Chapter Nineteen
Birdie’s Bridal Creations wasn’t too crowded at ten a.m. – or it wouldn’t have been if it weren’t for most of the Kingsley clan gathered in the room, trying on dresses, gossiping and drinking champagne out of crystal flutes.
Kelly was doing her best to keep a sharp eye on Tabitha, but she was pretty sure Tabitha had managed to snag at least one bouquet from the display case. She’d tell Gabriel about it later. He was sitting on a bench outside with Winthrop, drinking coffee, banned from the store because of the superstition that it was bad luck for a groom to see the wedding dress before the ceremony.
Planning for her upcoming wedding, only weeks away now, had a surreal quality. She was actually starting to think that it might happen. She might be able to stay here and marry Gabriel. She had nothing to go home to in Seattle. She felt at home here. She was where she was meant to be.
She and Tabitha had settled on a dress that flattered her small frame. A sweetheart neckline made the most of what curves she had, and pretty antique lace swirled in curlicues down the length of the gown, spilling onto a modest sweep train. Cadence had come to weigh in on the bridesmaid dresses, and she’d also promised to help Kelly with any advice she needed on raising dragonlings, when the time came.
“Not saying that I’m actually getting married to a dragon shifter, but if I do and I have four dragonlings, I am blaming you,” Kelly informed Cadence. Cadence was so fertile that her blood had been used by a fertility clinic to create a serum that helped infertile female dragon shifters conceive.
“Me? That’s biologically impossible. I can’t cause multiple births just by standing next to you. Pretty sure, anyway,” Cadence said, sipping her champagne. “Mmm, tasty. Want some more? You should drink while you can.”
Kelly reached for a glass. “True, nine months is a long time to go without… Shut up! Now you’ve got me doing it!”
“It won’t be nine months,” Cadence said, setting her glass down. “Because you’re human, you’ll have your eggs removed when you’re only a few months along and they’ll be raised in a hatchery at the fertility clinic.”
“You sound just like Gabriel, talking about all this as if itwillhappen,” Kelly said skeptically, and then downed half the champagne in one unladylike gulp.
“That’s because I see the way you guys look at each other,” Cadence said. “And also, I know that Gabriel is a good guy, in his own special way. I mean, he’s also kind of an ass, but then again, so is my husband. But they’re both also true-blue when it comes to love, and they’re as loyal as they come. By the way, I saved all my babies’ asbestos bibs, so you won’t have to buy any.”
“Asbestos bibs?” Kelly said with alarm. “Oh dear lord.” She finished her champagne and hurried away, heading over to Evangeline, who was holding up a silk rose-colored bridesmaid’s dress.
“This dress isn’t too hideous,” Evangeline said grudgingly, setting it back on the rack.
Then she leaned in and looked up at Kelly with a burning intensity in her gaze. “Uncle Gabriel says that he talked to you,” she said. “Promise me you’ll do whatever you can to try to help my mother.”
“Of course I will,” Kelly said.
Evangeline’s gaze dropped and she stared at the floor, biting her lip. “I barely even remember what she was like. I was six when she….” Evangeline trailed off. “Maybe if she was normal again, all the other kids at school wouldn’t call me crazy.”
Then she looked at Kelly again. “Is it selfish for me to care about that? It is. I shouldn’t care about anything but my mother getting better.”
“It’s not selfish at all,” Kelly said. “It totally sucks being the odd man out. The weird kid. I speak from experience on that one, believe me.”
“I don’t like it when people call me crazy,” Evangeline said quietly. “I’m going to go get some coffee now.” And she walked out of the store.
Kelly walked after her, stepping outside into the bright sunlight.
“Evangeline,” she called, but Evangeline just walked even faster, shoulders hunched, head down.
“She’ll be fine,” Gabriel said, waving her over to the bench. “Don’t feed into her teenage angst. How’s it going in no-man’s land? Get it? Because men aren’t allowed?”
She laughed. “Gabriel, Gabriel. Still dreaming of that career in stand-up?”
“Made you laugh, didn’t I?” He winked at her and grabbed her hand, and the sun was beaming down on him, and Kelly didn’t want to be anywhere else on Earth. This was home. This was where she belonged. Standing next to a charming thief who told terrible jokes and only wanted to make her smile, with his crazy mother in the store stuffing bow-ties into her purse, watching a sulky teenager stalk off around the corner. It was perfectly imperfect. It was where she was meant to be.
Huge, dark shadows slid along the sidewalk, and she glanced up to see several dragons flying north. They were fire dragons, four of them, flapping their enormous wings and slicing through the air.
Gabriel followed her gaze. “They don’t usually fly in formation like that,” he said. “Unless it’s centurions, but most of the centurions here are ice dragons.” Then he shrugged and returned his attention to Kelly. “So how’s it going in there? Selected a dress yet?”
“We’re narrowing down the choices.”
“We should start planning our honeymoon,” Gabriel mused.
“I’m just getting used to the idea of maybe really going through with the wedding. I’d forgotten about the whole honeymoon thing. Yikes.”
“Sorry, babe, I know this is all on fast-forward. Oh, look who’s here now! The fun-killer!”
