“You should try it on as soon as possible,” Darla fretted, twisting and turning to get a better look at Marissa. “Did you lose weight? You look like you lost weight. Tell me you didn’t lose weight.”
“I sent you my measurements a week ago,” Marissa said gently. “I haven’t lost weight. I promise. Alana, can I use your room? The boat’s barely big enough for the two of us, let alone a dress fitting.”
“Of course,” Alana said.
Alana found it secretly amusing to watch a dozen Marines part like the Red Sea for Darla and the dress. As they passed, Adam caught Marissa around the waist. “We’re going out—”
“No peeking!” she said, covering his eyes and laughing. “You can’t see the dress.”
“I’m not looking,” he said obediently. “We’re going down to the beach. We’ll pick up everything for the barbeque tonight. Text when you’re on your way.”
“Anything special you like to drink, ma’am?”
Alana turned to find a very young, very bright-eyed Marine at her left shoulder, attempting to look solicitous and succeeding mostly at leering. What was his name? Garrett? “I’m fine with whatever,” she said.
“I know what she likes,” Nate replied.
“Oh,” Garrett said. “Sorry, sir.”
“We’re old friends, Bill,” Nate said. “Bartles & Jaymes sangria, right?” he said to Alana, completely straight-faced.
Laughter pealed out of her. “See you later.”
Lucas’s face was completely blank through this exchange. Adam hauled him in for a quick slap on the back, then guided him toward the vehicles.
Inside the hotel, they found Nate had checked them all in, and their luggage was waiting in their rooms. Alana and Darla both had marina views, Darla in a suite, three doors down from Alana. She had no idea if Lucas and Nate were even on their floor.
Marissa took the dress from Darla and disappeared into the bathroom. “Did you have a good flight?”
“I could get used to flying like that,” Darla said as she opened one suitcase to reveal a sewing machine, thread, fabric, and assorted needles, zippers, and buttons. “How does it fit?”
“What do you think?”
They both turned to see Marissa standing in the doorway between the bedroom and sitting area. The dress fit her perfectly, rich cream silk folded in tight, flat undulations from the bodice to her flat stomach and hips, then flaring ever so slightly around her ankles. Thin flat straps curved over her tanned shoulders, nearly hidden by her tousled fall of hair.
“Oh, my goodness,” Alana said, her throat inexplicably tightening. “Adam’s going to go weak at the knees when he sees you.”
“That’s the plan,” Marissa said.
Darla was already by Marissa’s side, critically pinching the fabric at her waist, smoothing her hand down the seaming in the back. “It’s a little loose.”
“It’s perfect,” Marissa said decisively, echoing Alana’s thoughts. “I want to be able to dance and eat and laugh all night. It’s absolutely perfect.”
Darla already had two pins on either side of the bodice and was adding another to the straps. “I’ll just tighten it up a little here,” she said distractedly. “It won’t take a minute.”
“Flowers?” Alana said, thinking about white against that cream fabric.
“Red roses.”
“What’s Adam wearing?”
“No idea,” Marissa said. “Shorts, maybe. Not a tux. We’re keeping this as simple as possible.”
“My son best not show up for his wedding in shorts,” Darla said as she jabbed a pin into one of the shoulder straps.
“Hair?”
“You know that style that looks like you just got out of bed, but really you spent a couple of hours on it?”
“Yes.”
“That one.” She looked at Darla, then mouthed to Alana, “He likes my hair down.”
Alana smiled back. “Perfect.”
“Where’s the location?”
Marissa moved to the sliding glass doors leading to the balcony, pulled back the drapes, and pointed. A little ways down the beach from the marina was a sheltered sandy cove. Rocks rose on the far side, and the sun gilded the wet stone with afternoon light. At sunset it would be bathed in the same undulating red and orange waves as the stained glass windows at Brookhaven.
“It’s beautiful,” Alana breathed. “How on earth did you find this place?”
“We were calling around, looking for hotel rooms with a marina. I got to talking with the reservations clerk and she mentioned they had a last-minute cancellation.” Her face fell for a minute. “A death in the family. I hate to think of my happiness coming at someone else’s expense.”
“It’s not,” Alana said. “That’s just the way life works. You’ve been unhappy long enough.”
“Sometimes I can’t believe this is real, that this is my life. I wake up next to Adam, and we’re moored in some remote bay off the coast of Hawaii, and the stars are so thick I understand why our galaxy is the Milky Way, and I can’t believe it.”
“It sounds idyllic.”