Grimsby washed his face and hands in the porcelain wash bowl that the former king had given him several years back to thank him for his service. Once he was satisfied with his washing, Grimsby carefully dressed in his perfectly pressed suit. A castle steward represented the castle and its staff, so it was imperative that he never be seen looking anything less than sharp and perfectly put-together. Sometimes he wished the Prince thought the same way.

Taking extra care to straighten the artfully tied cravat at his throat, he put the finishing touches on his toilette in front of his looking glass. It was going to be a busy day and he wished to look extra well for it.

Grimsby squared his shoulders and left his room. He found Carlotta, the housekeeper, laying out breakfast for them in his office. They had not discussed this the night before, but it was customary for them to plan especially busy days together over breakfast like this. With a smile, the steward took his usual seat and smoothed his napkin across his lap.

"Good morning, Carlotta," he greeted her.

"Good morning, Mr. Grimsby," she replied with a smile as she sat down at the table. "It seems we have our work cut out for us. I don't suppose that you were able to convince the prince to let us reuse some of the preparations from the last wedding?"

"Unfortunately not," he replied with a wry smile. "He made it very clear that he wants nothing that might remind him or his bride of Miss Vanessa (or whatever her name really was). The only resource that we are permitted to use again is the ship and its crew, provided the decor is completely changed."

"I can understand his feelings," Carlotta conceded as she spread jam onto a piece of toast. "Planning a second wedding from scratch less than a week after the first one will be quite a challenge, though. And I don't expect our young bride will be much help, given her background!"

"I expect not," Grimsby replied with a smile. "I imagine weddings where she comes from are somewhat different."

"I will work with her this morning on … well, I suppose we'll start with cutlery. And the dressmaker will be here at 10:30 for her fitting. I do wish that she had a lady's maid!"

"She likely did have one, but that won't help us now."

"Well, she needs one. I can't be waiting on her forever. I have too much to do."

"If you know of anyone who could do it temporarily it might be worth reassigning them. We can do a proper search when we have time, after the wedding."

"Perhaps I can find someone, although it has been a precious long time since this castle had a lady in residence. We should get down to the plans for this wedding now, though."

"Of course. Well, we'll need to get a shopping list from Louis before the market opens this morning …"