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“Don’t be embarrassed. It must be weighing heavy on your mind.”
Heavy on her heart was more like it.
“I think you were right yesterday when you said he cares about me. I truly believe that. But he’s never said he loves me, and whenever someone brings up the word, he gets this look on his face like someone suggested he enlist in the army or something.”
“That’s a pretty good analogy, actually. Sawyer has had issues with love ever since our mom left. He saw what heartache did to our dad, and he sort of built a wall around his heart so that would never happen to him.”
Piper could see that. It was easy to be with Sawyer on the surface, but the deeper they went, the more guarded he became.
“He’s let me in more and more.”
“Absolutely,” Faith agreed. “But calling his feelings love kind of is like joining the army to him. He could go in and be victorious or he could come home missing a limb, or worse, in a body bag.”
“I’m not going to kill him.”
Faith chuckled. “I didn’t mean that literally. He doesn’t want to be hurt.”
“I don’t want to be hurt, either. I don’t want to marry him, then find out a few years from now that he regrets making the commitment. Or hear him say he got caught up in the moment and we should only be friends. I don’t know that I could handle hearing he’s finally realized he’s never going to be in love with me.”
Faith frowned. “I wish I knew what to say to make you feel more certain.”
“I don’t think there’s anything you can say,” Piper replied. It wasn’t Faith who needed to reassure her. There was only one person who could convince her they weren’t headed toward heartbreak.
“I do have a little surprise for you that I hope makes today more like how you imagined,” Faith said. “Come in the house with me.”
Faith had an enormous bedroom with a four-poster bed and a chaise lounge in the corner. The windows along the back wall of the house looked out at their acres of land. She also had a full-length, freestanding antique mirror.
“I thought about what you said when you were trying on dresses, and you seemed disappointed about not having a dress with a train.” Faith disappeared into her walk-in closet. “I know this very sweet lady in town who is probably the most talented seamstress in all of Tennessee. She took two dresses my friend Josie’s daughter found on consignment and used parts of both to make a completely new prom dress. It was stunning and one of a kind.”
She came out holding a dress bag. “It’s tradition to give the bride something old, something new and something blue. I don’t know what your mom has planned, but I have the new and old all wrapped up in one.”
Faith unzipped the bag and revealed a tulle train complete with beading on the waistband and along the bottom. Piper brought her hand to her mouth. She had no words for this kindness.
“If you don’t like the way it looks with the dress, you don’t have to wear it. She put it together in a day with tulle she had from something else, and even though she’s very good, I would totally understand if you didn’t want to wear it.”
“It’s gorgeous. Of course I want to wear it.” The tears in Piper’s eyes began to cloud her vision.
This was what it was like to have a sister, to be cared for by a sibling instead of always being the one taking care. Piper swallowed down the giant lump in her throat.
“You two aren’t getting started without us, are you?” Piper’s mother was at the door with Piper’s hair and makeup stylist, Trina.
“We’ve been waiting for you,” Piper said, overcome with emotion.
* * *
WITH HAIR AND makeup on point, Piper was feeling a bit more confident about how things might go. Her 1930s Hollywood– inspired finger-wave hairstyle was flawless. She looked like she’d stepped off the pages of Glamour. Looking good was an excellent remedy to feeling lousy.
“That train is off the hook,” Trina said as Piper posed in front of Faith’s mirror.
She almost looked how she’d pictured she would on her wedding day. Minus the bulging belly.
Faith and Trina went to get some snacks for the pregnant bride who needed something to eat every hour, it seemed. Ruby might be worried about her weight gain at the next appointment.
