Every Bride Needs a Groom (7 page)

“Aunt Katie, Aunt Katie!” Four-year-old Mariela jumped up and down, then wrapped her arms around my right thigh.

The youngest, Joshie, wrapped himself around my left ankle and tried to ride it like a pony. This left little room for Gilly, the two-and-a-half-year-old, but that didn't stop her. She attempted to propel herself into my arms, nearly knocking me over in the process.

“Well, hello, strangers.” I laughed and then knelt down to give them all hugs. “I'm going to be your roomie for the next couple of weeks.”

“What's a roomie?” Gilly asked.

“It means she's going to stay with us.” Mariela put chubby hands on her hips and spoke to her younger sister in a know-it-all voice. “Maybe forever!”

“Yes, I'm staying with you,” I said. “But not forever.” When Mariela pouted I added, “But Aunt Katie is going to have a lot of fun with her babies. Pinkie promise!” I held out my pinkie and she grabbed it with hers.

“I hope so.” Lori-Lou chuckled. “Let me start by apologizing. I'm so sorry you have to share a room with the baby.” My cousin's nose wrinkled. “But he's the quietest of the three, if that makes you feel any better. And I'm pretty sure these two girls would drive you crazy if you bunked with them.”

“I'll do just fine,” I said. My words were meant to convince myself as well as Lori-Lou. “And I'm sure the blow-up mattress will be comfortable.”
I hope.

I couldn't help but smile at the kids. Mariela looked adorable with her cute little pigtails and freckled nose. She had that impish look that rotten children often have, the one that says, “I'm secretly up to no good.” Still, no one could deny her outward beauty. Gilly, on the other hand, made me laugh just looking at her. For one thing, her shirt was inside out. And her socks didn't match.

“Please ignore the way she looks.” Lori-Lou gestured to Gilly. “She didn't start out the day looking like this. She's changed clothes four times already.”

“She looks cute,” I countered.

“Hmm.” Lori-Lou pointed at her daughter's feet. “See those socks she has on?”

I glanced down and nodded.

“One of them is mine,” Lori-Lou said. “The other one is the baby's. And you don't even want to know whose underwear she's wearing. Worst part is, she's not potty trained, so she won't be wearing the underwear for long. They'll be sopping wet in a matter of minutes. I've never seen a kid go through as many panties as this one.”

Okay then. Welcome to the big
city, Katie Sue. This is what you've been missing.

Still, baby Joshie was adorable. I swept the little one into my arms and held him close . . . until I realized he had on a stinky diaper. Then I passed him right back to his mother.

Lori-Lou bounced him on her hip as if he didn't smell at all. “Josh has a couple of vacation days coming. He says he'll watch the kids so we can have some girl time.” My cousin's eyes flooded. “I love that man. He's so great.”

Terrific. True love. Nothing like a little salt in an open wound.

Lori-Lou must've realized she'd struck a nerve. “I'm sorry, Katie. But if it makes you feel any better, we spend about half the time arguing about, well, everything. The man drives me out of my ever-lovin' mind, but I love him. I really do.”

Well, wonderful. While I wasn't pining away for Casey, I'd enjoy listening to my cousin and her husband argue. And then watch them kiss and make up. Perfect way to get over a breakup.

She shifted the baby to her other hip, and the stench from his diaper permeated the room. “Anyway, I hate to bring up a sore subject, but what did you decide to do about the wedding gown?”

Was she kidding? What else could I do? “I can't go through with it. Not now.”

“You're going to tell them?”

I sighed and nodded. “Don't have any choice. I was hoping you'd go with me tomorrow. What do you think?”

“Tomorrow?” She hesitated. “I think I'd better make sure Josh can watch the kids. Otherwise we'll have a fiasco on our hands if we have to take these three into the swankiest bridal shop in town.”

“In the state,” I corrected her.

“In the country.” She laughed. “Which is precisely why I can never, under any circumstances, take any of these three—Mariela! Don't you dare use those markers on my new coffee table! We've talked about this a hundred times.” She raced across the room and grabbed the markers from the four-year-old, who burst into tears. About three minutes into the emotional tirade, Lori-Lou glanced my way. “Sorry!” she hollered above the din. “Welcome to my world, Katie.”

