Christmas Eve one year later.
Megan fussed with the lace on her wedding dress, trying to get it to lie perfectly flat, but the fabric refused to obey. She needed to get a steamer and work on it, but she doubted anyone kept a steamer here at the lodge. She’d chosen a simple dress for the semiformal event shared only with family and a few very close friends, but she still wanted everything to be perfect.
“Stop fidgeting,” Sydney said and stepped back. “The lace is fine.”
“I don’t know.” Megan stared in the full-length mirror. “Everything has to be perfect.”
Mia laughed, and Megan turned to look at her soon-to-be sister-in-law.
“You and Reid are perfect together, and that’s all that matters.” Mia came forward and put her hands on Megan’s shoulders. “You’re madly in love with him, and your face shows it. Just look in the mirror. What difference does a little piece of lace make?”
Megan peered at the taller woman’s reflection behind her. In the past year, Megan had grown close to both Mia and Sydney and didn’t know what she would do without her two new friends. They’d become the sisters she’d never had, and she admired the strength in both women.
Megan turned to smile at Mia. “When did you get so wise?”
“I don’t know about being wise, but I can see in your eyes the same feelings I have for Ryan and Syd has for Russ.”
“She’s right.” Sydney ran her hands over her belly, swollen with an expectant child. “Our lives aren’t perfect, but I’ve never known such happiness, and Mia here—when she’s not dead tired from getting up with the second baby—would say the same thing.”
“Hey, I don’t look that tired,” Mia said to Sydney. “You’ll find out real fast the joys of waking up multiple times per night. Am I right, Megan?”
Megan nodded. “It’s been a while since Ella was a baby, but it does take time to adjust to being a parent.”
Sydney’s beautiful eyes turned wary. “If you’re trying to scare me, you’re doing a great job.”
Mia winked at Megan. “It’s the trip to the hospital that should be scaring you.”
Sydney blanched.
“Cut it out, Mia.” Megan patted Sydney’s shoulder. “It’s not that bad. I mean, Ella is seven now, and I’ve almost forgotten how hard it was.”
Mia and Megan laughed. An impish grin lit Sydney’s face. “Let’s hope I don’t go into labor during the ceremony.”
Megan groaned. “Great. Something else for me to worry about.”
A knock sounded on the door, and Mia went to answer it.
Ella, Jessie, and Megan’s mom came into the room and Bandit scampered in behind them, a bright blue bowtie around his neck.
“Hold up, Bandit,” Sydney’s teenage sister Nikki called out. “You are not getting away from me again.”
She grabbed the dog up and snapped on his leash.
“Sorry,” Jessie said. “He’s a little excited over all of the commotion.”
“No worries.” Megan smiled. “He has every right to be as excited as we all are.”
“I know I am.” Her mom rushed across the room and hugged Megan. “You look beautiful, sweetheart. I’m so happy for you.”
Megan took in her mom’s powder-blue mother-of-the-bride dress that fit her to perfection. “You look really nice too, Mom.”
“What about me?” Ella twirled in her flower girl dress. The white organza swirled, and her eyes twinkled. Her hair had grown in after chemo ended, and now she had a pixie cut highlighted today with pearl bows.
Megan drew Ella into a hug, laid her chin on Ella’s hair, and smiled at her family. Everyone returned her smile except Jessie, who toed her shoe into the carpet and looked ill at ease.
“Come here, Jessie, so I can see your dress too,” Megan encouraged.
Her eyes lit up, and she wobbled across the room in her first pair of heeled shoes.
