Mariah Stewart: Coming Home

“I’ll be in as soon as I get home from work,” Mia told her. “I hope you have something in my size.”

“I brought in one of everything in your size.” Vanessa grinned. “Just in case.”

“You truly are a goddess,” Mia told her solemnly.

“I do have my moments.” Vanessa rested back against the headrest and smiled.

“I’m so glad you’re coming with me. It helps to have a friend to talk to. I seem to be getting more and more nervous, the closer we get to The Day.”

“Are you having second thoughts?”

“About Beck?” Mia shook her head firmly. “He’s the one thing I’m not second-guessing. Everything else is stressing me out. What if the florist can’t get peonies and I have to carry carnations? What if I trip going up the aisle? What if they drop the cake? What if it snows? What if-”

Vanessa burst out laughing. “Sorry, Mia. But seriously? Snow?”

“Miss Grace said it snowed once in May when she was a girl.”

“No offense to Miss Grace, but that was probably back in the Ice Age. I doubt there’s been snow that late in the season here for half a century, at least.”

“Okay, good. That’s good.” Mia nodded. “We’ll cross snow off the list.”

“Olivia at Petals and Posies is doing the flowers, right?”

Mia nodded.

“So I think you can safely cross off the flowers as well. Olivia wouldn’t promise you peonies if she couldn’t get them.”

“Good point. Right.”

“As for the cake being dropped, isn’t the pastry chef at the Inn doing the cake?”

“Yes.”

“And the reception is right there at the Inn?”

“Yes, but-”

“I think they’ll know how to get the cake from their kitchen into their ballroom. They’ve probably done it before. Like maybe once or twice a week for the past million years.”

“Another good point.” Mia nodded. “You’re very good at this.”

“Now, on to the tripping-up-the-aisle thing.” Vanessa rolled down the window to better view the shorebirds that gathered on the tiny tufts of land surrounding the Bay Bridge. The sun had begun to set and the light dancing off the bridge momentarily dazzled her. “You were successful in talking both brothers into giving you away, correct?”

“Correct.”

“One on each side, right?”

“Right.” Mia’s face brightened. “Oh. Right. One on each side.”

“Twice the security.”

“Mind if I call when the next round of anxiety strikes?”

“That’s what I’m here for. You just let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you.”

“Well, there is one thing.” Mia glanced over at Vanessa. “There is something that I’ve been wanting to ask you.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s about my brother Grady.”

Vanessa motioned with one hand for Mia to continue, trying to project Sure, Mia, anything you need, rather than the uh-oh that was causing an ice-cream-type freeze to her brain.

“Grady is such a loner, and you’re so outgoing and you know everyone in St. Dennis and he’s going to be here for the entire week. I was wondering if maybe you wouldn’t mind taking him under your wing, so to speak. You know, sit with him at the rehearsal dinner, make him get up and dance at the reception a time or two. Maybe show him around town, give him the tour.”

“Sure.” Vanessa hoped her smile looked sincere so that Mia wouldn’t suspect that the last thing she wanted to do at her brother’s wedding was to be saddled with a reclusive stranger. “I’d be happy to.”

Mia breathed a long sigh. “Thank you, Ness. I can’t tell you how relieved I am. I worry so much about him, and he’ll be the only one in my family who’ll be without a significant other at the wedding. Everyone else is married or engaged or in a totally committed relationship. I had visions of Grady holing up in his room at the Inn and only coming out when his presence was mandatory.”

“Not to worry. We’ll find things for him to do.” Things a guy like him might find exciting, like, oh, picking up litter on Charles Street. Counting the gumballs in the containers on the counter at the drugstore. Watching the pedestrians cross at the corner. Cool, fun stuff like that.

“You know, he’s really a terrific guy and he’s had such a hard time of things these past few years. I just hate the thought of him not having a good time, or, you know, feeling left out of things because he’s by himself and-”

“Relax.” Vanessa patted Mia on the arm. “He’ll be fine. Cross my heart. I’m sure we can find ways to keep him busy.”

I may want to slit my throat from sheer boredom before the week’s over, but I will see to it that Mountain Man has a full dance card.

The bridal salon where Mia found her dress was in a newly renovated two-story house right outside of Annapolis. There was parking at the door and a hostess who showed Vanessa to a lovely white damask sofa, then served her tea and small cakes while Mia tried on her dress for the last time before taking it home. Vanessa had never seen so many beautiful and expensive designer gowns in one place before, and she couldn’t stop herself from going to the racks and thumbing through the dresses. Lace, satin, satin and lace, chiffon-there were gowns for all seasons and every time of day or night, from the most casual morning ceremony to the most lavish black-tie affair. The variety alone took Vanessa’s breath away. She stopped to admire a strapless gown of pure white chiffon that had huge fabric flowers trailing down the back and another at the waist in the front.

“That would be absolutely drop-dead stunning on you.” A saleswoman appeared at her elbow. “Would you like to try it on?”

“No! I mean, I’m not looking for… that is, I’m just waiting for my brother’s fiancée. She’s here to pick up her gown.”

“Oh, so sorry.” The saleswoman smiled. “That dress is a favorite of mine, and when I saw you looking at it, I couldn’t help but think how perfect it would be on you.”

“Well, perhaps in another life.” Vanessa backed away from the rack and returned to her seat, where she sipped her tea and nibbled on her tea cakes and fought back the waves of regret that washed over her.

“Ness, what do you think?” Mia stepped out from the dressing area. “Do you think it’s all right?”

“All right?” Vanessa stood and clapped her hands in glee. “All right? It’s magnificent. Perfect. You look… perfect. Gorgeous. We should probably add a tank of oxygen to that list of yours. My brother is going to have trouble breathing when he sees you walking up the aisle.”

“Oh God, I hope so.” Mia fussed with the skirt. “Otherwise, what would be the point of all this?”

“True. Now turn.” Vanessa motioned with her hand, and Mia pivoted slowly. “It’s perfect, Mia. Everything about it, from that soft off-the-shoulder neckline to the full skirt. And that fabric is to die for… silk as thin as a sheet of tissue paper.” She found herself tearing up. “You are going to be one stunning bride, girl.”

“Thank you,” Mia whispered, a bit teary-eyed herself.

“It is gorgeous on her, isn’t it?” The saleswoman beamed and fussed with the row of covered buttons that ran down the back of the dress. “I swear, when I see a bride in a dress that looks as if it had been designed just for her, it makes my day. And this gown was certainly made with a figure like yours in mind, Mia.”

“I knew it was the one the first time I saw it.” Mia smiled and turned just a bit to see the back in the three-way mirror, where she met Vanessa’s eyes. “I wanted a dress that would knock Beck’s socks off.”

“That’s the very least it will do,” Vanessa assured her.