Always the Designer, Never the Bride

by Sandra D. Bricker

  "Right now," she said, yanking open the door.

  "Thank you so much, you guys," Fee said by way of greeting. "I haven't been nervous this whole time, and now we're a few hours away, and I'm a bundle of shaking Chihuahuas. I'll go put it on."

  Clutching a bulge of ivory lace, she sped past them, and the bathroom door clanked shut behind her.

  "She's getting married today?" Audrey asked as she grabbed a bottle of water and unscrewed the cap.

  "Yes. Right here." Kat pointed at the hotel room door.

  "Here in the hotel?" she clarified.

  "Here, outside this room."

  Audrey sat down on the edge of the bed and crossed her legs. "Our room?"

  "Yes. Isn't it romantic?" Kat glanced toward the bathroom before sinking down next to her. "This is the room Russell was in when he stayed here before. And Sean was kind of a bodyguard. Well, he was posted outside the door like a sentry. Less of a protector for Russell than protecting everyone else from Russell I think."

  Audrey chuckled at the distinction. It seemed apt.

  "Anyway, right outside this room. That's where they first laid eyes on one another. Fee said the moment she saw him, her life changed forever."

  Audrey melted just a little, and her hand moved to her heart. "That really is romantic."

  "Isn't it?"

  Fee pulled open the door and took a few steps outside of the bathroom—then froze. With a tentative stab at a smile, she faced them with her head cocked, fidgeting with her glasses and twirling them in one hand.

  "It's awful, isn't it?" she asked them. "Like I'm trying to be someone else?"

  Audrey sighed and shook her head. It was an understated dress. Ivory lace with cap sleeves, drop waist, and scalloped tea-length hem. She looked very 1930s, like she should be photographed in black and white.

  "Fee. You look beautiful."

  She snickered. "Right."

  "Really, Fiona," Kat said, and she hurried to her side and gripped Fee's hand. "You look unbelievable. Sean is going to drop his teeth."

  Fee thought it over before replying. "Let's hope not."

  Kat and Audrey chuckled.

  "What. He has really nice teeth."

  Audrey grabbed her travel kit. "It needs to come in slightly at the shoulders," she said as she wrapped the elastic band of her pin cushion around her wrist. "If you put it on inside out, I can pin it and have it done in twenty minutes."

  "Dude. Thank you."

  "Then I'll show you what I had in mind for your hair," Kat told her. She turned to Audrey as she added, "Finger waves."

  "Ooh, that will look so great with the dress. Do you have a veil?"

  "I'm not exactly the veil type of chick."

  "If you wave your hair with a side part, you could place one flower here . . ." She picked up the side of Fee's hair and tucked it back above her ear. "Very understated. Retro chic."

  Fee looked at Audrey so hard that it almost took the form of a glare. With a quick glance at Kat, and a darting look back to Audrey, her face crumpled slightly.

  "Fee. Are you going to cry?"

  And with that, she pulled it back together in a millisecond. "I don't cry," she stated. "I'll go turn the dress inside out and we can get started."

  Kat shot Audrey a flicker of a grin before Fee turned back toward them from the doorway. "Guys?" she said. "Thanks a lot."

  "Ah, we love a good wedding," Audrey replied, waving her hand. "It's as much for us as it is for you."

  As Fee turned away, Audrey caught the beginning embers of a full-on smile.

  "Who's the Denzel?"

  "That's Sean's brother, Tyrone."

  "Cute."

  "Isn't he?"

  J. R. pulled a face at Jackson, and Russell poked a small flower behind his ear before collapsing to the bed behind them.

  "She looks stunning," Audrey whispered as she peered through the peephole. "I don't think she has any clue how amazing she looks."

  "Oh, she doesn't," Sherilyn said, pushing her way between Audrey and Kat for her turn at a peek out into the corridor. In a hushed tone, she added, "And did you get to see Emma's dress?"

  "She looks so pretty," Kat answered, nudging Sherilyn away from the peephole so that she could take a look.

  "Ooh, here come the vows!"

  The three of them pressed their ears to the door.

  "Why don't you—"

  Jackson's words were sliced cleanly in half as they shushed him in three-part harmony. He raised his hands in surrender and fell silent, shaking his head.

