20. Lucy
twenty
Lucy
Ipause on the front porch of my best friends’ cottage, drawing a deep breath and savoring the quiet before I try to convince them that I’m hopelessly in love with Nate.
My ears are still ringing from the celebrations at the Walker house.
I had barely finished my spaghetti last night before Mom, Dad, Sloane, and Aiden all barged in, and the women swept me up into wedding planning.
I was afraid that Sloane would be upset that I’m getting married a month before her wedding. But it turns out that fear was unfounded.
She just shook her head with a proud smirk and said, “I knew it.”
She told our parents all about the night she heard me talking to Nate on the phone and giggling. She claimed that was when she knew we were together.
Nate raised a brow at me across the room and teased me in the car when we left about giggling while I talked to him that night. I woke up this morning to a text from him that said, “I listened to the recording from that night. You were definitely giggly.”
I pull in a deep breath and slide my key into the doorknob. As the door swings open, I step inside and call, “Who’s home?”
Reese waves from the kitchen. “Everyone.”
I nod and call down the hall, “I need all hands on deck.”
Reese frowns as she walks into the living room with a bowl of apples and peanut butter and a glass of milk. “Why? What’s wrong?”
Emerson pops her head into the hallway with a frown. “A good all-hands or a bad all-hands?”
I smirk. “A good one, but an urgent one. Get your butt in here.”
She sighs, ducks back into her room, then walks down the hallway as Skye emerges from the bedroom at the end of the hall with pens in her hair and her glasses perched on top of her head.
She raises her brows at me, and I wink discreetly.
She barely suppresses a smile as she turns into the living room doorway, and I follow her.
Emerson plops onto the couch beside Reese, and Skylar perches on the arm of the chair beside them.
Reese sets her snack on the coffee table as her green eyes meet mine, full of concern. “Is everything okay?”
I smile and nod. “Yeah, everything is great. But we need to plan an emergency shopping trip.”
Emerson frowns. “For what?”
I draw a deep breath. “Well, you all need bridesmaids’ dresses.”
Emerson glances at Reese, confusion plain on her face, then repeats, “For what?”
I shrug. “For my wedding.”
Reese’s brows fly up her forehead, and she nearly screams, “Your what?”
At the same time, Emerson screeches, “With who?”
I sigh and sink onto the other armchair, bracing myself to say the words I’ve been practicing in my head. “Nate and I are getting married.”
Emerson’s frown deepens. She looks around the room. “Are we being pranked? Where’s the camera?”
I shake my head. “Nope. No pranks and no cameras. Nate and I are engaged.”
Reese’s jaw drops, and Emerson tilts her head. “I think you might have skipped a couple of steps there, Lu.”
“I know it seems crazy. But we’ve been spending a lot of time together lately and… I don’t know. It feels right.”
Reese turns to Skylar. “What do you have to say about this?”
Skylar meets my gaze and smiles. “It’s about time.”
I blow a sigh of relief as Reese frowns and Emerson narrows her eyes. I smile and nod. “Yeah, it is. We’ve been fighting it long enough.”
Reese’s gaze is still trained on Skylar as she squeals, “You’re okay with this?”
Skylar shrugs. “Yeah. I mean, it’s Nate and Lucy. We all knew they were going to end up together eventually.”
If Emerson’s eyes narrow any further, they’ll close. “But you’re okay with them jumping into marriage?”
Skye sighs. “It’s a little fast, but isn’t the point of dating to get to know someone and determine if you’d be compatible together forever? They’ve literally known each other since they were in diapers. I’m not sure they’d have much left to learn.”
Emerson turns her narrowed eyes and frowning brows toward me. “You hated the man last month. Do you honestly think the two of you are ready for marriage?”
Her words land like a hot coal in my stomach. I’ve never hidden anything from my friends, and Emerson is not one to sugarcoat the truth. I clear my throat and shake my head. “I didn’t hate him. I’ve never hated him. We tease each other, but it’s always been out of love.”
Reese frowns. “But you’re always so adamant that he bothers you.”
I shrug. “I was in denial for a long time.”
Emerson purses her lips. “You said we need an emergency shopping trip.”
I nod, interpreting her question inside the statement. “Yeah. The wedding is next Friday night.”
Emerson and Reese have mirroring expressions—eyes wide, brows raised, jaws slack. Reese regains her voice first. “What?”
Emerson blurts, “Are you pregnant?”
I freeze, eyes wide. I expected that question from other people, not from my friends. Emerson shakes her head. “No, sorry. Word vomit. But you know that’s what people will think, right?”
