“Can they really?” Francis said, feeling sick to his stomach. All this time, he thought Augie was finally safe, that she was finally married to money.
Prince Julius poured himself another glass of scotch. “This is why we are so relieved that Augusta has accepted Maxxie. My son is so lucky to marry into the Gresham family! That was a big worry in my mind. He’s your problem now, ho ho ho.”
The wedding reception is the highlight of the wedding weekend. Upon arriving at Bellaloha, dinner guests followed a torchlit path into the rainforest, where they encountered a long, curving banquet table for three hundred people, winding playfully among towering trees and bushes. fresh green plants. Dissatisfied with the flo a’s natural beauty, Arabella requested that each tree be decorated with flowers, and suspended in the middle of the table was a floral sculpture canopy of thousands of orchids, dahlias and Icelandic poppies. In the middle of the party was a giant banyan tree with thousands of ancient roots growing from its branches, hundreds of shimmering lanterns wrapped around the roots, radiating magical light onto everyone. As guests dined Doversole à la Augusta on the eighteenth-century Greshamsbury Sèvres that had not been used since Edward VII took up residence when he was still Prince of Wales (3), Jackie was at the side of the stage , While attaching the remote microphone to the collar of Rufus’s jacket, Arabella rushed forward.
“Rufus, will you make the first toast?” Arabella asked excitedly. “That’s the plan.”
“Very good. Now, will you say nice things about someone?”
“I plan to say very nice things about Augie and Maxxie, yes, after I humiliate them for a few rounds of course.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. Do you have anything special you want to announce in your speech?”
“Something special?” Rufus looked confused.
“Maybe it’s about some kind of intimate relationship?”
“Mom, please speak English. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh come on, no need to be coy with me,” Arabella giggled. “I’m talking about you petit plaisir de l’après-midi? A little bird told me that you spent most of the day holed up in Solène de Courcy’s room on Mauna Lani.”
Rufus rolled his eyes. “Solène sprained her ankle and exposed her bleeding knee to water contaminated with flesh-eating bacteria. Eden gave her so many antibiotics, I had to make sure she didn’t have a severe reaction.”
“Is that what you’re doing? Make sure she doesn’t have a bad reaction? Arabella giggled happily.
“Yes. And she spent an hour giving me advice on how to improve my art career — unsolicited, I might add.”
“How kind of her. She is such a sensitive girl. Now, you must return the favor by saying something nice about Solène and her mother during the toast.”
“You want me to mention Solène and her mother while I toasted the bride and groom?”
“Why not? Wasn’t the de Courcys the highlight of your weekend?”
Rufus gaped at his mother. “Wait a minute. All this time you were trying to set me up with Solène, right?
“I know it might be a little early, but it will be fun to give the audience a little preview of what’s coming next season.”
“Next season? Do you think we’re living in a soap opera? Let me say this very simply for you: Solène de Courcy is a very nice girl, but that will never be the case.” Now in a million years, she’s not my type.”
Arabella looked at her son angrily. “Not your type? What’s wrong with you? She’s one of the most beautiful women on the planet! She has an exclusive modeling contract with Chanel!”
“Mom, when are you going to realize that I don’t care about any of that?”
“I don’t understand… Bea told me everything was going perfect!”
“How does Bea know what’s going on? I haven’t seen her in days.”
“I will kill those stupid girls! Bea was too distracted during the photo shoot and Eden was a complete failure.”
“What does Eden have to do with this?”
“Bea and Eden are supporting your love for Solène! They both admire her. Everyone admires her. Why can’t you?”
“Is Eden involved in your crazy plan?”
“She should be earning a living, but it seems like she was too distracted to sleep with that Freddy guy.”
“Wait—what? Eden and Freddy don’t sleep together!”
“Of course they are. They’re in a hot rush. Eden’s been trying desperately to catch Freddy since the moment he arrived on that ridiculous shark boat. And you don’t even know the half of it.” That, that stupid girl was careless enough to take it upon herself—”
Rufus rushed off before she could finish speaking.
At the other end of the table, Nicolai Chalamet-Chaude (Wetherby/Dragon/Eton/Balliol) is explaining to Eden how Hawaii has become a haven for billionaires (“You have Larry in Lanai, Mark and Priscilla kick it on Kauai, and Pierre on Oahu”) (4) as Rufus rushed forward with unmistakable urgency in his eyes. “Eden, can I say a few words?”
“Of course. Baron, please excuse me for a moment,” Eden said politely.
Rufus took her hand and led her down a trail, through a thicket of bushes until they found a quiet clearing in the woods.
A warm crimson light filtered through the trees, making everything seem otherworldly.
“All is OK?” Eden asked.
“Yes. Are you okay?”
“That’s right, now you saved me from that man.”
“Good good. I just need to know something…”
“Correct?”
“Are you sleeping with Freddy Farman-Farmihian?”
“What in the world could make you think that?”
“Yeah. . . I just . . . You spent the afternoon with him.”
“And you spent the whole afternoon in Solène’s room, I never asked what happened in there.”
“Nothing happened to Solène! Well, I didn’t start anything anyway. She threw herself at me several times, but when I refused, she started ranting that I couldn’t get up and was too scared of her success.”
“Solène rushed at you?”
“Like a raccoon smoking meth, but you know I would never touch her even with a 10-foot pole.”
“What makes you think I slept with Freddy?”
“My mother told me.”
“Your mother?” Eden frowned in disbelief, not understanding how the countess could have come to that conclusion. “Either your mother is deranged from stress or someone has spread evil rumors.”
“No, you’re right, I’m deranged. But I’ve been watching you two all weekend. . . dancing at the ball, laughing like old friends on our trip. . . I’m not sure. . . I was very worried.”
“Anxious? Rufus, I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I told you, underneath that swagger, Freddy is a sweet soul.”
“So you like him. Today when I saw you being intimate with him by the pool, I just—”
“Intimate?”
“You were stroking his hand. . .”
“I’m comforting him. He was telling me about his mother, who died when he was twelve.”
Rufus suddenly felt stupid. “God, I’m sorry. Did I misunderstand everything? I’m sure he likes you and I think you’re trying to make me jealous.”
“Why would I do that?”