  "You don't know better than to try to part a woman from a wedding on the other side of the door, mate?" Russell inquired quietly.

  "You'd think I would."

  "Jackson," Sherilyn reprimanded. "Shhh."

  Jackson saluted her and turned the invisible key in the lock of his mouth.

  "Why are they having the ceremony in the hall?" J. R. asked in a whisper. "It seems to me it would make for much easier spying if they had it in the courtyard downstairs. Then all three of them could climb a tree and get a bird's eye view."

  "Fee doesn't like to be looked at," Kat answered softly.

  "So why don't you stop looking then?" Jackson suggested.

  All three women turned slowly and glared at him. It was too much for J. R., and he burst into laughter that was immediately met with another chorus of shushes.

  "They met in that hallway out there," Russell whispered, looking slightly ridiculous with the flower still tucked into his hair.

  "And they wanted something completely private," Jackson added. "Just them and their witnesses."

  "And the spies who love them," J. R. added, nodding toward the threesome of women pressed against the door.

  A moment later, with her hand to her heart, Audrey crossed to the chair by the window and melted into it. "That was beautiful."

  "Heart-wrenching," Sherilyn added, shaking her head.

  "Fairy tale," Kat chimed in, sinking down next to Russell.

  "Four people and a minister," J. R. summed up. "Saying their vows in a hallway."

  "The hallway," Kat corrected. "The hallway where they first met."

  A soft rap at the door set Sherilyn into motion. She pushed a basket filled with flower petals at J. R. and told him to take some of them. "Hurry. Hurry!"

  When everyone in the room had a fistful of flowers, she urged them to their feet before giving Kat the go-ahead to open the door. But it was Emma who received the full benefit of the flowers being tossed at her, and one petal remained on her cheek where it landed. Fee and Sean entered behind her, and Kat hurriedly refilled her supply before tossing petals at them as well.

  "Sean," Sherilyn called out, raising a digital camera. "Kiss your bride."

  As he obliged, Sherilyn snapped several pictures, and Fee pulled out of the kiss with a blotchy red face and neck.

  "C'mon," she said. "Enough."

  "I'll call down for the cake," Emma told them as she reached for the phone. "Fiona, make the introductions?"

  Miguel the minister and Sean's brother pushed into the room, and Kat closed the door behind them. J. R. felt a bit like one of the sardines waiting for the can to be sealed.

  "Everyone," Fee said, somewhat deadpan as she pointed them out. "This is Sean's brother, Ty; this is Pastor Miguel; that's Russell and Kat; Sherilyn; Audrey; J. R.; Jackson and Emma. And this . . ." She paused emotionally as she gazed at Sean and smiled. ". . . is my husband."

  J. R. wasn't sure he'd ever encountered a more unlikely couple than Fee and Sean. But as they leaned into one another and kissed, he supposed no real purpose would be served by his understanding anyway. Two people had managed against all the odds to find each other, and somehow it just worked.

  In fact, the room teemed with couples matching that description. Emma and Jackson, still unmarried but working, times two hundred. Even though Andy hadn't been able to attend, Sherilyn reminded him of their ideal blend. And as he glanced over at them, the playful new relationship between Rus
sell and Kat further evidenced an unlikely but perfect match.

  He'd known Russell for years, and a steady parade of nameless beauties had marched through his friend's radar. But never once had J. R. seen the kind of impact that Kat's appearance had made. He'd long equated Russell to that one crazy gorilla at the zoo, the one that people gathered to watch, never able to look away for fear of missing whatever surprising thing he might do next; a volatile mix of spontaneity, dangerous curiosity, and unbridled zeal. But Kat had somehow tamed him. J. R. wondered if she even knew what she'd done.

  Audrey unwittingly drew his gaze toward her with the gravitational pull of a magnet to steel. Smiling at the happy couple, completely unaware of his scrutiny, she stopped time for J. R. The perfect wave of platinum blonde hair folded atop her shoulder, light eyes like creamed cocoa, glistening in lyrical rhthym with the lilt of her soft laughter.

