Marrying the Sheikh (11 page)

NINETEEN

The early arrival of Jessica threw the plans for the baby shower into high gear. Not only did Ella need to move it up a week, she also needed to re-do everything in a baby girl theme. As soon as she got home from the hospital, Ella dove into the details of reorganizing the shower.

The next couple of weeks were a flurry of activity. When Ella wasn’t meeting with prospective clients or with Corinne, she was tending to the details of the baby shower or spending time with Hannah and Jessica. She left the house early every morning and didn’t return until late in the evening. The days flew by and Ella had all but forgotten about Karim until one morning when she got a frantic call from Nadia, just as she was heading to a prospective client’s home.

“Ella,” Nadia’s slurring voice panted through the phone. “Ella, you have to come here immediately!”

Ella didn’t recognize the voice at first. “Who is this?” she asked, trying to place the demanding tone with one of her many past clients.

“It’s Nadia! Who else would it be?!”

Ella felt the heat rise in her face. “Nadia?” What on earth could she want? And why was she so upset?

“Yes, you must come here right away!” Nadia commanded again.

“Whoa, Nadia, slow down. Where are you and what’s wrong?” Ella tried to remain calm and controlled as she pushed back the emotions that were rising up in her.

She could hear Nadia’s sigh through the phone. “I’m at the Plaza! There’s an emergency! I need you now!”

Ella racked her brain. The Plaza? Suddenly she remembered the date. It was Karim's wedding day. And here Nadia was, calling Ella. What could have happened? What type of emergency could there be? Ella quickly let her imagination get the best of her. Perhaps Karim had called off the wedding!

“What is it? What kind of emergency?” Ella asked, trying carefully to sound neutral.

“I’ll tell you when you get here. Just come quickly!” Nadia screamed into the phone and hung up.

Ella looked down at the phone in her hand, unsure what to do. She had promised herself she wouldn’t get involved in weddings anymore, especially loveless ones. But she had also told Karim and Nadia that they could call her if they needed help with the wedding planner she had referred them to. And now, here it was, the day of the wedding…

Ella let her mind conjure up images of a furious Nadia and an absent Karim as she hailed a cab and rode to the Plaza. She ran through the front doors, waving to the concierge as she made her way back to the Grand Ballroom. She peered through the open doors and saw that a huge crowd of guests had already arrived and they were milling about enjoying the open bar and appetizers. Ella moved past the ballroom and made her way to another set of doors that led to the bridal preparation suite.

She opened the door and was immediately surrounded by young Middle Eastern women in bridesmaids’ gowns. She wove her way through them until she got to the back room. There she saw Nadia, already in her wedding dress, her hair pulled tightly back and adorned with a tiara encrusted with at least a million dollars' worth of diamonds. Ella blinked at Nadia as she took in how beautiful she looked.

“Wow,” she said, as she stood there taking in the sight. “You look
—
“

Nadia opened her mouth and all her beauty faded. “I know how I look!” She spat the words at Ella. “But these flowers,” Nadia pointed to the bouquets lined up on the counter.

“These are anything but beautiful! I asked for peach. Remember? I ordered peach to complement the bridesmaids' dresses!” Nadia glared at Ella.

Ella held her hands up in defense. “Hold on, Nadia. I got you peach, but I'm not the person who confirmed these flowers. I only confirmed the table arrangements. Your new wedding planne
r
—
“

Nadia cut her off again. “New wedding planner?! You mean Sophia? The incompetent disaster that you pawned off on us?! She's useless!”

Ella sighed as the bridesmaids quieted down and began circling around to hear what all the commotion was all about.

“These are salmon, Ella! They are not peach! I need peach flowers! Get me peach flowers!” Nadia yelled like a spoiled child.

Ella looked at the flowers, checked her watch and then looked at Nadia. She had so many other things to do today, but she felt obligated to make this right. She was responsible for finding them the other wedding planner; she was responsible for making sure her jobs were completed professionally. And as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she was responsible for bailing on them in the first place. Ella didn’t like Nadia and she certainly didn’t like her tone, but she had dealt with worse in her time as a wedding planner.

She let out a long breath and promised herself this would be it. She would see this to the end and then never have to deal with brides like Nadia again.

“Fine,” she said as she walked over and picked up the flowers.

Nadia smiled smugly and turned to face the women waiting with make-up brushes. “Now finish,” she said, snapping her fingers at the women. They ran over and began applying make-up as Ella grabbed the bouquets and walked to another dressing area in the suite.

She called the housekeeping department and asked them to bring a few items up for her. A few minutes later, she had lotion, talcum powder and hand towels. She poured a small amount of lotion into her hands and rubbed them together, then ran her fingers over each petal of the flowers, getting them slightly moist. Next, she held each bouquet out over the counter and sprinkled the tiniest trace of talcum powder over the sticky petals, watching as the flowers turned from salmon to a light orange. She took the bouquet and held it upside down, tapping it gently to release the loose powder so that none of it would get on the girls’ dresses.

She repeated this process with each bouquet and when she was done, she stood back and surveyed her work. It was an old trick Ella had learned early on, but it worked every time. She grabbed up the bouquets and walked back into the bridal suite.

