3. Ivy Jade
Ivy Jade
We finally landed softly, near a strip of tarmac that belonged to the chateau.
Ben was the best pilot ever, even better than the pilot who landed his plane in the Hudson River after hitting a goose.
Money really could buy anything! Ben had been with our family for decades, and not once hit so much as a cloud.
Outside my adorable window, I watched as a team of men unloaded my makeup bags from the bottom of the jet.
I put on my lip gloss and asked one of the flight attendants to carry me down the steps.
After all, I couldn’t afford to twist my ankle–I was the maid of honor.
But apparently that went against some 'regulation. '
“We’re finally here! It’s finally happening!” Talluah screeched as she exited the plane. “Gustav, look how beautiful everything looks from here!” she shouted.
Ow, my freaking ears.
I thought I was loud and squeaky, but she beat me in that department.
Sheesh.
“Wow! Qué hermoso,” Mami said. I followed her eyes as they tilted back with her head. “How beautiful it all is, mijo.”
Mami was only acting impressed because she didn’t want Gustav and Tallulah to feel bad, especially Tallulah. These castles were a dime a dozen in our family, so it wasn’t too exciting for us, but I digress—maybe she was impressed. Weird.
“Do we have to go up all those flights of stairs?” I said, staring up at the estate, the chateau on a green hill filled with autumn trees of red and yellow leaves. My head tilted way too far back for my taste.
I caught Mami’s horrified expression, but once she turned back to my brother, her smile was back on as if she wasn’t bothered by anything.
“Mijo, is there an elevator?” she asked my brother, who was already far up ahead of us. “Maybe around the corner, or something.”
“Yeah. Seriously. Can Ben fly us up there? I don’t know if my Louboutins will be very happy about walking up one thousand flights of stairs.”
Gustav looked really annoyed, which upset me all the more because he should be annoyed, too. Why should my brother have to walk up all these steps? He’s the groom!
Whatever. My older brother was always the black sheep of our family.
He was defiant and never wore the bright and bold colors Mami picked out for us.
He just wanted to dress all in black and hang with his long-haired friends.
Papi didn’t seem to care at all, but how could he when he was home maybe like ten percent of the time—that was being generous because I loved him.
“Ivy Jade,” Tallulah started. “It’s not one thousand flights of stairs, more like fifteen. Get over it, drama queen,” she laughed.
I twisted my lips. “I resent that, Tallulah. I’m simply stating my honest feelings. Gosh,” I cried.
Gustav sighed and rolled his eyes. “Let’s go.”
I didn’t move a muscle. Everyone started walking toward the front of the big castle up in the sky—well, not literally in the sky, but it may as well have been.
A cool breeze hit the back of my head, messing up my hair.
Was I just cursed? This place totally creeped me out.
It looked more like a mausoleum for Frankenstein than an actual chateau.
I stared back up at the front porch with alabaster pillars and flickering candlelight.
I could see this wedding ending in a bloody mess.
“Come on, mija,” Mami said. “Take your boots off—”
“Ew! I don’t like it when my socks touch wet grass, Mami! Don’t they have, like, a golf cart that can take us up there?”
Was I over the top? Maybe to everyone else, but not to me.
“Ivy Jade, I swear I hope you brought that book of yours you love so much,” my brother started. “Otherwise, this is going to be a long-ass weekend,” he muttered under his breath, but I still heard him.
“Duh!” I pulled it out of my book purse. The ‘Little Women’ spine was worn from years of use, but the pages inside were pristine.
I only got to read three more chapters of ‘Unmasking My Bright Knight’ while on the plane, and my only motivation to get up these stairs was to hide away in my room and read some more.
And why not? I may have been forced to stay at this creepy chateau, but mentally I was in the arms of Roman Knight, the six-foot-six hunk of a man in the shiny armored mask, who may or may not have been written just for me—the princess.
There were pages to read, and blog posts to comment on, and dreams of romance that weren’t attached to this Halloween nightmare or my future meeting with Antonio.