Some welcome. And some world. But this would be my home for the next two weeks, and I'd better learn to love it. At least here no one would break my heart.

A city is not gauged by its length and width, but by the broadness of its vision and the height of its dreams.

Herb Caen

S
pending the night on an air mattress turned out to be quite the adventure. Add to the discomfort a crying child just three feet away, and it made for a sleepless night. Mostly sleepless, anyway. I did doze off a couple of times. One of those times I dreamed about Casey. Sad, sobering dreams. Bittersweet. I also thought about the fact that I'd missed the family's Friday night gathering at Sam's Buffet. Bummer. As much as I needed to be away from things, I still felt homesick, especially when I thought about the coconut meringue pie.

I awoke on Saturday morning with that horrible feeling you always get just before doing something you don't want to do. The sound of the children's voices rang out from the kitchen, but they paled in comparison to the argument going on between Josh and Lori-Lou over the AC repair bill. I didn't mean to eavesdrop on their conversation, but in such a confined space I didn't have any choice. Lovely.

A few feet away from my air mattress, baby Joshie slept in his crib. I would've let him continue to doze, but the smell leaking from his diaper was enough to prompt me to wake him. Ick.

After I rose and slipped on my robe, I picked up the baby from his crib and made my way out to the kitchen, holding him at arm's length.

“Well, good morning, sunshine.” Lori-Lou laughed when she saw me.

Mariela lunged at my legs, almost knocking me over in the process. Lori-Lou reached for the baby and said something about taking him for a quick bath before breakfast. The two of them disappeared from the room before I could say, “Hey, who's watching the other two?”

I spent the next fifteen minutes debating the finer points of cereal eating with Mariela and trying to figure out some strategic way to get a Cheerio out of Gilly's left nostril. I'd never seen anyone stick cereal up their nose before, so this caught me totally off guard.

My cousin's husband came into the kitchen a few minutes later, matter-of-factly tugged the Cheerio out of Gilly's nose, yawned, and poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Welcome to reality, Katie.”

His version of it, maybe, but definitely not mine.

“One day”—Josh gestured around the messy kitchen—“this could all be yours.”

“Once she finds the right man, anyway.” Lori-Lou's voice sounded from the hallway. She stepped into the kitchen with the baby, wrapped in a towel, in her arms.

“So, let me get this straight.” Josh leaned against the counter and took a swig of his coffee. “You two are spending the morning at a bridal shop where Katie has won a multi-thousand-dollar dress that she's not going to be wearing?”

“Something like that,” I said. And then sighed. “I'm not keeping the dress.”

“She's keeping the dress.” Lori-Lou gave me a “we're going to talk about this” look.

“No. I'm not.” I shook my head and sipped some of my now-cold coffee. “This is a moral decision. What would Jesus do?”

“Jesus wouldn't need a wedding dress, but I suppose that's irrelevant.” Josh seemed to drift off in his thoughts for a moment, then added, “He wouldn't keep the dress. No way.”

“But she'll never have another opportunity to have a dress from Cosmopolitan,” Lori-Lou argued. “And she won the contest fair and square. Nadia James loved her essay. That was the determining factor, not the wedding date.”

“Or the need for a groom?” Josh's right eyebrow elevated.

“There will be a groom.” Lori-Lou glared at her husband. “Someday.”

I groaned at that comment. Right now I didn't care if I ever found a groom. Weddings were highly overrated, after all.

“Might even be Casey. He'll come to his senses.” My cousin passed the baby off to her husband and then poured herself a cup of coffee. “Wait and see.”

“Could we end this conversation right here?” I stepped toward the door leading into the hallway. “I'm not taking the dress. Conversation over. I don't care how much it's worth—it's not worth it to me to do anything deceptive.”

“Amen. Preach it, girl.” Josh shifted the baby to one arm so he could continue drinking his coffee. “I'll be here taking care of the kids while you two swank it up at the froufrou wedding place.”

“Swank it up? Froufrou?” Lori-Lou smacked herself in the head. “You've been watching those wedding dress shows, haven't you, babe?”

“Maybe.” He crossed his arms at his chest. “What's it to you?” This was followed by a belly laugh. “Anyway, do the right thing, Katie. Don't take the dress.”

