Page 61 of Royally Knocked Up
“Oh, lots of them,” he agreed. “But you handled it well, and we don’t have to speak to them again today. Let’s wait and see how the articles come out. We’ll see what they think of us, how our news is reflected — then we’ll be able to adjust our public personas as we see fit.”
She giggled. “I thought you said we were going to just be ourselves.”
“We were ourselves. And we’ll continue to be. That doesn’t mean we don’t edit the way we show ourselves to people.” He grinned and cupped her cheek. “But honestly, I don’t expect much to change. I thought you did great. This country is going to love you as much as I do.”
“You think?”
“Well, no.” He gave her that winning grin that had captured her imagination all those months ago. “I don’t think anyone could love you as much as I do. But theyaregoing to love you. I’m sure of that.”
He pulled her close and kissed her.
She responded eagerly, her mouth crushing against his, her hands wandering over the planes of his back. Enzo wished desperately that they could have run away from the events of the day, retreated to his home or to the hotel room she was renting while they arranged for her to move in with him, and spent the rest of the day in bed together.
But the coronation was too important to be missed, and besides, Enzo wouldn’t have dreamed of passing it up. His father had been kind enough to welcome Hailey into their lives, after all, and Enzo wanted to return the kindness by giving his father what he’d have asked of him without making it a struggle between the two of them. From now on, he was determined to be a son his father would be proud of.
He separated himself from Hailey’s kiss and took her hand. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go see my father get a crown.”
They went into the throne room and moved to their seats at the very front of the room. Enzo put an arm around Hailey’s shoulders as they sat down.
Together, they watched King Edoardo receive his crown.
But Enzo knew that his life was the one that had truly changed.
EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER: HAILEY
“How was the interview?” Hailey asked, keeping her voice low as a signal to Enzo that he ought to keep his own voice down.
He picked up the implication. Their nonverbal communication had become better than ever since the birth of their son. Having Marco had brought them closer together, though Hailey wouldn’t have believed anything could do that — she had thought they were already as close as could be. But these days, it was as if they shared a single mind.
Enzo sat down at the table, and Hailey put a plate of meats and cheeses in front of him. She never would have seen herself as someone likely to get dinner on the table for her man, but she had to admit, there was pleasure in these little moments. Of course, it helped that she was still able to work as well. She had taken over as Enzo’s public relations manager, a role he was only too happy to see her in, since it meant that he had to submit to her opinion on what he should be doing with himself in front of the rest of Monteverde instead of trusting to his father’s judgment on that question.
It had been Hailey who had arranged the interview with the men’s fashion magazine today. “I know you think it’s a waste of time,” she’d told Enzo. “The truth is, itisa silly way to have to endear yourself to the people. But it’s also true that they’ll be more gracious to someone they consider handsome and fashionable — which youare,by the way. So next month, when you give your foreign policy interview, everyone will go into it remembering how much they liked you in this interview, and even if they don’t agree with the things you have to say, they’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.”
And Enzo had agreed. He had dressed in the clothes she had picked out for him and had gone to the interview, which Hailey knew had really been more of a photo shoot. There would be a multi-page spread of him in the clothes that had been chosen, giving his charming smile to the camera.
She couldn’t wait to buy several copies ofthatissue, even though she had the man himself in her arms.
“They wanted a picture of me with my jacket open and no shirt underneath,” Enzo said.
Hailey laughed. “Like you didn’t enjoy that.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to make you jealous!” he said. “Every woman in Monteverde is going to be looking at my bare chest now.”
“Oh, I’d say a lot of women outside the country will be too,” Hailey said. “You’re pretty well known, you know. Even in America. There are lots of little girls who dream that they might find themselves in my shoes someday — dating a prince. I mean, every little girl dreams about that at some point in her life, butour story has made all those little girls see that it’s actually a possibility.”
Enzo laughed. “What if Marco someday marries an American girl?”
“Then we’d support him, of course,” Hailey said. “He’d be in luck because his mother is American, so he won’t have to fight against bias the way you did. If he falls for someone who isn’t from Monteverde, we’ll be ready to accept her.”
“I am always going to be the family black sheep,” Enzo said, laughing.
“Your father loves me now.”
“Yeah, he thinks you hung the moon,” Enzo agreed. “Although Marco might have something to do with that. No one can help falling in love with that kid once they see him. How long has he been down?”
“He should be up any minute,” Hailey said. “You can go get him if you want to — we should probably hit the road pretty soon if we want to get up there before dark. Does Isla know we’re coming?”
