The salon door flew open and Beth dashed into the waiting area, her blue eyes wild and her tangle of brown hair even wilder. “I’m here,” she announced.
Jessica’s shoulders sagged with relief. “Took you long enough.”
Beth spotted her and rushed to her side. “Oh God, I’m so sorry, Jess. I was up late studying and fell asleep on the sofa and didn’t hear the alarm go off and then I couldn’t find my keys and finally found them in yesterday’s jeans, but then I was halfway to the salon and remembered I needed clean underwear and had to go back to the house to get them out of the drier and—” She finally sucked in a deep breath. “Can you ever forgive me?”
“Did you remember to pick up the dresses?” Jessica asked.
“Of course. They’re locked in the car.”
“Then you are forgiven. But you owe me ice cream for making me worry.” Jessica winked at her.
Beth hugged her. In her haste, she knocked aside the eye shadow brush the make-up artist was using on one of Jessica’s lids. The woman scowled and reached for a cloth to undo the damage.
“You’re the best,” Beth said loudly in Jess’s ear.
“You’re the best,” Jessica returned. “Thank you for picking up the dresses.”
“No problem.”
Beth was hurriedly directed to a chair so her bed hair could be tamed into something more appropriate for the occasion and Jessica relaxed. A little.
When all seven ladies were properly beautified, they returned to the van. Beth climbed into her dated sedan to follow them to the venue with her cargo of dress. Jessica would have ridden with her to keep her company, but every inch of Beth’s trunk was stuffed with books so the backseat was full of bridesmaids’ dresses while Jess’s wedding dress rode shotgun. Jessica hoped she’d have time to catch up with Beth later. She didn’t get to see nearly enough of her friend since their lives had taken different paths.
Jessica scowled up at the clouds as soon as she was belted into Myrna’s van. The sky was even darker than when they’d entered the salon, but the rain was still holding off. Thank God.
Jessica continued to stare at the sky all the way to the beach location where the ceremony was to be performed. Perhaps it was just gloomy and the clouds would clear up before she walked down the aisle at eleven. Maybe she should have scheduled an afternoon wedding instead of a morning ceremony. She bit her lip. Maybe it was too late to change any plans so she should stop worrying so much. She was supposed to be enjoying her time today.
She fought the urge to call Sed to ask him to commiserate. He’d understand why she was so worried about this; he’d been dealing with her insanity over the wedding for months. Sometimes she was astonished that he still wanted to marry her.
Myrna parked the van near the small building where they were to change into their dresses. Closer to the shore, the small white tent where she’d wait to make her entrance had already been erected and the rows of white wooden folding chairs set up. Several people were decorating the aisles with red roses and sprigs of baby’s breath, trailing lace, and satin ribbons in red and white. The decorating was going rather smoothly, considering how breezy it was.
Maybe she was worried about nothing. The women chatted among themselves as they entered the little beach house. Jessica paused at the dining room table to admire the bouquets set in a neat row. All eight of the smaller bouquets matched hers. The only difference was that the bridal bouquet was larger and had white lilies worked into the red roses. She bent to draw the sweet lily scent into her nose and sneezed unexpectedly.
She drew away and sneezed again. And again.
“Are you allergic to your flowers?” Beth asked.
Jessica’s eyes and nose began to itch and ache. “I must be,” she said, her voice nasally from the sudden swelling in her face. She sneezed again and again, backing away from the offending allergens wafting from her bouquet.
“What am I going to do?” she asked. “I can’t say my vows if I’m”—ah ah ahchoo—“sneezing the entire time.” She sniffed, searching the room for a box of tissues.
“I’m allergic to certain flowers,” Myrna said. “You just have to pinch off the anthers. Or is the stamens? Gets rid of the pollen.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Jessica said, hoping she was right.
Myrna picked up the bouquet and headed into the small kitchen near the back of the cottage. Jessica sneezed again as she passed by, but felt less bothered once the flowers were taken from the room.
