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“She said she’s afraid she’ll be too nervous to notice our reaction when we first see her on her...” Emma paused as her cell phone ringtone sounded. She pulled the phone from the pocket of her slacks, then finished her sentence with a distracted murmur: “...wedding day. Excuse me, I need to take this call.” She thumbed the green button and said, “Hello, Nicco. I’m so glad to hear from you. Did you get my message?”
Emma turned away, but not before she saw Jared’s jaw go hard.
“Yes, I got your message. I have already been by your apartment to pick up your green Loubi’s,” said Nicco. “They are in my suitcase. I cannot believe you forgot to pack them.”
“Me, either.” The Christian Louboutin shoes completed her mother-of-the-bride outfit.
“However,bella,I am not calling about your shoes. I have a boon to ask of you. I know it is very late, but do you have room for one more guest at the wedding? Would you be terribly inconvenienced if I brought my fiancée?”
“Of course, we have room for one more guest...wait.” Emma gasped with delight. “Did you say your fiancée? Nicco! You asked Francesca to marry you?”
“And she accepted.”
“Of course, she accepted! She loves you. Oh, Nicco. I’m so happy for you both.”
“She wants to surprise her parents with the news in person on New Year’s, so she’s traveling west with me. We’ll go on to San Francisco after Molly’s wedding.”
“I’m so thrilled, Nicco. Molly will be, too.”
“And how is the blushing bride? And, of course, I want to hear all about your reunion with the big bad wolf.”
Emma cut her gaze toward Jared. He’d abandoned any pretense of not listening. “Jared is about to take Molly’s bridal portrait. We’re waiting for her to make her grand entrance now.”
“So, the man is standing right there?”
“Absolutely.”
“In that case, you may give me a full recounting at a later date. I’ll see you the day after Christmas, Emma. Do you need me to bring anything else?”
“No. Bring my shoes, and I’ll be set. Travel safely, Nicco, and please pass along my congratulations to Francesca.”
Emma disconnected the call, then slipped her phone back into the pocket of her slacks. She lifted her chin and met her husband’s gaze in a silent dare. An emotion she couldn’t quite place flitted across his face. Uncertainty? Regret? Confusion? Was he finally ready to admit that he believed her past denials about the nature of her relationship with Nicco?
The opportunity to confront the subject evaporated when Celeste swept into the room. “She’ll be down in just a minute. I’ve ensured that Mason is out of the house, so the coast is clear.”
Emma shifted her thoughts away from her dying marriage to Molly and the marriage being born. She moved out into the hallway and took up a position with a good view of the second-floor landing. Jared stood beside her. It was the closest the two of them had been in well over three years. He asked, “She told me the two of you shopped for her dress.”
“Yes. We met in Dallas in September.”
“She says it’s a princess gown.”
Emma appreciated that they could still talk to each other about their daughter. She and Jared might end their marriage, but shared parenthood would continue for the rest of their lives. “It’s definitely a statement dress. I thought she’d go with something sleek and sophisticated, but the instant the saleslady showed her this one, she fell in love.”
“I want her to be happy,” Jared said, his voice gruff with emotion. “That’s all I really care about.”
“I know. I do, too.”
Movement above them snagged Emma’s attention, and she looked up. The slow smile that spread across her face abruptly froze.Oh, Molly.Emma inhaled sharply as Jared rested his hand on her shoulder. “Isn’t that—?”
“My wedding gown,” Emma murmured, instinctively lifting her hand to rest atop her husband’s. “Yes.”
The dress was a sleek strapless A-line satin gown with an embroidered floral cutout lined with sheer organza, sequins, and beads—and looked nothing like the full-skirted tulle creation Molly had chosen at the bridal shop in Dallas.
“She takes my breath away,” Jared said. “She looks just like you, Emma.”
Emma blinked back the tears that stung her eyes at his words and watched silently as their daughter reached the bottom of the staircase and produced a theatrical curtsy. “Ta-da! So, how do I look?”
“Absolutely gorgeous,” Jared said, his voice gruff.
