by Nikki Duncan
The dress she’d designed for the wedding party was a stunning slip of dark brown silk with delicate glimmers of yellow. Her hair was in a soft upsweep that looked like it could fall at any moment, not that it would dare defy her expectations of it. The slightest blemish of tiredness slowed the normal pep of her tone and dulled a spark or two of happiness in her eyes, but he would likely be the only one to notice it.
His heart sped when he met her gaze. “I’ll fix it.”
“You sure?”
“I guarantee it.” His promise held a double meaning he was sure she caught. “You look gorgeous.” Ignoring the others around them, he stood and crossed to her. Taking her hand in his, he squeezed her fingers lightly and stared into her gaze. “I missed you.”
Her eyes flashed and her lips twitched. The pulse in her throat popped a little harder for a beat. “Me too,” she whispered.
Optimism spread through him. He had hurt her, but he hadn’t lost her. He would get a chance to make it up. Starting now. He kissed her on the edge of her mouth, not wanting to mess up or wear her lipstick. “Go be with Darci. I’ll have this fixed well before the wedding.”
Even if I have to go buy a new one.
“Thanks.”
“Let me know what else I can do.”
She squeezed his hand in return and sighed. “You’re here. That’s enough.”
Optimism was great, but it didn’t dispel the evidence of her hurt. The truth of how badly he’d shaken the foundations of her belief shone on her face. He wanted to forget about the board and drag her off somewhere so they could talk in private. Now wasn’t the time.
“I’ll see you in a little bit.” Where he would escort her down the aisle, yet again wishing they were the ones at the altar being wed.
Chapter Six
Holding it together while facing Trevor was no easy thing. The abandonment she’d felt before and the hurt she’d half expected to feel again were gone. In their place was the cool certainty of what she wanted, needed, to do next.
Trevor would never expect it.
“What’s the problem?” Darci asked the moment Lori stepped back into the bride’s room.
Every one of their fellow planners, all dressed in matching brown dresses, spun to face her as if they expected to hear wedding-changing news. Lori waved a hand to ease their nerves. “Just a minor glitch with the soundboard. Trevor is fixing it.”
“Oh.” Darci heaved a sigh of relief.
She’d gotten dressed while Lori was in the ballroom. Lori had made the dress and done the fittings, but seeing Darci all strapped in brought tears to her eyes.
Opposite of the brown dresses with gold, Darci’s dress was the palest gold with shimmers of dark brown and yellow. The corset top and curve-hugging skirt suited her perfectly. Sexy and classy, the skirt slit could be unsnapped or snapped closed if she chose. Unsnapped, the part would open to the top half of her thigh if she took large enough steps. Or the skirt would appear to be a solid piece of fabric if she chose to save the silken skin showcase for Vic’s eyes only.
“You look hot enough to lure straight women,” Lori said as she walked to Darci to adjust a hanging strap peeking out of the corset top. “Poor Vic’s going to lose his mind when he sees you.”
“Especially when he gets a load of this.” Darci grinned and flipped the skirt, flicking the slit open.
“Have you decided if you’re going to snap or unsnap the skirt?”
“She hasn’t decided,” Gisella said. “She’s been standing there the last ten minutes snapping and unsnapping it.”
“I’m betting unsnapped,” Tabatha put in, appreciating a daring edge when it came to the torments of men.
“I say snap it. Except maybe the lowest one.” Leigh, the most conservative one of their group, smiled mischievously. “Give him just a hint of what you’re hiding.”
Misty studied Darci’s leg. “Screw a hint. Show it off.”
The conversation swirled with every one of the women offering their opinion on how much skin to show off. As expected, a group of women debating on how best to tease a groom got a little out of hand.
Kneeling before Darci while Shayna fastened Darci’s jeweled necklace around her neck, Lori asked, “What’s it going to be, Darci? Snapped for the ceremony and unsnapped for reception? Snapped for both? Unsnapped for both?”
Unable to allow her assistant all the photographing fun, Kayla took the camera and snapped pictures of Lori at Darci’s feet and Shayna helping with the necklace Darci had designed.
“I don’t care what you decide,” Kayla said, “but before you snap them again I want Darci on that chaise.”
As if she’d been planning this as a photo shoot, and knowing Kayla she had been, Kayla directed Darci to the chaise. Tossed over the chaise was a swath of brown silk Lori had purchased for the wedding party dresses. “Settle on your side, prop your leg up just a little so the skirt falls open.”
Darci followed Kayla’s instructions, and then Kayla went over to fine tune her positioning and adjust the skirt so it showed just enough to be completely decent. Lori grinned, knowing Kayla would have the picture framed for Victor.
The idea had Lori wanting a reason to give Trevor a similar gift. And she wanted it to be as a result of their wedding day.
He’d missed proposing yesterday, and she’d been shattered. Then she’d listened to his voicemails. All ten of them. The last one, when he’d said he was waiting for her at the beach, had brought forth her tears.
Every tear was purifying.
Every tear was stimulating.
Every tear was empowering.
Tess, their food-planning goddess, chuckled. “Lori’s scheming.”
