by Nancy Warren
For her first day back at work, she couldn’t believe how much she was getting done.
At four o’clock, when Megan, Tasmine, Ashley, and Kate once more assembled in her studio she said, “There is so much I want to tell you girls I don’t know where to start.” She felt suddenly that these were her closest girlfriends, even though she barely knew any of them.
The women all looked slightly anxious. And she saw the glances they cast each other when she welcomed them warmly and gave each of them a hug. Finally, Ashley said, “Evangeline, you know we didn’t have anything to do with that awful newspaper report, right? In fact, we’ll all go public and make statements if you’d like us to, saying that you only drank one margarita and none of us have ever seen you drunk.”
She beamed at them. She’d been right. These were her kind of women. “That is so lovely of you. Thank you. Of course I know it wasn’t you. When you live in the public eye, especially now, in the age of smart phones and Twitter and Instagram and the rest of it, you become a target.” She pulled a bottle of Crystal champagne from her fridge. “If I let myself worry about every foolish article or unflattering photograph of me I’d go mad. Anyway, I’m having a press conference next week and I’d like you all to be there. Mostly, I want you there as my friends. And, as I feel like you are becoming my friends, I wanted to tell you the news.” And then she squealed like a teenager seeing her favorite rock band and held out her left hand where her stunning engagement ring now sat cuddled up to its matching wedding band.
Megan was the first to recover. “You got married! Congratulations!” And she ran forward and threw her arms around Gabby impulsively. They all began talking at once, offering congratulations and asking for the story, and while they did Salvador slipped in and opened the champagne and poured them all a glass. She said, “It’s a long story, but such a good one. It’s about a woman who started life full of grit and toughness and ambition and energy and got so far up in her life that she forgot who she really was. And the man who loved her when she was first starting out, who saw her in a way that no one else did and loved her in a way that no one else ever had.” Her eyes filled with tears. “And he waited for me.” She sighed. “And then when I was in trouble I called him, and he was there for me.” She felt light-headed as she said the words, “We were married last week at City Hall in New York.”
As one, the four of them cried, “But what did you wear?”
Megan O’Reilly’s glance shifted nervously to her gown still hanging in its corner. She laughed, “Don’t worry Megan. I didn’t wear your dress. Seriously, it looks rubbish on me. I wore the very first dress I ever designed.” Then, feeling girlish and proud she pulled up the photographs that Wade had forwarded. They passed her tablet computer around, admiring the photos of the wedding and a few snaps of her short honeymoon. “You look so happy,” Kate said.
“I am.”
She put down her glass. “You know, it’s funny how the thing that you think is the worst that could possibly happen turns out to be the best? If the three of you hadn’t rejected my poor dress and I hadn’t truly begun to believe that I was cursed, my business was cursed and the dress was cursed, Wade and I would not be married today. You just never know in life.”
Kate nodded. “That dress changed all of our destinies.”
“And here’s the crazy part. They found the seamstress that screamed at us, Kate. She’s not a Gypsy at all. And she claims she doesn’t know any curses. She was only attempting to upset me.”
“She seemed completely scary,” Kate said with a shudder.
“I told you,” Megan said, not without pride. “Didn’t I tell you all? That dress isn’t cursed. It’s magic, in a good way.”
She laid out her sketches for bridesmaid dresses. “For each of you, I have designed a slightly different style with the same basic theme. Naturally, since all of us are now married except for Megan, we’ll all be matrons of honor. But who cares about that. I’ve got fabric samples here. I think we should go with one fabric and four slightly different dress designs. She handed each woman a pencil sketch of her and her dress and had the pleasure of seeing each of them fall in love. She had such a clear vision of all of them and when she saw their faces she knew she had got it right. Exactly right.
Megan, of course, did not have a bridesmaid dress of her own and she was the one who saw what she’d done. She said, “They all have a similar design to my wedding dress.”
Gabby nodded. “Exactly. I’ve designed it as an organic whole. The dresses are similar but different. What do you think?”
Megan stood up and spun in a circle. “I love it so much I can’t even believe it. When I walked down Melrose and saw that dress in the window of Joe’s Past and Present I never could have believed a fairy tale groom and a fairy tale dress would come together for my fairy tale wedding. It’s going to be a beautiful ceremony.”
“You should seriously think about branching out into bridesmaid dresses,” Tasmine said. Tasmine, Gabby recalled, was in sales and understood about expanding product lines.
Once more she nodded enthusiastically. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do.” She was bubbling with excitement and enthusiasm and new ideas.
She felt somehow, as mysterious and hokey as it sounded, that when she had fallen in love with Wade all over again, she’d come to realize that Evangeline had taken away too much of Gabby. Gabby needed to reassert herself and when she did, she became the most creative she’d ever been in her whole life. She said, “I am going to begin designing bridesmaid dresses. In fact, I’m starting a whole new bridal line. I want to make my gowns accessible to everyone. I don’t want a girl like you, Megan, to walk past a store and feel like she can’t afford my gowns. I’ll still keep designing high-end bridal couture for private clients, but I’ve decided to expand my business with a line of much more affordable prêt-à-porter formalwear.”
