Wedding Belle Blues
[January 2008]
Krista’s wedding is set to the be social event of her hometown’s season. She’s marrying the boy next door, couldn’t be happier, and really doesn’t need all the extra help she’s getting.
Four single aunts and an overzealous mother are stretching her patience thin. Each aunt has taken over an event, from the engagement party to the shower, the bachelorette party, and the rehearsal dinner. What’s needed are a few distractions of the male variety.
After all, shouldn’t everyone have a happy-ever-after?
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Excerpt
“Krista, angel, Daddy needs to get dressed.”
“I know.” She switched to worrying the nails of the other hand. What was this? She was going to be a lawyer for pity’s sake! Weddings must go to the head no matter how reasonable a woman usually was!
“Then what can I do for you, baby?”
She sighed. He was going to string Mr. Kyle he’s-perfect-for-me-Daddy Winston up by his thumbs if he was the cause of her frown.
“Mother said you two were going to be okay after I left, but I wanted to hear it from you.”
“Okay as in what?”
“As in you wouldn’t separate or divorce or do anything foolish.”
He caught his breath. Patrice hadn’t mentioned this part of any conversation. Did she not think this could be classified as something that would jump up and bite him in the butt just as much as Mary Willa’s status with CT?
“Why would you think that, baby?”
She clasped her hands in front of her and searched his eyes with hers. “You haven’t seemed very happy lately.”
“There’s a lot of tensions involved in a wedding. For starters, I could feed a small country for a day on the money we’ve spent.”
“Don’t we have the money?”
“Yes, we have the money.”
“Is it just the money?”
Where was Patrice? “I wanted you to have a fairy tale wedding.”
“And I am.”
“Yes, you are. The money doesn’t matter if you’re happy.”
“I love Kyle.”
“Then you don’t need anything else.”
“Mary Willa and Jeff needed something else.”
“Your aunt needed a dose of good sense and a swift kick in the rear.”
She smiled. “How about Aunt Felicia?”
“Is there a point to this, Krista?”
“Yes. Tell me you and Mother will still be together when we come home for Christmas holidays.”
“Why didn’t you believe your mother?”
“I did. I’m just double-checking my facts like you taught me.”
“Then your facts should tell you that your mother and I have a very good life together and I have no interest nor intention in changing the status quo.”
She absorbed that. “Then tell me what I really need to hear, Daddy.”
He drew his brows together. “Kitten, I love you. I’d protect you with my last breath.”
“That’s not what I need to hear. Do you love Mother?”
“I can’t think of any other reason I’d have stayed.”
“Not even for me.”
He shook his head. “It wouldn’t have been fair to you if we didn’t love each other.”
Finally, a smile lit up her face. “I knew all that.” She crossed the short distance to him and gave him a hug, a wet plop of a kiss on his cheek. “You’d better hurry up, Daddy. The limo will be here in five minutes!”
She disappeared through the master bedroom and out into the hall. All these years he thought he’d raised an Ahern and come to find out, on the day she was leaving his nest, she was a Wood at heart.