LITMIR.BIZ

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things are meant to be kept private.”

      Gabi laughed. “I hope you’ll remember that and stop pushing Wade and me together.”

      Cora Jane was so happy to see some color in her granddaughter’s cheeks at the mention of Wade, she decided to leave well enough alone, at least for now.

      “No meddling,” she promised, then amended to herself, unless she saw a need for it.

      * * *

      Emily slanted a worried look in Gabi’s direction. “Are you sure you’re up for this? Maybe we should focus on you tonight,” she said after they’d finished dinner and were settled in the living room. They were drinking herbal tea out of respect for Gabi’s pregnancy, though normally by now Samantha would have made a pitcher of something a whole lot stronger. Cora Jane had pleaded an early morning and gone to bed, leaving them to spend the evening together. It was a sign of just how well she knew them and understood their need for sisterly bonding.

      “Please, my situation is not going to change anytime soon,” Gabi told her. “Tomorrow’s soon enough. I want to see this wedding dress Grandmother’s been raving about.”

      Emily’s eyes lit up. “It’s absolutely gorgeous. I found it on Rodeo Drive. I have a couple of fittings yet to do, but I have pictures.” She whipped her cell phone out of her purse and clicked on a series of shots showing the dress from every angle.

      “Oh, my God, it’s gorgeous,” Samantha breathed with genuine awe in her voice.

      Gabi grinned. “You’re going to look like an elegant princess, and here I was hoping you’d have all these ruffles and layers of lace so we could giggle behind your back.”

      “Ha, ha,” Emily said. “As if I’d ever be caught dead in a dress like that. I’m understated all the way.”

      “Which means our bridesmaid dresses are, too?” Gabi inquired hopefully. “We’re not going to look like something from Gone with the Wind, are we? Add in my pregnancy, and I’d look like a wayward balloon from the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade.”

      “I wouldn’t do that to you,” Emily said. “Even if I can’t have you two looking more beautiful than I do that day.”

      “What do you care what we look like?” Samantha asked. “Boone only has eyes for you.”

      Emily grinned. “Yeah, he does,” she said with satisfaction.

      “Where is he, by the way?” Gabi asked. “He did come with you, didn’t he?”

      “He took B.J. over to see Jodie and Frank tonight. To give the man credit, he’s determined to see that his son has a relationship with his grandparents despite everything they did to make Boone’s life miserable.”

      “And yours,” Samantha said. “Have they accepted that the two of you are getting married?”

      Emily’s expression fell. “I think Frank’s okay with it, but Jodie?” She shook her head. “She’s going to blame me forever for ruining her daughter’s life.”

      “Which you didn’t do,” Gabi said loyally. “You were completely out of the picture when Boone and Jenny were married.”

      “Jodie doesn’t seem to give two hoots about reality,” Emily said wearily. “It’s sad, really. I almost feel sorry for her.”

      “Save your pity,” Gabi said. “She seems to enjoy clinging to her misery over Jenny’s death.”

      “Jenny was her daughter,” Samantha said with sympathy. “Of course she’s going to grieve for her.”

      “She just doesn’t have to take it out on everyone around her, that’s all I’m saying,” Gabi countered.

      “Okay, enough,” Emily said. “Here are the dresses I have in mind for you. If you hate them, I have backups. And you can pick the colors, though I think Gabi would look beautiful in a pale sage-green and you’d look fantastic in soft yellow, Samantha.”

      She handed over her cell phone.

      “Oooh,” Gabi whispered. “They’re gorgeous.” She handed the phone to her sister.

      Samantha’s eyes widened. “Absolutely perfect.”

      Unbidden tears welled up in Gabi’s eyes and spilled down her cheeks before she could stop them. “I wish I weren’t going to look like a blimp,” she whispered with a sniff. “By June 2, I’ll be lucky if I don’t go into labor in the middle of the ceremony.”

      Emily looked crestfallen. “When’s your due date?”

      “Mid-June,” Gabi said.

      “Then we’ll move the wedding,” Emily said without even an instant’s hesitation. “A few more weeks won’t be a big deal. Boone will understand.”

      “Not on my account,” Gabi objected. “You wanted to be a June bride.”

      “June, July, August’it’s all the same, really. And goodness knows, Grandmother will be relieved to have an extra few weeks to plan. As anxious as she is to seal this deal, she seems to think a proper wedding can’t be planned in anything under a year. I’m testing her sense of decorum, as it is.”

      “But I know you,” Gabi said. “You probably worked some sort of complicated miracle to get time off in June to do this right.”

      “And now I’ll work another one for whatever the new date is,” Emily said. “I don’t want you to be miserable about the way you look, or worrying about swollen ankles or having your water break when you walk down the aisle. If I’d known about the pregnancy sooner, I’d have taken all that into consideration in the first place. It’s all good, Gabi. I promise.”

      Gabi picked up the cell phone again and clicked on the image of the bridesmaid dress and a reed-thin model. “It would be nice to look like that for your wedding,” she admitted.

      Emily grinned. “Then it’s settled. I’ll check with Boone and we’ll set a new date.” She glanced at Samantha. “Any complications in your life I need to know about?”

      “Not a one,” Samantha responded.

      “Don’t let Grandmother hear you say that,” Gabi advised. “Her meddling gene is just itching to take your life on, too. I’d lay money on that.”

      “Heaven forbid,” Samantha said with heartfelt emotion. But even as she spoke, Gabi and Emily exchanged a knowing look. They might not know what Cora Jane had in mind, but they were certain of one thing’ Samantha was not going to escape their grandmother’s wiles.

      * * *

      Sitting on the narrow twin bed in the room she’d shared with Emily when they’d spent summers with Grandmother, Gabi felt a sense of peace steal over her. For the first time in weeks, her stomach wasn’t in knots. It wasn’t as if she’d reached any decisions overnight or written down the first word of a new plan. It was this place with the windows open, a salt-air breeze coming in and Cora Jane’s old-fashioned glass wind chimes tinkling merrily on the porch down below. The sound was so familiar, so comforting, she could have been a child again, a child without a care in the world, with the whole summer stretched out ahead.

      There was a tap on the door an instant before it was flung open.

      “You up?” Samantha asked, though she was already in the room and settled on the other twin bed without waiting for an answer. “How’d you sleep?”

      “Like a rock,” Gabi admitted. “Best sleep I’ve had in ages.”

      “Even with that noise outside?” Samantha grumbled.

      Gabi grinned. “You always hated Grandmother’s wind chimes.”

      “Because they make an unholy racket. I’m looking for earplugs first thing today.”

      “Don’t

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