Lori felt before she saw all their gazes turn to her. She heard the clicking of Kayla’s shutter and tentatively registered the snaps of the flash. Shaking her head, but doing nothing to dislodge her plan, Lori shrugged off her distraction as if it held no importance. “Just thinking about Trevor.”
“Anything in particular?” Isabella’s eyes lit with interest, but she didn’t miss a step in tweaking Brittany’s up-do.
“Like your own wedding?” Misty was probably more eager than any of their other friends to see Lori accept Trevor’s proposal. She had been the one to send Lori to Trevor for help when she’d wanted to start Tulle and Tulips. Then she’d been the one to help Lori see that Trevor still wanted her despite everything she’d almost cost him. “Tell us you’re ready to accept his proposal!”
“I don’t know. I guess watching you guys walk the aisle makes me wonder what my day would be like.”
“Oh my God.” Darci swung her feet to the floor and stood in a swirl of golden silk. “You’re going to propose to him.”
“What?” How could she have guessed Lori was thinking about doing just that?
“You are.” Darci beamed, completely unbothered that a friend might do something to take the focus from her. “You’re going to propose to him, and you’re thinking about doing it soon.”
“You’re crazy.” She glanced between her friends. Even Vic’s sister, Lindy, seemed eager to hear some good news. “And how did this become about me and Trevor? This is Darci’s day.”
Darci shook her head. “You being ready to tell Trevor yes, or ask him instead, is a big damn deal. And totally worth a little focus.”
“No. This is your day and that’s what we’re going to focus on. Every one of us.” She shot her fiercest look at her friends, but wasn’t sure it would cut them off. It had taken her more than a year to get to this point and her friends wanted to share it. They’d talked about it so often they all felt like they were waiting as eagerly as Trevor.
After several moments of looking like they were going to argue, each friend nodded agreement and turned back to talking about Darci’s skirt slit.
Aleshia, their music planner who had a k
nack of selecting the perfect piece of music for any moment a couple wanted to share, cast a side glance at Lori. The glint in her eyes said she too knew exactly what Lori was thinking and that she had a plan of her own to help. The last person who’d looked at her that way had been the empath who rescued her from the captivity that had taken her from Trevor.
Seeing the look in Aleshia’s eyes was disconcerting. That she didn’t mind a friend seeing through her façade was even more disconcerting.
Chapter Seven
Sheree, Tabatha’s assistant, slipped through a small opening in the double doors at the back of the ballroom. Lori caught a quick glimpse of the crowded room and of Victor standing at the altar.
In her mind, Trevor was standing in Victor’s place. His amazing smile encouraged her closer and his gaze triggered the coding he’d snuck into her subconscious, making it impossible for her to refuse him.
“Ready?”
Darci looked up at her dad and smiled. “Ready, Daddy?”
“As ready as I can be. At least you hit the winner jackpot this time.”
“You never liked Doyle.”
“I didn’t like that he treated you more like a servant than a partner.”
“Vic’s nothing like Doyle.” Darci leaned into her dad and smiled. She’d told her friends about her former fiancé and breaking off the wedding a month before. There’d been no love lost in her tone when she’d told them the story, and it was clear her father felt the same way.
Lori sniffed away a tear. She didn’t think often about the parents she’d lived most of her life without. Hearing Darci’s dad say he was ready to see her commit her life to Vic… It was beautiful, and it made her wish she had parents who cared as deeply.
“Great. Everyone’s ready,” Sheree ordered. “There’s a man getting anxious inside.”
Maybe more than one, Lori thought. Darci stepped out of view of the crowd inside. The rest of the women lined up in their pre-designated order.
Sheree opened the doors, the music inside began and on cue the women moved one at a time to the doors. Just inside, the groomsmen, mostly Vic’s college mates, stepped forward one by one to take the arm of the woman he was escorting.
Burton escorted Leigh, who looked anything but proper when she looked at him.
Jace escorted Misty, who curled her fingers into the hook that had replaced his missing hand.
Tabatha was escorted by Danny, who smiled despite having had to exchange volleyball shorts and bare feet for a tuxedo and dress shoes.
Trevor stepped forward and offered his arm for Lori. Every step down the aisle had her wishing this day were hers.
Stepping away from Trevor at the altar was a division she didn’t appreciate. She’d spent a lot of the night wallowing in the loneliness she used to live daily. She never wanted to feel it again.
Gisella was escorted by Kyle, a local cop Vic had known since high school.
Lindy, serving as Darci’s matron of honor, walked down the aisle with her husband, who was Vic’s best man. Then it was time for the bride to enter.
The music changed. The crowd stood. Vic shifted his gaze to the back of the aisle. Darci stepped into view and became the pinnacle of embellishments for the wedding. She was the glow in the midst of Groot’s protective surroundings. Joy in its purest form illuminated Vic’s face as he watched his bride move toward him.
Lori looked at Trevor, who watched her instead of the bride. His smile was bright and his eyes were happy, but a sadness lingered. A sadness she knew how to banish.