I sigh and twine my hands together in my lap.
“I’m definitely not pregnant. Nothing has happened to make that even a remote possibility.
” Chills race down my spine at the memory of his hand on my knee last night, but I suppress them.
“We already feel like a family—Nate, Quinn, and me. We don’t see a point in waiting to make it official on paper. ”
Reese sinks into the couch cushion with a sigh, and Emerson’s eyes soften at the mention of Quinn.
Reese meets my gaze with a frown. “You’re sure about this? I mean, this is forever.”
I nod, taking the time to draw a deep breath and release it slowly. “I’m sure. It’s what we both want, and it’ll be good for Quinn.”
Reese swallows and nods. Her gaze darts to Emerson, who purses her lips, her light blue eyes roaming my face like she’s trying to conduct a lie detector test with her gaze alone.
Skye clears her throat. “When do you want to go shopping?”
“I have Quinn tomorrow, so I’m going to make some calls and stay local to pick up a few things for the wedding. Would Friday or Saturday work?”
Skye nods. “I’m already scheduled off on Friday. That works for me.”
Emerson leans her elbows on her knees. “Friday is usually a light day. I can take off.”
Reese slides her phone out of the pocket of her shorts. “I’ll ask for Friday off right now.” She frowns. “I’ll go ahead and ask for next Friday off, too.”
I nod, smiling softly. “Thank you.”
Reese’s eyes meet mine, and she smiles. “Of course. Now, let’s get you married.”
The garment bag full of white satin rustles as I cradle it and walk up the porch steps, smiling at the star-shaped sunglasses and red-and-white striped top hat Ms. Ruth put on her porch goose statue.
I ring the doorbell and knock on the frame of the screen door, smirking as I hear her call from across the house, “Coming!”
Ms. Ruth pulls the door open and smiles through the screen door before she pushes the frame, and I prop it open with my shoulder. “Well, good morning, Lucy. What brings you here today?”
Her gaze drops to the garment bag in my arms, and she raises a brow. I hold the bag upright and pull the zipper down a few inches. “I have a project I need some help with, if you have the time this week.”
Her eyes widen. “This week?”
I freeze. “If you don’t have time, I’m sure I can—”
She shakes her head and waves a hand to cut me off. “Nonsense, honey. I have nothing but time. I’m just surprised. This week?”
I nod. “Friday night.”
She steps back and tilts her head. “Well, get in here. We have a lot to do and only six days to do it.”
As I step into her small living room, she sets a hand on my elbow. “How are you holding up? Planning a wedding in such a short time can’t be easy.”
I draw a deep breath and nod. “It’s a whirlwind, but I feel good about it. It feels right.”
She smiles and shakes her head slowly. “I didn’t believe Doris when she told me. I thought she was teasing me because she knew I was close to losing the bet.”
I roll my eyes and drop my shoulders. “Not you, too. Is everyone in Willow Bend in on this bet?”
She chuckles. “Well, not everyone. But most of us are. You had the sewing group in a tizzy trying to decide who won the bet.”
I raise my brows. “Did they figure it out?”
She smirks. “Marjorie and Annette pulled out the old notebook we started the bets in.” She chuckles at the look of disbelief I’m giving her. “Oh, yes. It was very official. There’s a tie between Doris Harper, Naomi Sullivan, me, and Violet Ellis.”
My eyes widen, suddenly hot and itchy. “Vi bet on us?”
She nods as her smile softens. “She was so confident that the two of you would end up together.”
I blink away the tears threatening to fall and sniffle, dropping my gaze to the garment bag in my arms. Ms. Ruth pats my elbow again. “Why don’t you step into the guest bedroom and put your dress on so we can see what we’re working with?”
I nod and follow her down the hall to the pale-yellow bedroom with a hand-stitched scrap quilt on the bed. Before she closes the door behind me, she says, “Holler if you need help with anything. I’m going to get my sewing things together.”
My eyes slide shut, and I take a deep breath, using this silent moment alone to compose myself. Once I’m sure I can continue without crying, I unzip the garment bag and follow the steps to get into the white satin gown.
I wasn’t going to buy an actual wedding dress.
I was planning on finding something white and bridal-looking.
But I made the mistake of telling Nate I was looking for a simple white dress.
He insisted that I buy an actual wedding gown, going so far as to make it one of his conditions for marrying me.
“I mean it, Lucinda, if you don’t walk down that aisle in the wedding dress of your dreams, the deal’s off. ”
A few moments later, I open the door and walk down the hallway, back to the living room. When Ms. Ruth sees me, she sighs and sets a hand on her chest. “Oh, Lucy. That’s beautiful on you.”
