Chapter 16
After Gregory and the guys had picked out their tuxes, they had a drink at a pub. Once they were finished, he called Sascha. “I’m ready to try some cake.”
“Great. Meet me at Cake Creations. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
He wondered what else he needed to do for the wedding. Though Sascha seemed to be handling everything perfectly. With Nick, Gregory drove over to the cake shop, and bodyguard Henry and Sascha pulled in right after that.
He gave her a hug, and she kissed him fervently, like she’d missed him for longer than a couple of hours. “I didn’t think I could miss you this much since we were just together, but when it comes to you, I can’t help myself.”
He smiled. “I feel the same way about you.”
“So when we’re married, you don’t have any trouble with me going to high-class parties to do readings, dance, and do the shows on weekends when I have them scheduled.”
“I will support you in whatever you want to do. And you can put on your programs at the house anytime you want.” He wrapped his arm around her waist. Nick hurried to get the door for them, while Henry followed them into the sweet confectionery shop.
Not only did the owner make wedding cakes, but the shop was also filled with cupcakes, birthday cakes, and pies.
“Thanks, Gregory. I should have talked to you about doing my shows before this.”
“That’s one reason I was attracted to you.”
Sascha spoke to the owner of the shop, “Hi, I’m Sascha, and I called about trying different kinds of cakes for our wedding.”
“Come, sit down here and I’ll bring out cake samples for you to try. And I’ve worked up some AI designs for you to consider. See if any of these will work for you.”
The sweet confectionery shop owner brought out a tray of miniature cakes—strawberry, Swiss chocolate, orange-flavored, and vanilla.
All of them had sugar-white icing. Then she brought out a couple of sample slices of cake with light chocolate icing, if they wanted to go that route.
“I think I like the one with the overall white frosting,” Sascha said.
Gregory took another bite of the chocolate cake. “I agree. And I love the Swiss chocolate cake if that’s all right with you, Sascha. Or half of the cake could be white for guests who might not be able to tolerate chocolate.”
“I love the idea.” She loved both kinds of cake.
Then Marsha brought out pictures of cakes that featured a gypsy-kind of style. One had white gypsy roses and small baby's breath flowers, all edible. Sascha smiled at the picture, like she really liked that one.
Another had sugar lace dripping from the bottom half of the cake, flowers on top. That one was beautiful too.
Three featured castles on top. That seemed to be a gypsy theme. He didn’t know that gypsy cakes were really a thing.
One had seashells, which were really pretty, but suited a beach wedding instead.
Some had colorful roses; others were white. As much as Sascha loved colorful things, he wasn’t sure which she would prefer.
“A mix of colors on the flowers that match my bridesmaids and my wedding gown,” Sascha said.
“I love that first cake with the gypsy roses and baby’s breath flowers.
I would like the couple who are hugging and kissing.
And at their feet, a crystal ball of a kaleidoscope of colors.
” She looked up from the cake photos and smiled at Gregory. “Will that work for you?”
“Sounds great, honey.”
“Okay, well, that’s it then.” She told her when they needed the cake.
Then she left with Gregory, Henry coming with them while Nick followed in the other car.
“So what do you want? A sit-down dinner or banquet for the wedding?” Sascha asked Gregory.
“Sit down, for our older guests and for Kat, since she’s pregnant. I thought we could have a couple of choices of beef, seafood, poultry, and vegetarian that guests could preorder.”
“Okay, sounds good. I’ll talk to Damon about the menu. Also, I don’t want any gifts, but if anyone wants to give us money, they can donate to charities we love.”
“That sounds great. I was thinking the same thing.”
“I want to do something special on each of the tables where everyone is sitting, but we’ll figure that out later.”
“Okay.” He had an interior designer decorate his home—he wanted something sophisticated and comfortable, since he entertained a lot, but he wanted to make it a nice, livable home.
So when it came to decorating tables for their wedding banquet, he would leave that up to Sascha.
“What about the rehearsal dinner?” Gregory asked. “Should we have it at Lemoyne’s in the restaurant?”
“Yeah. And I need to see what the ladies would like to do for a bachelorette party.”
“Yeah, and for me, a bachelor’s party.”
“No strip clubs or girls in cakes.”
Gregory laughed. “No. I’ll ask the guys what they want to do. I suspect they’ll want to rent a cabin and fish and boat on a lake, and go hiking.”
“Same with me with the ladies. I’ll have to get with them and see what they want to do.”
When they finally arrived home, Nick and Henry checked out the house to make sure it was safe. Red joined them. “Everything’s secure here,” Red said. “I’m going out back.” He stalked off.
