LITMIR.BIZ

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scheme hadn’t gone belly up. Still, Haley hadn’t realized how strongly her mother had disapproved of her choice.

      “No sense being upset about my opinion now,” Trina told her. “I kept praying that you’d make the right decision, but I guess Tom made it for you. Now we have to get busy. There are a lot of calls to make.”

      Suddenly, tears that had been slow in coming were pouring down Haley’s cheeks. Humiliation made her skin burn. How could she stand in front of the church and announce that her wedding had been canceled? But her problems went beyond embarrassment over a ceremony that wouldn’t happen and gifts that would need to be returned.

      “Oh, Mom. What am I going to do? I quit my job. I gave up my apartment. I was supposed to move into Tom’s place right after the wedding.”

      “You’ll stay here until you find another job and another place to live. You weren’t planning to always work in—what was it this time—that hospital records department, anyway, were you?”

      Haley shrugged. She couldn’t focus on her distant future when all she could think about was that the day after tomorrow should have been her wedding day. “Wait. When were Jenna and Caroline coming in?”

      As she asked, a key turned in the lock, ending all hope that she would be able to catch her sisters before they boarded their flights to Indianapolis. Jenna burst through the door, whistling the tune of “Chapel of Love.” She pulled the smallish suitcase she used in her job as an airline attendant behind her. A less-experienced traveler, Caroline followed her in, dragging a heavy, wheeled suitcase.

      Still humming as she jogged into the living room, Jenna paused when she saw Haley. The song died on her lips.

      “What’s wrong now?” Jenna visibly braced herself, just as she had a year before when Haley had met her flight to tell her their father had died of a heart attack.

      Caroline gripped her hands together. “What is it?”

      “Everything’s fine,” their mother told them. “Except there’s been a change of plans. There won’t be a wedding this weekend after all.”

      “What happened?” Jenna asked.

      “Tom sent a letter to call off the wedding,” their mother explained.

      Caroline’s eyes widened. “A ‘Dear Jane’ letter?”

      “Two days before the wedding?” Jenna chimed.

      “Ladies.” Trina held up her hand. “Haley has received some difficult news, and she’s going to need our help.”

      Haley shifted in her seat and waited. Even if their mother wasn’t the touchy-feely kind of mom who kissed scraped knees, her sisters would come through with the hugs she needed. As if on cue, they rushed to her and sandwiched her between them. But before Haley could sink into their embrace, Jenna pulled her head back.

      “At least one of you came to your senses,” Jenna said with a grin.

      Caroline was smiling as well when she released Haley. “If he’d waited much longer, we would have been forced to make the announcement at the church like a cheesy movie-of-the-week.”

      Haley closed her eyes and opened them again, convinced she was in some alternate reality. Where was her real family that should have been furious on her behalf? If they were on camera for some video prank show, she wished the host would just jump out and let her in on the joke because right now, none of it was funny.

      “If you all believed I shouldn’t get married, why didn’t you say something?”

      “We did,” Caroline said. “Many times. You wouldn’t listen.”

      Jenna held her hands wide. “Remember all of the tag-team phone calls where Caroline and I said that no one should get married until she’s thirty and where we cited all the newest divorce statistics?”

      Come to think of it… Haley shook her head. “I thought you just didn’t want me to be the first one to marry.”

      Her sisters turned pitying glances her way, and those humiliated her more than their jokes.

      Their mother was already lacing up the white leather sneakers she called “errand shoes” when Haley turned back to her.

      “Okay, there are a lot of details that need to be dealt with to un-plan a wedding,” Trina said.

      Un-plan. Haley rolled the sour word on her tongue. She’d liked the idea of having the first Scott wedding. Third-born children never had the opportunity to do anything first. Having the chance to be the first sister dumped just short of the ceremony wasn’t what she’d had in mind.

      Heat built behind her nose and eyes again, but she struggled to hold back tears. “You two don’t need to stay here to take care of the details.”

      “Why not?” Jenna asked. “We already took vacation to spend some time here with Mom after the—I mean…after. And you know how hard it is to get Caroline to take any time off from the mega mall. She would be back at work thirty minutes after her plane touched down at O’Hare.”

      “I would not.” Caroline frowned since her workaholic tendencies were as much a source of family humor as Haley’s frequent job changes. “Anyway, we’re staying.”

      Jenna rubbed her hands together. “What’s first?”

      “I’ll call Amy.” Trina dug the cell phone from her purse and hit one of the speed dial numbers.

      Haley winced. In any situation, it shouldn’t have surprised her that her mother’s first reaction was to phone her best friend, but Trina had more than knee-jerk reasons to make this call. Not only had Amy Warren been asked to join them downtown this afternoon for Haley’s final bridal fitting, but she also was scheduled to make the wedding cake at her bakery, Amy’s Elite Treats.

      Haley asked herself again why she’d agreed to have the wedding in her hometown. Now her humiliation would double as she shared it with family friends. One in particular.

      “May I speak to Amy?” Trina began as someone answered the line. “Oh, Matthew, is that you?”

      That’s the one. Haley squeezed her eyes shut. If there was one person Haley wished could miss the news flash about her suspended nuptials, it was Matthew Warren. He’d already witnessed one of her most embarrassing moments, and now he would have a front-row seat to another.

      “Oh, the wedding,” Trina continued, oblivious to her daughter’s mortification. “That’s why I called. Here, let me speak to your mother first.”

      First. Of course, Matthew Warren would need to hear the news of a canceled wedding second or at least third, behind the Reverend Leyton Boggs, who would have performed the ceremony. As part-time music minister at the Community Church of Markston, Matthew would be in the loop.

      Haley stood and backed from the room, not wanting to hear the events rehashed. Jenna started to follow, but Haley shook her head to stop her.

      “I just need to fix my makeup.”

      In the bathroom, Haley wiped trails of mascara from her face with a dampened tissue. She was still patting dry her cheeks when someone rapped on the door.

      “Sweetie, are you all right?” Trina pushed open the door and stuck her head inside. “Amy said she was sorry to hear the news. She canceled the cake order. Too bad the bridal shop won’t be able to do that for the dress.”

      “Oh.” Haley closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I hadn’t even thought about that yet.” What she would do with a silk bridal gown with an empire waist, she had no idea. Maybe make white silk bathroom curtains?

      “Matthew said he was sorry, too.”

      Haley lowered her hand and opened her eyes, her cheeks growing warm. “That was nice of him.”

      Her mother studied her face as if deciding whether to tell her more.

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