“Oh, they’re perfect,” Nadia said, smiling down at the peach bouquets. “Now, go check on the girls.”

Apparently, Nadia was under the assumption that Ella was back in the picture. Ella just shook her head and left the bridezilla to her handlers. She walked out of the suite and located the woman she had sentenced to being Nadia’s new wedding planner. She found her in the corner by the guest book, her eyes rimmed with red.

“Don’t worry, Sophia,” Ella said as she rubbed her back. “She’s always like this. It’s not your fault.”

Ella smiled. “I took care of the flowers. Now all you’ve got to do is get through the reception and you’ll never have to see her face again.”

Sophia thanked Ella and went back to the bridal suite. Ella turned to leave and almost fell over when she bumped into the gray tuxedo.

“Oh,” she said, catching herself on the table. “I’m sorr…” her voice trailed off when she realized she was looking into the handsome face of Karim.

“Ella?” Karim said, clearly surprised to see her.

“Hi, um,” Ella looked around nervously.

Karim opened his mouth as if to say something but Ella interrupted him before he could speak.

“Good luck,” was all she could get out before she ran down the hall and disappeared around the corner.

Karim moved to go after her, but a guest grabbed him by the sleeve and began peppering him with questions. Karim looked down the hall and then turned to talk to the guest, wishing he could get away.

Ella pressed her back against the wall, cursing herself for being such an idiot. Why had she come back? Why had she let Nadia boss her around again? Why had she tortured herself by coming to the Plaza on the day of their wedding? She felt her heart beat heavy in her chest.

She waited from her concealed spot until she heard the din of the conversation die down. Then she peeked her head around the corner to see the hallway had cleared. Ella moved cautiously past the bridal preparation suite and toward the back entrance to the ballroom. She saw the soft blue hue of the lighting spill out onto the deep red and gold carpet in the hall.

Ella felt as though she were in a fog. She moved slowly, as if in a dream, walking toward the door, saying a silent prayer that Karim would be out of sight. As much as she wanted to scream from the rooftops that she had feelings for Karim; that the wedding was a sham and shouldn't happen, she knew that would be the worst thing she could do. Not only could it ruin any chances she may have with him in the future, it would also make her the laughing stock of the society pages. And without the support of New York’s elite, Ella could kiss goodbye to her budding baby shower business.

She leaned into the room and looked around. The tables were glittering with gold, crystal and silver. The white place settings were topped with miniature boxes wrapped in royal blue paper. With the money these two had, Ella could only imagine what they had decided to give as gifts to their three hundred guests.

She shifted her gaze toward the front, where a stage had been set up to unite the bride and groom. Four large, overstuffed velvet chairs were perched on the ends of the stage, and ornate tapestries had been draped over the backs. Another set of larger, more ornate chairs were placed in the center.

Ella remembered back to the initial planning stages and recalled that in Al-Ibran, couples were married with their parents on either side of them. Once they were given away by their parents, they exchanged family tapestries, which displayed the family lineage and crest. In this case, Nadia’s parents would move from the right of the stage and place their tapestry on Karim’s chair while Karim’s parents, who would be seated on the left behind Karim, would walk over and place their tapestry on Nadia’s. When that was done, the couple would sit down in their royal thrones and the guests would form a line and walk across the stage to congratulate the parents and newlyweds.

She watched as the guests milled about, smiling and laughing. Ella spotted a few of Karim’s staffers and thought she saw a glimpse of Amira. She scoured the crowd for any sign of Karim, but she knew better. He was probably in the groom's suite making his last minute preparations.

Ella stood there, watching the festivities and thinking about Karim. He was about to get married. Like, really, truly married. And even though it was to be a loveless marriage, it was a marriage all the same. Ella knew he had feelings for her, and she definitely had feelings for him. She liked him, she was intensely attracted to him. She might even…

“Miss Ella?” Djaron’s kind voice startled Ella from her reverie.

“Oh, Djaron! You surprised me!” Ella’s hand flew to her chest as her heart pounded.

Djaron’s dark face broke out in a wide smile, exposing his brilliant white teeth. “I’m the one who is surprised! I didn’t expect to see you here today!”

Ella rolled her eyes and gave him a little smile. “Yeah, I know. Well, Nadia had some problems wit
h
—
“ She decided against finishing her sentence. She trusted Djaron, but still, she didn’t want to badmouth any clients, past or present.

“I just wanted to come and wish them well,” Ella lied.

“Oh,” Djaron said slowly as he looked out on the crowd. “So, it had nothing to do with the bridezilla in there?” He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the bridal suite.

Ella laughed and looked at Djaron in shock. “Well, well, look who’s not so stuffy after all.”

Djaron leaned in and whispered in Ella’s ear. “Miss Ella, I only have to be nice in front of Nadia. And if His Highness would just come to his senses before it’s too late, maybe I wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore.”

Ella looked at Djaron with confusion on her face. She opened her mouth to say something when a traditional Al-Ibranian song began to play over the speakers.

“Oh my,” said Djaron as he grabbed Ella lightly by the elbow. “The ceremony is about to begin. Please, have a seat,” he motioned to a table where other staff members were sitting in the back.

“Oh, no,” Ella protested. “I can’t… it wouldn’t be right. No, thank you, Djaron, but I really have to go.”