LITMIR.BIZ

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      While Tessa McDermid writes fiction and nonfiction, she most enjoys writing about the love between a man and a woman. She and her husband live in the Midwest, along with their two sons, their Australian shepherd and several fish and lizards, proof that love takes many forms.

      To Nadine and Paul; Steve and Nancy;

       Alan and Catherine—and family weddings.

      And to my husband, Bob,

       who daily reminds me what a marriage should be.

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      A special thanks to Suzanne Arruda, my critique partner, for being willing to read pages any time; to Dana Sanders, a friend and fellow mom, for sharing her professional expertise; and to my editor, Johanna Raisanen, who gave me great ideas for revisions!

      CONTENTS

      REECIE’S WEDDING

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHAPTER FIVE

      CHAPTER SIX

      CHAPTER SEVEN

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      CHAPTER NINE

      CHAPTER TEN

      REECIE’S WEDDING

      The present

      A PATCH OF LATE-AFTERNOON sunlight filtered into the room, giving it a slumberous feeling. Caroline settled into the deep leather chair, careful not to rest her head against the back and mess up the elaborate curls her hairdresser had deemed appropriate for the mother of the bride. The soft gray satin of her dress barely made a sound as she smoothed the material over her knees.

      In less than two hours, her daughter would be married. By the time the sun went down, Caroline would be on her own with her husband.

      Caroline’s head throbbed, a dull ache behind her left eye. Gingerly, she rested her cheek against the cool leather and willed the pain to go away. She could do it; she’d done it before. She just had to concentrate on the center of the pain, visualize the ache flowing out of her body, dissolving in the air…

      “Caroline? Are you in here?”

      Patty’s voice floated into the room. Caroline was tempted to ignore her, to wait silently in her chair until she was alone again.

      But maybe it would help to talk to someone. And Patty had been there almost from the beginning.

      “I’m over here.”

      Patty’s heels tapped across the polished floor. Her dress was a soft green, the perfect foil for her auburn hair. Her hair’s color had deepened over the years until it now had the patina of fine mahogany. Today she wore it in a smooth chignon at the nape of her neck.

      I wore my hair like that when I was married, Caroline thought. I walked down the aisle in the same dress that Reecie’s wearing right now, with my hair twisted into a soft bun so it wouldn’t tangle in the cape.

      The thought caused a pain to lodge in her stomach and she pressed her fist against the waistband of her skirt.

      “Why are you sitting in the dark?” Patty rested a hand on Caroline’s shoulder. “Are you doing okay?”

      Caroline knew the question referred to her daughter’s impending departure. She’d been asked variations of the question over and over during the weeks of wedding preparations.

      Each time, she’d been able to blithely reply, “I’m fine.” Having your youngest child and only daughter get married usually caused some turmoil in a person’s life, but no one really expected you to say that.

      Patty could stand the truth. Caroline tipped her head back and gave her friend a rueful grin. “Remember when we made those speeches at the beginning of each school year? How sending your five-year-old to kindergarten was the natural order of things, that as parents we were expected to watch our children grow up and grow away from us?”

      Patty nodded. She and Richard had never succeeded in having children but she’d been as close as a parent to many of the students who had gone through her classroom.

      “It’s all crap.” Caroline closed her eyes and sighed, feeling the air expand her lungs and then leave her body in a long release of misery.

      “Caroline.”

      Caroline opened her eyes. “No, really, Patty. I don’t want Reecie to go out into the big bad world, even if she does have a wonderful man at her side. I want her to be little again, sleeping in her crib where I can tuck her in each night.”

      “You

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