

...and she's still there!

It doesn’t take long for Honey to realize the wrong man is capturing her heart. The question is, can Trevor let go of the past enough to let his own heart out of hibernation?

When did Happily Ever After become so complicated?

Chapter One

By the light of the moon Dylan Eley led, and his best friends Isaac and Seth followed as they crept through the trees toward the log cabin house.

It was cold, the trees were spooky, and when a noise sounded behind, a rustle in the foliage, Isaac sucked in a harsh breath. “It’s
Him
!” he whispered. “He’s found us!”

Dylan swallowed, his heart pounded, and his grip tightened on the hammer in his hand. He turned to scowl at his friend. “No, it’s not. We’re practically in the country, right? It’s a stray cat or a skunk or something. Besides, we rode our bikes past that building he was fixing in town, remember?” His voice wavered slightly and he knew he was trying to convince himself as well as his friends. “Let’s keep going.”

Seth started to wheeze and Dylan stopped again, turned, and put a finger to his mouth. “Shh.”

His expression serious, the moonlight glinting off round-framed glasses, Seth pulled out his inhaler, sucked medicine in, held his breath, and nodded.

Dylan sighed. His friends looked as spooked as he felt. “Come on. We can do this. We’re twelve now, right? School’s almost out for the summer so we’re practically seventh graders. We’re not afraid, right?”

After a moment Seth nodded.

“I won’t be twelve ‘til July,” mumbled Isaac.

Dylan snorted. “Close enough. Now, come on.”

A dog barked nearby, then stopped. Dylan listened for a moment, then started forward again. Thankfully, the dog was fenced, or it would’ve come after them by now. Goosebumps rose on his arms as he considered the disaster that could have been. Any dog belonging to the game warden would be extremely dangerous.

Moments later they rounded trees and bushes to peer down a gravel driveway. “He’s not here,” whispered Dylan. “The truck’s gone and the house is dark.”

Headlights flashed in the distance as a car drove toward them, and they dove back into the trees, held their breath, and waited.

The car went by, and Dylan’s sigh was heartfelt. Unreasonable as it was, he was convinced that if
He
were around,
He
would find them no matter where they hid.

Sneaking out to the front of the driveway they stood under the hanging sign and Dylan read the name.
Baron
. He shivered, which made him angry and, lips tightening, he hurried forward.

Lifting the hammer, he wedged the claw onto one of the house numbers attached to the wooden post. He pulled and it popped off easier than he’d thought it would. He made quick work of the other three numbers and Isaac and Seth gathered the fallen pieces of metal and threw them into the bushes.

Perfect.

“We did it,” breathed Seth.

Isaac grinned. “Yeah! We finally showed him!”

Exhilarated, his heart pounding in his chest, Dylan smiled, nodded, and considered kicking over the large, carved, wooden-bear statue beside the mailbox. He didn’t quite dare.

Maybe next time.

Another car advanced down the long road and the light caught them.

“It’s
Him
!” Isaac choked. “It’s
the game warden
!”

Even though there was no way Isaac could be certain, Dylan completely believed him. Explosive fear charged through his gut. “
Run
!” he said to his friends. “
If he catches us, we’re dead
!
Run
!”

***

“Hi, Jess. You aren’t going to believe where I am.” Honey Stevens adjusted her cell phone between ear and shoulder so she could place her keys in a luggage pocket.

“Redding, California?”

“Smart Aleck,” said Honey as she straightened. “That’s not what I meant. And technically I’m outside of Redding, sort of in the country, or maybe in the woods would be more accurate. But anyway, this is so weird. The family who I’m trying to buy property from wants me to stay with them and they aren’t here yet. They wanted me to let myself in, so I’m in their huge, log cabin home alone, and it’s creepy.”

“Creepy how?”

Honey let out a breath. Talking to her friend was already relaxing her. “Well, it was completely dark when I first got here. I couldn’t find any house numbers, so I wouldn’t have even been sure I was at the right place, except there’s a sign that says Baron, a carved bear by the mailbox, and the key was under the mat as instructed.”

“And?”

Honey walked over to the mantle and took down a family picture with ten or so people posing in a park. She noticed a bottle of woodworking glue hidden behind it. “And I’m used to going through people’s homes, but this is different. It feels like I’m a burglar or something.”

“Oh, so you’re the creepy one.” Jessica chuckled. “Besides, you like it and you know it. You’re a natural born snoop. Do I need to remind you of my diary?”

Honey groaned. “Give it up already. It was twenty years ago! I was nine! It was unlocked and the temptation was unbearable.” The people in the photo were a good-looking bunch. Mostly adults, and a couple of babies, the guys were dark-haired, dark-eyed, big and muscular. One had a full beard and was so big he looked like a lumberjack or something. They took after the dad who sat in the middle next to a pretty blonde wife. The girls, luckily, looked like mom. “Get over it, already.”

“The old ‘I was only nine’ excuse, again, huh,” said Jessica. “Tell me, what are you doing right now? Right this minute? Are you snooping?”

Honey set the picture back on the mantle and glanced at a few others. Fishing, hunting, camping. This family was very outdoorsy. “I’m hanging up on you.”

Jessica laughed. “I
knew
it. I’m just saying, your overwhelming curiosity is going to get you into trouble one of these days.”

“Is your hubby there? Can he hear you? Because if you’ve told him that story about the diary, or anything else for that matter, you’re dead. Don’t forget, I have all the dirt on you, too. Does college dorm ring a bell? Victor Wilson? One in the morning? You’re not the only one with stories to tell.”

Jessica laughed again. “Okay, okay, truce.”

Honey grinned. “How’s Baby Bop doing?”

“She’s good. A handful. She misses you. She’s been asking for her Bunny. You need to come out and see her.”

A wistful feeling enveloped Honey as she thought of the chubby blonde baby. She’d like one of her own, and at twenty-nine, was anxious to start a family. “The class I’m taking lasts three weeks. I’ll come see you as soon as I’m back in Napa.”

“So now for the big question,” said Jessica. “How does Christian feel about being separated from you for that long?”

Honey blew out a breath and sank down on the leather sofa. She ran a hand across the smooth seat and thought about her fianc
é
. “How does he feel?” Honey couldn’t help but grimace as she thought about the fight they’d had before she left.

“I’ve actually been trying not to think about it. The short answer is, he didn’t want me to leave, but in the end it wasn’t like I had a choice. Nick was determined to send me, even though Michelle was begging for the opportunity. With the brokerage class thrown in, it seemed like too good an opportunity for me to pass up.”