  It suddenly occurred to him that The Tanglewood Inn might just be the Bermuda Triangle of singleness. A poor, defenseless guy just happened to wander through, and the next thing he knew, fate had stepped in like some sort of hidden drug, a roofie compelling him to couple with some other unsuspecting wanderer. He and Audrey should probably run, not walk, as fast as they could before—

  "Hey," she whispered as she leaned toward him, and his eyes locked onto her velvety scarlet lips. "After the cake, would you be up for a ride?"

  "Uh, yeah."

  And there you had it, right on cue. Drug-induced behavior leading to coupledom.

  "Just a ride," she clarified softly.

  Maybe it's something in the cake, he thought as Emma handed him an irresistible slice of her crème brûlée specialty.

  "What?" Emma asked as he stared at the cake on the plate.

  "Sometime you'll have to tell me what's in this," he stated.

  "I could," she replied with a charming smile. "But it's a secret, so—"

  "If you told me, you might have to kill me?"

  "Don't be silly. I'm no killer."

  But somehow...

  It's just as I suspected. It's the cake that does it. The stuff is lethal.

  When they'd all decided to head over to Sherilyn and Andy's house to continue the wedding celebration, something had dropped inside of Audrey. It felt a little like disappointment. She'd planted her hopes on some wind in her hair.

  "Why don't we take that ride on the Harley," J. R. had suggested to her. "Then we'll head over afterward."

  Her heart began to beat again.

  "Yes," she said, nodding eagerly. "That sounds perfect."

  Now, on the back of J. R.'s motorcycle, her arms clenched tightly around his mid-section and her helmet-shielded face nuzzled against his back, Audrey congratulated herself for her boldness. She'd come right out and asked him to take her for a ride, and the night air around her provided just the right amount of happy diversion that she'd been hoping for.

  Hot guy, fast bike, wind at my back. All the right ingredients.

  But even as she reassured herself with a nostalgic look backward at a more carefree Audrey from years ago, she knew full well that an appealing diversion couldn't erase the current realities of her life. When the engine fell silent and J. R. climbed off his Harley, when she removed the helmet and shook loose the pile of blonde hair tucked undereath it, Audrey's failed career and rapidly collapsing life would still be waiting for her.

  So I'll think about it later, she decided. Right now, I'll just hang on and enjoy the ride.

  J. R.'s neck smelled of citrus and spice, and the fabric of his chambray shirt felt soft and somewhat soothing. As he navigated the bike around the arched curve in the road, his muscles flexed beneath her touch. Disappointment crested as Audrey realized they'd entered a neighborhood, likely Sherilyn and Andy's. Before long, J. R. steered them to a slow stop at the end of a driveway crowded with cars.

  "Do we have to?" she asked him as she pulled off her helmet, and he turned the key and followed suit.

  "Nope" was his reply, and he kicked the stand downward. "Not if you don't want to."

  He clamped his hands over hers where they rested at his ribcage, and he squeezed them gently before he angled off the bike. With one quick turn, though, he surprised her by setting his helmet on the ground and climbing right back onboard, this time straddling the bike backwards and facing her. Audrey chuckled nervously as he gazed into her eyes, and his warm breath caressed her cheeks.

  "Stay or go," he told her. "I'm just along for the ride. Wherever you want to go, whatever you want to do. What'll it be?"

  She gulped down the reply pressing against her throat and groaned, letting her head fall down against the center of his chest. "Oh, I dunno."

  "Then let's go inside and have some grub. If you want to leave, we'll leave."

  He placed two fingers beneath her chin and raised her face toward him.

  "Are you always this agreeable?" she asked him, and he smiled at her.

  "No. Not at all."

  "So why now?"

  "Because a little agreeable goes a long way sometimes. And you, Audrey Regan, appear to need some agreeable."

  "Well. You said a mouthful there," she admitted.

  He raised up and hiked one leg over the bike. "Do you like dogs?"

  "I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head. "What?"

  "Dogs," he reiterated. "Do you like them?"

  "I guess."

  "Good. Because Sherilyn and Andy are dog-endowed."

  "What does that mean?"

  "Come meet Henry," he said, offering his hand. "You'll see what I mean."

