Vivianne

“One last decision, Vivianne. Do you want to go to Maui or Paris for your honeymoon?” 

That stopped me short. “Excuse me? Honeymoon?” 

Martha nodded and grinned cheekily. “Everything has to be believable, my dear. And believable weddings are followed by honeymoons. Dominic suggested either of these packages.” She put two folders in front of me, which contained detailed itineraries for both vacations. 

“He does realize that we won’t be doing any actual honeymooning, right?” 

Her grin grew more mischievous. “So he says. But if it were me, I’d take the week of paid vacation and milk it for all he’s worth. See the sights, enjoy the food, just relax. You can see he has selected vacation rental homes in both places, so you’ll have separate spaces.” 

Okay, that did sound like a decent trade off. I stared at the two vacation packages, and as nice as Paris sounded, I was more drawn to Maui. Images of beaches, fruity umbrella drinks, and cool waves began filling my mind. A week off work to relax in Hawaii was a decent reward for my suffering. “Let’s go with Hawaii.”

“That’s what I’d choose, too. Do you have your passport? Might not be bad to make sure it’s up to date.” Martha gathered all of our notes and closed her laptop. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you could convince Dominic to give his wife at least one more vacation before this is all through. Especially if you frame it as ‘going to visit the Kingsley Group headquarters.’ He’d probably be all over that.” 

“Devious.” I smiled back at Martha and walked her to the door, feeling much lighter than before. I spent the rest of the afternoon ‘doing research,’ aka looking up things to do and eat on Maui while I was there. 

Truth be told, I was trying to calm down from the meticulous planning. Every detail had to be PR-perfect, from my hair and makeup to the snacks and cutlery. Was a regular wedding this stressful?! I certainly hoped not, because once was bad enough. I never wanted to go through this level of annoyance again. And I still had to meet with Dominic in a few hours to discuss the choices. 

A few hours which went by way too fast. I arrived at his door not one minute too early and knocked firmly. “Come in,” he called, and I strolled in like I owned the place. 

I sat down in my usual chair and sighed inwardly when I saw the files Erickson and Martha had put together earlier. Dominic flipped the wedding folder open and began scanning the choices I’d made. “You really chose the simplest options in every category, didn’t you? No doves, no celebrity musicians, really?” 

“They all just seem so ridiculous. Isn’t our fake love supposed to be the entire focus? I feel like all these extravagant options are too flashy.” 

“It’s a PR wedding, Sinclair. We’re trying to present the perfect love story, here! Everything has to be absolutely Hollywood-worthy.” He pulled a pen from the drawer and began adjusting some of the choices, and I felt my blood pressure beginning to rise. Which he noticed, because after three or so pages, he looked up at me and winked. “It’s my wedding too, you know. I get to make some decisions.” 

I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to detach myself from the whole thing. It wasn’t actually my wedding, so why did I even care? Let Dominic have whatever TV ceremony he wanted. 

“And obviously we need to write our vows. There has to be a convincing romantic script to wrap up the ceremony.” 

That was where I hit my limit. “No. No romance. Just have the priest or whoever give us the standard, simple version and get it over with. I may have to pretend to be your wife, but I am not getting up there and spewing a whole bunch of stupid lies about ‘our love.’ Because there isn’t any and there never will be!”

Dominic’s hands balled into fists and the smile disappeared from his face. “Absolutely not. Nobody is going to believe this if you refuse to even try to act the part. If I have to pay someone to write vows for you to read, I damn will.” 

“Then you can find someone else to play your doting wife. Because I’m obviously not going to live up to this image you’ve made in your head.” I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at Dominic, only to find something on his face that I didn’t expect. It was just a flash, but I was pretty sure I caught a moment of hurt in his eyes. 

For some reason, that made me feel guilty. My lips softened and my arms fell to my lap. “Ugh, fine. Just let me approve them before we go up there. I reserve the right to remove or change anything I don’t like.” 

He perked back up and nodded. “Deal. You drive a hard bargain, Sinclair. Oh, and there’s one more thing.” After rummaging around in his pocket for a moment, he pulled out a light blue velvet box. My eyes widened when I saw ‘Tiffany’ emblazoned across the top. 

“Enzo reminded me that engagements usually come with a ring, and I have no doubt the paparazzi are going to be fighting to get shots of it. So, of course, I had to make sure you got one.” He opened the lid and slid it across the desk to me. 

My breath caught in my chest as I stared at the ring inside. It was absolutely gorgeous, two-toned gold with a dozen small diamonds around a central stone. “Is that…a blue diamond in the middle?” My voice came out breathless as I reached toward the box. 

“Yup. Try it on and let’s make sure it fits. I’ll take it to be resized tonight if it’s wrong.” Dominic rose and came around the desk. He plucked the ring from the cushion and I instinctively held out my hand. I was surprised how softly he steadied my shaking hand as he slipped the ring over my finger and settled it into place.

It fit perfectly. I stared at it for a long time, marveling at the way the light bounced through the stone. I could hardly believe the extravagant piece of jewelry was mine. 

“Well, you didn’t throw it back in my face, so I’m guessing Enzo did a decent job picking it out?” 

Somehow I was a little disappointed knowing that Dominic didn’t pick the ring himself. It was so perfectly everything I liked. But it wasn’t my soon-to-be husband who knew that. “Yeah.” I fidgeted with the band, trying to get used to the weight on my finger. “Is that all?”

“Yeah, I think that’s everything I wanted to discuss today. I’m sure there will be more tomorrow.” 

I nodded and did my best not to sprint out of Dominic’s office. The room was full of a strange undercurrent that I wasn’t willing to acknowledge, but definitely wanted to get away from. With a ring on my finger, this was all getting much too real.