Page 99 of A Touch of Charm
“Short.”
“I’m not short, but you seem rather short-sighted.”
Andre cleared his throat.
And then Thea stepped in. “You behave like two schoolboys while he’s standing here waiting for your blessing and approval. I don’t even know why I asked him for the formalities if this was what he’d be presented with.”
Stan and Alex gave her rueful smiles, and Andre suppressed a chuckle. It appeared the little sister had the big brothers under control.
“You’ll have to marry soon.” Stan nodded and crossed his arms.
“Before Father and Mother arrive for Christmas.”
“What did you say?” Thea blinked.
Were those tears welling in her eyes?
“Well, just in case. If you are…” Alex groaned and turned to Stan. “I can’t say it. She’ll always be the girl with theAffenschaukeln.”
Pigtail loops, truly? Thea?
Andre couldn’t imagine the slender princess with pigtails climbing trees outside Bran Castle, but perhaps that was the beauty of a future with her: she’d always surprise him.
Andre looked at her, and she beamed. “So, you say yes?” She clasped her hands over her heart and brought them to her cheeks. “Please say yes!”
Alex and Stan feigned severe looks, but Andre now knew that they’d accept him.
“First of all, you weren’t truly asking us; you were telling,” Alex said. “And second, Andre is a thousand times a better man than any of the Habsburgs we know—” Alex elbowed Stan lightly. “Present company excluded.”
“I’m not truly a Habsburg,” Andre smiled. In the Habsburg dynasty, the issue of legitimacy, especially concerning sons, was tied to the strict rules of succession and marriage.
“You have Habsburg blood; you’re a Habsburg. And that’s what I will tell Father,” Stan said. “I can’t remember the last time someone asked when I was born. The parents are the same; the rest is merely a detail on paper as far as I’m concerned.”
Andre could not be legitimized because doing so would disrupt the established order of succession and potentially lead to disputes over claims to titles and lands. Still, it didn’t matter if he didn’t threaten to lay a claim—except on Thea.
Then she turned to Andre and squealed. “We have a wedding to plan.”
*
“You need aball!” Anna declared when Andre and Thea told her their brothers had given their blessings. “And a dress.”
“It’s too soon for a wedding dress; we don’t even have a license yet,” Thea protested, giving Andre an insecure look over her shoulder. “We can’t marry the Anglican way, we’re Catholic. There’s no special license for us.”
“Not a dress for the ceremony, for the ball! You, Thea, will come stay with me and I will introduce you to society properly.” Anna twisted on her crutches but then winced. “I don’t think I shall dance until my leg is fully healed and the baby is born, but that doesn’t mean I cannot throw the most lavish ball of the season.”
And just like that, Andre’s treatment room turned into a bridal-planning headquarters.
“I don’t know anybody here; whom shall we invite?” Thea asked.
“Everyone! We have a few cousins in town this season, extended relatives, my husband’s relations, some of whom are very well connected, and a few of my closest acquaintances. Give or take two or three hundred guests?”
Andre’s eyes widened, but he seemed to know to remain silent at his desk.
“And the doctors and nurses?” Thea asked.
“Naturally. I know Andre’s connections to the Earl and Countess of Langley, so they shall be on my list.”
Anna was in a whirlwind of planning. She took the pencil from Andre’s desk and sat across from him. “Paper!”
