“Contestame, will you come to church on Sunday?”
Lena made a face at the phone. “I haven’t been to confession.”
“You don’t have to go to confession to go to church, Miss Smarty Pants.”
“Which mass?”
That was important because no way she was getting up at four in the morning on a Sunday to drive an hour for a sunrise mass.
“Ten.” Lena grinned at the clipped tone in her aunt’s voice. “You haven’t been to church since Luis died. It would mean a lot to your mother.”
That melted the smile off her face. She slumped into the couch. “Okay. Yes. I will come to the 10:00 a.m. mass this Sunday.”
“And to the house for lunch too?”
“Yes.”
Sass swatted at her hair hanging over the arm of the couch. “This is why I should have got a dog instead of you, Sass. I’d have to walk a dog. Take it out to pee and stuff. Perfect excuse to stay home. But no. I got a cat.”
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see her family. It was that ever since Sadie got engaged, everyone was starting to look at Lena like she was supposed to just pick out a man and start popping out babies. Her mother was calling Sadie’s soon-to-be stepdaughter nieta and dropping grandbaby hints like it was her job. Problem was Lena had spectacularly rotten luck with men.
MATT PLANTED HIS hands on the balcony railing and looked down at the crowd below. He was bone tired and the voices below were echoing off the high ceiling, making his head hurt. The only thing keeping the smile on his face was the memory of Lena Reyes’s departure. Her long black hair swinging side to side as she strode away. He smiled again. She didn’t look like any financial expert he’d ever met. He hadn’t missed the heat in those nearly black eyes either. When he’d sat beside her and she looked at him. There was nothing professional in her eyes at that moment.
A hand patted his shoulder. “Very good turnout, don’t you think?” Dr. Rutledge asked.
“Great turnout. Thank you again for putting it together.”
“I’m seeing a great many sold tags going up. You’re going to be the next big thing.”
“For now. Problem with being the next is there always someone behind you, ready to be the next next.”
Dr. Rutledge laughed. “Very true, but what’s that old cliché? Make hay while the sun shines? Keep this going for as long as you can, give the money to Lena. I don’t know how she does it, but she has the magic touch.”
“If she’ll even take me as a client now.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Dr. Rutledge said. “She’ll get over it. If you’re lucky.”
“I hope so. I really need her help.”
“What you really need is to get back downstairs and charm wallets out of purses.”
“If I must.”
Dr. Rutledge’s rich laughter echoed in the open area. “Just smile at the ladies and remember what this is all for.”
“I never forget that. I will also never forget all your help.”
“You’re welcome, son. But I’m doing it for selfish reasons.”
“I wouldn’t call helping sick kids selfish.”
“No. I’m doing it because of that look I saw in Clarissa’s eyes when she was painting with you. That joy? All her pain forgotten? I want to see that for a very, very long time.”
Matt followed the older man down the stairs and into the crowd. He hadn’t known who the man was who’d come into the playroom at the Children’s Hospital and interrupted his therapy session with several kids in for cancer treatment. The little redheaded girl’s grandfather, he’d surmised by their greetings. He didn’t know then that Eliot Rutledge was a world-famous neurosurgeon who felt helpless as his beloved granddaughter battled leukemia. Matt didn’t know then that his world was about to change. His dream was suddenly much closer.
But it was going to come with a price. He had to go back into that upper-crust society that he’d rejected when he left Maryland. He smiled and nodded and shook hands. It all came back so easily. Too easily. He gave his patented, panty-melting bad boy grin to the little old ladies and was perfectly polite to the single women. Firm handshakes and backslaps to the men. God, get me out of here. His thoughts drifted back to Lena Reyes. She’d stood out. She didn’t even realize how radical an act sitting alone at a function like this was. It intrigued him.
* * *
“I’D LIKE TO know exactly what was wrong with my original plan to get married at the UPS store by a notary.”
Lena stared openmouthed at Sadie, lowering the bridal gown she was holding. “What were those words that just came out of your face?”
Sadie pouted, flipping quickly through the gowns. “No. No. God, no. Not in a million years no.”
“Slow down. You aren’t even looking at them.” Sadie didn’t answer. “Sades? What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
Replacing the gown on the rack, Lena grabbed Sadie’s hand and pulled her to sit on the bench by the dressing room door. “Digame.”
“It’s nothing. I just... I didn’t want all this fuss.”
“Then why are you doing it? Go to the UPS store then.”
Sadie leaned forward, propping her elbows on her thighs, chin in hands and shook her head. “Because Jules wants to be a flower girl.”
“Wait. You are having this lavish wedding just so Jules can throw some flower petals around?”
“It’s not lavish. It’s very small. And simple.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“There’s just so much stuff to do. I don’t like to do stuff.”
“See. That’s where you made your fatal error. You let my mom help you because you were lazy. Next thing you know you’re in a Scarlett O’Hara dress. You better pick out something today before she makes up her mind for you. Just sit here. I’ll pick out some choices.”
She returned to the rack. Part of her was a bit annoyed. She hadn’t expected Sadie to turn into a Bridezilla by any means, but this pouting was unexpected. Taking a deep breath, she began to pull dresses. Three. That was Sadie’s problem. Anything new was overwhelming. A store full of dresses was too much.
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s try these on.”
It gave her a small amount of pleasure that it was the first one. She’d known it was the one. Sadie came out of the dressing room looking stunned. The creamy ivory looked good against her fair skin and the cascade of black curls down her back was the only veil she’d need.
“It’s perfect,” Sadie whispered.
“Of course it is. I have excellent taste.”
“Great! You can pick out your own maid of honor dress then.”
“I was going to do that anyway.”
That got a laugh out of Sadie and seemed to relax her. Lena put her hands on Sadie’s shoulders. “You deserve this.”
“I know. I want to marry Wyatt and maybe start a family. I just don’t want to have to do all the wedding stuff. It seems like showing off.”
Sadie turned to look in the mirror.