Tailor-Made

by Yolanda Wallace

  “Silly.” Brooke smacked her with the collection of peach, pink, and ivory roses. “This is the only wedding I’ve ever thrown. And hopefully, the last. I take that back. There might be a wedding ceremony in your future one day. I’d be more than happy to help with that.”

  “I’ll keep you in mind, but I highly doubt your skills will be needed.”

  “Don’t be so sure.” Brooke glanced over Dakota’s shoulder and jerked her chin in that direction, indicating Dakota should follow her line of sight.

  When Dakota turned around, she saw Grace standing at the edge of the dance floor. Grace was wearing a colorful sheath dress that looked remarkably like the one Dakota had seen on display in the vintage clothing store near her apartment. The dress was molded to Grace’s curves. She looked beyond gorgeous, but her presence was so ephemeral Dakota thought she must be a mirage. She had to be real, though, because the crowd parted like the Red Sea as she slowly walked past them.

  “Don’t just stand there,” Brooke said, giving Dakota a push in the right direction. “Meet her halfway.”

  Dakota tried to think of something witty to say, but she must have used all her best lines in her speech because all she could come up with was “You came.”

  “I’m sorry I missed the wedding,” Grace said. “My flight was delayed by a thunderstorm. We had to circle the airport for over an hour before we were allowed to land.”

  “That’s par for the course during summer in the South. We get pop-up storms every afternoon. They’re loud and obnoxious, but they don’t usually last long. Would you like to dance?”

  “I thought you’d never ask.”

  Brooke, who had found a willing partner to take Dakota’s place, gave her a high five as they passed each other on the dance floor. Townsend’s thumbs-up from his perch in front of the open bar was a bit more understated but equally appreciated.

  Dakota gripped Grace’s right hand with her left and placed her right hand in the small of Grace’s back. Grace placed her free hand on Dakota’s chest and slid it up to her shoulder. Dakota never thought she would feel Grace in her arms again. She shuddered at the rightness of it.

  “You look handsome,” Grace said with a smile. “New suit?”

  “Yes, as a matter of fact. A very beautiful woman made it for me.”

  Amazing might be the more appropriate adjective. Because every word in the country song the band was playing seemed to apply to Grace. She was amazing, and Dakota was completely amazed by her.

  “I hear you’re starting your own business,” she said as they moved to the music. “Are you looking for a partner, by any chance?”

  “No, because I’ve already found her.”

  Dakota’s heart soared, but she didn’t allow it to completely take flight. She couldn’t. Not yet. She needed to be sure. “Why did you come? The wedding favors are cool, but I doubt they’re worthy of a three-hour flight.”

  “Perhaps not, but you are. I came because I wanted to clarify something. The night we parted ways, you said you were sorry you weren’t woman enough for me.”

  Dakota remembered that night. And Grace’s silent confirmation that what she had said was true. Tonight, almost as if it had been scripted, the band chose precisely that moment to take a dramatic pause, adding emphasis to Grace’s words as Grace looked deep into her eyes.

  “Dakota, you’re all the woman I need.”

  Tears welled in Dakota’s eyes as she heard the validation she’d thought she would never receive. Experienced the love she’d thought she would never feel. Her brother’s piercing whistle kicked off a round of cheers. Families were like that. They could be embarrassing, even maddening at times, but one thing was certain: they never stopped surprising you.

  “I love you, Grace.”

  “I love you, too. Now shut up and kiss me.”

  Dakota smiled at the woman who had so thoroughly captured her heart. “Your wish is my command.”

  Epilogue

  One Year Later

  While Dakota made sure the models knew who would be following whom on the runway and ran them through their paces to see if they finally had their timing down, Grace peeked into the audience.

  Her parents and Dakota’s mother and father sat side by side in the front row. Dakota’s sister and brother, her sisters, and their siblings’ respective partners sat next to their parents. Brooke and Kevin. Townsend and Haley. Faith and her boyfriend Reed. Hope, her new husband Ahmad, and her stepson Zaire.

  Hope had put up a fuss when Grace had dragged her to Zaire’s piano recital the previous June. She had spent the first few minutes after they had arrived saying how much she couldn’t wait to leave. But that was before Ahmad had walked over to where they were sitting and asked if he could join them.

