The Royal Heir - The Valtoria Diaries 2

Lucky charm

(Chapter art by the amazing artbyainna on IG)

Jen had woken up unusually early on the morning of Savannah and Bertrand's wedding. It wasn't very often she woke before Maxwell, and so she'd just watched him sleep for a while at first, because it was a sight she saw so rarely and one that never failed to melt her heart.

When he didn't stir after a little while, she'd eventually remembered something important; she was going to take another pregnancy test this morning. She already had a good feeling about this one. She'd get up and do it now.

But no sooner was she out of bed than she'd heard the sound of Savannah freaking out from downstairs. Being the matron of honour, she'd thought she'd better throw on her robe and head out of their room to investigate.

Even though Savannah had told Bertrand that she didn't want to see him this morning in case it brought them bad luck (Jen had to smile, as insisting this tradition was observed before her wedding had definitely not delivered good fortune that day) she was now fretting over his absence, believing he'd done a runner. But Jen knew, and did her best to reassure the anxious bride to be, that there was no way in the world that Bertrand Beaumont wasn't going to make an honest woman of her today. He'd probably just taken himself out for a morning constitutional to clear his head and keep out of everyone's way.

Anyway, Jen had woken up the others, and together they'd all headed out around the ranch to see if they could locate him. And once they'd established he wasn't on the ranch, they'd decided he could have walked into town, so Jen, Maxwell and Drake had driven into town to see if they could find him.

They'd split up on getting there. Drake had continued to drive around, and Jen and Maxwell had separately wandered around places where they thought the elusive bridegroom might be. Maxwell had headed for the park, while Jen had tried the high street. And eventually, as she'd wandered past what looked like an old curiosity shop, she'd heard an unmistakable booming voice ringing out. Phew.

She sent a quick "Found him!" text to both Savannah and Maxwell, then nipped inside, creeping up behind her brother-in-law, as he was chastising the unfortunate individual behind the shop counter.

"...and furthermore, a plague on your and your progeny's houses if you don't fetch the owner of this establishment right this very moment!"

"BOO!"

He screamed and jumped back, his hand going to his heart, then turned to look at her, and shook his head. "Jen, you scared me."

"Serves you right," she told him. "You're supposed to be back at the house getting ready for your wedding! Savannah's been worried sick!"

"Unfortunately, I did not anticipate the amount of time this endeavour would take up," he sighed. "It has been a most frustrating task."

"What are you even doing?"

Before Bertrand could explain, a fearsome looking man in a cowboy hat emerged from the back of the shop. "Are you the fancy talking city boy asking after my prize saddle?"

"I am no boy, sir," Bertrand blasted. "And that..." He pointed to a saddle mounted high on the wood-panelled wall, covered in trinkets and charms. "That saddle belongs to my fiancee's family. I'm here to restore it to them, and to do that, I need you to sell it back to me."

"Don't particularly want to do that," the shop owner muttered. "I like it where it is."

Bertrand had steam coming out of his ears now. "Now see here, that is a precious family heirloom! It's much too good to be some... some.... haberdashers display!"