Chapter 1 #3
“Lorraine is wearing a wedding dress,” Sophie said. “White chiffon. Beading all over the top, right down to her waist. And a matching shawl.”
Kelly took the pins out of her mouth. “No,” she said, and went straight to the door.
“Don’t.” Sophie caught her wrist. “Please don’t go out there.”
Kelly looked down at Sophie’s fingers. “She sent us the green one. Mom, you saw it.”
Marianne put down her sewing kit. She had been calm all morning in the deliberate way that told Sophie she was trying very hard not to cry, and now her face had gone still.
“I have my navy wrap in the car,” Marianne said. “I can offer it to her.”
“She has a wrap,” Sophie said. “She bought an entire white outfit.”
Haley came to the window. “Where is she? I want to see.”
“By the hall,” Sophie said. She sat on the edge of a little upholstered chair, taking care of the dress out of habit even though she wanted to crush something in her hands.
Kelly crouched in front of her. “We can tell her to change. We have forty minutes.”
Sophie shook her head. She could hear the musicians beyond the window, someone testing a microphone in the garden, the growing noise of guests arriving. She had forty minutes to become happy enough to walk out there.
“She says the cleaner ruined the other dress. Yesterday.”
Haley let the curtain fall. “And she had emergency white shoes? That’s fortunate.”
“Don’t make me laugh,” Sophie said. Her throat hurt suddenly, and laughing might tip it into something else.
Marianne knelt beside Kelly and took Sophie’s hand. “What do you want us to do? Tell us, and we’ll do it.”
Sophie opened her bag and found her phone beneath a comb and the emergency sewing kit.
She scrolled past the flowers, the cars, the photographs Lorraine had sent of table settings, until the green dress filled the screen.
Her own reply sat below it: three hearts, followed by a promise to ask the florist for a matching ribbon.
“I bought the ribbon,” Sophie said. She turned the screen toward her mother, though Marianne had seen the photograph before. “She asked me to get a sample. I took an afternoon off because the shop closed at four.”
Kelly sat back on her heels. “We can still get her another dress,” she said. “I’ll drive. I’ll take whatever blame she wants to put on me.”
“Jesse will hear about it for the rest of his life,” Sophie said. She caught the veil where it had slipped from her shoulder. “He’ll say I sent his mother away.”
“He could go and ask her himself,” Marianne said. Her hands were shaking around the tissue now, and she tucked it into her sleeve. “He ought to.”
Sophie lifted her makeup bag off a fallen petal and put it away. Haley’s dress had a small burn in the hem from the steamer, Kelly’s hair was escaping its pins, and all three women were waiting for an answer.
“I want to get married,” she said. She tried to fix the petal back among the flowers before giving up and leaving it on the table.
Haley picked up her phone. “Jesse needs to know,” she said, already typing.
He arrived six minutes later with his jacket unbuttoned and his boutonniere crooked. Sophie stood, and he stopped just inside the doorway with one hand still on the handle.
“Jesus, Soph,” he said. He came toward her slowly, smiling. “You look beautiful.”
Jesse’s gaze traveled over the gown before returning to her face. Sophie wanted to hold on to that expression. She had imagined seeing it all morning.
He reached her and took her hands. His palms were warm, rough at the base of his fingers, familiar enough that she nearly leaned into him before she remembered why he had come.
“Have you seen your mother?” she asked. The smile left his face.
“Yeah,” he said. He glanced toward the door, where Kelly stood with her arms folded. “Can we have a minute?”
Marianne guided Kelly into the adjoining dressing room. Haley hesitated before following, leaving the door open a few inches. Sophie could see the point of one green shoe beyond it.
“She said something happened to the green dress,” Jesse began. He rubbed his thumb over Sophie’s knuckles. “It’s more of a cream, isn’t it?”
“It’s white. You saw it. You actually stood next to her?”
“Yeah, I saw it.” He looked down at her skirt, then back at her face. “Yours is a different white.”
Sophie pulled her hands out of his. “Are you serious?” she asked. “She’s wearing a beaded white gown to our wedding, and you’re going to stand here explaining shades of white to me?”
“I’m saying it probably looked different in the shop.” He lowered his voice. “Nobody’s going to confuse the two of you, Soph. Look at you.”
“She sent me a picture of a green dress,” Sophie said. “She knew what she was supposed to wear. Did you ask her to change?”
“Into what?” He glanced toward the open door. “You want me to send her home right now?”
“She had a navy dress on yesterday. Hank could get it.”
“She’s had her hair done. She’s ready.” Jesse let out a breath. “I’m not telling my mother to get undressed because you don’t like her outfit.”
“You know that’s not why.” Sophie could hear Haley shifting in the next room. “Please don’t make me explain this to you.”
“I told her she should have called somebody,” he said. “She’s upset now. Dad’s trying to get her to stop before the guests see.”
Sophie took her phone from the table and held out the photograph. Jesse glanced at it, then toward the hall, where someone was asking whether the bridal party was ready.
“Look at it,” she said. She pushed the screen closer when he started to speak. “I told her she looked beautiful. I helped her match the flowers. What did I do that made her need to do this?”
“You didn’t do anything.” Jesse reached for the phone, but she kept it. “I’m not saying you did.”
“Then go with me.” She set the phone down and lifted her skirt. “We’ll ask her together.”
He stayed beside the table. Sophie went past him, through the little dressing room and into the corridor, with Kelly rising behind her and the veil dragging across a chair before Marianne caught it. She heard Jesse say her name twice before he followed.
Lorraine stood by the reception doors while Ruth arranged her shawl. A cousin held a phone ready for a picture. Lorraine smiled at Sophie, then glanced at Jesse behind her.
“There you are,” Lorraine said. She smoothed a hand over her skirt. “I was beginning to think you’d forgotten us.”
“Hank can bring your navy dress,” Sophie said. She stopped close enough that the cousin lowered the phone. “You can use the dressing room. Mom will help you with the fastening if you need her.”
Lorraine’s smile disappeared. She pulled the shawl across her chest, covering a few inches of beads. “I can’t possibly change now,” she said. “Look at the time.”
“We can start a little late,” Sophie said. She couldn’t stop looking at the pearls in Lorraine’s hair. “I don’t mind waiting.”
The cousin moved toward the garden. Sophie realized the server at the doorway had heard her.
“I told you what happened to the green one,” Lorraine said. She drew a breath that seemed to catch against her hand. “I thought you’d be glad I managed to get here looking presentable.”
“You have other clothes,” Sophie said sharply. “You wore them yesterday.”
Lorraine turned to Jesse with her mouth still open. He moved beside her before Sophie finished adjusting the weight of her bouquet.
“Nobody’s going home,” he said. He said it to the small group, with a finality Sophie had been waiting all morning to hear on her behalf. “We’ve got twenty-five minutes. We’re getting married.”
Sophie stared at him. Lorraine touched his sleeve, and he left his arm where it was.
“I didn’t ask her to go home,” Sophie said. Behind her, Marianne had stopped holding the veil clear of the floor. “I asked her to change.”
“We’ll discuss it afterward,” Jesse said. He reached for Sophie’s elbow. “Come back inside with me.”
She stepped out of his reach. Hank watched her, his folded program crumpling in his hand.
Lorraine lifted her shawl to her eyes. “Please don’t fight over me,” she said. “I’d never forgive myself if I spoiled your day.”
Kelly made a sound behind Sophie. Sophie turned before she could hear what her sister intended to say, and went back down the corridor with her skirt held too high and the bouquet knocking against her knee.
One of the children waiting outside the garden asked his mother whether that was the bride. Sophie heard the woman hush him.