Wedding Woes
Hawk’s Place Cozy Mysteries, Book 6
Patti Benning
Summer Prescott Books Publishing
Copyright 2021 Summer Prescott Books
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication nor any of the information herein may be quoted from, nor reproduced, in any form, including but not limited to: printing, scanning, photocopying, or any other printed, digital, or audio formats, without prior express written consent of the copyright holder.
* * *
**This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, places of business, or situations past or present, is completely unintentional.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Epilogue
Also by Patti Benning
Author’s Note
Contact Summer Prescott Books Publishing
Chapter One
Hannah Cooper wasn’t a particularly messy person, but even she had never seen her house so clean before. After a weekend of dusting, washing, scrubbing, and freshening, her house could have been in a magazine. There wasn’t a stray speck of dust anywhere to be seen. Even the garbage can had been washed inside and out.
The end result was exhaustion. She had agreed to host her brother’s wedding, but somehow the date had snuck up on her, nonetheless. Even with her managing the impossible and taking half of the week off of work, she still felt like she had too much to do. Her only small comfort was the knowledge that no matter how stressed she was, her brother had it ten times worse. Not that she wanted Sean to suffer, but he had told the world they were hosting the wedding at her house before he even asked her about it, so she wasn’t feeling too sympathetic toward him at the moment.
I promised not to bring that up until after the ceremony, she reminded herself as she peeked out the window. She might have some residual annoyance toward him, but she wasn’t about to break a promise like that. He didn’t want his fiancée, Jennifer, to have even more to worry about, and she was happy to comply with that. She liked Jennifer quite a bit, and was glad that she was marrying into the family. Keeping her mouth sealed until it was time for her to give the toast at the reception was a favor to her, not to Sean.
When she saw a car turn into her driveway, she moved back from the window and glanced around the living room, taking a last moment to make sure nothing was out of place. General irritation toward her brother aside, she wanted this wedding to be perfect for both him and Jennifer, and that included making sure that the days leading up to it were nothing short of magical. She was hosting the entire wedding party, minus her parents and Jennifer’s parents, who would stay at a motel in town until the day itself arrived.
Satisfied that no stray motes of dust had snuck in while her back was turned, she took a deep breath and turned to face the door just as someone knocked on it. Smiling, she moved forward to greet the first of her guests.
When she opened the door, it was to a pair of unfamiliar faces. They stared at each other for a moment, then before she could speak, the woman said, “Sorry, do we have the wrong address?”
“Are you here for Sean and Jennifer’s wedding?” she asked. They both nodded. “Then, you’re at the right place. Come on in.”
They looked around as they entered her house, pausing to take off their shoes when Hannah indicated the closet and mentioned the shoe rack inside. The man turned to Hannah and stuck out his hand, which she shook.
“Nice to meet ya. I’m Rudy Hansen. Sean’s best man.”
“Kiersten Ross,” the woman said when Hannah looked at her. She was wearing a set of gold bracelets, three on each wrist, which jingled when they shook hands. “His date.” She jabbed her thumb at Rudy, then turned her attention back to the living room, which she seemed impressed with.
“It’s nice to meet you both,” Hannah said. “I’m Hannah Cooper, Sean’s sister. They should be here soon, but in the meantime, make yourselves at home. You can just leave your bags by the door. I figured we should let Jennifer choose which room she wants. She is the bride, after all.”
They nodded and continued looking around without saying anything. Hannah shifted, searching her mind for an icebreaker. They will probably warm up once Jennifer gets here, she decided. She was a stranger, after all, and they didn’t have any common ground yet.
She heard another car and looked out the window, hopefully, but she didn’t recognize this one, either. The driver parked beside Kiersten and Rudy’s vehicle and got out, revealing herself to be a pretty, auburn-haired woman. She pulled a compact carry-on and a larger dress bag out of the back of the vehicle and began making her way toward the front porch after a pausing a moment to look around. Hannah opened the door before she could knock.
“Hi, are you here for Sean and Jennifer’s wedding?”
The woman smiled and said, “I sure am. I’m Eliza Brown, maid of honor. I take it Jennifer’s not here yet?”
“Not yet, but she should be soon. Come on in. Feel free to put your shoes on the rack in the closet, and you can leave your bags by the door for now.”
Eliza entered the house, her eyes landing on Kiersten. Hannah could have sworn she saw a sour look flash across the woman’s face, but she blinked and it was gone.
“Kiersten,” Eliza said politely, if a bit coolly.
Kiersten gave her a short nod, then tugged Rudy a little way away, and the two of them started whispering together.
“It is so nice of you to host us,” Eliza said as she took off her shoes and stashed them in the closet. “Your house is lovely, by the way.”
“Thank you,” Hannah said. “I live alone, so it’s really too much house for me, but it’s great for things like this. How do you know Jennifer?”
“We met at orientation in college,” Eliza said with a smile. “Our dorms were across the hall from each other, and we’ve been pretty much inseparable ever since. I’m so happy for her. She and Sean seem like a perfect match.”
