Becca looked to Nick. “We only just got engaged,” she said. “If we wanted to have the ceremony outside, I suppose we’d need to do it by the fall or wait until the spring?” Nick nodded and gave her hand a squeeze.
“Well, let me see,” Sonya said, scrolling through her digital calendar. “We’re actually booking a year out right now. I know all the weekend dates in the fall are completely booked. And I think the spring is, too.” Becca’s shoulders dropped. She shouldn’t have been surprised, really, since most people had long engagements to allow them to make their plans. “If you’re interested in a shorter engagement, it looks like . . .” The woman focused on the screen for a long moment. “It looks like I only have two options as of this moment. The third Saturday in December, which would preclude an outdoor ceremony. Or, oh, we had a cancellation on Saturday, August eighth. Though if you’ve only just gotten engaged, I imagine that’s much too soon. Otherwise, our next weekend opening is next July.”
Becca barely heard anything after the August date. That was three weeks from now. She looked up at Nick. “Is three weeks from now too crazy?”
The smile he gave her made her fall even more in love with him. “Only in the best possible ways, Sunshine.”
Tears pricked the backs of her eyes. “I could be your wife in three weeks.”
A heated masculine satisfaction slid into those pale green eyes, and Nick turned to Sonya. “We’ll take August eighth.”
“IT’S A GOOD thing you’d already made an appointment to look at dresses,” Emilie said as the five women piled out of Shane’s big truck the following day. Sara had sweet-talked him into letting them borrow it for their girls’ day out.
“I know, right?” Becca said, still floating over the fact that she was getting married in three weeks. “But the inn was just too perfect to pass up, and neither of us wanted to wait a whole year to get married.”
Sara elbowed her in the side. “And you’re sure this isn’t a shotgun wedding, right?”
Grinning, Becca shook her head. She and Nick had been answering this question ever since they’d returned from the inn yesterday after several hours of choosing food, cake, and flowers for their event. “Nope. There’s no bun in this oven, I promise you.” Everyone laughed. Becca walked up to the ornate carved desk and greeted the young woman standing there. “Hi, I’m Becca Merritt.”
“Welcome, Becca. Please have a seat. Diana will be right out,” the woman said.
The five friends sat on the overstuffed cream-colored sofas and nibbled at cookies and fancy wrapped chocolates displayed on plates covering the glass-topped end tables. Becca and Nick might be doing this fast, but it all still felt so special to her. She was glad they weren’t waiting.
A woman with short strawberry-blond hair wearing a pretty teal wrap dress approached their group. Diana made quick introductions, then took them to a sitting room where Becca could show off the gowns she tried on. “Do you have a date in mind?” Diana asked.
“I do, and it’s really short notice. August eighth,” Becca said, not missing the woman’s gaze flicker down to her belly and back. Becca almost laughed. “We fell in love with a venue that had a last-minute cancellation, so we went for it.”
“Well, we can make this work, Becca. We’ve got quite a few gowns available in our annual sample sale, so let’s see if we can’t find something you love. This way, please.” She led them into a long rectangular room filled with racks of gowns. “Do you have any preferences for color, silhouette, length?”
“I want to wear a gown that you couldn’t wear any other time,” Becca said. “Something romantic and full. Maybe sleeveless. And I think I prefer white to ivory.”
“Let’s start with ball gowns and A-lines, then,” Diana said, already pulling a few things off the racks. “Ladies, feel free to pull anything fun that you see.”
Becca searched through the gowns, pulling a couple of things that caught her eye. Before long, she was in the dressing room neck deep in satin and lace and tulle. Too much tulle in the case of the first dress, which she obligingly showed to her friends even though she knew it wasn’t the one. “What do you think?” she asked as she spun on the dais in front of them.
Kat made a face. “I think it’s too young for you.”
Sara nodded. “Too froufrou.”
Becca laughed. “I agree.” She tried on another, this one in a mermaid cut that wasn’t at all her style. “Who picked this one?” she asked, laughing.
“What? I thought it was cool,” Sara’s younger sister, Jenna, said. They both had matching red hair.
“Sadly, I don’t have the hips to pull this off. Or the boobs. Or whatever else you need to make this work.” Becca rolled her eyes as the women nodded and laughed. The third one was closer—a sleeveless ball-gown style with lots of lace and beading. “This is gorgeous,” Becca said. “But it’s so heavy I don’t know how I’d dance in it.”
“I don’t know, Becca,” Emilie said, tucking her brown hair behind her ears. “That one might be worth suffering for.”
It took five more dresses before Becca fell in love. The white ball gown had a sleeveless sweetheart neckline and gorgeous beading at the waist, while the skirt fell in soft layers of satin, full but not poofy. It was two sizes too big and was missing a few buttons down the back, but Diana assured her it could be taken in and repaired in plenty of time. Staring in the mirror, Becca suddenly felt overwhelmed.
Kat was the first one to notice. She crossed from the sofa to stand beside Becca. “You okay?”
Afraid that trying to speak might hasten the threatening tears, Becca just nodded.
“This is the one, isn’t it?” Kat met Becca’s gaze in the mirror. Despite her petite stature, Kat looked so much like her brothers, with her chocolate brown hair and green eyes—and even a few shared facial expressions—that Becca immediately felt at ease. And she realized there was something she needed to ask Katherine.
“Yeah,” Becca managed. “I don’t need to look anymore.” She turned to face Kat. “Will you be my maid of honor?” They might not have known each other very long, but in the few months since they’d met, they’d bonded hard and fast, not only over their love for the Rixey men but also because of the way Kat had taken care of Becca during the team’s investigation.
Kat’s eyes went wide. “You want me?”
“We’re going to be sisters, right? I absolutely want you. If you’ll do it,” Becca said.
Kat hugged her. “I’d love to stand up for you and Nick. I’m so happy for both of you.”