“I didn’t sneeze when they showed me their samples,” Jessica said to Beth, who handed her a tissue. Jessica blew her nose and blinked to prevent her watery eyes from ruining her make-up.
“Because their samples were fake flowers,” Beth said. “Remember?”
Beth had gone with Jessica to pick out most of the items for the wedding since Sed had been on the road touring with Sinners almost the entire time she’d been planning the occasion. But she’d sent him pictures of everything and asked his opinion on every detail. He hadn’t lost his patience once, even though she must have been driving him bonkers. He probably didn’t give a rat’s ass if the red ribbons in the flowers were matte or satin, but she had required his opinion on the matter, by God, and he offered one. She’d wanted him to feel he was a part of every decision, every step leading up to this day. She wasn’t the only one getting married today.
Jessica chuckled. “You’re right. I guess that would explain why I wasn’t allergic to them at the florist.”
“I hope removing the anthers does the trick,” Beth said. “Are you ready to put on your dress?”
Jessica nodded eagerly. It had been a couple of weeks since she’d seen it. They’d done a few last minute alterations so that it would fit perfectly. Which reminded her again that she couldn’t wait to see him in his tux. She sighed aloud at the thought of those wide shoulders filling out a perfectly tailored tuxedo jacket. The man cleaned up real nice and looked delicious in and out of his clothes.
In one of the two bedrooms, Beth helped Jessica slip into her gown. At Jessica’s back, Beth tugged the zipper, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Is it stuck?” Jessica asked, glancing over her shoulder to see what the problem was.
She went light-headed; the problem was that the edges of the zipper were over two inches apart. There was no way they’d ever get it zipped.
“Oh no,” Jessica said. “Sed told me I was showing already, but I didn’t believe him.”
She covered her lower belly with both hands where Sed’s baby grew inside her.
“If I’m this fat now, what am I going to be like in seven months?”
“You’re not fat,” Beth said. “The baby is just big. Like his hunk of a father.”
Jessica wasn’t sure if she believed that explanation, but it made her feel marginally better. “What are we going to do?” she asked.
“Can you suck it in?” Beth asked, yanking on the open sides of the dress.
Jessica drew her breath upward into her chest, trying to make her stomach as flat as possible. But the problem wasn’t her stomach, it was her lower belly. Perhaps she should have chosen a gown that had an empire waist instead of one that was fitted down to mid-hip. She’d thought she’d have plenty of time before her baby bump made any sort of difference in the fit of her clothes.
“I can’t,” Jessica said as she released her breath with a gasp.
“I will get you into this dress if I have to kick you into it,” Beth said.
“I think I have a corset that will fit you,” Aggie said.
Jessica hadn’t heard her approach. She was standing in the open doorway, appraising her carefully.
“It’s white, so it shouldn’t show, and it goes down past the crests of the hipbones, so it will cinch you in tight. But it’s leather. You don’t have anything against leather, do you?”
Could Jessica really wear a white leather corset under her wedding gown? What would Sed think of that? She decided he’d be so turned on that he
wouldn’t be able to think.
“Do you think it will work?” Jessica said.
Aggie nodded. “For sure. I’ll have to go get it though. Do we have time?”
“I can’t very well go down the aisle with my dress unzipped,” Jessica said. “I’d be grateful if you could get it if you think it’s worth a shot. It won’t hurt the baby, will it?”
“No, we won’t squeeze you breathless. You just need a couple of inches. I’ll be back.
Aggie turned on her heel, her long straight black hair spinning out away from her body as she moved.
“Thanks, Aggie!” Jessica called after her.
“Not a problem,” Aggie called back.
Beth lifted her eyebrows. “A white leather corset? The things my cousin comes up with.”
“She’s been selling her handmade corsets from a little merch wagon that’s pulled behind Sinners’ tour bus. Her wares are so popular, she has to turn customers away. Have you seen them?”
“No. I didn’t know she was running a business now. I thought she was still stripping in Vegas,” Beth said.
