“But beyond that, as you went through the day, putting yourself out there, and all for me, I was just . . . Well, it was all very touching, but in truth I barely noticed what you were doing. Because all I kept seeing was you. I couldn’t stop. Because of a simple fact that has nothing to do with palaces or event planning or buckets of contaminated trifle. I’ve been thinking about everything we fought over the other night, and how I blathered on about finding a partner, as if you weren’t right there beside me.”

“Edgar, it’s okay, I get it, we both have goals, and I don’t want to stand in your way of meeting just the right guy, someone who deserves you—”

“Will you please be still?”

“Fine!”

“Good Lord. All right. I’ve never said this before, not in this manner. I thought I’d never have the opportunity. And now I’m stammering and flouncing and trying not to say it, because I’m petrified that you don’t feel the same way.”

“What way?”

I could hear Ruth Ginsburg whispering in my ear, “Shut up. You need to hear this.”

I could hear Louise growling, “Incoming neo-capitalist emotional manifesto. Beware.”

I could hear Abby telling me, “Pay attention, doofus. I wish you could send me whatever he’s about to say on your phone.”

“I love you.”

CHAPTER 23

He loved me. Edgar loved me. I’d just vomited rainbow trifle on international television, I could barely stand up and he loved me.

After he said it, Edgar refused to let me answer or say anything whatsoever. He told me I shouldn’t say it back, not yet, and not because he expected me to. He said we had time, and then I wobbled to the car, we drove back to the palace and Edgar put me to bed in my own room, ordered me to get some sleep and left.

Of course the second he was gone, I FaceTimed Abby on my tablet; since the Jubilee she’d been texting me nonstop, but I’d been too distracted and fatigued to respond.

“Finally!” she said. “I saw the baking thing and I could tell exactly what was happening—sometimes food poisoning takes a few days, but I’ve seen cases where it kicks in within seconds, and it can wipe you out. Did they give you IV fluids with electrolytes? Even sports drinks can help. Are you okay?”

“I will be, and the doctor was great, but this isn’t about the Jubilee. It’s about what happened afterward. It’s an Abby Alert.”

“Oh my God!” said Abby, her face lighting up. I remembered that she and Dane were on the last night of their honeymoon, and they were strolling back to their beachfront villa in the moonlight, both wearing sarongs and straw hats.