I smile and spin around to show her the back of the dress. “Thank you. I got really lucky. This was a sample dress they had for people to try on, but they let me buy it off the rack.”
She nods, her eyes narrowing as they roam the dress. “Do you have the shoes you’re wearing for the wedding?”
I nod and lift the front of my dress for her to see the white sandals with pearl-covered straps I found at the bridal boutique.
She smiles. “Perfect. Come stand on this stool and let’s take a closer look.”
Once I’m on the little stool in the middle of the living room, she fans out the dress around me.
She grabs a pair of glasses from her Bible on the end table and examines the dress, studying each seam and occasionally taking a sewing pin from the cushion attached to her wrist to mark small flaws for later repair.
She walks around to the front and tugs at the off-shoulder straps. “This needs tightening, doesn’t it?”
I frown and nod. “Yes, I think so.”
She nods. “You really did get lucky. This dress is in great shape for a sample dress. There are only a few pulls in the train that should be simple enough to fix. I’ll hem the front so you don’t trip, and tighten these straps so you don’t have to tug at them, and that should have you all set.”
I smile and breathe a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”
She smirks and pats my arm. “Of course, honey. Now stand still. I’m going to pin the hem, and you’ll be all set.”
She grabs a throw pillow off the couch to kneel on as she pins the hem, and I frown. “Are you sure you should be doing that? I don’t want you to hurt your knee again.”
She chuckles and lifts a layer of satin, motioning for me to hold it up for her. “Don’t worry about me, sweetheart. I’m fine. So, tell me how all this came about. When did you and Nate finally admit that you were in love?”
I clear my throat and roll my shoulders. “He asked me to marry him on Sunday.”
She looks over the white satin around my knees with a frown. “And what made you choose Friday night for the wedding? Two weeks isn’t a long time to get everything together.”
My cheeks heat, and I swallow. “I’m not pregnant, Ms. Ruth. It’s not like that.”
She blinks, and her brows rise. “Oh, of course. I didn’t mean to—”
I shake my head. “I know. I just wanted to be clear because I know how rumors can spread.”
She tilts her head and nods. “That’s true. People can be vicious. So, what made you choose such a short engagement?”
I take a deep breath and shrug. “Quinn deserves a family. We already operate like a family, since I’m babysitting her while he’s at work. Waiting to make it legal didn’t make sense.”
She purses her lips and drops her gaze back to her work. “So you don’t love him then?”
My brows rise. “Well, I—”
Her eyes peek over her glasses and meet mine. “Not yet.”
I roll my lips into my mouth and bite them, feeling vulnerable under her gaze. “I know how it must sound—”
“I didn’t love Harold when I married him either.”
My eyes widen. “You didn’t? But you always seemed so infatuated with each other.”
She smiles, her eyes glazing over with happy memories. “We were, but it didn’t start that way. Harold was married before me, you know?”
I shake my head, and she nods, continuing as she slides pins in a neat line on the underlayer of my dress, “He lost his first wife shortly after Chris was born, and Robbie was only four years old. The boys were so young, and Harold didn’t have the first clue about how to raise them by himself.
I was single, working as a secretary at the school, and I’d wanted a family of my own all my life.
I was of an age that I thought maybe God had decided motherhood wasn’t in the plan for me.
But I saw Harold struggling to get by, and I offered to help with the boys. ”
She sits back, tilts her head, and examines her work, then reaches for the top layer of satin.
I let it fall into place, and she starts placing more pins.
“The next thing I knew, I was Mrs. Ruth Carter and stepmother to the sweetest little boys I’d ever met.
So, no, Harold and I didn’t marry out of love.
But somewhere between packing school lunches, bedtime prayers, sitting together at church, and quiet moments on the front porch, I fell head-over-heels in love with that man.
” She smirks at me. “And he fell pretty hard, too.”
I smile, and she chuckles. “There are all kinds of movies and books about falling in love. But maybe there should be some about how strong love can be when you grow it yourself, through commitment, loyalty, and the quiet moments of living.”
I nod and draw a deep breath, trying not to be swept away by thoughts of love growing with time between Nate and me.
I’m sure it was easier for them to start a marriage without a lifetime of teasing between them.
I can’t imagine that the same boy who chased me with frogs and worms when we played in the river as children would ever love me the way Mr. Harold loved Ms. Ruth.
I’m happy it worked so well for them, but I can’t hope that it will happen for me. It will hurt too much when it doesn’t.