Jessica laughed. “You two don’t talk much, do you?”
“Her mom and my mom don’t really get along,” Beth whispered. “Aunt Tabitha’s the black sheep of the family. And then Aggie… Well, she’s just kind of different. Intimidating?” Beth’s dark brows scrunched together. “Or maybe the word is scary. Yeah, Aggie is scary.”
Jessica grinned and shook her head. Aggie just pretended to be scary, but underneath the leather and cold stares, she was a pussy cat. “Aggie’s fabulous. You really should get to know her better, Beth. Don’t let the whips and leather scare you away.”
Beth laughed. “Do you even hear what you’re saying?”
“You’re the one who sent me to Vegas to be taken under her wing, remember?”
“Yeah, well…” Beth shrugged. “Maybe I was living vicariously. All I do is study, study, study. At least you get to have a life. I don’t think I’m ever going to pass the bar.”
“You’ll pass,” Jess said, patting her on the back.
“Easy for you to say, brainiac who passed on her first try.”
“Jessica?” The unmistakable high-pitched voice of her mother carried through the entire cottage. “Jessica?”
“Oh shit,” Jessica said. “She’s here? I thought she’d be kept occupied at the reception hall until the ceremony.”
“Jessica, where are you?” her mother called.
“I don’t want her to know my dress doesn’t fit,” Jessica whispered to Beth. “You know what she’s like. She’ll never let me live it down.”
Wide-eyed, Beth glanced around the room and then pulled the quilt from the bed. She tossed it over Jessica’s back, who crinkled her brow at her in confusion.
“Pretend you’re cold,” she said just as Jessica’s mother entered the room.
Jessica pulled the quilt more securely around her shoulders, huddling into it as if she was in the Northwest Territories in January instead of Southern California in June.
“There you are,” her mom said, breezing into the room. “Why didn’t you answer when I called?”
“You called?” Jessica played dumb. “I didn’t hear you.”
“The reception hall is all ready to go. I told you that you could count on me to make your day perfect.”
Jessica’s day had been far from perfect thus far, but she smiled at her mother.
“Thank you for working so hard on the reception arrangements.”
The woman had tried to take over the entire wedding. And then Sed’s mom had gotten in on the planning, and the preparations had turned into a constant argument. Sed’s mom thought they should get married in a church. Jessica’s mom thought they should fly everyone to Paris and get married there. Jessica had cherished memories of her and Sed atop the Eiffel Tower replica in Vegas, but Paris? She wasn’t sure where that idea had come from. She’d certainly never mentioned wanting to visit Paris, much less wanting to get married there. She assumed her mother had always wanted to get married abroad and was attempting to live vicariously through her only daughter. The entire time they were planning the wedding, Jessica had felt pulled in a thousand directions. She’d tried to find a compromise, but sometimes there just wasn’t one to be had. Luckily, Sed gave her the support necessary to tell both mothers where she wanted to get married. On the beach.
Sed’s mother had taken the news without batting an eyelash and had immediately starting collecting information on possible locations. Her mother, on the other hand, said a beach wedding wasn’t grand enough for her daughter. Jessica wasn’t sure when her mother started thinking she had much value. Probably the minute she’d become engaged to a rich rock star.
“Why are you wrapped up in a blanket?” Mom asked, eyeing her speculatively.
“Just a little cold,” Jessica said, tugging the blanket closer and pretending to shiver.
“Are you sick?”
“No,” Jessica said, shaking her head. “I think it’s nerves.”
“Well, don’t get cold feet now. The deposits are nonrefundable.”
“My feet are perfectly warm,” Jessica assured her.
“I know you’ll be disappointed, but Ed isn’t coming,” Mom said. “He had something important to attend to.”
A date with his favorite sports channel, Jessica presumed. She nodded, not really caring that her stepfather wouldn’t be there. They weren’t exactly close. She’d only invited him because it was expected of her. Ed was pretty much a creeper and had been since her mother married him just after Jessica had turned seventeen.