“They really do. I’ve only met her a couple of times, but she seems to help bring him down to earth, and I know he practically worships the ground she walks on.”
“He’s your brother, right?”
“Sorry, yes. I’m Hannah Cooper, the lucky sister who conveniently owns both a big house and a restaurant, and who got roped into hosting.”
Eliza chuckled. “He talks about you and your sister — Amy, right? — sometimes. He seems to adore his whole family, and I’m glad Jennifer is going to be a part of that.”
“I’d say I promise to treat her like a sister, but she may not like that.” Hannah grinned. “Amy and I tend to drive each other crazy if we are together for any extended amount of time. So, this will have to do; I promise to treat Jennifer better than a sister.”
Eliza laughed. “I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.”
The sound of tires on gravel made Hannah excuse herself to look out the window again. This time she saw two vehicles coming up the drive, and the one in the back she recognized as Sean’s sedan. Excited to see her brother and Jennifer, she opened the front door and stepped out on the porch to wave to them. They parked, and Sean got out and waved back. A moment later, Jennifer got out of the passenger side door and gave her a tired smile before the two of them opened the trunk to get their bags out.
The driver of the other vehicle got out as well, and Sean moved over to help her with two large dress bags. He draped them over his arm and carried them carefully up to the front
porch.
“I hope you’ve got big closets,” he said as he gave Hannah a one-armed hug. “We’ve got a lot of clothes.”
“I’ve got closets galore,” she said. “Come on in. Does Jen need help with anything?”
“I think she and Jasmine are having a chat,” he said, looking back to where the two women were huddled together. “I want to get these dresses hung up. They’re surprisingly heavy.”
“Right. Come on in. Don’t forget to take your shoes off.”
He greeted the other guests as he came in, slipping his shoes off with his toes and kicking them in the general direction of the closet. Hannah let it pass, since his arms were full of dresses.
“I figured you and Jennifer should choose your room first. We’ve got the two upstairs, one with two twin beds downstairs, and I’ve got an air mattress I can set up in the office if we run out of space.”
“Jennifer wanted me to ask if she can use the master bathroom to get ready for the wedding. If the answer is yes, we will probably take one of the upstairs rooms so we’re closer to it.”
“Of course,” Hannah said. “You can have the room closest to mine. That way she won’t have to run up and down the hallway while she’s getting ready. Follow me.”
She showed him to the guest room, opening the closet so he could hang the dresses up. He returned to the car to get more of his things, and Hannah began showing everyone else to their rooms, pausing to greet Jasmine Martin, the last of their overnight guests and another bridesmaid. She was petite, with curly black hair and a bright smile. Hannah liked her immediately.
“It’s so nice of you to host us,” she said as Hannah showed her to the room with two twin beds she would be sharing with Eliza.
“I was happy to,” Hannah said. “Feel free to make yourself at home. If you’d rather have your own space, I have an air mattress I can set up in the office.”
“No, this is fine. I’d rather sleep on an actual bed, and besides, Eliza and I get along pretty well. We shared a hotel room for a week on vacation once and didn’t murder each other, so I think we’ll manage okay here.”
Hannah left her to get everything situated and made sure that Kiersten and Rudy had found their way to the second upstairs bedroom without any trouble. Kiersten spotted her in the doorway and gave her a quick smile.
“It’s a lovely room,” she said. “Thanks. This will be much nicer than staying in a motel.”
“It’s my pleasure,” Hannah said.
She returned to the stairway, only to almost run into Jennifer, who was carrying the last of her bags up. Hannah took one from her and followed her into the room, putting the bag down along the wall before receiving a hug from Jennifer.
“Thank you so much, Hannah,” she said, pulling back to smile at her. “You have no idea how grateful I am for this. I’ll make it up to you eventually, I promise. The house looks lovely, and I’m sure everything will be just perfect.”
“I’m happy to help,” Hannah said. “I hope this ends up being the wedding of your dreams.”
“I think it will be. When do you think your sister is going to arrive? Sean mentioned she was coming.”
“I think she’s planning to arrive the evening before the wedding, and she’ll leave after the reception. She doesn’t want to be away from Cassie for too long.”
Amy and her husband, Matt, recently had a baby, a little girl named Cassandra. They lived far enough away that traveling with the infant would be difficult, but Amy hadn’t wanted to miss Sean’s wedding completely, so Matt was going to stay home with Cassie while she made the journey for the wedding.
“I would’ve loved to see the baby, but I can understand why it would be hard to bring her,” Jennifer said, “My parents are going to arrive the day before the wedding, and they said they will stop by after they check-in at the motel. I asked them to call first, but I can’t guarantee that they will, so if you see a couple of sixty-year-olds you don’t recognize wandering around, it’s probably them.”
Hannah chuckled. “Thanks for the heads up. My parents should be here the same day, and I’m positive they won’t call before they swing by. It’s going to be a full house, but it should be fun.”