With Groot the dog sitting at Vic’s side at the edge of the wedding arch that had the yellow glimmers of hope shining, Lori listened to her friends pledge themselves to each other. The tears and chuckles they shared as they read their vows, saying, “We are Groot” instead of “I do”, echoed in her heart. Her gaze never strayed from Trevor. His never strayed from her.
What seemed like a moment later, the room erupted in cheers as Darci and Vic kissed. The procession down the aisle, the wedding pictures and moving to the reception space was a blur of hugs and kisses, laughs and flashes. Through it all, Lori choked down the jealously that she wasn’t the bride with her groom beaming at her. She’d never been jealous of a bride before. That alone was sign enough that the time had come for a change.
He sent her questioning looks but said nothing as he wrapped his arm around her or brushed a finger along her cheek. After dinner had been served and the cake cut, after the couple had their first dance together and danced with their parents, and after she’d entertained and mingled with the guests to help make sure everyone was having a great time, Lori sank into a chair and sighed at the relief of being off her feet.
“You okay?” Trevor asked, sitting beside her and moving his chair close enough to be touching. “You seem distracted.”
“I’m good.” A slow song about believing began. Aleshia met Lori’s gaze across the room and nodded toward the floor. Taking the hint, Lori looked at Trevor. “Want to dance?”
“Only if it’s with you.”
“That was my plan.”
He led her to the floor and pulled her close. They’d danced often at business parties he’d escorted her to. She’d quickly identified him as a distraction that could get in the way of her mission. She’d been proven right, but could never have guessed they would end up where they were now.
“I’m sorry about last night, Lori.”
“I know.” Breathing slowly, she rested her head against his shoulder and moved in time with his body. He really did know her and could determine her moods, whether he was in town or not. “Me too.”
Resting his chin against her head, guiding her around the floor, he whispered, “You were great when I showed up here last night. What would it take to make you great again?”
“I can only think of one thing.”
“Name it.”
“I’ve been watching Darci and her parents today.” She slipped her hand beneath the edge of his jacket, feeling his heart beat against her palm. “They’ve made me realize something I’ve missed out on.”
“What’s that?”
“Parents who love me and want only to see me happy.”
“My parents love you.”
“But they’re not mine.” She closed her eyes and curled her fingers over his heart.
Accepting that he loved her enough to never leave her or betray her hadn’t been easy or quick. As close as she’d come to accepting it previously, she’d always allowed fear to hold her back.
When he hadn’t asked for her hand, she’d forced herself to face what life might be like without him. Her previous life had taught her no one could be trusted, that she could be betrayed at any moment. Trevor had been the first person to really matter and the idea of him being like everyone she’d met during her Whitestone years had scared her shitless. For that reason, and no better one, she’d strung him along to test his loyalty.
He’d thought he needed to apologize for missing a day of asking. She owed him an apology too, but rather than voicing it, she’d show him. He’d taught her that trust wasn’t something she had to place in others. It was something she had to have in herself, because when she allowed herself to trust in her own judgment she’d seen the starkest truth.
She was surrounded by friends who would never have a reason to betray her and a man who had stood beside her when he’d had every reason not to.
“You could give me parents if you married me.”
Trevor missed a step and kicked her toe. He never missed a step on the dance floor. It buoyed her confidence that she was making the right move. The song talked about the future being more powerful than the past and a moment in time being the beginning rather than the end.
“You didn’t ask yesterday, and I haven’t given you the chance today.” Lori eased away a little, still moving with him, and looked into his gaze. S
he knew he knew what she was up to, and she knew he was going to let her finish. “I’m tired of living in the memory of loss, and I’m tired of letting my mind get in my way. You gave me a new beginning when you helped me start Tulle and Tulips.
“I almost died several times, but I’m alive because you gave me a reason to fight to survive. Because of you I have friends I’d never have dreamed of meeting. I have a career and life that I look forward to facing every day. I’d like to propose a new joint venture though.”
“Lori.” His voice was a gruff whisper and a tear leaked out of the inside corner of his left eye.
She hadn’t planned a speech, and seeing him start to cry made her doubt she’d get everything she wanted to say out. “Trevor, will you share your parents and your life with me? Will you build a new beginning with me? As my husband?”
“Yes.” Another tear tracked down his cheek. Hers joined them as he moved in and kissed her. “Hell yes, I’ll be your husband.”
His kiss swept her into a flurry of arousal and excitement for the future as the song came to a close, repeating the lyric about this moment not being the end but a beginning. As usual, Aleshia had known what song was needed for just the right moment. And through music she’d given Lori the final nudge she needed to get out of her head and listen to her heart.
When Trevor eased back, he was crying as heavily as her. When the song ended and the dance floor cleared, Trevor led her to a patch of the garden not full of wedding guests. “Do you know what you’ve just given me?”
“A life sentence.”
“I’ll take your life sentence and raise you a stoning.” Laughing, he lifted a hand with a ring she’d never seen between his fingers. Of all the ways he’d ever proposed, he’d never pulled out a ring, and this one was spectacular. A royal cut, small diamonds edged a star-shaped sapphire. “You’ve been the darkest and brightest star in my sky since you first stepped into my office. This ring is intended as a reminder of that.”
“It’s amazing.”
“Not nearly as amazing as you.”
