The Windsor Knot Read Online Free PDF Page B

she was rooting happily through pages of Cecil Beaton photographs of the royal family, making notes about who was wearing what, and reading pages of italicized copy describing palace festivities.
    “Pages in tiny military uniforms,” she said, scribbling furiously. “Wouldn’t Captain Grandfather love that? Not possible, though. There’d be trouble over
whose
army got represented. They’d better have kilts. Clan MacPherson tartan, of course. Cameron can’t tell one plaid from another anyway.” After some minutes of trying to think of any small boys who might qualify to act as pages at her wedding, Elizabeth was forced to cross them off her list. Neither she nor Cameron had any male relatives under twenty.
    Her reverie was interrupted by the occupant of the adjoining cubicle. “Aren’t you here awfully late?” asked graduate student Jake Adair, poking his head around the partition between their desks.He glanced at the books spread out in front of her and smiled. “Switching to a different branch of anthropology?”
    Elizabeth shook her head. “No. But thank goodness you’re here. I’ve been dying to tell somebody. I’m getting married!” Ignoring Jake’s protests that he had to meet somebody for dinner, Elizabeth proceeded to tell him all the details of the just-planned wedding. “And we’re going to honeymoon in Scotland, and meet the Queen at the Royal Garden Party!” she finished triumphantly. “I’m so thrilled about the prospect of meeting royalty.”
    “Why? You’ve never been too impressed with me.
    Elizabeth sighed. “Here we go again.
My great-grandmother was a Cherokee princess
. Sorry, Jake, it’s just not the same, somehow.” Jake Adair said very little about being Cherokee, but occasionally he liked to remind his colleagues of his noble origins.
    “Okay.” Jake shrugged. “I won’t wear my ceremonial headdress to your wedding.”
    “I hope I have your word on that,” said Elizabeth. “Tribal pageantry just won’t fit into my plans for the ceremony.”
    “But kilts you’ve got?” he said, laughing. “I wouldn’t miss this wedding for the world. Now I understand the part about the Queen. And I remember meeting the groom-to-be. Dr. Dawson from marine biology, right?”
    Elizabeth nodded.
    “But you’re getting married
where?”
    “Chandler Grove, Georgia.”
    “You’re not from Georgia.”
    “Used to be,” said Elizabeth. “My parents moved away when I was in high school, so I don’t really have any friends in the town where they live.”
    “Why not here at the university where your friends are?”
    “No. I couldn’t possibly manage all the arrangements by myself. Besides, if I were here, I’d be distracted by work in the department.”
    “That seems unlikely,” said Jake, nodding toward the pile of books on the royal family. “But why not get married in Scotland?”
    “Would
you
know where to find a caterer in Scotland? No? Well, neither would I. Believe me, my aunt Amanda is the only person in the world who could stage a formal wedding on such short notice, and
she’s
in Chandler Grove. Besides, I’d trust Georgia’s weather over Scotland’s any day.”
    “Okay. Never mind that’s it a six-hour drive for all of
us
. We’ll carpool. Just don’t expect us to wear morning coats.”
    “Kilts will do.” Elizabeth grinned.
    “About that ceremonial headdress …”
    “Business suits will be fine, Jake.”
    “So that’s settled. As I see it, you have just one more problem.” Jake looked grave. “Have you told the Big Zee about all this?”
    “No,” said Elizabeth faintly. “I had forgotten all about him.”
    “Lucky you,” said Jake.
    The Big Zee, as department chairman Ziffel was known to his staff, was a man of little imagination and less humor. He would not be amused—or even civil—about Elizabeth’s proposed defection from her duties as an instructor for the summer term. “And remember that you’ve got to face him for your orals this