Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
CORA
Daisy, my dress attendant, called out. “I’m still looking for one, I promise.”
“I look like a cake topper.” I looked down at the lace-heavy gown I was wearing and sighed. I loved the ball gown silhouette, but my body wasn’t built for this much lace.
“Or a doily,” Anna agreed, wrinkling her nose from where she sat in the plush chair beside the fitting area. “It was so pretty on the hanger.”
My attendant gave a sympathetic smile. “This isn’t the one, is it?” Her Texas twang made the “it” two syllables. She’d been so patient with us, bringing dress after dress while I tried to find something that didn’t make me look ridiculous.
“No,” I said, running my fingers over the itchy bodice. “I do like the bling, though. It makes it sparkle.”
“The beading is beautiful,” Daisy agreed. “But comfort is important too. Let me keep looking. I promise I’ll find something perfect.”
Anna made the whole process so much fun. I was so glad she’d decided to fly down to help me. I couldn’t imagine doing all of this on my own.
Picking out invitations was a blast. I’d learned all about belly bands, which were little strips of paper that wrapped the invitations.
About fonts, colors, paper weights, and all sorts of things I had no clue about.
By the time it was all said and done, my ivory paper invitations would be printed with silver ink.
I’d skipped the belly band. It just seemed like an added cost to me, especially since they would be addressing all of them.
Anna looked at her phone and groaned. “That was Claire reminding me to invite Henley Bishop. I’ll call the shop and add her to the list.”
“Who’s that?”
“She writes the wedding section for the Chicago Sky paper. If she isn’t invited to all the big society weddings, she writes scathing reviews about them. Claire forgot to invite her to her wedding, and that woman tore it apart in print. No way am I letting her do that to my brother.”
I shrugged. “I’ll take your word for it.”
After another minute of scrutinizing the monstrosity I was wearing, I stepped off the pedestal and returned to my dressing room. “Three strikes and I’m out, right?”
“You’ve really never thought about your wedding dress?” Anna asked as I returned to my dressing room to get out of the gown.
“Not really. I never thought I’d be able to afford one.
I figured a Walmart ring and a courthouse judge would be the way I got hitched.
” I thought about the black credit card Jason had handed me before Anna and I left, telling me to do whatever I needed to do.
I’d seriously thought those unlimited balance cards were myths.
Anna wasn’t shocked at all, and she’d taken his direction to heart.
Suddenly, Anna gasped. I turned to see Daisy approaching with a new gown in her arms.
“I think you might like this one,” she said, holding up a stunning ball gown. “You said you liked light material, and this designer out of Pleasantville, Texas, creates dresses that are like wearing air.”
Anna held up the skirt. “It’s gorgeous.”
Daisy grinned. “So…”
Out of nowhere, my heart started beating so fast. “I’ll try it.”
Her grin stretched even further on her lips. “Let me help you out of that one and into this one.”
It took a second with all the buttons, but I finally got the lacy one off.
The moment the fabric touched my skin, I knew it was different. Everything else was heavy and scratchy. This was the exact opposite. Light, comfortable, and even with it being a ball gown, it didn’t feel like I had a hundred pounds of fabric on.
As Daisy helped me get into it, she said, “I’d actually forgotten we had this one.
A woman had picked it out and then changed her mind.
I was supposed to put it back out two days ago, but there it was, hanging on the rack…
I think it was waiting for you.” She finished with the last button and fussed with the skirt. “Oh… well… now this is something.”
My heart hummed so fast, it was like a thousand hummingbirds were buzzing around in my chest. I looked like a princess. Not a cake topper kind either. A real one. Cinderella. I half expected woodland creatures to start showing up.
Anna peeked in and gasped. “Ohh… we need this in the big mirrors.”
With Anna and Daisy’s help, I reached the pedestal and took the whole thing in. It was light and comfortable, hitting all my curves just right. It was off the shoulder, white, and gleaming.
Daisy held a finger up. “Give me one second. I’ve got an idea.”
“Cora, this is gorgeous.”
Tears were threatening to spill. I’d planned to pick whatever I could find that fit. Never in a million years did I expect to find… this. The one. It was almost like it was tailor-made for me. It fit perfectly.
“You said it would be an outdoor wedding, so let’s try this,” Daisy said as she returned with a fur shoulder cover. She wrapped it around me and tied the silk ribbon in the front. When she stepped back, she smiled. “Oh, my goodness. You look spectacular.”
Anna’s eyes welled with tears. “Jason is going to lose it when he sees you. It’s perfect.”
“Hold on. We need to complete the look, and I think I’ve got just the thing.” Daisy trotted off, and not a minute later, she was back with a veil. She spread it over me, covering me entirely. It was almost like something out of a royal wedding. “Yep. That does it. Perfection right there, darlin’.”
I sucked in a lungful of shaky air. I was getting married.
To a man who kissed me like I mattered. Who held me like I was precious. Who made me feel safe and terrified all at once. And I’d asked him to pretend it didn’t happen because I was a coward who couldn’t handle wanting something I’d never be able to keep.
