Chapter 204: Protecting Princess Grace

Thursday, July 8, 1971

I awoke from my nap to a hurricane developing in my bedroom.

“Ileana sent us to help you get dressed!” Abby said as she bounced on the bed.

“And you have to hurry!” added Julie.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that my cousins had arrived from Tennessee.

“Ohhh, does he really have to go?” Jenny asked as she jerked the covers off my bed. I rarely sleep with anything on and they knew that. I figured out that they were just doing this to show off for Aida.

After a quick trip to the bathroom, I just stood calmly in the center of the room and allowed the girls to dress me up in one of my new tuxedo, just like I was a Ken doll.

“There!” Julie said with a satisfied smile as she finished draping my gold sash. “But Ileana said you’d have to put your sword on yourself.”

When they finished, Rose and Candy led me to the floor-length mirror.

“You look so handsome, Michael,” Rose said. “Just like in a fairy tale!” And then she kissed me shyly on the cheek.

“Wait until you see Ileana!” Abby said. “She’s absolutely to die for!”

“I hope not,” I thought.

“Oh, Michael! You know what I mean!” Abby said as she slapped my arm.

“Yeah. I just wish we were going with you,” Jenny added.

“And wait until you see Anna and that FBI lady,” Eve said.

“Well, then what are we waiting for?” I asked. Immediately they all began heading for the door.

“That FBI guy is in a car in the driveway,” Kip told me when I reached the bottom of the stairs. “He got here about twenty minutes ago and has just been sitting out there.”

I just grinned and then said to Kip, “And by the way, welcome aboard.” One of the many pieces of paper I had signed last night was Kip’s employment agreement. His time with Uncle Sam (and the General) was officially over and he was now an employee of Wagner Industries.

“Thanks, I...” Kip started to say, and then stopped in mid-sentence. I followed the direction of his gaze.

Anna and Luisa were coming down the stairs. Anna was wearing her deep purple number that she had bought for Uncle Harry’s party but hadn’t worn. And Luisa had on Candy’s sheer black gown with the slit all the way up the leg. It hugged her a bit tighter than it had Candy, and I noticed a good deal more cleavage as well.

“Okay. I give. Where did you put it?” I asked Luisa as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Put what?” she asked.

“C’mon. I know that FBI agents have to be armed when they’re on assignment,” I said.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Anna said smugly.

Just then, Ileana started down the steps.

As a rule, I don’t generally use cuss words when I speak. I just don’t find them necessary ... most of the time. But this time, I couldn’t help it.

“HOLY SHIT!”

I was staring at Ileana and the girls were staring at me, studying my reaction.

I do not believe I had ever seen Ileana looking so beautiful. Usually, she tries to dress just a notch below her mother and her sister for official functions. However, since neither one of them were here tonight, and since she WAS representing her nation, she had gone all out. She wore a white, floor length gown with a single strap over her left shoulder, leaving her right shoulder bare. Around her waist was a thin silver rope-belt, and around her neck hung a silver necklace with small black Tapatoan pearls. Her earrings were made of silver and black pearls, matching her necklace. Her hair was done up on top of her head and seemed to have silver threads woven through the intricate plaiting. On her head was a silver tiara with three rows of glistening jewels.

“Anna, quick! Call your dad and tell him I can’t make it!” I cried.

Anna just looked at me, wondering what was wrong.

“It’s too much! I think I’m going to have a heart attack!” I cried, clutching at my heart in mock agony. “There’s no way I can even think straight with you all dressed like this!”

“Is he always so dramatic?” Luisa asked Anna. Secretly, I could see that she was pleased. They all were.

“Frequently,” Anna replied. “The trouble is, he really believes it, thank goodness!”

As we headed for the limo, I noticed that Wilson had on his complete uniform tonight, including the hat.

“What the...” Simmons stated from his car. “Agent Rivera, are you going to work in THAT?”

“Why, thank you Agent Simmons,” she said. Then she got into the limo with Anna, and Ileana.

“If we lose you, you know the way,” I told the still stunned agent as I got into the limo.

During the afternoon, Anna and Luisa had gone over our plans for this evening. They had decided that we would simply explain the situation to Princess Grace and see what happened.

When we got to the hotel, the staff had literally rolled out the red carpet. There was also a crowd of over a hundred people lining the sidewalks, along with dozens of press and security people. As our limo pulled to the curb, Anna had everyone wait while I scanned the area.

“All clear,” I told her. Miss Rivera looked at us funny, but didn’t say anything.

After helping the ladies from the limo, we walked the red carpet with Ileana on my arm and Anna and Luisa behind us. There was a security team at the door of the hotel.

“I’m sorry, sir. You can’t bring the sword in here,” he said politely.

Anna pulled him aside and explained something. He relayed the information to someone else with a radio. A few minutes later, after someone whispered in his ear, he turned to face us.

“My apologies, sir. If you’ll follow this gentleman, he’ll lead you to the reception. If they give you any problems at the door, just have them contact security here. My name is Peterson. I hope you have a nice evening.”

When we arrived at the room where the reception was being held, security didn’t even comment on the sword. I went to work scanning the room and the area surrounding it.

“Anything yet?” Anna thought.

“Nothing that seems like a threat to us. But there sure are a lot of strange people staying here. I can’t recognize half the languages,” I thought back. “This is going to take some time.”

We stood to the side of the room and as the girls chatted among themselves, I focused on my task. With all the languages that I couldn’t understand, I just focused on locating anything that felt hostile.

The room seemed to be filling up. In my mind, I had envisioned a smaller crowd. But the opportunity to rub shoulders with royalty, famous royalty at that, was too much. There had to have been over four hundred people there.

I was surprised to find that some two dozen were the Princess’s family, until I remembered that she had grown up in nearby Philadelphia. There were also quite a few from the government, and more from the United Nations. There were several movie stars, along with a scattering of Broadway producers, directors, and such. There were even two guys that wanted to try and talk the Princess into doing another movie.

I noticed that Ileana and I were the only ones in the room under twenty, and that the average age of everyone else was surely over forty.

We didn’t circulate, opting to stay where we were and wait. A number of people came by and introduced themselves. Finally, there was a stir by the rear door, and several security men entered. Then, Princess Grace and her daughter entered as a hush descended on the room.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Her Royal Highness, Grace, Princess of Monaco and her daughter, Princess Caroline.” The announcement was followed by polite applause and much whispering. A receiving line was established, and people were funneled into it. I could not detect any particular order, so I focused on Princess Grace. She truly believed in UNICEF, and she was doing her duty as its main spokesperson. Still, she gave everyone who went through the line her undivided attention and left them feeling the specialness that was the Princess Grace hallmark.

We hadn’t entered the line yet, so I scanned the area again and then turned my attention to Princess Caroline. She was fourteen and not nearly as thrilled with the proceedings as her mother. Still, she was happy to have been allowed to accompany her mom, anxious for the time alone with her. She was also tired after the long flight. Her thoughts varied from having to talk to so many strangers, to her tired feet, to a new puppy she had recently gotten back home. I found her making sarcastic comments to herself about the insincerity of some of the people coming through the receiving line, and wondering how her mother could stand it.

As second in line for the monarchy, behind her brother, she knew that she would probably never reach her mother’s status, but she also recognized that she would always be in the spotlight, and that she was expected to use that for good.

We waited almost an hour before we finally got in the line. It was still a good fifteen minutes before we reached the Princesses.

“His Highness, Prince Michael, and Her Highness, Princess Ileana, of Tapato,” intoned the social secretary when we reached the Princesses.