“Meredith, you’re going to wrinkle your gown if you keep holding it up like that.”
At Anne’s soft words, Meredith released her death grip on the layers of purple chiffon and satin. “Isn’t the bride supposed to be the nervous wreck and the maid of honor the one reassuring her?”
Anne paused in her circuit around the room, ensuring each person knew what to do as soon as they left the bridal room.
Melancholic joy filled Meredith’s throat until she thought it might burst. She was overjoyed for her cousin yet at the same time felt as if she were losing her.
“Don’t start,” Anne warned, her smile wavering. “You know if you lose it, I will, too.”
“I know—” Meredith’s phone chimed and saved her from dissolving into the unwanted tears. She dug her purse out of her satchel and read the new text message. She deleted it, tossed the phone back in her bag, and turned to Anne. “Ward’s here. Do you mind...?”
“We have a few minutes. Go on.”
Meredith avoided grabbing the front of her dress to lift the skirt. She didn’t need to for walking. She was just used to long skirts that were straighter than this A-line, flared thing. She was also used to being much more covered up on top. Though the straight-cut bodice provided modesty, the spaghetti-straps left her shoulders feeling very bare.
She nodded and smiled in greeting at the guests milling in the vestibule.
Ward’s dark, curly head towered above everyone else. Her pulse gave a halfhearted flutter at the sight of him. Dressed in the tailored charcoal suit he’d worn on their first date, he drew the admiring attention of every female near him.
Why, then, couldn’t Meredith muster even an ounce of attraction for him? She’d hoped that by bringing him as her date to such a romantic affair as a wedding she might be able to jump-start an interest in him as something more than just a friend.
“Meredith Guidry.” Her name came out as almost a low growl when Ward finally noticed her. “You look gorgeous. I’m afraid I’ll break you if I hug you.”
She rested her hand on his chest as he squeezed her bare shoulders and kissed her cheek. “Thanks. You clean up pretty well yourself.”
“When you told me this was going to be a big wedding, I had no idea you meant everyone who’s anyone in Bonneterre would be here. I think I saw the mayor arriving as I pulled in the parking lot.”
“Anne’s worked with him on several events.” As had Meredith. “That’s why the reception is invitation only—and even still, we expect almost three hundred guests there.” She turned and glanced into the sanctuary. The room that seated more than one thousand looked like it was getting pretty full.
“I should probably go in and find a seat, huh?” Ward came up behind her and rested his hands on her waist.
By turning around to face him again, she dislodged his hands, uncomfortable with such a possessive touch from someone she wasn’t sure she liked that way. “Yeah, I’d better get back to Anne.”
Ward gave her a cocky grin. “At least I know I’ll be able to find you easily in all this crowd. You’re the prettiest girl here.”
She tried so hard to get her heart to flutter or her stomach to flip-flop at his flirting, but ... nothing. “Aww, just what every maid of honor needs to hear.” She patted his arm. “Now, go. I’ve already been gone too long, I’m sure.” She grabbed her skirt and hurried back to the bridal suite.
Anne directed Meredith to join the rest of the women for photos, discussing them with the photographer as if she were the wedding planner, not the bride. Everyone laughed when the photographer had to remind Anne that she needed to be in the picture.
After a few posed shots as well as several candid shots of them all laughing again, Anne sent Mamere and Aunt Maggie out to be seated.
Meredith shifted her weight from foot to foot as Anne calmly made one final check to ensure everything was ready. Certainly with just Meredith and Jenn as attendants, she didn’t have much to organize. But an aura of peace surrounded her, no doubt from her years of experience planning other people’s weddings. Meredith hoped if she ever got married, she could be so annoyingly serene.
A knock on the door jarred all three of them. Uncle Errol stuck his head in. “You girls ready?”
Meredith’s throat tried to swell closed again. Anne retrieved her bouquet and a large silver picture frame. Meredith took a few deep breaths and followed Jenn down the hall and back into the lobbylike foyer behind the sanctuary. Jason was just taking Aunt Maggie, the foster mother of the bride, down the aisle.
