Olivia giggled, then quickly tried to cover it up with a fake cough. ‘Sorry,’ she said when Tessa clearly wasn’t buying the coughing routine. ‘But I think families are made to be embarrassing. It’s like their job. Trust me, I understand. My dad does tai chi in the front yard! Where the whole street can see him!’ Tessa let out a soft snort. ‘But listen to you.’ Olivia gently touched the bride-to-be’s arm. ‘You’re talking as if there will be a wedding now. That’s progress.’
Tessa shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I’m worried that my uncle will make the Queen disapprove of me again. The Queen and I have come a long way, but Uncle Vincenzo doesn’t exactly make my humble roots seem any more endearing. She already thinks I’m not good enough for Alex. This can only make things worse.’
‘Is your uncle really a bad man, though, or is he just sometimes a bit silly and OTT?’ Olivia asked.
Tessa rolled her eyes. ‘He’s not bad exactly. You’re right. He doesn’t mean to do the things he does – he just gets a bit overexcited.’
‘And don’t you want the Queen to accept you for who you are?’ Ivy said. ‘I thought that was the whole point of this year’s Valentine’s Ball. You and Alex got together and you didn’t have to change into some horrible, posh vampire, remember?’ Ivy shuddered. ‘I think we have enough of those running around. Vincenzo may be a little over-the-top . . .’ Tessa raised one eyebrow. ‘OK, a lot over-the-top and, well, he may be quite loud. In fact, he might be all the things you don’t like. But he can work on being reliable and he can work on becoming a better uncle and those are the things that matter. So is it really that terrible if he acts a bit crazy in front of all these stuck-up vamps?’
‘I guess not,’ Tessa muttered.
‘Trust me,’ said Ivy, placing a hand on Tessa’s shoulder. ‘I know what it feels like to be the odd one out. You should see me surrounded by all those bunnies in Franklin Grove!’ Tessa peered at her sideways, one corner of her mouth starting to curl up into a smile.
‘It’s not like it’s going to kill them!’ Olivia added. ‘Only a wooden stake could do that.’
Ivy groaned at her sister’s bad vampire joke, but Tessa grinned. ‘I appreciate your optimism and all, but –’ a mischievous look glimmered in her eye – ‘don’t come complaining to me when my uncle starts a conga!’
Olivia crossed her fingers and squeezed her eyes shut. ‘Does this mean we’re going to have a wedding? Does it?’
Tessa wrapped both the twins in a tight hug. ‘It was never really off.’
‘Yes! I knew it!’ Olivia bounced up, squealing. She checked her watch. ‘But – oh my goodness – we don’t have much time.’ She was in business mode and her to-do list was already forming in her head.
Make-up
Hair
Nails
Jewellery
Avoid messy food at all costs . . .
‘Right – we have to get to work.’ Olivia snapped back to the present. ‘First, we need to get dressed. Then Ivy needs to write some of her news article and, as for me, I have to . . .’
Olivia’s words were swallowed by a fierce summer breeze that whipped through the grounds. The back of her neck tingled. From across the garden, she saw a single rose-head lift out of the meadow, floating on the warm air. Olivia couldn’t see what colour it was, but she knew what she had to do. She ran after it, sprinting through the grass and clover. Without waiting, she plucked it from the air with both hands, too scared to look.
Tessa and Ivy arrived, panting. ‘Well?’ asked Ivy.
Slowly, as if holding a butterfly, Olivia uncurled her hands, revealing a perfect blue rose. ‘Impossible love,’ whispered Olivia.
Tessa gasped. ‘Does that mean Alex and I – ’
But Olivia cut her off. ‘The rose isn’t a message for you and Alex. You two are perfect together.’ She stared at the rose, transfixed. ‘It’s a message for me and Jackson.’
Chapter Ten
Glowing paper lanterns and fairy lights flickered high above the dance floor where a ten-piece vampire band was playing an upbeat version of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Deep-purple blooms spilled out of the towering centerpieces that were balanced on top of plush velvet tablecloths so expensive looking Ivy couldn’t imagine actually eating off them.
The wedding had gone off without a hitch. Tessa looked beautiful in her lace dress and Alex had seemed fit to burst when he saw her walking down the aisle. Even the Queen had appeared pleased! The choir sang from a balcony and four little girls scattered flower petals in front of Tessa’s satin slippers as she walked down the thick carpet towards the prince she was about to marry, on the arm of – Vincenzo! After Olivia’s little speech Tessa must have found him to make up with him. Ivy couldn’t wait to find out the details.
Then there had been the vows; the rings; the first kiss as a married couple. Even Ivy had been moved – not to tears or anything, but still, it had been sweet. Olivia had teased Ivy that she’d been crying, but she seriously wasn’t. Her nose was just itchy.
After Olivia had caught her blue rose, a big yellow one had come and whacked Ivy in the face, giving her a nose full of pollen. She’d be sneezing for a week. Ivy pulled the yellow rose out of her bag, smoothing the petals. She knew the colour yellow meant ‘new beginnings’, but did it have to mean watery eyes and the sniffles too? OK, Universe. Ivy lifted her eyes to the dark, night sky. You’re coming in loud and clear. Everything seemed to be telling her to go to Wallachia Academy – but how could she leave Olivia and Brendan, especially now, when her sister seemed to need her most?