Page 70 of It Happened Duo
Rex
Later in the morning, we entered the doors of Cupcake Cottage just off the square in the center of Holly Creek. With pink walls, black and white tiled floors, and marble counters, it held a certain Parisienne appeal despite its small town location on Main Street.
Once inside, a woman rushed toward us wearing a pink, frilly apron sporting the business name. “Chelsea!” The woman hugged my fiancé. “I’m so glad to see you, and thank you again for choosing me to bake your wedding cake.”
“Of course. You’re my cousin. There’s no one else I’d want baking it,” Chelsea responded. That was only a tiny battle with Mom, who surprised me by giving in to the idea of this small town baker making a fabulous wedding cake that would be the centerpiece of our reception.
“This is Rex, and his mother, Miriam,” Chelsea continued with introductions.
“Hi, I’m Vivian Kingston,” she gushed. I stuck my handout to her to shake, but she hesitated. “Oh, forget that. We’re practically family.”
She pulled me in for a friendly hug, with a pleasant demeanor. According to Chelsea, they’d been pretty close growing up, even planning to attend the culinary school together. But after Chelsea’s father passed away, and she stayed in town, Vivian continued her dreams, working in Paris for a famous pastry chef at one point.
With Miriam, she attempted the same friendly hug, but Mom kept her distance and air kissed her cheek instead.
“It’s nice to meet you. Did you receive the specs I sent?” Mom got down to business quickly, flanked by her ever-faithful event planner sidekick Agnes, lugging the ever-growing wedding binder along for the meeting.
“Hold up, Miriam.” The voice of India came up from behind. She parted Chelsea and me, linking arms between us. I didn’t appreciate the invasion keeping me from my bride, but kept my cool. “We have everything set up over here. Follow me.”
Somehow the production crew managed to turn the quaint sweet shop into a soundstage complete with a round table seating 6 and taking up Vivian’s entire storeroom floor with cameras and microphones. I noticed the closed sign on the door and hoped that she was more than adequately compensated for her loss of sales today. I made a note to buy up every single cupcake and confection in her display case before we left the town.
Once the cameras were rolling, the meeting was underway. Things went well, with Agnes and Miriam taking over,dictating the schematics about the huge five-tier cake we all decided upon.
“We’re having four hundred guests, so we’ll need to have plenty of cake to accommodate them,” Miriam announced.
“Fourhundred?” Chelsea whispered sideways to me with wide eyes. “The number keeps growing.”
“Let’s talk about this later,” I warned back. The number was news to me, as well, but a battle—er, discussion—with Miriam about the increasing guest count could be saved for another time.
In an attempt to keep the peace, I rubbed my hands together. “I’m eager to get to the tasting.”
“No problem,” Vivian notated things on her iPad. “Now, what type of decorations will be on it? Flowers? Statue of a bride and groom?”
“Nothing old-fashioned like that.” I wrinkled my nose, and Chelsea nodded in agreement. Mom glared our way.
“But I thought you’d use my cake topper from when I wed your father.” From her bag, Mom pulled a small package. As she unwrapped it, I recognized the figurines from their wedding photo album. Like antiques, they’d yellowed with time and I detected a hairline crack in one. A whimper came from Chelsea beside me, squeezing my hand, and I tread carefully, reading her thoughts.
“Mother, while I enjoy the sentiment, I’m not sure it conveys our personalities.” I gestured between us.
“But I thought you’d want something of your father’s in the wedding?” She countered.
“There must be something else of his I could incorporate. His cuff links, a watch…something?”
“What aboutmyfather?” Chelsea’s voice hitched, the stress palpable from her body next to me. “My mom has her original cake topper on display on one bookshelf at home that we could use as well.”
“Tell us about your fathers.” India snapped her fingers at the camera operator to point directly at us, putting us on the spot.
“Well, oddly, both of our fathers passed away from cancer.” I answered for us, sparing my fiancé having to talk about it, while giving India the side eye. I hoped she’d take the hint not to pursue this line of questioning further, and I kissed the back of Chelsea’s hand. “It was one thing that had brought Chelsea and I closer together, learning we both lost a parent in similar fashion.”
“So why not have the fathers represented somehow in the wedding?” India didn’t let up. I could see how she could get irritating to me pretty fast. She came across exactly how Chelsea described her, a brash, hungry player in the world of television, looking to grab any opportunity she could to get ahead.
How on earth did celebrities do this, putting themselves and their families on display for millions to see? I sucked in a breath and tried to remain calm.
Bless Vivian for coming to the rescue. “How about this? We pay homage to the past and to both sets of parents by displaying the toppers on small cakes on each side of the main cake.”
“Yes. Oh, I love that idea. Don’t you, Rex? Won’t that be unique, Miriam?” Chelsea gushed.
For making my bride happy, I could give Vivian a thousand dollars right now. With her dark hair, bright blue eyes, and a dazzling smile, it was a shame Richard wasn’t here to meet the cousin. She’s just his type.