I read this series a hundred times already.
This was the only book that had some of my most favorite quotes in it.
My finger trailed along my wrist, getting lost in the memory of when I got a commemorative tattoo of my favorite quote—Mami nearly killed me over it.
I tugged on my sleeve; I was always told to hide it.
“She’s here,” I yelled, “and ready to get me through the week. I mean… not that this is going to be bad. It’s just, you know…”
“What?” Tallulah turned around to ask.
My brows scrunched, and I paused to think because my mouth was flying way too fast for me, and that wasn’t okay.
Even Mami gave me a bit of a subtle death glare.
I took a deep, deep breath and shone my brightest smile.
“Guys! I cannot wait to climb those steps! If I start my book over again, I could be done by the time I get to the last step,” I smiled with crinkled eyes.
“You’re a goofy girl,” Tallulah said. “You’re going to love all the activities I have planned for all of us during the day, all the way through the night.
It’ll be like old times.” Tallulah came by my side and linked her arm with mine, walking us toward the beginning of hell’s staircase.
“Remember how much fun we used to have?” she said in a daydreamy way.
I swished my lips to the side, thinking. “We did, until my brother stole you from me.” I pouted.
“You know I’ve had a crush on your brother since, like, I met him, right?” she said.
“Well, duh, once you told me, then I knew. It was still a big secret until you guys started dating after college.”
Tallulah rolled her eyes. “Only because I knew how upset you’d be.” Surprise, surprise. “You’ve always been my closest and bestest friend.” She put her head against my forehead. “Thank you for being my maid of honor.”
“Tal,” I squeaked. “You’re such a sap! I’m extra honored to be your maid of honor.”
“Did I tell you there’s a huge library inside?” Tal persuaded me.
“What! No freaking way!” I squeaked.
“Come on. We have to go,” Gustav yelled from a far distance, tapping at his watch.
“Fine,” I huffed, taking my Louboutin boots and socks off, my toes spread on the moist grass. Yuck.
You’re going to pay for this, Gustav and Tallulah.
By the time we made it all the way up, I was ready to go to my bedroom, but Tallulah insisted on getting ready for our apple-picking activity.
I could tough it out. Picking apples did sound pretty cute, and it matched the vibes of my red ribbon in my half-up ponytail, cream colored dress, and adorable knitted red cardigan. I’d just need to swap my boots out for my red apple-picking heels.
“Isn’t this incredible, Ivy Jade? I could have never imagined anything as beautiful as this! I never thought your parents would have been kind enough to do this for us!” Tallulah held my hand in a squeeze.
I followed her gaze up to the various terraces and windows that glowed like eyes.
“It looks pretty,” I said to oblige her. It wasn’t my first choice for a castle, but I could appreciate its historical value. Besides, Tallulah grew up in a very humble home. She wasn’t used to seeing the luxuries life gave us here on Earth. It was kind of sad, actually.
“Let’s go meet everyone!” Tallulah said.
This week is going to be so achingly long.
Most of us congregated in the semi-impressive foyer near the entrance.
I was yawning, taking turns staring at the dark, curved arches along the ceiling and the mounted tapestry on the walls.
It was surprisingly bright inside with all the little chandeliers and candles.
It looked like the summer home of some vampire overlord, but at least the potted roses and crackling fireplaces were cute enough.
Tallulah and Gustav ran in circles, pacing back and forth on their phones. Their stress level was a bit much for me.
At some point, I retreated to my room to grab my book. It was the only one I could read to de-stress, and at this point, this trip was beyond stressful. But the sun was starting to set. Wasn’t apple picking supposed to happen hours ago? What was the holdup?
Tallulah cleared her throat. I looked up to see that her eyes were wider than a full moon.
“What gives, Tal?” I asked.
She shook her head and closed her eyes. “This entire activity is fucked.”
I’d forgive her foul language; it was her wedding week.
“Why?” I asked to be nosy.
Her lips spread into a tight, thin line as she gestured to the lack of guests behind her.
