Karen Rock
JULIE BARRETT STRUGGLED in a net of white tulle, snared like a winter rabbit.
“I can’t breathe.” She threw back her veil, avoiding her reflection in the hotel suite’s mirror as a local seamstress executed Julie’s final wedding-dress fitting. Everything about the gown seemed wrong. Too many seed pearls. Not enough lace. The satin section looked bare. It’d taken her forever to settle on this lace-sleeved, V-neck, princess dress. Was she having second thoughts again or was she cranky from food deprivation?
Her stomach rumbled as she stared at her kettle corn–munching bridesmaids. They lounged on the birch-post bed and wing-back chairs, French doors onto Mirror Lake Lodge’s wraparound porch behind them, icicles hanging from the gabled roof’s eaves. Their perfumes mingled in the rustic yet elegant room, and the floral mix reminded her of a botanical garden. In fact, in their ruby satin gowns, they resembled roses strewn about the floral-wallpapered room, brilliant splashes of color in what would be her wedding suite on Christmas Eve.
Only four days from now...
Her stomach cramped.
Definitely hunger, she reassured herself. She tamped down the jitters that’d become her constant companion lately. With so much going on, who wouldn’t feel nervous? And why, on top of every other bridal task ahead, had she agreed to participate in a winter charity run? Crazy. Or, as her MIA maid of honor, Alexis, would have said, overachieving.
Julie rubbed her throbbing temples. If only Alexis hadn’t missed her flight—she really needed her old college roommate right now. How lucky that Connecticut University had put them in the same dorm their freshman year. Once Alexis sprang into their room clutching an armload of prelaw books, a bag of dipped Oreos dangling from her clenched teeth, Julie’s doubts about leaving her nearby home for a small bit of independence had vanished. Would Alexis work her magic again when she arrived and erase Julie’s butterflies?
Meghan, Julie’s flower girl, bounced to a stop and held up a candy cane. “Want one?” When the little girl grinned, her lone front tooth made her resemble an impish elf. Too cute.
“Yes, but no,” Julie groaned. Her mouth flooded as she breathed in the peppermint sweetness. How long since she’d had sugar? Carbs? A Christmas cookie? She tried not to think about all the holiday treats she’d passed up this month while on her self-imposed wedding diet. If she never saw another salad again, she’d die a happy woman. Then again, with a vegan for a groom, odds were not in her favor. She predicted lots of quinoa in her future...and midnight raids for fast-food burgers, extra guilt on the side.
Julie’s friend and bridesmaid, Claire, joined her daughter, Meghan, and tucked pinecone barrettes in her hair. “You know how we don’t feed animals at the zoo?” Claire murmured. She shot Julie a cheeky grin. “It’s kind of like that.”
Meghan’s eyes widened and she clutched the bag to her chest.
Julie glared at her friend, then gave the little girl a reassuring smile. “Mommy’s kidding, sweetie. She just gets confused sometimes. Like when she doesn’t remember to put cars in Park and they roll into rivers...stuff like that.”
Meghan’s curls bounced around her shoulders as she looked from one woman to the other. Claire made a pfft sound and straightened Julie’s slipping veil.
“The car was twelve years old and insured. Get over it, girl.”
“All my music was in there,” protested Julie. She raised her arms when the seamstress tapped her elbows.
“Right. Like your boy-band collection was irreplaceable.” Claire pulled a tissue from her purse, revealing Meghan’s dimples as she wiped sticky streaks off her child’s face. “Next time I go to a garage sale, I’ll pick up a stack of CDs for a buck. Merry Christmas.”
“Too late. I already downloaded them.” Julie pointed at Laura, her oldest cousin and bridesmaid. “Can you get my iPod?”
“Nooooooo,” Claire moaned. She peered down at Meghan. “I apologize in advance for this, sweetheart.”
In a moment, Julie had the old tunes blasting. The girls giggled and stumbled as they imitated cheesy dance moves—even Claire joined in when Meghan dragged her into the fray. Julie wished she could be down there with them. Cut loose after these stressful months of wedding planning... If not for her hardworking seamstress, Julie would have leaped off the dais and busted a move.
“That has got to be illegal in some states.” Laura laughed. She pulled off her dress to reveal a tank top and shorts, then collapsed on the imitation bear rug in front of a natural-stone fireplace. Flames licked the large logs and shot sparks behind the ornate black grate.
“All the fun stuff is,” drawled Claire.
Julie faked a shocked look and crouched down to Meghan’s height. “I apologize for your mother. Should have done that while you were in her belly.”
“But I wouldn’t have heard you.” Meghan frowned then hugged her mother’s knees. “And I love Mommy.”
Claire shot Julie a triumphant look. “Winning.”
“You always do.”
Julie straightened. When the seamstress grasped the back of the gown and pulled, her lungs inflated, fighting against the unrelenting bodice.
“Tell me again why I picked this torture device in the first place,” she gasped.
“Because for you, making up your mind is, hmm...how shall I put it?” Claire tapped her chin and assumed a thoughtful look.
Meghan tugged at her mother’s bow, unraveling it at the waist. “You said that hockey-puck place would freeze over.”
“What are you teaching your children, Claire?” Julie smirked and tried to ignore the faintness stealing over her as her blood depleted of oxygen.
Claire covered her daughter’s ears. “Shut it, Julie.” She let go of her child. “I wasn’t about to let you walk out of your tenth bridal shop without something—not with the wedding only two months away. I was starting to think you were having second thoughts.”
“Ha! Right.” Julie’s overloud protest sounded as the iPod shuffled to another tune. A beat of silence followed and the members of her bridal party exchanged glances. Julie studied her bow-tipped shoes, her face warm. “This is exactly what I always wanted.”
Why didn’t she sound more convincing? She adored Mason. He was everything she’d ever imagined her future husband would be.
Claire held up a drop pearl and rhinestone earring to Julie’s ear and their eyes met in the mirror. “Whatever makes you happy. You know I always support you. Except when it comes to your appalling taste in music, of course.”
“Of course.” Julie bent over and kissed Claire’s cheek. “Thanks, sweetie.” What would she do without her girlfriends? If not for Claire, she wouldn’t even have a dress. Good thing Alexis had given her the thumbs-up via FaceTime, too, or she and the bridal party might be walking down the aisle in comfy jeans.
Decisions. The bane of her life.
She pulled in another thimbleful of air.
“No deep breaths,” mumbled the woman who jabbed a pin near Julie’s rib cage. “Unless you’re going to faint.”
Julie’s mother, Dianne, peered up from her cell phone, her spindle-thin legs propped on the tan settee. She sent Julie a quelling look. “Stay still, darling.”
“Trying.” Julie locked her shaking