Page 7 of A Happy Endings Wedding
Chapter Three
This was a living nightmare! Hailey would’ve cried if she wasn’t so horrified. Wasn’t it enough that she’d battled nausea for hours just to get here? Now she couldn’t relax at all. She had to power through on her queasy stomach. How could this even happen? She hadn’t known Phillip had already hired a wedding planner for Villroy. Why in the world had he done that? Hailey’s wedding was the inaugural wedding, and she was her own wedding planner. Would it have been easier for her to have her wedding at Ludbury House in Clover Park, where she worked? Of course! But after having the honor of planning Princess Silvia’s stateside wedding to an American, business had poured in. It only made sense to agree to have her wedding on Villroy Island after all the royal family had done for her.
Phillip had gotten ahead of himself. Maybe he assumed her wedding would be so fabulous that the venue would take off. But Hailey never counted her brides before they were hitched. Grrr…
Josh was ramrod straight, walking by her side along the long path to the palace entrance. He was more of a laid-back ambler, so he must be furious too. He’d raise hell on her behalf, but that wasn’t always the best way to get things done, especially where bridal things were concerned. Emotions ran high over such a big occasion. It took finesse, it took tact, it took—
She gasped. The guards had just opened the palace doors, and right there in the beautiful two-story white marble great hall with gilded mirrors and beautiful silk damask wallpaper the color of the sea shot through with gold leaf pattern—a kangaroo hopped by.
Wearing a bridal veil.
A koala in a top hat chased her.
Her face flushed hot, her hands in fists. She wanted to hurl obscenities at the kangaroo-koala couple usurping her wedding, kick them in their fluffy asses, and right out the door. But no. She would not stoop to that level because—She. Was. A. Classy. Lady. Also, the reporter fromLuxury Weddingswas due any moment.
A butler in a black suit and two footmen in the servants’ uniform of white shirts with black pants approached, but all Hailey could focus on was a tall purple bunny chatting on his cell phone. She knew it was a man because his hand was exposed and it was large and hairy. He was leaning against the wall, his arm draped casually over a short wombat. She was pretty sure it was a wombat, all furry, cute, and cuddly. She ground her teeth. This couldnotbe happening.
Josh moved swiftly ahead, speaking in a low tone to Phillip. Their luggage had already been taken care of by the footmen. She moved to catch up to Josh when someone bumped into her from behind. She yelped, nearly tripping on the smooth marble, but caught herself.
It was a tall tan dog walking on its hind legs. Maybe a dingo? “Sorry!” the feminine voice exclaimed from inside the furry costume.
Josh was there in a flash, glowering at the dingo, who scurried away. Hailey stared at the furry costume, the wedding planner in her quickly switching to logistics. It was only a temperate seventy degrees today, but by Saturday it was supposed to hit eighty, and those costumes would surely roast the furries. Ha! Roasted furries. Maybe she’d put that on the reception menu.
Josh slid an arm around her shoulders, guiding her toward Phillip. “I’ll fix this,” he bit out through a clenched jaw.
She looked up at Josh and whispered, “This is my area of expertise. Let me do the talking.”
He grunted, which was not an agreement.
“Kicking ass doesn’t work with brides,” she informed him, keeping her voice low.
Another grunt. Great. Now she was going to have to get him to stand down so she could do her job. She was the wedding planner, and hadn’t she powered through numerous hiccups with emotional brides and pulled off the perfect wedding every time?
Phillip gestured for them to follow down a long hallway to the right. Hailey might’ve appreciated the hallway with its wood paneling, frosted windows, and intricate ceiling of plaster designs framing gorgeous paintings if it weren’t for a pack of dingoes chatting on one side, drinking beer and laughing like hyenas. Unbelievable!
She marched down the hallway. This was more than a hiccup. And this bride was past emotional to white-hot rage. Who the hell was this wedding planner who stupidly double-booked a wedding? It was the most basic thing getting the dates right. Hailey’s wedding had been planned for a year. Well, the venue had been planned for almost a year, but still. This wasn’t even a venue until she’d booked it. And what was with these furries? Why couldn’t they get married at home in their natural habitat? She hadn’t missed they were all native Australian species. The purple bunny being the oddball exception.
Phillip turned into a room at the far end of the hallway, and they followed him in.
A petite woman with shoulder-length brown hair was leaning over a large mahogany desk, giving the woman on the other side of the desk hell. It was her bestie, Mad Shaw. She’d recognize her badass stance and barking voice anywhere. “You’re not fit to call yourself a wedding planner! You can’t even kiss the toe of the best wedding planner in the world, who happens to be my best friend and the bride! You will fix this or you will never work on a wedding again!”
The young woman across the desk with long red hair and wide blue eyes leaned as far back in her seat as possible. Strangely, the woman could’ve passed for Hailey’s sister, though with more freckles. Hailey was an only child.
Hailey flung her arms wide to the woman raging on her behalf. “Mad! My matron of honor to the rescue!” Mad was the youngest and only girl raised with a slew of big brothers. Josh being one of them. Soon they’d be sisters by marriage.
Mad whirled; her cheeks flushed red with exertion. She shook her head. “I showed up this morning to this disaster of an event. You know I got your back.”
Josh chuckled. “Kicking ass and taking names as usual.”
Hailey moved forward, arms still wide. “Get over here and hug me, lady!”
Mad closed the distance and hugged her. She pulled back. “I am beyond pissed. Your wedding takes priority and that is it.”
Hailey inclined her head and crossed to the woman at the desk, offering her hand. “Hi, I’m Hailey Adams, also a wedding planner. I’m here for my wedding.”
The woman shook her hand with a clammy limp grip. “I’m Bonnie.” She had a slight lilting French accent. “Can you call off your matron of honor? She threatened to rip my eyeballs out.”
Hailey waved a hand airily. “Don’t worry about that.” She took a seat at the desk, feeling Josh’s gaze on her. The door to the room clicked shut. She glanced over her shoulder. No one had left the room. The silence was thick with tension from her barely restrained champion supporters. She turned back to Bonnie. “So it seems we have a scheduling problem. I’m supposed to be married at four p.m. in the chapel followed by a reception in the grand ballroom. When did you schedule the fur—” She stopped herself, correcting course to be civil. “The other wedding?”
