Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 145231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 726(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 726(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Her lips quiver and she nods slowly, too lost for words.
“Later, yes. But we really shouldn’t keep them waiting…”
Smiling, I take her hand, already loving how right that little piece of gold feels on her hand.
It’s only right to give her fair warning about what she’s gotten herself into.
Judging by the shy excitement in her red cheeks, she doesn’t mind at all.
27
STROKE OF LUCK (SALEM)
Months Later
Istand in my wedding dress, staring at my reflection in the mirror.
Behind me, Delly looks on, her eyes warm and her hands clasped in front of her. She’s totally bursting at the seams, but she lets me soak in this moment.
And what a moment. This dress is everything.
The corset bodice is decorated with diamond-embedded lace, curving around my breasts, equally elegant and enticing. It flares into my waist and over my hips, where the skirt flows in opulent waves to the floor.
Today, I feel like a princess. Amazingly, I look the part, too.
The seamstress even embroidered our initials inside the fabric off to the side, masked by a piece of lace. My little secret. I run my fingers over the letters, tracing them and remembering everything that’s happened to bring me here.
Patton’s ring flashes on my finger.
I had a matching necklace commissioned as my ‘something blue,’ and it sits in the hollow of my throat. My clavicle stands in sharp relief as I take a deep breath. Honestly, it’s perfect when there’s a lot of blue in this wedding.
But holy hell, is it happening for real? In less than an hour?
“Is it the heat, dear? You look flushed,” Delly says.
“No, I’ve just been pinching myself about fifty times since I woke up,” I tell her with a laugh.
A photographer in the background snaps a not-so-discreet candid shot. I try to remember her advice to forget she’s there. We’ll want these shots for memories later.
Delly giggles and finally releases her hands. She’s wearing a sapphire-blue dress that matches the necklace, regal as ever as mother of the groom.
Patton.
My soon-to-be husband.
He’s had three whole months to change his mind, but if anything, he’s just been pushing for everything to happen at breakneck speed. There was barely time to book the wedding venue and set up all the moving pieces. Without Delly pulling some strings and calling in favors, I’m not sure if we could’ve pulled it off.
I can’t say I blame him for the urgency.
For us to be a family faster.
Marrying this man isn’t a trial, though. I’m so over judging him for being gruff and demanding when I know his heart’s in the right place.
“Believe it, lovely lady. You two were meant to be,” she says. “Fate has a funny way of being pushy until you give in.”
That was me, the not giving in part. Patton, to my eternal gratitude, was ready from the start. Or at least from the moment I told him about Arlo after that trip to Utah.
I’m the fool who kept running while he chased.
Thank God he never quit.
“I guess I don’t mind pushy,” I say absently.
“Well, I hope so. You’re marrying my youngest son.” She smiles. “Life has a way of making things right in the end.”
Delly nods firmly. I wonder if that’s as much for her as it is for me.
I don’t need to ask to know Evelyn Hibbing still weighs on her mind. And it breaks my heart every time, hating that this sweet lady had to have her best friend turn supervillain.
“Some things are meant to be, I should say,” she corrects. “But no matter how wild it seems, it’ll always be clear with time.”
“You’re probably right. But there are days when I don’t think Patton and I were meant to be at all,” I muse, watching my reflection again.
The hotel room is one of the most luxurious I’ve ever stepped foot in with enormous gold picture frames and a four-poster bed. I thought these beds were almost extinct outside the movies.
Delly shakes her head, her curls bobbing. “Oh, you’re right to be nervous. Who isn’t on her wedding day? Just as long as you remember, no one else could have infatuated my son like you—and no one could ever capture his entire heart.”
My cheeks heat. I touch the embroidered initials on the side of my dress again, feeling them like this security blanket I desperately need.
Later, I’ll ask him to find them. It’ll be funny, knowing he’ll want to shred this dress off me and—
I blink, banishing the vision.
Yeah, let’s save that for when his mother isn’t in the same room.
“Even when he makes me want to punch him?” I ask.
“That’s called love,” Delly says without missing a beat.
“Even when I feel so unworthy?”
“Even then,” she whispers, leaning down to kiss the top of my head. “Give it time. In a few years, you’ll wonder how you ever lived before this family.”