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“Izzy took us shopping, and we already wrapped your presents.” Bridgette pointed under the tree.
Ophelia and Marcus both set their sights on me. They seemed to be at a loss for words.
“I hope you like it and that you will feel at home here.” I truly meant that.
“It’s lovely,” Ophelia stammered, seemingly against her will.
“See,” Patrick whispered in my ear. “In spectacular fashion.”
We would see about that.
“They don’t hate you.” Charlotte tried to make me feel better as we lay there on the pullout bed.
I was getting too old to keep sleeping on couches and pullouts. Although I had to say I was missing sleeping on the couch with Patrick. I thought it best if I gave him some time with his parents. And that they didn’t see me sleeping with their son. When I say sleeping, I mean in the literal sense.
“Did you see the way they looked at me over coffee and kringle tonight?” They kept staring at me, in between conversing with my parents about the price of real estate in Florida. I was thankful, at least, that Mom had behaved rationally and hadn’t brought up the hot grandmas ... yet. There was still plenty of time for that, unfortunately.
“Yeah, they looked at you like you are too good to be true. Obviously, they’ll find out that you are just like Mary Poppins—practically perfect in every way.” She giggled.
“Stop.” I grinned. “You know that’s not true. I like to think of myself as more of a Molly Weasley—nurturing, but I’ll kill you with a spell so fast if you mess with anyone I love.”
“That sounds about perfect.” Charlotte yawned.
I was tired, too, but not sure if I would be able to sleep. “Did Drake double-check with Sebastian?” That was the name of the classical guitarist, who only had one name and the voice of an angel, who would be singing and playing “At Last” while Charlotte walked down the aisle. Let us pray Mom did not interrupt him with her version of “Wind Beneath My Wings.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re sure your dress will be delivered on time?” She’d flown to LA last month for final alterations.
“Yes. Take a breath. Drake is flying the dress in himself. Everything is on schedule.”
“Well, I still need to finish hanging all the branches in the ballroom, and tomorrow we need to order mom a cake leveler. She forgot hers and she will only use a specific brand. Oh, and we need to make sure the photographer comes a few hours earlier. I thought it would be nice if you had her take pictures of you while you’re getting ready. Do like a black-and-white montage that you can give Drake for your anniversary.”
“Oh,” she cried. “That’s such a good idea. He’ll love that. See, you do like him.”
“Maybe.” I shrugged. “But you better tell him that he needs to find out what Dave is up to, stat. Something isn’t kosher there.”
“Don’t worry.” Charlotte rubbed my arm. “We’ll figure it out. But first, let’s talk about the little matter of you having a marriage license. Do you want to have a double wedding? Because I would love that.” Even in the darkness, I could see her face light up.
“I don’t think so. I wouldn’t want to intrude on the wedding of the decade,” I teased her.
“Oh, ha ha. Come on, it would be so cute. Mom would flip.”
“Char, we’re not getting married right now. This isyourbig day, and I want it to be all about you. Besides, I want Patrick’s kids—and his parents—to love me first. Besides, how crazy would it be to get married so fast?”
She curled into herself. “You know what I think would be crazy?”
“What?”
“If you waited.”
I rolled my eyes at my kooky sister. “Good night, Char. I love you.”
“I love you too. Sweet dreams.”
I snuggled under the covers, my mind racing with all I had to do. I kept running all the different configurations in my head of how I wanted to set up the tables for the dinner portion of the wedding. With Patrick and his family here now, I would have to squeeze in an extra table, which reminded me I needed to talk to Hattie about an extra flower arrangement for the table, and corsages and boutonnieres. I hoped she was okay with that.
While my mind wouldn’t shut up, my phone buzzed. I smiled, thinking someone was missing me. I knew I was missing him. I sat up and reached for my phone on the end table. I was annoyed to see it was from an unknown number. Probably some spam text. That was wishful thinking. A part of the message appeared, making me take notice. I opened my phone to find a message from the dirtbag. My hands shook, wondering how he got my number. I did not like that at all.