Lori-Lou grumbled about this as we headed down the hallway to our respective rooms to get dressed. She continued to fuss several minutes later when we got into my car.

“I get Josh's point,” she said. “But I totally disagree.”

“Lori-Lou, I don't have any choice.”

“Sure you do.” She pointed to the stop sign ahead. “Turn right up here. Then left at the next light. We're about ten miles away from the store.”

“Remember that scene in
Coal Miner's Daughter
where Doo takes Loretta out to a big piece of property and shows her the house he plans to build for her?” I made the right-hand turn and kept my eyes on the road.

“Of course. Turn left up here.” Lori-Lou gestured and I eased my way over to the left lane.

“In that scene Loretta and Doo have been married awhile and she's had some measure of success, and he takes her up to this piece of property where he's already laid out a plan for a house.”

“I remember, Katie.”

“Point is, he doesn't consult with her, just goes off on his own and makes the plans without involving her.”

“Right. She got mad.”

“Very. I mean, she was thrilled that he wanted to build a house, but mad that he set out on his own to do it without her input.”

“I can't imagine Josh going out and doing something like that without asking me.” Lori-Lou grunted. “For one thing, our bank account isn't quite big enough for a down payment. We've been saving, but it's so hard with kids.”

She carried on about their poor financial state, but I didn't hear half of it.

Lori-Lou let out a squeal and pointed to my right. “Oh, slow down. I think we're coming up on Frazier.”

I slowed down and she gestured for me to get into the right lane. “I didn't mean to get you all worked up about that,” I said. “I guess my point was, sometimes we get ahead of ourselves. And that's what I did with Casey.”

“You wanted to build a house but forgot to ask Casey if he wanted to live there?” she asked.

“Something like that. Not a literal house, but—”

“Stop! It's right up here. See the sign?”

In the distance I saw the beautifully scripted sign reading C
OSMOPOLITAN
B
RIDAL
. My heart quickened and then felt like it had turned to lead. I could avoid the inevitable no longer. What I wanted—what I needed—was to get this visit to Cosmopolitan Bridal over with.

We pulled up to the store's parking lot, and Lori-Lou's cell phone rang. She spent the next ten minutes bickering with Josh about how to discipline Mariela for coloring on her younger sister's arm with a marker. I spent those ten minutes praying for the courage to tell Nadia James that I could not—would not—allow her to make me a wedding dress.

Lori-Lou ended the call and glanced at me with an exaggerated sigh. “He's so totally hopeless.”

“What do you mean?”

“He's clueless when it comes to dealing with the kids.”

“He's on a learning curve, Lori-Lou.”

She snorted. “Hey, he's had those three kids the same length of time I have, and I've figured it out.”

I didn't want to argue with her, but she clearly didn't have it all figured out. Did any parent ever?

“Okay, you ready to go inside?” she asked. “This is about as close to heaven as we're gonna get in this lifetime.”

“I . . . I guess.” Right now, it felt a little more like purgatory. If I could just get past this “tell them what happened” part, my stomach could stop churning.

We got out of the car and crossed the parking lot to the gorgeous double doors. Lori-Lou pulled open the one on the right, and we stepped inside Cosmopolitan Bridal for the first time. The place was teeming with customers, many of whom wore expensive clothes and carried designer purses.

I stared up, up, up at the chandeliers hanging from the high ceilings above. Wow. Candelabras graced the walls to our left, and the tapestries on the windows were crafted from the most gorgeous fabrics I'd ever seen.

“Whoa,” Lori-Lou said. “Check out this place, will you?”

“Welcome to Cosmopolitan Bridal,” an older woman behind the counter called out to us. “I'll be with you shortly.” She turned her attention back to an existing customer and I turned back to examine the room. Man, what a place!

I couldn't help but notice the intoxicating scent of some sort of air freshener wafting around us. It certainly wasn't the Lysol spray Mama used to mask the odor of the kitty litter box in our upstairs bathroom.

Lori-Lou let out a soft whistle. “We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”

“You can say that twice and mean it.”

“We're not in Kansas anymore.” She giggled. “Check out that display. Do you think those are real diamonds on those branches?”

