CHAPTER 6
A va knew she needed to find her mother fast, because if she’d overheard Henry talking about how he wanted her to rein her in , nothing good could come from that.
As she hurried into the castle’s elegant Drawing Room, where gorgeous, glittering Christmas decorations added to the grandeur, she found her mother sitting on the couch with her loyal chief of staff, Lydia.
The two women were about the same age and had developed a strong bond and friendship over the years.
At the moment, they were busy scrolling through a tablet, looking at pictures.
“I love this one of Stormy in the Santa suit,” her mother said, excited.
Lydia nodded enthusiastically as she pointed to another picture. “And this one where he’s wearing the reindeer antlers. How cute is he?”
“So cute,” her mother agreed with a brilliant smile.
Ava froze when she saw her mother’s new four-legged obsession, Stormy, lounging by the fire, chewing on an exquisite, hand-embroidered, vintage Christmas stocking.
“Is that a Christmas stocking?!” Ava asked, almost choking on the words.
Her mother gave her a disapproving look “Ava, please, lower your voice.”
“Then make him drop that stocking right now!” Ava demanded.
Stormy wagged his tail and kept ripping apart the stocking.
Ava’s eyes grew huge as she got a better look at the stocking. “Wait, is that my stocking? The one great-grandmother made me?!”
When Ava headed for Stormy, her mother stood up, blocking her path. “Ava, calm down.”
Ava lost it. “You’re telling me to calm down?! What about that…monster dog?!”
“Oh dear,” Lydia muttered under her breath.
Stormy, with the stocking still in his mouth, ran over and dropped the soggy stocking at the queen’s feet.
“Thank you, Stormy. We need to get you your own stocking, don’t we?” the queen asked. “Would you like that?”
Stormy barked and wagged his tail as she knelt down and pet him.
“He’s a dog ,” Ava exclaimed.
“Who clearly loves Christmas,” her mother said.
“Clearly,” Lydia agreed with a wide smile.
Ava shook her head in disbelief. She felt like she was trapped in some kind of alternate universe where four-legged, furry creatures named after natural disasters ruled, and she was being held hostage, helpless to escape the madness.
Stormy barked, grabbed the stocking again, and started running circles around Ava.
“Ah, look. He thinks you want to play with him,” her mother said, charmed.
“Oh, I’m not playing,” Ava said under her breath in a tone that showed she was done messing around. “Mother, he has to go back to wherever he came from. I’m serious. I have too much going on right now to deal with this. The party. My engagement, Christmas, everything.”
Her mother smiled, still watching Stormy. “I’ve offered to help you—”
Ava laughed.
Her mother tilted her head and studied her daughter. “What’s so funny?”
Careful , Ava told herself. She could hear her father warning her. If you upset her, you’ll never get what you need from her.
Ava took a deep breath and tried again. “Mother, please understand. I just want what’s best for all of us. I’m already behind planning the party thanks to this…distraction…”
“It appears you’ve managed to pick a champagne,” her mother said. “I know Henry has very strong opinions—”
“About wines, yes,” Ava jumped in. “Just like Father had.”
“And about other things,” her mother said, locking eyes with her.
Damn , Ava thought, realizing her mother had definitely heard when Henry told her she needed to control her mother like her father always did.
While she was scrambling for something to say to dig herself out of the hole she was in, her mother walked over to Stormy and gently took the stocking out of his mouth.
“Good boy,” she said, and then took the stocking back to the stunning stone fireplace and hung it back up where it belonged.
Ava held her breath when her mother turned back to face her.
“Ava, I’ve listened to your concerns about having a dog, and I’ve told you that I agree that any pet we have needs to be…well-behaved.”
Stormy barked twice and wagged his tail.
Her mother smiled at him. “And that’s why I’ve hired one of the best trainers in the business. Justin is going to pick up Stormy tomorrow and take him to Puppy Bootcamp before I leave for Paris.”
Ava shook her head trying to process everything. “Paris? That’s not on your schedule.”
“We just added it,” Lydia said as she stood up. “If you’ll both please excuse me, I’m going to go make sure everything’s all set for your trip.”
