First Dance - [Bridesmaid's Chronicles 03]
Page 23
"No, it's not like that," Julia admitted. "But I'm not going to France as Roman's girlfriend." Roman's business was wine, and he'd recently scheduled a trip to the south of France to meet with a group of vintners. The trip was important to Roman, and that made it important to Julia. "I'm going on the trip, and I'm going as his wife. And that's all there is to it."
As Julia lifted her chin defiantly, Syd nodded, resigned. The one truth throughout their childhood had been that what Julia wanted, Julia got. This wedding wouldn't be any different. She might suffer a few bumps and bruises along the way, but in the end, Julia would be exactly where she wanted to be: smack dab in the middle of a fairy tale wedding with several hundred guests admiring the efficiency, grace, and classy elegance of what would surely be the most fabulous social event in the history of Fred-ericksburg, Texas. Or South River, New Jersey, for that matter.
"So you'll help me?" Julia asked.
"You know I will," Syd said. "But maybe you would have been smart not to fire Breckin."
Julia grimaced. "He tried to move the wedding to Disney World! And he insisted on Snapdragons, when I made it perfectly clear that I wanted Birds of Paradise and South African Orchids."
"Yes, but now that A Floral Affair's gone out of business, you don't have snapdragons or orchids or Birds of Paradise or even daisies. You've gotas they so charmingly say down here in the South bupkiss."
"The florist didn't close its doors because I fired my wedding planner," Julia said.
"No," Syd agreed. "But Breckin might know another florist that can pull together exotics in less than a week. As it is now, you're stuck. Unless you want to just forget about flowers altogether."
"You're kidding, right? Without flowers, the ceremony, the reception, everything will look totally naked."
"Or natural. You know, back to nature. Ra-ra the environment?"
"Are you insane? What would I carry down the aisle? Grass clippings? And if I wanted au naturel , I'd get married in the buff. This is an event . And flowers symbolize everything I want in a marriage. A thing of beauty and endurance. Something with inherent beauty that blossoms over time."
Syd blinked. "You say the weirdest shit."
"Dammit, Syd. This is my wedding. I've been fantasizing about this day since I was nine years old. I think I know what I want. And since I'm the bride, what I want is what matters."
"Julia, honey, you've never been a bride before, but you've always gotten what you want."
Julia frowned a little at that, but she had to concede the point. Of course, she hadn't wanted her father to ship her off to Texas, but at least the end result had turned out to be fabulous.
"At any rate," she continued, "what I want now are flowers. I'm not worried about the Birds of Paradise; those are easy. But they were only for accents, anyway. The orchids are the real focal flower." She started to tick items off on her fingers. "I need bouquets for me and the bridesmaids. Some sort of spray for my hair. Roman's boutonniere and the same for all the groomsmen. Mom and Sarah's corsages. We don't need anything for the arbor since it's already so lovely, but I need floral centerpieces for the tables at the reception and something with flowers and ribbons decorating the chairs that line the aisle." She pressed a finger to her lips as she closed her eyes, picturing the ceremony and the reception. "Yeah. I think that about does it."
"And you're telling me this why?"
Julia didn't answer. Instead, she just rested her chin on her hand and smiled, waiting for the light of realization to shine in her sister's eyes.
"What?" Syd said. Then her eyes narrowed. "Oh, no"
"Oh, yes," Julia said. "You just promised to help me. First thing you can do is call every florist in Austin and San Antonio until you find one that can step up to the plate."
"Julia"
But Julia just shook her head, ignoring all protests. "Don't even try, Syd. I'm not listening."
"But"
" No ." She held out her hand, and Syd closed her mouth. "The one thing I did right was get my invitations out first thing. Now I have a box full of over two hundred rsvp cards confirming over three-hundred and fifty guests. If you think I'm going to walk down the aisle holding a spray of carnations and babies' breath, you are sorely mistaken."
"Sweetie," Syd said, taking Julia's hand between her own, "the flowers really aren't your major prob-lem here. Marv is coming. Tomorrow . If you want to focus on a crisis, focus on that."
"I'd rather not," Julia mumbled, then shut her eyes as if that could block out the knowledge that her tackyand tactless parents were about to descend on and tarnish her shiny new life.
That her parents would show up for her wedding had, of course, been inevitable. In fact, knowing that Marv and Myrna would fly to Texas for the nuptials had been the only reason that Julia had truly consideredhowever brieflyeloping to Mexico or Monte Carlo or anyplace else exotic and far away.
But, no. Julia wanted the fairy tale wedding too badly to make that kind of sacrifice. Had wanted it all her life, in fact. And she had to acknowledge that her father had been the one who'd firmly planted that dream in her head.
At the same time, she deeply resented that Marv had always seenand treatedher as "the pretty one" while Syd had been "the smart one." He'd never failed to tell her how pretty she was or how dear or how easily she'd snag a rich and worthy husband. Depending on her mood, she'd been alternately flattered and irritated. Over time, irritation had settled in as the primary emotion, coupled with a desperate need to prove to her myopic father that she had more than a model's face and debutante's knowledge of all things fashion.
That frustration with her father, however, had never edged out Julia's gut-deep desire for the pageantry of matrimony. She wanted it, needed it. She wanted to be a bride and walk down the aisle. She'd been treated like a princess for much of her life, and she wasn't about to turn her back on what she considered the ultimate royal treatment simply because her father exasperated her.
She and Roman had made the decision to have a big, Texas-sized wedding the weekend after he'd proposed to her. She'd seen in his eyes that he would have been just as satisfied with a quick visit to the Justice of the Peace, but in the generous way she'd come so quickly to love, Roman had insisted that she plan the wedding of her dreams. Andbless the manhe hadn't even flinched when she'd laid out for him the vast expanse of those dreams.
From the beginning, Roman believed Julia could pull off anything she set her mind to, whether it was making a success of the tacky Marv's Motor Inn her father had banished her to or pulling off a dream wedding.
Roman supported and helped her. More important, he had faith in her even while her own father had never once believed that Julia could do anything more than be a pretty bauble. Well, this time, Julia intended to show her father what she was made of. She'd not only convince Marv that Roman wasn't the spawn of Satan, but she'd throw the wedding of the century. Seamless, perfect, and dripping with class. No tacky blue tuxedo for her father; she'd clothe him in Armani even if she had to fly the designer here herself.
And in the end, she'd prove to her father that she was capable, confident and worthy.
She only hoped that she could prove it before he drove her absolutely and completely crazy.
* * *
One wedding.
Three bridesmaids.
Four sexy tales of modern-day romance.
The Bridesmaids Chronicles
Now available
First Date
by Karen Kendall
0-451-21 55-9
First Kiss
by Kylie Adams
0-451-21581-8
Coming September 2005
First Love
by Julie Kenner
Available wherever books are sold or at penguin.com
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