  She climbed off the bike and handed him her helmet. He carried them both, and she followed him up the sidewalk. J. R. opened the porch door and led her toward the front door of a two-story house. Before the bell let out a fraction of a chime, something large thudded into the door from the other side, accompanied by a chorus of frantic barks.

  "Henry, I presume," she remarked.

  "A whole lot of him."

  Russell tugged open the door. "We thought you two had gone on a walkabout. What took you so long?"

  "We took the scenic route," J. R. told him.

  "By way of what?"

  Audrey let out a little scream as the barking mass of hair jumped on its hind legs, planting its front paws on J. R.'s shoulder.

  "Yeah, Henry. Nice to see you too," he said, ruffling the fur from the Old English Sheepdog's eyes.

  "Henry, this is Audrey," Russell added. "Be polite. She doesn't know you like I do."

  The dog hopped down and followed Russell away from the door.

  J. R. gave her a nod and led Audrey into a large, open living room. Sherilyn and Emma stood at the counter in the adjoining kitchen, and the rest of the crowd occupied an enormous sofa, a couple of chairs, and a few dining chairs pulled away from the table.

  "Now that J. R. and Audrey have found their way home," Russell said, and he stood up straight as if he were about to make some great announcement, "I have some news."

  "No," Kat growled. "Not yet."

  "Why not?"

  "I haven't spoken to Audrey yet," she said through clenched teeth and a pasted smile.

  "Well, let's knock two birds then," he suggested. "Everyone . . . and Audrey . . ."

  "Russell, please," Kat cried. Then she added, "Audrey, I'm sorry."

  "For what?"

  "I want to thank Audrey Regan," Russell said.

  "What, are you accepting an award?" J. R. teased.

  "Better! She brought this delicious girl into my life," and he pulled Kat close beneath his extended arm.

  Audrey swallowed hard. Please don't tell me you're getting married, for crying out loud!

  "Russell," Sherilyn said from the kitchen, and she hurried into the room as she wiped her hands on a dish towel. "Are you two getting married?"

  "Don't be crackers, woman," he answered. "We've only just met."

  "Oh. Sorry," she replied with a laugh as she looked around at the others. "It had that grand announcement air to it. Sorry.
Go on. What were you going to say?"

  "I've been thinking for a while now of settling somewhere away from L.A.," he continued, "and I've sort of landed on the idea of doing it here."

  "In Georgia?"

  "In Roswell, actually," he told them. "I found a great place not five miles from The Tanglewood."

  Audrey moved closer to Kat and touched her arm. "You're not moving in with him, right?" Kat shook her head with vehemence.

  "If you all will stop your guessing," Russell announced, "I would be glad to tell you our plans."

  It was Audrey's turn. "Sorry. Go ahead."

  "I'm going to move in to my new digs after we close at the end of the month," Russell said, and he perched on the arm of the sofa and looked around the room. "Since Kat's loose ends are tying up in New York very soon, she's going to move here as well."

  Audrey deflated. She'd only just begun to come to terms with letting Kat go from her employ. Never once had she considered saying good-bye completely.

  Kat moved next to Audrey and took her hand. Jiggling it, she told her, "I'll stay on until everything is wrapped up. I won't leave one minute sooner than you're ready for me to go."

  "I'll never be ready for that," she muttered.

  Suddenly, Audrey felt the heat of every eye in the room directed right at her.

  "Audrey, are you going somewhere too?" Sean asked her.

  "Uh, no, not . . . not exactly," she stammered.

  "Audrey has been thinking of making some changes to her design business in New York," Emma said casually from the kitchen. "If she does, Kat might be freed up to find something else."

  "And now she can find her something else right here in Atlanta with us," Fee added, and she embraced Kat around the shoulders. "I'm so glad you'll be sticking around."

  "Me too," Russell added.

  The smile pasted on Audrey's face felt like drying cement. Her cheeks ached and her eyes burned.

  "That's really good news," J. R. said as he shook Russell's hand and smacked him on the arm. "You actually bought a house?"

  "I did, mate."

  "No more drinking, a new singing career, and a house? What's next?"

  Russell cracked up. "You got me! I'm winging it here."

  "It's really a time for change, isn't it?" Sherilyn commented. "It seems like everyone is moving into new seasons of their lives."