“Of course,” the queen said with a grateful smile. “Thank you for everything, Lydia.” When her mother walked over to the window, Ava tried to follow her, but Stormy got between them and started barking at her.
“What?” Ava asked Stormy, frustrated.
“He’s just protecting me.”
“From what?” Ava asked, confused.
“I don’t know,” her mother said. “You tell me.” She looked into Ava’s eyes and didn’t blink.
Suddenly nervous, Ava took a step back. She much preferred her overexuberant, playful mother to the mother who occasionally became quite serious. She was waiting for her to say something about what Henry said, because she certainly didn’t want to bring it up.
She felt like they were playing a game of cat and mouse, and she was the mouse about to be pounced on.
“Why are you going to Paris?” she asked, thinking this was a safe topic.
Her mother slowly smiled. “I can’t tell you. It’s a surprise…for Christmas.”
“I don’t want a surprise,” Ava snapped back before she could help herself.
“You know I don’t like surprises and this…
”—she pointed at Stormy—“was enough. What I want is to make sure our party lives up to its tradition and is the number one fundraiser for local charities. I want this to be the most successful Christmas party we’ve ever thrown.
We owe it to Father, to honor his legacy.
You know how passionate he was about all these charities and having everyone come together this time of year to give back and celebrate all we have to be thankful for—”
“Yes, I know. He was very passionate about this party,” her mother interrupted. “A party that has been part of my family’s legacy for decades. This was a party I always helped my parents organize until I got married…” Her voice trailed off.
“I didn’t know that,” Ava said, surprised. She waited for her mother to elaborate, but when she was only met with an awkward silence, she continued. “I just think it’s a really bad time to go to Paris with everything we have going on. This party needs to be perfect—”
“But you said you don’t want my help,” her mother replied. Her expression was impossible to read.
Ava hated when her own words were used against her.
“Unless you’ve changed your mind?” her mother asked. Her voice was hopeful. “Because despite what you might believe, I know a thing or two about Christmas parties and—”
“No—” Ava jumped in to stop her.
The flicker of hope in her mother’s eyes faded.
Ava saw her mother’s disappointment and felt a pang of regret.
The last thing she wanted to do was hurt her mother’s feelings, but she knew she had to stay strong and do what needed to be done.
That was what her father had taught her, and she couldn’t let him or the monarchy down.
At the end of the day, she knew this was all going to benefit her mother when the party was a huge success.
“I appreciate the offer,” Ava continued. “But I have all of Father’s notes. I know what he wanted done. We talked about it. I’m just on a really tight schedule, so I can’t afford any more delays or distractions.”
When she gave Stormy a pointed look, he wagged his tail and barked.
“Then since you don’t need me, there’s no reason for me not to go to Paris, right?” her mother asked.
There it is, Ava thought. The cat had pounced on the mouse. The mouse was trapped.
“Right,” Ava said. While she’d originally come to talk to her mother about giving her official permission for Henry to propose at the party, she knew this wasn’t the time to tackle that topic.
She needed for things to cool down a bit, because right now, the tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
She turned to leave. “I’m going to get back to work.”
“Wait,” her mother called out. She picked up the tablet she’d been looking at with Lydia. “Before you go, help me decide what Christmas picture to use this year.”
Ava turned around, confused. “I thought we already picked one.”
“But I think this one will be better,” her mother said as she showed her a picture on the tablet that was blown up to cover the whole screen. The picture was of Stormy, who had been photoshopped next to her and her mom by a Christmas tree.
Ava gasped in shock. “Oh my God! You didn’t—”
Her mother beamed. “I did, and it’s adorable, right?”
Ava shook her head in disbelief as she gave Stormy the side-eye. This madness had to stop.
But before she could say anything, her phone rang. “I have to get this,” she said, holding up her phone. “It’s Henry.”
Her mother nodded, but Ava saw a look of disdain in her eyes before she hurried toward the door and picked up the call. “Henry, hold on a second…”
But Henry jumped right to the point. “Have you talked to your mother yet about our engagement at the party?”
Ava waited until she was outside the room and answered in a hushed voice so her mother wouldn’t hear her. “I just got done talking to her—”
“And?” Henry interrupted.
“And…I’m working on it,” Ava said with more confidence than she felt. “I have a plan.”