He was a billionaire.
I was a nobody from Nebraska who lived in a tiny apartment in an area that Jason wouldn’t even walk through. What would he want with me?
He sure hadn’t kissed me like he felt that way. The way he’d kissed had said I was everything he wanted and more.
He hadn’t kissed me like he felt that way, but he could have any woman he wanted. I’d saved his life, and obligation did all sorts of weird things to a person’s head. In a few months, he’d wake up and realize that he wanted someone who fit in his world.
Not me. I would never.
Still, as my eyes roamed over the woman looking back at me, I couldn’t help but wish and wonder, and dream. It struck me then. I was Cinderella and my fairy godmother was giving me a deadline. As soon as I was granted permanent custody of Elias, this whole thing would be over.
I’d return to my world and raise my son.
Maybe I’d continue working for Jason… if it weren’t too painful.
“Cora?”
I blinked and smiled. “What?”
Anna eyed me as Daisy said, “So, what do you think?”
“I think it’s perfect.”
“The fit is so perfect, I think we might only need minor hemming,” Daisy said, kneeling to check the length. “We can have that done by Friday if you put a rush on it.”
The alarm on Anna’s phone went off. “Oh! We have to be at the bakery in ten minutes!”
Ten minutes later, after Daisy had taken a few quick measurements and Anna had handled the payment and pickup details, we were practically running down the sidewalk toward the bakery.
The bell jingled as we stepped inside. If the cake was as good as this place smelled, I was going to buy one just so I could snarf it while watching cartoons.
“Oh wow. It smells delicious in here. If Aunt Helen catches wind and I don’t send her something, she won’t speak to me for a week.”
My eyebrows hit my hairline.
“I’m kidding, but she would be seriously miffed. Don’t let me forget to have her something delivered.”
An older woman appeared from the back of the bakery. “Hi, I’m Tilly Rae Walker. You must be the Georgiou party.”
“That’s us.” Anna beamed.
The woman tilted her head, studying my face. “You look…” Her mouth dropped open. “You’re Maya’s sister.”
“I am. How did you know her?” My heart began to race.
She smiled. “Maya worked here for about six months. Sweetest girl, and she talked about you all the time.”
I crossed the space and reached the counter, my voice barely above a whisper. “She did?” I’d never known Maya to hold down a job for more than a week.
Tilly softened. “You were her hero. She loved you so much. She was working on getting her life together.”
My lips trembled as I worked to hold back tears. I didn’t even know Anna was next to me until her hand found my shoulder.
“She was doing so well. She’d been clean for almost a year. She’d planned to come see you soon, and show you Elias. I told her to call, but…”
I pressed my lips together.
“How’s Elias doing?”
“He’s good,” I croaked out. “He’s with a…”
“My brother, her fiancé,” Anna slid her arm across my shoulders and squeezed me to her.
My emotions were getting assaulted on two fronts. I wouldn’t be able to handle much more. Maya and marriage.
“Sounds like she was doing well,” Anna said.
Tilly nodded. “She was.” She paused and exhaled slowly. “Such a tragedy, but I know she’d be thrilled to know you have Elias.”
That landslide of grief was being triggered, but I couldn’t lose it in this bakery. I swallowed down everything, boxed it up, and took a deep breath. “Thank you for telling me that. I’m glad to know she had a friend and a job. I’d missed her so much.”
“I know, and she understood why you did it. She said you were right to cut her off. That she would have never gotten clean if you hadn’t. She said you saved her life.”
I gulped air. Nope. Not losing it.
Tilly, seeming to sense the war of emotions going on, waved to a table near the window. “How about I get some samples of cake? If you’ll take a seat, I’ll bring them right out.”
“Are you okay?” Anna asked once Tilly was in the back.
Nope. I was one comment away from dropping to the floor and curling into the fetal position. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
Anna enveloped me in a hug. “It’s okay to not be okay, but I get not wanting to fall apart here.” She held me out. “Before we go home, you and I will stop by the grocery store, get every flavor of ice cream available—”
“—And Cookie Crisp.”
“And that.” She smiled. “And we will hide in one of the bedrooms and eat until we’re sick.”
“The guesthouse has a fridge. That way the ice cream won’t melt.”
“Sure. We can stay there. No melted ice cream.”
The rest of that appointment went in a blur. If Anna hadn’t been there, I’m not even sure I’d have picked flavors that worked together. And proving that she was the best friend ever, she rescheduled the florist appointment for later in the week.
By the time we returned to the house, I was a wreck.
I don’t know how he knew, but Jason was waiting for me.
The moment the SUV door opened, he had me in his arms, walking into the house, and sitting down with me on the couch.
All he did was hold me.
No questions.
No platitudes.
Nothing.
Just his arms, wrapped tightly around me.
Like most landslides, the grief came with debris. Guilt, shame, anger, and regret. Bone-deep loneliness.
How had I failed her so badly?
Jason’s hand moved to stroke my hair, and somehow, in the safety of his arms, I finally let myself cry for the sister I’d lost twice.