Chapter Two
Ifidgeted withmy bouquet as I watched Tanya straighten the skirt of Lucy’s wedding gown. We were due to walk down the aisle in just a few moments and instead of helping Lucy get ready and maybe calming her last-minute nerves, I was freaking out. Silently and deep down inside.
I’d been excited about this day for months. Until yesterday night when I arrived at the rehearsal and discovered that I would be paired with Landen Weber in the wedding party.
Because I was a bridesmaid I hadn’t asked anyone to be my date. I knew that I would need to help Lucy before the wedding and probably offer assistance in putting out any fires during the reception. The figurative kind, and maybe even literal ones since there were tea lights around the centerpieces on every table.
Now, I was regretting it. Because Landen was coming without a date as well and Lucy had taken it for granted that the two of us would remain paired up during the entire reception. She’d even seated me next to him at the bridal party table.
When she told me all of this, I’d had to bite back the urge to wring her neck. Well, verbally at least.
“Ready?” Yancy asked as she handed Tanya her bouquet.
Lucy’s answering smile was wide and brilliant. “Definitely.”
She looked beautiful. Radiant. I blinked back the tears that suddenly welled in my eyes. She was the first of us to have a lavish wedding. Tanya and her husband, Jordan, had been married in a small civil ceremony a few months ago. Now, Tanya was pregnant and her little baby belly was adorable.
The bridesmaid dresses that Lucy chose were perfect. They were deep blue, almost navy, and the fabric gathered over the right shoulder, leaving the other one bare. While the rest of us wore figure hugging styles, Tanya’s was looser, more like a Grecian gown and it skimmed lightly over her body, not too loose but not as tight as the others. Amazingly, they were comfortable and the style looked good on all of us. We each wore low-heeled shoes and carried bouquets of white flowers tied with a sky blue ribbon.
Lucy wanted us to be comfortable and look great and she’d succeeded on both counts. Her dress was beautiful, a simple white gown that skimmed over her body like water. Gorgeous white lace overlaid the silk dress and the neckline was a simple white vee. The vee neckline also revealed the incredible diamond necklace that had been delivered this morning. It was Chris’ wedding present to her. When she opened the box, Lucy had gasped and refused to touch it, afraid that she would lose such a lovely and obviously expensive piece of jewelry. The diamond studs that sparkled in her ears had been a birthday gift from Chris a few months earlier and they looked perfect with the necklace.
My boss was a class act and he showed it in unexpected ways.
Amanda, the wedding planner entered the room, smiling when she saw us all gathered around Lucy. Though Lucy was a photographer, she wanted us to have privacy while we got ready for the wedding, so the photographer she hired was waiting in the ballroom to take the pictures rather than hovering around us in the dressing room.
“It’s time,” she said simply.
Lucy’s smile faded for a moment before it returned full force. “Does he look nervous?” she asked.
Amanda shook her head. “No.”
Lucy laughed. “I bet he’s shaking in his shoes but he’ll be damned before he shows it.”
I disagreed but said nothing. I knew Chris was more than ready to marry my friend. He’d been more content this week than I’d ever seen him, even as we worked like fiends to prepare for his week-long honeymoon. He’d been adamant that work wouldn’t intrude on his time with Lucy after their wedding.
I didn’t mention any of this to her, though. I had no doubt that Chris would show her exactly how happy he was to be her husband once the wedding was over.
Amanda lined us up and led us toward the ballroom doors.
I took a deep breath as I heard the music inside change. Tanya was first, followed by Grier, Yancy, then me.
Lucy’s dad approached her side and grinned at her. “You look beautiful, honey.”
She grinned at him
Then my ability to breathe deserted me completely when the doors opened to reveal the ballroom. It was magical. And very, very crowded.
To Lucy’s utter surprise, Chris had insisted on a big wedding. She assumed he would want to do what Tanya and Jordan had and have a civil ceremony at the courthouse. When she asked him why, he’d replied that they were only going to get married once and he wanted it to be impossible to forget. Then he’d spared no expense at making it happen.
As Tanya started down the aisle, moving gracefully despite her pregnancy, I turned toward Lucy and reached out. The urge to say something to her gripped me and I couldn’t fight it.
“You look beautiful,” I told her. She smiled and squeezed my hand and I continued, “And you’re marrying a man that loves you more than anything or anyone else in this world, you know that, right?”
Lucy blinked at me and I saw her eyes shimmer. I returned her hand squeeze.
“No matter what he says or doesn’t say, that man will love you forever,” I told her.
“I know,” she murmured, one tear escaping her eye when she blinked. “Now shut up because you’re making me cry and I don’t want to be a red, snotty mess when I say my vows.”
