“What about the gardens? They offered them to us before,” I point out, but Maximus shakes his head.
“They are like a swamp. The sprinkler system had been activated, and with all the rain we’ve had the last month, the ground has flooded. There must be at least two inches of water sitting on top of the grass. With more rain forecasted, there is nothing we can do to drain and dry it enough to be useable.”
“And there is nowhere else? Not even a village hall somewhere?” I ask, but Christian shakes his head.
“I’ve been calling around. We all have, and nothing is available at such short notice.” That makes sense, especially with a wedding as big as ours. There are one hundred and sixty guests invited; it was hard enough finding somewhere to house us all in the first place. Finding somewhere else with less than four days to go will be impossible.
“So that’s it then? We aren’t getting married,” I sigh, burying my face into Jasmine’s hair as my brothers remain silent.
Everything has been going perfectly. Sure, there were blips along the way, as is to be expected when planning any normal wedding, let alone one with four grooms. Still, I really believed that even though people were constantly trying to attack us at the moment, there was nothing they could do to stop the wedding. I guess I was wrong.
“It’s not fair,” Jasmine whispers as she leans her head against my chest.
“I know, Princess, but there isn’t much we can do about it,” I point out, tightening my arms around her.
“I’ve tried everything, Sweetheart. Nowhere is available on Saturday,” Christian sighs, not taking his eyes off our girl. He looks as devastated as I feel.
“So, we get married another day instead,” she points out.
“Of course we will, Jazzy. We will marry you as soon as we can. Once things calm down, we know you are safe, and this won’t happen again. We will get everything rebooked and get married.” Jason leans forward, cupping his glass between two hands, as he leans his elbows on his knees.
“Nothing is going to stop us from making you our wife, Shorty,” Maximus adds, watching Jasmine as she sits up on my lap.
“But they are stopping us. We are letting them win,” she argues.
“If they were winning, they would have separated us, Princess. But the five of us are too strong for that. We will be married, and it will be as soon as possible, just not this Saturday.”
“What about Sunday then?” she asks, looking around at us all. I can see from the look of my brothers that they are thinking the same thing as I am.
“Sweetheart, I know you are upset, but you need to be realistic here. Nowhere is going to be able to house all our guests or put together a wedding of that size in such a short space of time,” Christian sighs, shaking his head.
“How many guests do we have?” she asks, standing up from my lap and walking over to her desk.
“One hundred and sixty-three,” Jason and Christian answer in unison as we watch Jasmine sit in her chair and pull forward her laptop.
“How many of them actually matter?” she asks, pulling a pad of paper and pen beside the laptop.
“What do you mean?” I ask, confused.
“I mean, if you could only invite those who matter, how many would it be?”
“I don’t know, why?” Jason answers, looking at the rest of us as we shrug.
“Sweetheart, what are you thinking?” Christian asks, standing from the sofa and walking over to her. She notices him coming and taps a few keys before I hear the printer spring to life.
“Just humour me for a minute, please, Daddy.” When she looks up at him, I can see he’s going to. If there’s one thing we all know about Christian, it’s that he may be Jasmine’s Daddy, but she is the one with the real control. If there is a way he can make her happy, he will do it.
“Okay, Sweetheart. But please think about everything logically,” he says, running a hand over her head. “You could have been kidnapped only last night. People are targeting us and the wedding, so the likelihood of us being able to hold it anywhere any time soon is improbable.”
“What about if we had it here?”
“What? As in the house?” Maximus asks, leaning further forward.
“Yes, or even one of your clubs,” Jasmine starts before standing from her chair and walking around the front of the desk. “Just hear me out before you tell me no,” she adds, looking at each of us.
“We’re listening,” Christian says, walking back over to the sofa giving her the floor. She smiles, thanking him without words before turning her attention to the rest of us.
“What if we send out emails to all guests and tell them that the wedding has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances and will be rearranged at a later date.”