Jennifer nodded. “I hope so. I’m pretty determined to have a drama-free wedding. It’s been stressful, and trust me, I’ve had my fair share of near breakdowns, but I refuse to be a bridezilla. No matter what goes on, as long as I’m walking down the aisle toward Sean at the beginning of the ceremony, then I will consider this a win. And I want you to hold me to that.”
“Deal,” Hannah said with a grin.
Chapter Two
With six people to feed – seven, including herself – Hannah wanted dinner to be simple and something that everyone liked. She decided to go with the age-old favorite, pizza. She dug out an old recipe for dough, and had it made and ready to be formed in the fridge before everyone arrived. Once her guests had unpacked and settled in a bit, she offered everyone drinks and got to work on the food.
Thankfully, pizza was easy to make. She made three of them, slathering on homemade red sauce, sprinkling generous amounts of cheese over top, and adding a variety of toppings so everyone would be able to have something they liked. She made one pepperoni and basil pizza, and another with chicken and mushrooms. The third was a veggie pizza with artichoke, spinach, and garlic. She found herself missing the huge ovens she had at the restaurant, because here at home she could only fit in two pizzas at a time, which left the third to wait alone on the counter.
It didn’t take too long for her to get all three pizzas cooked and sliced and when she carried them out to the dining room, she was relieved to see everyone’s faces light up.
“This looks amazing,” Jasmine said, reaching for a slice of the chicken and mushroom pizza. “I’m starving. Pizza will hit the spot perfectly.”
“I guess I’m not going to gain any substantial amount of weight in the next three days,” Jennifer said with a chuckle as she reached for one of the veggie slices. “Thanks, Hannah. This is great. I hope you know you don’t have to supply all of our food while we’re here, though.”
“I figured you’ll be on your own while I’m at work tomorrow. I took a few days off, but I still have to stop in a couple of times to check on things and to help get everything ready for the wedding. Oh, and you’re all welcome to come by the restaurant if you would like to. Everyone in the wedding party gets a discount until after the wedding. And, if anyone gets hungry later tonight, feel free to help yourself to anything that is prepackaged or already open. I have some ingredients on the top shelves that I’m planning on using for meals, so don’t use those. The drinks are fair game, though; just tell me if you finish something so I can buy more.”
“You’ve really outdone herself, Hannah,” Sean said, taking a piece of each type of pizza. “Are you sure you’re happy in the restaurant business? I think you could do well with a B&B.”
“Goodness, no,” Hannah said quickly. “I’m perfectly happy at the restaurant, thank you very much.”
A few people chuckled, though, most were too engaged with their food to open their mouths. Hannah smiled as she sat down, grabbing a piece of pizza for herself. If the next few days went as smoothly as today, then this really would be the perfect wedding.
Hannah woke up to the sound of bustling chaos. Confused, she stumbled out of her room and went down the hall to the railing, where she peered down into the living room. There was a horde of men carrying folding chairs, tables, and mysteriously large boxes into the house. She blinked at them, rubbed her eyes, blinked again, and then looked around until she spotted someone she recognized.
“Eliza, what is all of this?” she asked, snagging the woman as she came out of the bathroom, her hair still wet from a shower.
Eliza glanced down at the men and said, “Oh, those are the delivery guys for all of the decorations and seating we had to rent. They’ll be out of here soon enough. They’re coming back the day after the wedding to pack everyt
hing up again. They asked that we save the boxes, otherwise we’ll be charged an extra fee.
“Right.”
Eliza went on her way, and Hannah returned to her room in a daze, taking a moment to pick out the outfit she wanted to wear that day and then getting into the shower.
She felt a bit more like herself once she was dressed and styled. When she went downstairs, the men had vanished, and had left behind truly impressive amounts of stuff in her living room and her front yard. She eyed it with some trepidation, then retreated to the kitchen to call for backup.
“Hey.” Ben Evans answered the phone sounding suspiciously like his mouth was full.
“Hey, Ben. Does the offer still stand?”
“To help set up for the wedding?” he asked, sounding clearer now. She heard him take a gulp of something and realized he must be in the middle of breakfast.
“Yes. There’s… Well, I might have underestimated how much there is to do.”
“Sure thing. I can be there in about two hours. I’ve got something to take care of at the shop first.”
“Don’t feel like you need to hurry,” she said.
“Don’t worry about it. I’d much rather spend the day with you, anyway. See you soon, Hannah.”
“See you soon, Ben. Thanks.”
Feeling a bit better now that she knew Ben would be coming over, she returned to the living room to try to figure out what they were going to start with first. She approached a woman who was peeking into one of the boxes, then paused halfway across the room, realizing that she didn’t recognize the braided light blonde hair.
“Hello?”
The woman turned around. She was shorter than Hannah, with a round face and a perky smile. A camera hung around her neck, and she was wearing a laminated badge alongside it.
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