“You had her company all the way over on the plane,” he said, pointing him to the chair on the other side of him. “And I understand she’s staying in your loft.”
“She is. Turns out, she’s a great cook. I had crepes with blueberry compote for breakfast.”
Jack laughed. “Saved from your own bachelor cooking until the wedding. Thank you.” Jack accepted a menu from a formidable-looking fortyish waitress with a crisp black-and-white uniform and dyed red hair styled in a topknot and bangs. She distributed menus like she was dealing cards, listing off the details of the salmon special. She looked around the table and asked gravely, “Who poured the water?”
Soren raised his hand worriedly. “I did.”
She nodded. “Well done.” And walked away, promising to be right back to take their drink order.
Everyone laughed at Soren’s relieved smile. Ben ruffled his hair and caught Corie’s eye. She sat with Rosie at the end of the table on the opposite side. Their shared look spoke of love and happiness.
Cassie looked away and found Jack struggling for composure. He must have caught the look and was probably overcome to see his sister so at peace. She watched him reach for his glass of water, already empty, and handed him hers.
“Here,” she said.
But Soren had already foreseen the problem. “I got it, Aunt Cassie,” he said, coming around the table to lean over Jack, reach for the pitcher and refilling his glass.
Jack pretended to frown at him. “Am I going to have to tip you?”
Soren, his blue eyes alight with the teasing attention, spread his free hand as though the answer should be obvious. “Corie said I did a good job, and the waitress said ‘well done.’ And she’s a professional.”
Laughter erupted again and Jack grabbed him and gave his shoulder a gentle noogie while he giggled. Grady reached out to save the pitcher.
The waitress returned to take their drink orders. Soren went back to his place beside Ben and everyone got serious about studying the menu.
During lunch, Sarah, a slender woman of medium height, with light brown hair and blue-gray eyes, held up her Caribbean-blue napkin.
“Is this the shade you were talking about for the wedding?” she asked Corie.
Corie nodded, opening her napkin. “It is. In silk. Or charmeuse, it’s even more beautiful, with a softness you can’t quite get in paper. I wish we had time to make dresses for all of you. I think the best thing to do is just wear your favorite dressy dress. I’m wearing one I made for myself.”
“That pretty pink one with the quilted look?” Helen asked. A comfortably plump woman with a warm smile, she was Ben’s natural mother and Jack’s adopted mother.
Corie shook her head. “I’ve been designing a new line, something different—less street chic and more...” She smiled as she thought. “More...elegant. The two of you can just wear whatever dressy dress you have that you love the most. I’ll have to find something for Rosie. The guys are renting suits because neither has one! Helen knows the owner of the rental place and set up an appointment for them in the car on the way over.”
“I’ll try to find a dress in this color,” Helen said. “It’s so pretty.” She stuffed the napkin in her purse. “What else can we do to help? You must be overwhelmed with just a few days to plan while adding two children to your household.”
“I am, a little.” Corie sat quietly, everything about her remarkably calm. Cassie thought she seemed too small and fragile to be able to deal with so much, but she knew her sister had lost her father at twelve, escaped a cruel and negligent stepmother shortly after that, and finally found serenity because of an accidental meeting with a woman who ran a foster home and took her in.
Corie had spent the time since then working as a waitress while studying to be a designer, and helping her foster mother stay afloat financially. She so deserved to be happy.
“But,” Corie went on, “life with Ben is so much more wonderful than I ever thought I’d know. And the kids are going to be an adjustment for both of us, but I know it’ll work in the end. They’re both great.” She laughed lightly. “I hope you don’t mind that your dinner rolls were manhandled. Or rather, Rosie-handled.”
Helen dismissed that with a shake of her head. “Of course not. I think we all grew to love both of them while we were visiting you in Texas. They’re precocious and seem happy with their new lives. But they’re not going to leave you much time to get ready. Seriously, how can we help?”
“I’m not sure where to start,” Corie admitted. “I thought knowing I had a dress to wear was a forward step.”
Sarah took a notebook and pen out of her purse and smiled from one to the other. “You’re right. The dress is very important, and I love that it’s one you designed yourself. So why don’t Cassie and Helen and I divide the rest of the duties?” She made a few notes in her book. In her management persona, she was impressive, and they all waited quietly for her to give instructions.
“How many people?” she asked.
“Fifty, tops,” Corie replied. “Some friends of Ben’s from the police department. Some neighbors. That’s it.”
“Good. That’s manageable. Have you thought about where to have the ceremony?”
Corie made a face. “I called the church while we were still in Texas, and they’re already booked. And there’s so much going on in most of the venues around town because of New Year’s Day.”
Cassie got a sudden inspiration. “What about Grady’s house?”
Corie’s eyes widened. “I haven’t seen it. And, anyway, would he want an invasion of fifty?”
“It’s gorgeous,” Cassie said feelingly, remembering the comfort she’d felt in it last night, despite his mother’s dislike of her. She loved the lodge-like atmosphere, the log walls, the standing columns in the living room, the vaulted ceiling and the loft’s turned railing. She explained all that to her companions. “What would be more perfect around here than a wedding in the woods?”
Sarah looked enthused. “What do you think, Corie?” She turned to Cassie. “Since you’re right there on the spot, Cassie, would you be in charge of decorating?”
She frowned, as though having second thoughts. “Shouldn’t we ask Grady first?”
“Ask me what?” Grady, Ben, Jack and Gary, Ben’s father and Jack’s adopted father, grouped together at the other end of the table, had been talking architectural restoration. Construction was Gary’s business and restoration was Jack’s. Grady, leaned around Jack to find out what was happening.
He looked from woman to woman, his expression growing more concerned as their smiles widened. “What?” he asked warily.
“Can we have our wedding at your house?” Corie asked him with a little trepidation. “The church and every other venue in town is booked for New Year’s Day.” When he stared at her in surprise, she added, “Cassie says it’s gorgeous.”
His eyes went to Cassie, who met them with a smile in hers. “Well, it is,” she insisted. “Can they?”
“Ah...sure.” At the resultant cheers and applause, he added quickly, “But it’s just a log house. Pretty basic. No frills and fussy stuff. Only two bathrooms.” He turned to Ben. “Aren’t weddings all about frills and fussy stuff?”
Ben shrugged. “Don’t know. Never had one before.”
“They’re not.” Sarah placed her notebook on the table and her pen at an angle on top of it. “They’re about having a cozy place where the wedding couple can surround themselves