Страница 81 из 85
There’d been no time to put together a shower or a bachelorette party, which wasn’t a problem, since Sugar Beth wouldn’t have attended either. The night before the wedding Wi
“Mom said we could have a sleepover here. Everybody wants to hear your power speech. Plus Je
Sugar Beth marched to the phone and called Wi
“You’re a little nervous,” Wi
“A little nervous! I’ve pegged the Richter scale on nerves! This is all a setup. The final piece in his plan to get revenge. I’ll march down the aisle, and he won’t be there. He’s going to leave me stranded at the altar. I’m telling you right now, he’s not showing up tomorrow.”
“Standing you up at the altar would be overkill,” Wi
Sugar Beth hung up on her.
Wi
She slept badly that night and rose long before the girls. She came downstairs in an old pair of shorts and one of Colin’s work shirts, with her hair hanging in a ratty tangle and a crease across her cheek. Her wedding day. Again.
After she’d let Gordon out, she disposed of the pizza boxes, then sat at the counter, brooding. Her legs needed shaving, her fingernails were ragged, she’d made no plans to have her hair done, and the only thing she really wanted to do was go back to bed and pull the covers over her head. She let Gordon in and did just that.
Wi
Ryan was taking the girls to De
After that, Wi
“I have it,” Sugar Beth said, “and it’s locked up where you won’t find it.”
“Why can’t I see it?”
“Because it’s a big freakin’ surprise, that’s why! Is Colin here yet?”
Wi
“Yeah, right.” Sugar Beth slapped the counter. “I told you what’s going to happen. He won’t show up. It’s why I didn’t want the entire town invited. But would you listen to me?”
“Of course he’ll show up. He loves you. Now go take a shower. Janice Menken is coming to do your hair at four. You need to be at the church by five-thirty.”
For a moment all of Sugar Beth’s defenses fell away. She gazed at Wi
“I’m sure you are,” Wi
Sugar Beth slammed the barricades back in place. She showered and shaved her legs. Afterward, she permitted Janice Menken to construct an elaborate hairstyle that looked like a wedding cake had landed on her head. She took it apart as soon as Janice left and reconstructed it more simply closer to the back of her head. She refused to wear a veil, and she kept her makeup subtle, with the emphasis on her eyes and only a tawny gloss at her lips. The familiar rituals did nothing to calm her, and she grew even more agitated as various Seawillows kept sweeping in and out to check on her.
None of them had seen Colin, but they were all very certain he was around somewhere.
She decided the less time she spent at the church the better, so she fetched her gown from the attic where she’d hidden it and got dressed in Colin’s closet. Just as she slipped into her shoes, Jewel and Leea
“You’re not really wearing that, are you?” Leea
“It’s my fourth marriage,” Sugar Beth retorted. “What did you expect?”
Jewel shot Leea
“You still look beautiful,” Leea
“Have either of you seen him?”
“He’s probably with Ryan,” Jewel said uneasily.
“Or on his way to South America.” Sugar Beth kissed Gordon good-bye and stomped out to Jewel’s car, her beaded stiletto sandals making lethal clicks on the pavement.
The nostalgic smells of old hymnals, Pine-Sol, and long-forgotten potlucks enveloped her as she entered the back door of the redbrick Presbyterian church. Wi
“Tell me you’ve seen Colin,” Sugar Beth said as Wi
“Ryan’s in charge of Colin.”
“So you haven’t seen him.”
“I haven’t had time to look. There was a misunderstanding about the music, and the altar flowers weren’t right, then Gigi glittered her eyelids. Did you teach her to do that? Never mind.” Wi
“When it’s your fourth marriage, you tend to lose faith in superstitions.”
“This is your last marriage, and tradition is important.” She reached into her small beaded bag, drew out Diddie’s pearls, and clasped them around Sugar Beth’s neck. “Don’t get attached. I’m taking them back as soon as the reception’s over.”
Sugar Beth touched them with her fingers, and her eyes filled up with tears. “Oh, Wi
“I love you, too,” Wi
The organist began to play the prelude, and they hopped up and down and waved their hands in front of their faces to stop themselves before they ruined their eye makeup. Wi
“She’s hated me ever since my ninth-grade recital when I got to dance the Sugar Plum Fairy instead of her precious Kimmie.”
“Everybody in Parrish isn’t involved in a conspiracy against you.”
“We’ll see.”
The prelude came to an end. Wi
“You and Colin are going to be a big part of this community,” Wi
“If he’s here.”
“Of course he’s here.”
The organ launched into the processional, and Sugar Beth’s teeth began to chatter. “I’m not walking down that aisle until you peek around the corner and make sure he’s there.”
“He has to be. If he weren’t, Ryan would—”