“Where do you want us?” Henry asked.
“Just stay in the house and make sure it remains secure while Red is checking out the grounds,” Gregory said.
Maria joined them. “Are you ready for lunch?”
Sascha and Gregory laughed. “Yeah,” Sascha said. “We had our dessert first. We picked out the wedding cake. What’s for lunch?”
“Shrimp cocktail, avocado salad, and sandwiches, if that appeals?” Maria asked.
“Do you have roast beef slices?”
“Yes, turkey, ham, cheese, lettuce, pastrami, and roast beef.”
“Okay, I’ll have the roast beef.”
“Ham and cheese for me, and the rest sounds good,” Gregory said. “I need to make reservations for a cabin for the bachelor party,” he said to Sascha.
“I need to do the same for the women’s party.”
Before she could make her call, Sascha’s phone rang. She shrugged at Gregory, telling him she didn’t know who it was. “Hello?”
Meanwhile, Gregory called the guys and asked if they would like to rent a cabin at a lake and fish, hike, and paddle for a bachelor party after the weekend. He had to be there for Sascha’s booth at the fairgrounds this weekend.
Everyone said they would love to do it. “Okay, I’ll make reservations.”
Sascha glanced at him, her face as white as ice.
“What’s wrong? Who was it?” He wrapped her in his arms.
“He said I belong to him.”
“Damn it.”
“He wasn’t interested in me until he realized I was seeing you.”
He really hated that Sascha was included in this deadly business. “Are you going to be all right?” he asked her.
He was glad she was staying with him rather than at the apartment, where she didn’t have any real security.
“Yeah. He’s not going to get to me. I’m calling the ladies about our getaway.”
Sascha didn’t want to worry Gregory about the caller, but she couldn't help being upset that the guy had her phone number and had called her. She wasn’t about to put off her plan to do something fun with the ladies before the wedding though.
“Two of the bodyguards will come with me. The other bodyguards will go with you and the ladies. Where are you going to go?”
She decided that a trip to a lake might not be as fun as somewhere a little more exotic. “South Padre Island.”
“Okay.”
“Do you want us to be closer to home?” she asked.
“No, you’ll have fun.”
Lunch was ready, and they ate, then Sascha got on her phone and set up a group call with the ladies. “Hey, does South Padre Island sound like a good location for our bachelorette party?”
Everyone was excited about it.
“You can make reservations for the house, but we’re going to come up with the games and activities,” Kat said.
“What about bodyguards?” Mrs. Landry asked.
“Gregory will send some with us.”
“When will we go?” Lucy asked.
“After the weekend fair. We’ll drive down on Monday.”
“Or we could fly down on a private jet. That might be safer,” Mrs. Landry said.
It was an eight-and-a-half-hour drive otherwise.
“Yeah, sure, that would be great,” Sascha said. “That will give us more time to play.”
“I’ll make arrangements for the flight down there and back,” Mrs. Landry said.
When Sascha got off the phone with them, she made reservations at a rental home that could accommodate all five women, with a bedroom and bathroom for each. And then she took hold of Gregory’s hand since he was finished with his call. “Let’s go swimming.”
Now that was one thing she was really glad Gregory had. A beautiful pool. If she hadn’t wanted to do something different and special with the ladies, she would have just had the bachelorette party at the mansion.
“I’m good with that.” He called out to Henry and Nick. “I’m hiring another bodyguard to assist you.”
“We know another man who was in the service with us. He’s a good man. You can do a background check on him and see what you think,” Henry said.
“Yeah, Omar,” Nick said.
“Maria, take down his full name and have my PI investigate him.”
“I sure will, sir.”
Then Gregory and Sascha went up the stairs to his bedroom.
They dressed in their swimsuits; she threw on a cover-up, and then they headed down the stairs.
When they reached the bottom step, Nick was waiting for them.
Gregory took her to the pool to swim.
“We’ve got this,” Nick said, joining them.
Henry followed them out to the pool.
Nick and Henry looked at the surrounding landscape while Sascha and Gregory went swimming. He got a floating basketball hoop out and put it in the water, and then they tossed a ball into the hoop.
They did that for several “games,” and then Sascha dove under the hoop and tackled Gregory. He laughed and hugged her close, then began kissing her.
“You are a delight.”
“You are mine,” she said. “ I almost feel guilty about the way I treated you at the Worthingtons’ party.”
He smiled and kissed her cheek. “I wasn’t giving up on you. But I will admit that I wanted to dance with you in the worst way. You don’t know how annoyed I was that Camden got to and I didn’t.”
“Camden did that on purpose.”
He laughed. “I suspected as much. And you?”