Chapter 21
“Get off!I’mholding it!” Sean cried, trying to yank the bouquet away from his sister.
“No ye aren’t,” Lily bellowed back. “I’m the bridesmaid so I get to hold it!”
The two of them began playing tug-of-war with the bouquet and Maddy had visions of it tearing in half and sending flower petals flying all over the room.
“Mama,” Rory said in his best imitation of a grown-up voice. “Sean and Lily are being naughty.”
“They most definitely are!” said Darla, straightening from where she’d been pinning up Maddy’s hair and turning to her children.
“Stop that right now or neither of ye will be holding it, do ye hear?”
They subsided under their mother’s angry glare and kicked their feet, looking sheepish.
Maddy smiled at them. “Tell you what, how about youbothhold it? After all, you’re both as important as each other aren’t you? We can’t have this wedding without my bridesmaid and page boy can we?”
Neither of them looked quite mollified by this compromise but they both managed a grudging nod. Darla rolled her eyes. “They’ve been like cats in a sack all morning. The only time I’ve seen them this excited is the night before Yuletide.”
Maddy was glad to hear it. The children’s enthusiasm was infectious. Rory had been as bad as his two friends and had been stomping around all morning issuing instructions—to Lily and Sean mostly—and taking his duties as chief page boy very seriously indeed.
“There,” Darla said, finishing with Maddy’s hair. “That should just about do it. Take a look.”
Maddy examined herself in the mirror she had brought back from the twenty-first century. There was a slight blush to her cheeks and the way Darla had pinned up her hair framed her face. She was wearing a sky-blue dress that Darla had made for her as a wedding present and it fitted perfectly. She had considered bringing a wedding dress back with her but that hadn’t felt right. This did.
“It’s wonderful,” she said, rising from her seat and turning to face her friend. “Thank you, Darla. For everything.”
She pulled the other woman into an embrace. It amazed her how close she and Darla had become so quickly. Maddy had never had a sister but if she had she guessed this was what it would have felt like.
Darla returned her hug. “Ye are most welcome, my dear.”
There was a knock on the door and the children jumped up excitedly, all three of them rushing to the door and fighting to be the first to answer it.
“Papa!” Lily cried as she pulled it open to reveal Craig standing there.
“Ah, there are my little monsters,” Craig boomed as he stepped inside, ducking his head to make sure he didn’t whack it on a beam. He looked at Maddy and his ruddy face broke into a smile. “And there is the lady of the hour.” He gave a courtly bow. “If ye are ready, my lady, I know someone who is impatient for yer presence.”
