When she hung up, she looked from one to the other. “Here’s what we’re going to do. First, Lisa, call your mom and tell her we don’t need a dress.”
6
LISA
In her room, Lisa stood back to view her handiwork. Pepper stood before the full-length mirror and squealed. She’d already had her hair and makeup done. The tiara and veil, which had been in Pepper’s room, were now on her head. Her glossy black curls framed her small face. Enormous dark eyes stared at her in the mirror.
“I look fantastic,” Pepper said.
Maggie, on the other side of her, nodded. “If by fantastic you mean ridiculous, then I have to agree.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to wear one of our bridesmaid dresses?” Lisa asked for the fifth time.
“The man said he’d marry me if I was wearing a bedsheet. I wanted to wear white. So here I am.”
Lisa knelt to put one more stitch in the back. Over the last few hours, they’d scored a flat white bedsheet from housekeeping. One of the staff had managed to produce a needle, thread, and scissors. From that, Lisa had made a gunnysack dress by cutting a hole for her head to fit through, then sewn in a collar and hemmed the skirt. Another staff member had located a gauzy blue ribbon, which they tied around the waist. Hersomething blue, Maggie had suggested.
The dress, such as it was, came to Pepper’s ankles. She wore her silver strappy sandals, which looked completely weird next to the dress.
Lisa fought tears. “But this going to be in all your photographs.”
“I know. Isn’t it awesome?” Pepper asked.
A knock on the door drew their attention. It was Autumn, the fourth bridesmaid, who had arrived that afternoon just in time to take part in their ridiculous scheme. She and Lisa had been totally against it, but Pepper wouldn’t budge.
Autumn stopped just inside the door. “I can’t believe it. No one but you could make a bedsheet dress look like the latest fashion.”
“I know, right?” Pepper said. “I’m telling you girls, this is totally going to catch on.”
Pepper’s mom came in next. After being quickly filled in on the situation, Lila had jumped right in to help locate the supplies. Now she carried a box with all the bouquets. “The boys are all assembled downstairs. They’re ready for us,” Mom said as she set the box on the bed. She handed them each their bouquets. They were about to start the trek downstairs and out to the wedding tent when a sudden light exploded in the sky outside the window.
“Was that lightning?” Pepper asked.
A loud boom rattled the windows, followed by a sudden burst of rain.
What in the world else could go wrong?
Lisa cursed as she went to the window. “It’s a huge thundercloud.” The rain was coming down in torrents, as if someone from up above had pulled a large plug.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Maggie said. “We can’t have a wedding in thunder and lightning.”
Pepper barked out a manic laugh. “I swear, it’s like my biological dad’s up there just messing with me.”
Autumn pulled the window shut. “Where did that cloud even come from? It was sunny a few minutes ago.”
“It would be just like him,” Maggie said, in reference to Pepper’s late father.
“That’s the truth,” Lila said. “The man couldn’t stand it when other people were having fun without him.”
Autumn’s green eyes had grown huge in her small, pale face. “What do we do?”
“We’ll move everything indoors,” Lisa said as her mind turned through ideas. The reception was inside already, so that wouldn’t be a problem. There was the sitting area on the first floor. If they moved quickly, they could push furniture aside to create a makeshift aisle for Pepper to walk down with her stepdad. There were only about thirty guests. Maybe they would all have to stand?
After all this, Pepper was going to have a stinking aisle to walk down.
She asked Autumn and Maggie to follow her. “You two stay here,” she said to Pepper and Lisa. “We’ll get it all sorted out.”
“Take off your shoes,” Lisa said to Maggie and Autumn. “I don’t want anyone to break their ankle running down these stairs.”