“That’s fantastic,” Tasmine said.
Kate had a tiny frown between her eyebrows. She said, “Will you still have a policy of only designing for attractive women?” Kate, she recalled, worked with teenage girls at risk. She shook her head, ashamed of some of her practices. Former practices, she reminded herself.
“When I came out of the wedding ceremony last week, there were all these brides and grooms waiting to get married and every one of those women was beautiful. They were all shapes and sizes and I realized what a snob I’d been.”
She sighed, “From now on, Evangeline is an all-sizes bridal boutique.”
Chapter 18
Evangeline had always said that every woman should have a perfect wedding dress. And, that had never been truer than today.
She stood in the back of the tiny church. This was her first time as a bridesmaid and she was quite determined to do a very good job. The four bridesmaids all wore variations of gowns in a deep turquoise silk that flattered every one of them.
For all the trouble Megan’s dress had caused her, now that the moment was finally here she realized that the infamous gown on this particular bride was stunning. If she did say so herself, that gown, with these bridesmaid dresses, was going to be one of her proudest achievements.
She adjusted the shoulders of the dress ever so slightly on Megan O’Reilly’s shoulders. Then she stepped back. “You are a beautiful bride.” The other three bridesmaids all nodded in agreement. Ashley, always the most outspoken one, said, “I know. It’s so weird, how that dress never really looked right on any of us and when you wear it it’s like it was meant to be.”
Evangeline didn’t argue with her. She still thought the dress had looked pretty good on Kate, but nothing compared to what it looked like on Megan. She said, “And to think I actually believed that the dress was cursed.”
Kate and Ashley exchanged glances. Kate said, “To be honest with you, after that woman screamed at you, I thought it was cursed too.”
It was Megan who shook her head, so her elegant, sexy curls wobbled. “No. I never felt that.” She looked at G
abby with the same look of appeal she’d given her when she was begging for the dress. “I knew, the second I stepped into it, something happened. I don’t believe in curses, anyway.” She grinned at all of them. “But I do believe in magic.”
Gabby nodded slowly. “You know, you’re right. The dress never did anything bad. In fact, it prevented all of you from marrying the wrong people. The dress introduced Megan to Dylan and brought Wade and me back together. She patted both Megan and the dress lightly. “For as much trouble as it’s caused, this gown is one of the best things I’ve ever done.”
Megan’s father joined them in the back room of the church. He rubbed his hands. Gabby could see where his daughter got the red hair from. He was proud and slightly conspicuous in his brand-new navy suit. He said, “Well girls? Are you ready?”
Megan sighed in bliss. “I’ve never been more ready for anything.”
As much as the bridesmaids might have liked to be paired with their own men, Dylan, of course, had his own friends.
Kate went first. Before she set off down the aisle, Gabby, who’d spent half her life on the catwalk, gave the women some quick pointers. “Head up. Don’t look at your feet. Big smile on your face and imagine you’re floating.”
Kate nodded. “Thanks. I never had a walk-down-the-aisle type wedding, it’s surprisingly nerve-racking.”
“Smile and float. You’ll be fine.”
And she did. Since there was no wedding coordinator, Gabby had taken on the unofficial role of being in charge of the bridesmaids. She waited a few beats and then whispered to Ashley, “Smile and float.” Ashley headed off with a lot more confidence. She could see the husbands all sitting on the bride’s side of the church. Four strong, handsome men. She felt a wave of affection for all of them as each focused on his own woman as she made her way up the aisle. Tasmine went next. She didn’t need any reminders about smiling. That girl had cheerleader written all over her. Her smile was big and bright and her step confident as she stepped out down the aisle. While she watched, handsome Eric Van Hoffendam blew his bridesmaid a kiss.
And then it was her turn. Like Kate, she hadn’t had a formal wedding. But somehow, this was the perfect way for her to walk down the aisle. With that crazy, magic dress, but without having to wear it.
Her memories of her own wedding day were perfect. She even loved that there were no formal photographs. At the press reception they’d offered the pictures snapped on Wade’s cell phone. Since she wasn’t completely foolish where the media were concerned, she had also talked Wade into hiring the services of the resident photographer at their resort to snap a couple of photographs of them on their honeymoon. The media had happily used those.
She took her own advice. Taking a moment, as she had during her entire modeling career, just before she stepped out, she took a breath and centered herself. Usually, on the catwalk, the models were directed not to smile. The attention was meant to be on the clothing, so they were essentially walking mannequins, but this wasn’t the catwalk and she was showing off her own designer dress. Plus, this was an occasion to celebrate. Her dress had helped make five couples very happy. What was there not to smile about? As she walked down the aisle holding her bouquet she glanced at Wade. He sent her the smile he kept just for her. When she arrived at the top of the aisle, Megan and her father were coming up behind her. She felt a lump rise in her throat—not only for Megan who was as radiant a bride as any had ever been and who floated effortlessly towards the gorgeous man standing waiting for her, but also to see her dress finally get its walk down the aisle.
