Page 126 of The Wedding Favor

“Oh, you’re perfect. Isn’t she perfect?” Gloria frowned at Abe. “What are you waiting for? Tell her she’s perfect, Abe. Do I have to do everything here?”

His gaze wandered from my bare feet to my eyes. An achingly slow smile lit up his face. “You look beautiful.”

“Now if you didn’t have to actually walk and talk, you might have had a chance at winning,” Gloria said. “Although please tell no one I’ve been coaching you. I have a reputation to uphold.”

“Sure,” I murmured, but I’d hardly heard anything she said. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Abe and the look on his face. I shivered under the intensity of his gaze.

“Stop touching each other with your eyes,” Gloria said. “There are children in the room.”

Abe covered his mouth, but his eyes brimmed with laughter. Shaking my head, I glared at her. Gloria, impervious to such things, settled back in her bed with a slow exhale of breath.

“We should probably get going so you can rest,” I said. “Just let me change.”

“Wait, before you do, have you heard anything? From Warren?” Gloria’s hands fisted the comforter, the knuckles white from the effort.

“I’m still trying to track him down. I’m doing everything I can.” I moved to her bedside. “I’m not giving up, though. We’re going to find him.”

“Good, yes. Good.” She winced but it was so small and slight, if I didn’t know her so well, I would have missed it. She wasn’t just weak and tired, she was also in a great deal of pain.

“Do you need me to get the nurse?” I asked quietly.

“No, no. I’m fine.”

“You’re in pain.”

“I don’t like the way the medication makes me feel. Besides”—she yawned—“I’m very tired.”

“You’re very stubborn,” I said, but I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Tell the nurse to call me if you need anything.”

I stepped aside so Abe and Hallie could say goodbye. Hallie climbed up on the bed and gave Gloria a long hug. When she pulled back, her eyes brimmed with tears.

Gloria tsked. “Young lady, there’s no crying in pageants.” She laughed softly. “Oh, that’s a good one for the memoir, Iris. Do write that down.”

After I’d changed and shared my concerns with Gloria’s nurse, the three of us headed down to the lobby. Abe insisted on carrying my giant gray box to my car.

“Who’s Warren?” he asked.

“He’s a boy she knew when she was a teenager, her first love. She asked me to find out what happened to him. I thought it would be pretty easy, but I’ve run into a lot of dead ends.” I popped open my trunk and he set the box inside. “It’s the only thing she’s asked me to do for her and I can’t find him.”

“I might be able to help. I know a guy…”

“If you want to try, I’d appreciate it.” I leaned against the trunk of the car. Abe joined me, standing so close we were joined at the shoulders, the hips, the ankles. “I don’t know how much longer she’s going to hold on.”

I knew it wouldn’t be long. The sharp decline over the last couple of weeks had been terrifyingly fast but the last two days had been worse. It was as though her body had given up completely and it was only hanging on by sheer force of will.

“Come here.” He pulled me in front of him and wrapped his arms around me. He didn’t say anything else. He didn’t tell me everything would work out. Or that I’d get through it. He didn’t even say he was sorry.

He just held me, and it was enough.

FIFTY-TWO

“You may call me diva if you’d like.”

—excerpt from the unpublished memoir,

Darling, I Must Say by Gloria Hayes

The day before the pageant was a normal Friday. I got up and called Shady Cove to check on Gloria. Then I headed to work. I argued with a man about how his eggs were cooked. I dropped a full carafe of coffee, splattering it on two customers and myself. I cleaned the bathrooms. I listened to Ellie tell me the entire plot of one of those Alicia Knight pirate romances.