Cinnamon hugged her and then helped her inside.
“Want some coffee?”
“Love some.”
The two went to the kitchen and several minutes later were seated at the table.
“So, we don’t have much time,” Allison began. “Mac should never have chosen a date so close. It took me a year to plan my wedding. But you have most of the details already done.”
She ran on. Cinnamon listened, but said nothing.
“You have the invitations, the flowers, the church.” Suddenly she stopped, putting her hand up to her mouth and then moving it. “Oh, I’m sorry. I haven’t given you a moment to say anything. I’m just so excited. I never thought Mac would marry. Not after…”
“After Jerrilyn,” Cinnamon finished for her. “I’ve met her. She’s beautiful.”
“But she was wrong for him.”
“I know,” Cinnamon cooed. Flashes of last night went through her mind.
“But you’re right for him,” Allison said, reassuring her.
“Thank you.”
“Mac could hardly speak this morning. I’ve never seen him so excited. Now, what can I do to help?” Allison worked as the head of finance in a large car-dealership. She dealt with people all day. “I know I had Mac doing a lot of the legwork for me, but that was just to keep his mind occupied.”
“Oh, no!” Cinnamon suddenly thought.
“What’s wrong?” Allison’s face was a mask of concern.
“I don’t know if I can have a wedding.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve got to tell my mother. And she’ll freak.”
“Why?”
“Let’s just say it’s probably a good thing that we have only a month to witness the war between the states.”
The wedding began at exactly five o’clock. Cinnamon’s mother had been seated in the front pew. All the bridesmaids had marched down the aisle on the arm of a groomsman and now it was her turn. Cinnamon looked at her father. She was surprised to see tears in his eyes.
He was a good-looking man with only a few gray hairs. Samara looked more like him than Cinnamon did, although he had clear skin the same color as hers. She’d gotten that from him.
“You’re beautiful,” he said, looking at her. Cinnamon looked down at herself. She wore Allison’s wedding gown. It had arrived the day after Allison came to see her. Cinnamon hadn’t been expecting anything, but in Indian Falls wedding gifts arrived at any time. She was surprised to find a deliveryman standing there with a large box. Opening it she found the wedding gown—Allison’s wedding gown. There was a note. It read, “this is not the wrong wedding gown. It was meant to be yours.”
“Wasn’t it just yesterday that you were going to kindergarten?” Her father’s voice snapped her back to the present.
Cinnamon pressed her cheek to his. “Yes,” she acknowledged. “That was yesterday.”
“Today, you’re all grown up and a bride.” He smiled. “Mac’s a lucky guy,” he said. “And I made sure he knows it.”
Cinnamon took his arm as the doors were flung open. They looked down the long aisle and heard the notes of the wedding march.
“It’s time,” she said.
He kissed her cheek again. And they started.
Cinnamon looked for Mac. He stood at the front of the church. He smiled at her. The tension that had been on his face at the other weddings was gone. She floated toward him. From now on everything would be fine.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-1816-5
WRONG DRESS, RIGHT GUY
Copyright © 2008 by Shirley Hailstock
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