She could fly. She just knew it. “It will, too,” she said, putting her hand to his cheek and absorbing the miracle that had brought him here, the wonderful knowledge that he had come after her. Two years late, but he had finally come. “But probably not today.”
“Wait a minute,” Sonny said. “You’re not angry, Gentry, because I ruined the wedding? I figured you’d chew the scenery. Even though I knew deep down you’d be relieved.”
She smiled into Jake’s wonderful eyes. “I’m so glad you spoke when you did, Sonny. I was getting ready to say something when you said it first. I never wanted to hurt you.”
“As it turns out, my heart’s still beating.” His gaze slipped past Gentry and she followed it to see Hillary—perfect, proper Hillary—crooking her finger at Sonny like a vamp intent on his seduction.
“I’ve known this was a mistake almost from the day I persuaded you to take my engagement ring back. Not long after the day I intercepted a rather smelly package from Arkansas and substituted a good riddance card.”
“You swiped my trout?” Jake said incredulously. “If I wasn’t such a forgiving guy, I’d have your fishing license revoked.”
“I can’t believe you did that, Sonny.” Gentry wondered if she had ever really known him well at all. “Whatever possessed you to open a package addressed to me? And how could you have known it was from Jake, anyway?”
“I figured any communication from the Two-Penny Lodge was bad news for me.” His gaze tracked its way back to Hillary. “And since all’s fair in love and war, I did what seemed right at the time. I thought if we could do it again, plan the wedding again, get everything perfect…” He couldn’t quite pull his gaze back to Gentry, though he kept talking to her, even as he edged his way toward Hillary. “I guess perfect isn’t always possible.”
“Sometimes imperfect is a much better fit.” Uncaring of the watchful eyes of the audience, her family and friends, Sonny’s family and friends and cousins, Gentry went into Jake’s arms, pulled off the wig and tossed it in the air. Then she grabbed the back of his head and pulled his lips down to hers.
“Excuse me,” the minister said hesitantly. “The kissing is supposed to come after the ceremony.”
“Shh,” the audience said in a collective whisper.
Jake managed to pull free long enough to ask, “I take it, Liz, that you’re agreeable to my suggestion?”
“Not necessarily,” she said, eager to reclaim his lips. “I’m not sure I like the idea of a thirty-minute break.”
“I’m willing to compromise. We’ll make it fifteen.”
“Ten,” she corrected him against his lips.
“Okay, five.”
Pop turned around. “I think you should keep your seats for the moment. When the negotiations are over here, we’ll let you know what time this wedding will resume. In the meantime, enjoy the music….” He glanced behind him at the rather passionate clench involving his daughter and soon-to-be son-in-law again and shrugged. “Hell, you may as well enjoy the show, too.” He took the seat next to Frannie and slipped his arm around her shoulders.
A ray of sunlight caught on a button of Gentry’s dress and splintered into a dozen tiny sparks that scattered over the room like fairies on the loose, sprinkling their magic dust on Gentry and Jake…. Sonny and Hillary…Heather and Mitch…colliding at last to shower down on Sydney and her new, rose-colored glasses. A twinkle here. A twinkle there. Magic, magic, everywhere.
Epilogue
There were three very good reasons not to get too close to the wedding gown, Sydney reminded herself several hours after the wedding. Gentry, Heather and Hillary. All three of them had been dazzled by the magical gown and blindsided by true love. Sydney had looked on good-naturedly throughout the entire week, thankful that she, alone, had had the good sense not to buy into the whole idea of a magic wedding dress.
Of course, she was alone now…her friends gone with their new significant others to their respective “happily-ever-afters,” leaving her to spend one last night in Gentry’s abandoned bedroom. All alone with her thoughts…and the wedding dress. It hung on a hook on the dressing-room door, tantalizing her with its provocative gleam. Not that she believed the occasional twinkles of light were anything more than stray moonbeams catching in the satin; but, still, they were enough to distract her from the magazine she was trying to read.
Oh, who was she kidding? She had no more interest in that magazine than she had in going for a latenight swim. She was interested in only one thing: putting on that silly dress and looking in the mirror. It was the height of nonsense, of course, and she didn’t expect to see the man of her dreams. But how could she pass up her last opportunity to see herself in the wedding gown? No one would ever know, and she hated thinking she might look back someday and regret not trying it on just this one time.
Action followed the thought like a rainbow after a storm, and she had barely gotten the dress off the hanger and over her head, before a sensation of happiness warmed her from head to toe. Odd. If anyone had asked, she’d have said “happy” was her predominant emotion of the entire week. But this was different. It was as if the warm glow of the ivory gown began inside of her and was merely reflected outward by the satin and lace. Not bothering to button either the back or the sleeves, Sydney held the bodice together and spun toward the mirror.
As if the dress had been impatiently waiting for her surrender, the image she saw was immediate and astonishing. Sydney knew she had never worn anything so breathtaking or looked so beautiful. The wedding gown gleamed, almost preening with satisfaction in the reflection, and she couldn’t help but admire the lovely bride she saw in the mirror. She supposed she should be watching for her “true love” to appear, but it seemed more likely this was merely a vivid dream…or the work of an overactive imagination.
But she didn’t turn away, not even when a man suddenly appeared beside her in the mirror. Especially not then.
She recognized him, although she couldn’t say how or why. He was as familiar as a warm breeze, as anonymous as a distant melody. Straining to make out his features in the too-brilliant light, Sydney leaned closer to the mirror.
The reflection vanished, leaving her with a lighthearted sense of expectancy. Ordinarily, she would have been as frustrated as hell at being denied the knowledge she sought. But this was all right, somehow. He was out there. In her future. She wasn’t destined to spend the rest of her life alone. Or with a dog named Mr. Right. Love awaited her in its own good time and it would find her. Just as it had found Hillary and Heather and Gentry.
Satisfied, Sydney slipped out of the gown in a rustle of satin, thinking that from now on she would be searching every face for her Mr. Right. Wasn’t that the ultimate practical joke on her? She, who had always professed her immunity to romance. She, who had always proclaimed independence to be far superior to a love relationship. Yes, this was a prank worthy of her three closest friends. And to think they hadn’t had a thing to do with it.
Other than leaving her alone with the magic dress, knowing she’d be unable to resist trying it on.
The scoundrels. They had planned this. She just knew it. Well, she’d show them, Sydney thought as she hung the bridal gown back on the door. She’d have the last laugh. She would simply find her own true love and live happily ever after, too.
This time, when the wedding dress twinkled at her, she knew it wasn’t moonbeams at all. It was magic.
eISBN 978-14592-7502-7
TWO-PENNY WEDDING
Copyright © 1996 by Karen Toller Whittenburg.
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