“That’s all right, Mom. I know how hard he works.” To help you live above your means, Jessica added silently.
“Where’s Monica?”
Jessica shrugged. Unlike her mother, who needed constant recognition for the smallest of tasks, Sed’s mother got things done and required no supervision.
Sed’s youngest sister, Elise, spoke up. “Mom’s out with the florist helping with the arbor over the altar. They’re trying to figure out how to keep the flowers in place with all the wind.”
“She probably needs my help,” Jessica’s mom said and she turned to go.
Jessica felt a touch sorry for Monica, but at least her mother would be out of her hair for a while.
“I wonder if Sed is here yet,” Jessica said. She hadn’t spoken to him all day. She missed him. Usually when he wasn’t on tour, they were inseparable. And when he was on tour without her, she was miserable. It had only been twelve hours since she’d seen him last, yet it felt like ages. Maybe she should have watched him sleep for a while that morning instead of covering her eyes with her hands when she sneaked out of bed to avoid seeing him before the wedding.
“You should text him,” Beth advised. “Make sure he got up.”
Sed had still been asleep when she’d left. She trusted that he’d gotten out of bed on time, and if he hadn’t, she knew Brian would retrieve him if necessary. Before the bridal party left that morning, Brian had given her his word to keep Sed in line, though the thought of anyone keeping Sed in line was rather ludicrous now that she thought about it. Perhaps she should have enlisted the aid of his mother. But Monica had enough to keep her occupied as she was in charge of overseeing the setup of the beach for the ceremony. Still, Jessica couldn’t resist texting Sed. Not to check up on him. Even though today was about celebrating their closeness, she felt very far away from him at the moment.
Happy Wedding Day, she texted. I can’t wait to marry you.
After she sent the text, she helped Beth zip up the long red bridesmaid gown she’d chosen. All of Jessica’s bridesmaids would wear the same color but because each member of her bridal party was unique, she hadn’t forced them all to get the same dress. They’d picked gowns they liked, that she hoped they could wear again. She wasn’t sure how Sed would feel about the sexy dresses his little sisters had chosen, but she wasn’t going to tell them they couldn’t wear them. They were grown
women, not the girls in pigtails he still thought of them as. Jessica had had enough angst thrown in her direction over the decision when her mother had found out that the bridesmaids weren’t going to be dressed as clones. Mom had thrown a huge fit about them looking like a mismatched group of beggars. Jessica had ultimately won that battle, however. And though they were all dressed differently, the deep red color made them look harmonious enough. She liked that they didn’t all look exactly the same.
Jessica was pacing by the time Aggie returned over half an hour later with the corset. What if she was too fat to get into the contraption? And why hadn’t Sed texted her back? And was her mother still harassing Sed’s mom? She hadn’t returned yet. And why was Malcolm crying again? She needed the baby to be in a good mood today. Or at the very least, asleep.
“Did you really make this, Aggie?” Beth said in breathless awe as she rubbed her hand over the pale pink orchids embroidered into the leather of the white corset.
“Yeah.”
“Where did you learn to sew like this? It’s gorgeous.”
“Grandma taught me.”
Beth chuckled. “Yeah, she tried to teach me too, but I ended up pricking all my fingers and never finished anything. I guess you had a natural talent.”
Aggie bit her lip. “No, I just persisted because I wanted an excuse to sit with her. She was always too busy to slow down, except when she was sewing.”
“Oh,” Beth said and she smiled, no longer looking terrified of her own cousin.
Jessica tried not to gloat. She slipped out of her dress, with Beth holding it up, and then stepped toward Aggie.
“This was supposed to be your wedding gift by the way,” Aggie said to Jessica. “I had to dig through hundreds of gifts in the reception hall to find it and then the caterer thought I was trying to steal it.”
“Sorry you had to go through so much trouble due to my unquenchable cravings for rocky road ice cream,” Jessica said, poking at her belly that was not all baby. Most of it was her.
Sinners at the Altar Page 22