  “Trash Man cleans up good,” Hope had said under her breath. She and Ahmad had hit it off right away. They had been inseparable ever since and had been married for a little over three months. Just long enough for Grace’s mother to start asking when they planned to make her a grandmother. Since they couldn’t seem to keep their hands off each other, a new addition to the family would probably be coming sooner rather than later.

  Faith didn’t seem to be in a rush to follow Hope down the aisle. She and Reed, her study partner from one of her college courses, were growing more serious by the day and he kept pressuring her to move in with him, but Faith was content to continue living at home. As she so colorfully put it, she wanted to finish school and earn her degree before she worried about “all that real-world stuff.” Funny how having money set aside for the future always made planning for it easier to deal with.

  Lynette and Whitney were on the other side of the room, talking animatedly with each other behind press row as they waited to give moral support to Monica and Joey, who would be participating in the show.

  Grace was overjoyed she and Dakota had been able to blend their families and friends so well. She had expected to encounter a few rough patches as everyone got to know each other, but it had been smooth sailing all the way.

  She waved at Rich and Aaron after they stepped out of Roxxy’s DJ booth and took their seats. After Rich had returned from his lengthy tour, he had moved out of the apartment he and Dakota had shared for almost seven years and moved in with Aaron. Dakota hadn’t lived alone long, however. Less than a month later, Grace had taken Rich’s place. She and Dakota had talked about finding more space one day, but, like Faith, Grace was in no hurry. She didn’t care how much square footage she and Dakota had as long as they were together.

  Letting the curtain fall, she turned back to the chaos taking place behind the scenes. The small dressing room in the back of Mainline, the venue she had rented for the night, was a whirlwind of activity. A dozen models milled about, anxious for the show to begin, while Lillie, Tracy, and the other members of the support staff made sure the suits the models were wearing were free of wrinkles and loose threads.

  “Okay,” Dakota said, clapping her hands to get everyone’s attention. “We’ve almost got it. Let’s run through this one more time. Just because this is our first runway show doesn’t mean we have to look like we’ve never done it before.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Austin said, sparking a round of nervous laughter.

  “I’ll deal with you later, counselor.” Continuing her pep talk, Dakota said, “Relax, have fun, and don’t be afraid to be handsome.”

  Aside from Dakota, there were no professional models in the show. The lineup was composed of willing amateurs like Austin—legacy customers from Henderson Custom Suits, along with new ones from Henderson+Lane Designs, the company Grace and Dakota had started after Grace’s father shuttered his.

  The business, headquartered in a small shop near Grace and Dakota’s Greenwich Village apartment, had been in operation for almost six months. Initial sales had been steady and were growing stronger all the time, spurred by good word of mouth and a strong social media presence. It didn’t hurt, of course, that one of the company’s cofounde
rs was part of the fashion industry. Dakota’s contacts had offered invaluable advice when the company was in its infancy. Now that it was up and running, Grace and Dakota could count most of them as customers rather than consultants.

  Though she still modeled, Dakota had finally given up her day job as a bicycle messenger so she could concentrate on their joint business venture and, like Grace had many years before, work as an apprentice tailor. Grace loved watching Dakota grow into her new role. Dakota was bright, creative, and eager to learn every possible thing she could about being a tailor. She was the perfect partner. Both in business and in life.

  “What are you thinking?” Dakota asked as they prepared to start the show.

  Grace looked around the room. “I’m wondering how I got so lucky. To be able to do what I love with the person I love? It doesn’t get any better than this.”

  “Luck has nothing to do with it. Some things are meant to be.” Dakota kissed her and squeezed her tight. “You and I, we’re tailor-made.”

  About the Author

  Yolanda Wallace is not a professional writer, but she plays one in her spare time. Her love of travel and adventure has helped her pen fifteen globe-spanning novels, including the Lambda Literary Award–winning Month of Sundays and the Lambda Literary Award finalist Date with Destiny, written as Mason Dixon. Her short stories have appeared in multiple anthologies including Romantic Interludes 2: Secrets and Women of the Dark Streets. She and her wife live in beautiful coastal Georgia, where they are parents to two children of the four-legged variety.

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