Like Gabby herself, the dress had suffered a few wrong turns, a few bad matches, and had finally found its perfect mate. Just like Megan and Dylan, Kate and Nick, Ashley and Ben, Tasmine and Eric, and she and Wade.
When that woman had screamed what turned out to be the first verse of the Hungarian National Anthem at her, and claimed it was a curse, she could never have imagined that such an awful moment could lead to this perfect one.
When Dylan slipped the wedding ring onto Megan’s finger and kissed her to seal the ceremony, she knew all the stress and anxiety of these crazy few months had been worth it.
The reception was held at a small French restaurant with a garden out back.
Wade came up and put his arm around her. “You looked beautiful,” he said. And he leaned over and kissed her, just a casual kiss, the kind a couple share in a crowded place. Still, the feel of his lips on hers sent a shiver down to her toes. She wondered if she’d ever get used to that, and hoped she never did. This man, her husband. The one she’d almost lost through her own arrogance and misguided need to control everything, and the one who’d helped her see that Evangeline wasn’t real.
Well, she was real, she was as real as these wedding dresses, but nobody wore a wedding dress every day. There was also the everyday person, the Gabby part of her. While most of her friends and colleagues shortened her name to Eve or Ev, Wade always called her Gabby. To her amusement, she realized that Kate, Tasmine, Ashley and Megan had also started calling her Gabby. She found she rather liked it.
Megan and Dylan hadn’t wanted a formal receiving line, and before they were called away to mingle with their guests, the ten of them had a moment. A waiter walked up with a tray of champagne, and Gabby said, “Perfect timing. I want to make a toast.”
Everyone took a glass but Kate who shook her head. “Can I have sparkling water?”
Normally she wouldn’t think anything of it, but Kate blushed when she asked for the water.
Obviously, she wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. Ashley said, “Is there anything you want to tell us?”
And Kate nodded, with a quick secret glance at Nick who beamed with pride. “We’re going to have a baby.”
When they’d all congratulated her and she had her water, Gabby raised her glass. “To Megan, for finally wearing my dress as it was meant to be worn and for looking so absolutely beautiful in it. And to Dylan for being her perfect mate. And I wish to toast each of you lovely bridesmaids for coming into my life and making it so much more special.” She stopped for a second as her voice grew husky. “Somehow, because of that dress, we all found love. And now, we’re going to have our first baby. Here’s to perfect matches.”
They all sipped and Wade said, “Maybe you should consider starting Evangeline maternity.”
She threw back her head and laughed. “What a wonderful idea. That is exactly what I’m going to do.”
.
Also by Nancy Warren
The best way to keep up with new releases, plus enjoy bonus content and prizes is to join Nancy’s newsletter at nancywarren.net
The Almost Wives Club
An enchanted wedding dress is a matchmaker in this series of romantic comedies where five runaway brides find out who the best men really are!
The Almost Wives Club: Kate
Secondhand Bride
Bridesmaid for Hire
The Wedding Flight
If the Dress Fits
Take a Chance series
Meet the Chance family, a cobbled together family of eleven kids who are all grown up and finding their ways in life and love.
Kiss a Girl in the Rain Take a Chance, Book 1
Iris in Bloom Take a Chance, Book 2
Blueprint for a Kiss Take a Chance, Book 3
Every Rose Take a Chance, Book 4
Chance Encounter Prequel
Toni Diamond Mysteries
Toni is a successful saleswoman for Lady Bianca Cosmetics in this series of humorous cozy mysteries. Along with having an eye for beauty and a head for business, Toni's got a nose for trouble and she's never shy about following her instincts, even when they lead to murder.
Frosted Shadow Toni Diamond Mysteries, Book One
Ultimate Concealer Toni Diamond Mysteries, Book Two
Midnight Shimmer Toni Diamond Mysteries, Book Three
A Diamond Choker For Christmas A Toni Diamond Mysteries Novella
For a comple
te list of books, check out Nancy’s website at nancywarren.net
About the Author
Nancy Warren is the USA Today Bestselling author of more than 70 novels. She’s originally from Vancouver, Canada, though she tends to wander and has lived in England, Italy and California at various times. She’s currently in Bath, UK, where she often pretends she’s Jane Austen. Or at least a character in a Jane Austen novel. Favorite moments include being the answer to a crossword puzzle clue in Canada’s National Post newspaper, being featured on the front page of the New York Times when her book Speed Dating launched Harlequin’s NASCAR series, and being nominated three times for Romance Writers of America’s RITA award. She’s an avid hiker, loves chocolate and most of all, loves to hear from readers! The best way to stay in touch is to sign up for Nancy’s newsletter at www.nancywarren.net.
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Copyright © 2016 by Nancy Warren
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