Crazy Kate hummed in her throat. “You prefer I buy them a place setting of froufrou china instead?”
“I’m kidding,” Tessa said with a grateful smile. “The spear is the best gift anyone has ever given Honeysuckle Hollow, and knowing it’ll be here to add more magic to what I know will be a gorgeous wedding is even better.”
Kate nodded her agreement. “It’s time I put the spear back where it belongs.”
“Austen Blackstone called again for the umpteenth time. He still wants me to reconsider my decision about the spear and consider displaying it in a Cherokee museum, locked in a glass case with one of those fancy nameplates. He’s promised to list my name as the generous donor.”
Crazy Kate harrumphed. “What did you say?”
Tessa rolled her eyes. “As if I can be seduced by having my name on museum signage. No one reads those anyway. I told him the spear is right where it belongs.”
Crazy Kate looked toward the front yard. “I’ll get to work.”
“Let me put down these bags, and I’ll help you.”
Crazy Kate entered the garage and grabbed a shovel. “You go about your business. I’ll come inside when I’m finished.”
Tessa frowned. “It would be better if I dug the hole for you because—”
“Because I’m too old?” Crazy Kate chuckled and walked out of the garage. She spoke to Tessa over her shoulder. “There’s still some pep left in these old bones. You should focus on your own to-do list.”
“No arguments from me.” Tessa unlocked the house and stepped inside. The scent of honeysuckle and roses filled the air. Tessa dropped her bags on the kitchen counter and wandered through the house in amazement.
The florists and the decorators had finished adorning Honeysuckle Hollow with pastel-hued ribbons, delicate lace, and crystals that would catch the light like dewdrops. Floral arrangements of ivy, magnolia blooms, and white lilies with pink centers draped around open doorways. Twists of twine, greenery, white hydrangea blooms, and ivory roses wrapped up the staircase banister and pooled around the bottom of the newel base.
She opened the French doors to the garden. Porter and Sylvia Potts, along with Crazy Kate, added fall-blooming plants specifically for this event, and now the garden was in full bloom with asters, mums, joe-pye weed, Heliopsis, and coneflowers. An intimate gazebo had been erected beneath the scarred oak tree, and a garland of soft-pink roses, greenery, and more crystals caught the early-morning sunlight. White wooden folding chairs were arranged in rows on both sides of an aisle.
An arching bridge had been built over the lazy river, and Paul had carefully restocked and renamed every koi added to the Honeysuckle Hollow family. Huck Finn had been brought back home, and now he was joined by an array of characters—Sherlock, Anne Shirley, Indiana Jones, Bilbo, Aslan, Pippi Longstocking, Harry Potter, and Hermione. They swam the river, streaks of flaming orange and white, periodically lifting their mouths to the surface in the hopes of fresh food.
Tessa sighed happily and then unpacked her bags, laying out the lists she’d created to keep track of every part of the wedding—the caterers, the wedding planner, the guests, the attendants, the musicians, and the drivers who would shuttle people from a local church parking lot to Honeysuckle Hollow.
Within hours of the sunrise, the house filled with a flurry of people. The wedding planner, Jessi Reed, had lists of her own, and she kept all parts of the ceremony moving with the efficiency of a pro. One of Anna’s college friends, Ali Kendrick, who was a master baker, brought in the wedding cake and assembled the four-tiered ivory creation with sugar-paste daisies flowing down the sides. As Ali and her catering team unpacked dozens of sweets and filled pewter platters with their creations, the air smelled like a sugarcoated dream. The cellist, violinist, and harpist set up in the backyard and tuned their instruments. The wind carried the string instruments’ music down the street and into town, drawing people to them like fairy magic.
When the time came for Tessa to rush upstairs and get dressed with Lily, Anna, and the other bridesmaids, Paul arrived wearing a tux and tennis shoes. He spotted Tessa on the staircase and waved an envelope in the air. “Mail call.”
Tessa was speechless for a few seconds, taking in his blue eyes that looked nearly transparent because of his lingering summer tan. His usually disheveled dark-brown hair had been cut and combed. He looked like a man ready for a film premiere, except for his shoe choice. “Wow.”
A small smile tugged his dimples into view. “You like?”
“Minus the shoes, yeah.” Tessa looked up the stairs at Lily. “I’ll be right up.”
Lily grabbed Tessa’s hanging bag and glanced at Paul. “You have one minute. This girl needs to get dressed. Is my husband dressed?”
Paul nodded. “Last I checked, all the groomsmen were heading to the pub.” Lily’s mouth fell open, but before she could respond, Paul said, “I’m kidding. They’re at your house, trying to tie bow ties and failing miserably. I’ll return and help out, but first”—he handed the envelope to Tessa—“you need to open this. I swung by the apartment to grab my dress shoes, which is why I’m still wearing these, and the mail had already arrived. Open it.”
Tessa raised one eyebrow. “Now?” She glanced at the envelope and said, “We’re in a hurry. Can you keep it for me?”
Paul’s stern expression caused her to shove her finger beneath the flap on the back and tear open the envelope in jagged pieces. A navy-blue booklet was tucked inside. “My passport?”
He reached out his hand for her, and Tessa came down the stairs to stand with him. He hugged her. “Just in time.”
“Time for what?”
Paul grinned. “For when we decide to take a trip.”
Tessa slipped her arms around his neck. “It’s official. We’ll have our first adventure.”
“Ournextadventure,” he corrected.