“And?” I rolled my eyes because I was just as upset. I’d been in the middle of my book; I wasn’t a psychic. If I were, though, I’d guess Tallulah wanted to run away from this wedding already—girl, me too.
“We’re missing, like, the rest of the guests who won’t be in for another two hours and we… ugh!” Tallulah sighed, all flustered, into the echoey foyer.
She kept droning on and on about how she had invited her closest friends, and how most of them couldn’t get here early because they didn't have something called 'PTO.'
“What the heck is PTO?” I asked, closing my book.
“It's paid time off,” she answered, looking agitated.
“You get paid for time off? That's not fair!” I said, jealous.
“You need to have a job to earn PTO. And why are you even complaining? Your whole life is already paid time off, Ivy Jade,” she said, but it still didn’t make sense.
Can’t people just leave when they want to?
All I could think about was how lucky we were to have Ben.
I wished they had Ben in their life, too. Sigh.
I felt bad for Tallulah. She was so stressed.
Brides never looked good under stress. We were barely thirty years old, and she already had more bags under her eyes than I did.
Yikes. Weren’t brides supposed to be calm and relaxed?
We were supposed to make cider with the apples we picked; maybe we should just skip the labor and go straight to the fun?
“Ivy Jade!” Tallulah snapped my attention back.
“Yeah?”
“Did you catch anything I said?” she asked. I furrowed my brow to think, but before I could answer, she said exasperated, “I need you to please hold onto the rings for me. I’m way too overstimulated right now. Can you take care of them?”
“What maid of honor can’t take care of her bride’s rings? Duh! They’ll be safe with me.”
“Thank you. I really needed that.”
She gave me a single box that held both her and my brother’s wedding bands. I opened them up to peek. They were both black wedding bands. How? Why? Who?!
“Aren’t they so beautiful?” Tallulah said, finally looking at ease, as she picked them up to look at them closely. “Your brother, you know him… he’d been dying for a black wedding band for himself.”
I checked her engagement ring on her finger. “But your wedding band won’t match?” I squeaked.
“I don’t care if my rings match. I love that our bands match together. That’s all I really care about, you know. I just love and adore Gustav so much. He’s like this really incredibly smart man, but then he’s also really, like really amazing in bed–”
“Ah!” I stopped her right there. “Say less, please. Family ears.”
“Right,” Tallulah smiled. “We used to be able to talk about this kind of stuff, though.”
“Obviously, when you weren’t with my brother. Now that topic is off limits. Imagine if I asked you questions about your older sister’s or brother’s sex life.”
“Yuck! You win,” she said.
She put the bands back in the box, and I closed it, then put it in my purse. “How come Gustav didn’t propose with Mami’s engagement ring?” I asked.
Tallulah rolled her eyes back so far I thought she’d lost them. “Sorry, that’s not towards you,” she sighed. “Since I’m me, and not some literal princess from Dubai with connections galore or something, the ring is reserved for you instead.”
I loved Tal, but why would my brother accept someone outside of our business connections?
Mami and Papi made it crystal clear to me what was expected of us.
Mami refused to acknowledge their relationship the minute they announced their engagement.
She believed when they dated it’d be just a phase for him, but it turned out…
it wasn’t. She went so far as to cut Gustav off from his trust funds.
The reason they were throwing this wedding for him was only to look good for the public, and, of course, with Antonio coming, we had to bring some level of elegance to the family name.
“Right… I promise I’ll take care of them.” I gave Tallulah my award-winning smile.
“I know you will; that’s why you’re my maid of honor,” she said, booping my nose like we used to growing up.
Gustav ran over, out of breath. “Change of plans. The entire party will be meeting us at the Scare Park a few blocks down. We need to leave right now if we want to make it to all the haunted houses.”
Everyone who had been here came over to figure out our new plans.
“No way! That’s awesome! We’ll do apple picking another time then,” Tallulah said, relieved.
Except I wasn’t relieved. Haunted house? Scaring? Park? This was my literal nightmare, and my stomach lost all of its air at the news.