"Eleven," Sam said, tone worried. "That means we have to eat fast, Lola. We haven't gone ring shopping yet."
"Ring shopping?" Lola's voice spiraled upward. "I hadn't thought about rings!"
"Oh. Do you not like them?" Sam's gaze dropped to her hands, where she wore no rings at all.
Lola glanced at her own bare hands. "I used to wear one. When I got married, obviously. And for a while after Peter died, but eventually…" She sighed, touching her earlobes, where she wore two small diamond earrings, and then her throat, where another small diamond solitaire pendant settled. "These were from my engagement ring. I wanted to keep them with me, but I didn't want to wear the rings anymore. I wanted…" She frowned at her hands again. "I wanted to feel like my own person. I didn't want to be defined by having lost a husband. And I couldn't do that, with the rings. People would ask about him, or express sympathy, and…" She shook herself and looked up at Sam. "I would love a ring."
"Then we need to go shopping." Sam shoved a piece of toast in his mouth and stood, offering her a hand. Lola looked in dismay at her omelette, then shrugged and took the whole plate with her as she also stood. She ate on the way out to the car, with Chase calling, "So I'll have your tuxedo pressed, Mr Todd" behind them with a familiar tone of filial exasperation. Sam yelled, "Thank you, Chase!" over his shoulder, and then they were in the car, driving into town while Lola balanced a plate on her lap.
"It was much too good to leave behind," she said as Sam grinned at her. "Andyou'regoing back home later where you can eat. If I know anything about weddings, it's that dress fittings and food don't go together very well."
"I hadn't thought of that. You're wise as well as beautiful."
Lola snorted. "If you say so."
His voice softened, and Lola's heart melted as he said, "I do. But those are words for later, aren't they? Right now I'd better ask you what kind of rings you like."
"Oh. Pretty ones?" He gave her a look she deserved, and Lola grinned. "Rose gold. I'm not actually that fond of diamonds. They're fine, but they don't thrill me. Do you want a ring?"
His hands tightened on the wheel, and his voice was choked. "Very much, if you don't mind."
"Why on earth would I mind?" Lola put her hand on his thigh a moment, then looked thoughtfully at his hands. "Where do your clothes go?"
"In a heap beside the bed, much to the housekeeper's dismay."
"No!" Lola laughed. "When you shift! Where do your clothes go?"
"Oh. With me. Anything touching my skin that isn't organic goes with me, so clothes, glasses, shoes, rings. Or anything that isn't alive, I suppose. Cotton clothes are organic but they go with me."
"I knew what you meant. So you wouldn't lose a ring when you shifted?"
"I would not."
"Then rings for both of us sounds perfect. Nothing fancy, Sam. I don't need anything fancy."
He nodded, although his eyes sparkled as he glanced at her. "I hear you and agree because we're short on time, but just you wait for our first anniversary."
"For heaven's sake, Sam." There was no time to argue about it, anyway, because they were back in Virtue, though not on the town square. Up the next street over from the movie theatre, instead, where three jewelry shops in a row had staked out their territory. She and Sam spilled out of the car after Lola put her plate in the back seat, and they spent a few minutes window-shopping and laughing like they were teens before going into the 'vintage' shop, which had things from Lola's childhood in the window. "That's notvintage," she hissed, and Sam gave a mock sigh.
"And yet."
It only took a few minutes to select a simple ring in rose gold, with a matching man's ring. They were plain, but that was all Lola needed, despite Sam's insistence of future glory. "Do we have a ring bearer?" he asked as they left the jewelry shop. "Do we need one?"
"You should ask Chase. And have your other children be your attendants. Charlee and Jennifer can be mine."
"Then we'll be lopsided! No," Sam added as Lola turned to walk toward the tailor's shop, "I know it's only down the street and across the square, but I'll drive you. Can't have you arriving sweaty to a haute couture fitting."
"I don't think it's possible to get a haute couture dress in five hours," Lola repeated. "At best, it'll be something off the rack and gussied up. But all right. If you insist."
"I absolutely do." Sam opened her car door for her, gallantly, and drove Lola to get gussied up.
CHAPTER14
If this waswhat Zane Bellamy could do in five hours, Sam thought at four o'clock that afternoon, the man must be amagicianwhen he had time to spare.
All of his kids had made it: a bemused Chase had just walked up the 'aisle'—plywood laid down over the mucky ground, as Charlee had promised—bearing a cushion with the rings on it. Sam's daughters Ellen and Stephanie walked together on their brother Tony's arms, and Charlee's mother Jennifer, whom he'd met minutes before, walked after them with an expression of bewildered happiness and a huge bouquet of winter flowers as she came up to take her place across from his kids. All of the youngsters looked nice—dresses and suits and quickly done-up hair for the women who wore it long—and all of them, thankfully, also looked warm, because somebody had set up a remarkable number of space heaters around the gazebo, blowing hot air at the wedding party.
Judge Owens had arrived early enough to go over the ceremony with Sam, not that he or Lola had any clear idea on what it should be other than "do you, do you, now kiss," which was how Stephanie had usually conducted weddings with her dolls. She—the judge—looked pleasantly resplendent in her robes, and also warm enough.