“Surely not.” They looked like diamonds, though. Everything in the place looked expensive. Right away I felt overwhelmed, and not just because of the mission set before me. I'd always been intimidated by folks with lots of money, although I'd never really voiced that thought aloud. The kind of people who came into this shop had money. Lots and lots of money. I had no money. Well, not much, anyway.

“Chin up,” Lori-Lou whispered. “You have every right to be here.”

I glanced at her, wondering how she'd known my feelings.

“You're an open book, Katie.” She nudged me with her arm. “Always have been. Just enjoy being here, okay? Who knows when we'll ever see a place like this again.”

“True.”

I took a few steps toward a row of white gowns, my head high, my shoulders back, with the most confident expression I could muster.

Distracted by a mannequin to my right, I paused. The wedding dress on it made me forget all about being intimidated. The gown drew me in and made my knees all rubbery, in a good way. Well, until I saw the price tag. “This dress is $6,700,” I whispered to Lori-Lou.

“Wow.” Her eyes grew large as she reached over to look at the tag for herself. “That's more than we paid for the used van we're driving. If I bought that dress I'd never come up with the money for a down payment for a house.”

“No kidding.” I made my way from aisle to aisle in the shop, completely mesmerized. I'd never seen so much white in all
of my life. White taffeta, white silk, white tulle. Oceans and oceans of white. The mannequins, taller and slimmer than most I'd seen in department stores, were adorned in the gowns Nadia James had become famous for. Each was patterned after a female great from days gone by. I stopped to look at the Audrey Hepburn, then shifted my attention to the Grace Kelly. Wow. I couldn't believe the detail in both.

On and on I went, looking at the various gowns. The Doris Day caught my eye, as did the Ann-Margret. The one that puzzled me most was the Petula Clark. I'd never heard of her. Neither had Lori-Lou, apparently. She stared at the dress and shrugged.

Off in the distance a gorgeous blonde—probably a couple years older than me—walked to the cash register to talk to the older woman. I stared at the tall, stately woman with her fashionable hairdo, expensive clothes, and over-the-top heels.

“Look, Katie.” Lori-Lou jabbed me with her elbow. “A real live Barbie doll.” She giggled and leaned over to whisper, “I wonder if there's a Ken doll around here someplace.”

Yep. There was a Ken, all right. He appeared from behind the row of gowns to our left. A handsome specimen of a man—tall with dark hair and just enough of a five o'clock shadow to make him gorgeous. I stared into the most beautiful eyes—after I got past the solidly built Adonis-like physique. The guy had to be at least six feet three. Okay, six four. Except for a slight limp, he moved with confidence and a bit too much speed for his delicate surroundings. The phrase “bull in a china shop” came to mind at once.

As he rounded the corner, a swatch of wavy dark hair fell casually on his forehead. He brushed it back with his hand. Something in his handsome face felt familiar, like I'd seen him before. Then again, he had that familiar Greek god look—firm features, confident set of his shoulders, perfectly placed smile.
And it didn't hurt anything that the guy's skin was bronzed, as if he'd spent the last few days on the Riviera, not holed up in a bridal shop. But judging from the fact that he ended up behind the counter talking to the older woman, he worked here. Fascinating. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. Didn't want to.

He glanced at me, his beautiful blue eyes sparkling as he gave me a nod and said, “Welcome to Cosmopolitan Bridal.”

Lori-Lou stopped cold and grabbed my arm, moving us back a few feet. “Y-you know who that is, right?” Her words came out as a hoarse whisper.

“He looks vaguely familiar.” I gave the guy another look. Yep. Familiar. But why? “Do you know him or something?”

“Know him?” Lori-Lou clamped a hand over her mouth and then pulled it back down. “Katie, don't you ever get out? That's Brady James, point guard for the Dallas Mavericks.”

“Ah. Basketball.” That explained it. “I remember now. He's one of Casey's favorite players. I think I've watched him play a time or two.”

“
Was
one of Casey's favorite players. He blew out his knee four months ago. Happened on live TV, right in the middle of a playoff game. I feel really bad for the guy.” Lori-Lou shrugged. “Wonder what he's doing in a bridal shop. Weird, don't you think?”