One tear escaped and trailed down Meredith’s cheek when Anne handed the framed photo of her parents to Whitt, her oldest foster brother, to carry down the aisle and place on the pew beside Aunt Maggie.
Jason and Whitt came back to man the doors. Anne motioned a red-eyed, sniffling Jenn to go down the aisle.
Meredith turned to Anne. “I’m so happy for you that I think my heart might explode.”
Anne blinked rapidly a few times, and her lips quivered. “Please don’t do that—it’ll make such a mess.” They both laughed. “And thank you. But you need to go, now. And don’t walk as slowly as you did last night, please.”
“All right, all right. Good grief, I’m going.” Meredith winked at her cousin, grateful that Anne had lightened the mood.
Though more than a thousand people crowded the sanctuary, Meredith had never felt more alone, walking down that aisle. At the other end stood George; his brother, Henry; and Forbes. But though Forbes nodded at her, they weren’t waiting for her. They were waiting for Anne.
Then she saw him. As soon as she got to the front and turned to face the crowd, his face was the only one she could clearly see. In the back row, on an outside aisle, Major O’Hara smiled and gave her a quick thumbs-up.
Meredith couldn’t help grinning like a fool—but fortunately, the doors at the back opened, the organ fanfare at the beginning of the march Anne had chosen started, and the congregation stood to watch Anne Hawthorne come down the aisle on her uncle’s arm.
The wedding planner’s wedding.
Across from Meredith, George Laurence’s brown eyes stayed glued to his bride, his sharp but handsome profile reflecting the joy on Anne’s face.
The happiness Meredith had been afraid would burst her heart did—and flooded her entire being with joy that made her want to sit down and weep. Her gaze broke away from Anne and George, now separated only by Uncle Errol, as the pastor began the ceremony in prayer.
Before she closed her eyes and bowed her head, Meredith stole one more glance at Major and witnessed him sneaking out the side door. No doubt to go back over to Lafitte’s Landing to finish everything for the reception.
Meredith joined everyone else in a prayer posture. Father God, I hate to sound selfish on Anne’s day, but You know how much I want to get married. Please change my heart toward Major so I can fall in love with Ward—or anyone who’ll love me back.
Major sneaked one last glance through the small, cross-shaped window in the door at the back of the sanctuary. Meredith stood in profile to him, looking at her cousin with such emotion, Major wanted to charge up there and beg Pastor Kinnard to make it a double wedding.
But Major hadn’t missed the sight of Ward Breaux greeting Meredith in this very foyer before the ceremony. Major had had his doubts about how serious Meredith was getting with the contractor, but wasn’t inviting someone to a wedding a sure sign that things were going beyond the “seeing each other” stage? He backed away from the door, needing to get to Lafitte’s Landing to finish setup—and needing to get away from Meredith.
He shrugged out of his suit coat and removed his tie and tossed them in the passenger seat. He grabbed his phone and quick-dialed Steven.
“Anything I need to pick up on my way back?” he asked his second-in-command.
“No, Chef. But you are on your way back?” Steven’s harried tone set off warning bells for Major.
“Yeah. I’m headed that way now.”
Ten minutes later, he pulled into the narrow service lot behind Lafitte’s. Once inside, he changed into his utilitarian work smock. He’d put his presentation jacket on after the cooking was finished and when he would step out of the kitchen to watch his friend and colleague cut her wedding cake—which his staff had picked up from Aunt Maggie’s house that morning along with the chocolate groom’s cake frosted and decorated to resemble George’s omnipresent PDA.
“Why hasn’t plating started yet?” Major called over the din of work in the large kitchen. He walked over to Steven, the only one from whom he expected an answer.
“The trays all had to be rewashed, Chef. They’re drying them now.” Major glanced at his watch, then looked around, knowing he’d drawn everyone’s attention upon his entrance. “The wedding ceremony will end in less than ten minutes, which means we can expect guests to start arriving in about twenty to thirty. I want cold hors d’oeuvres and canapés on the buffet tables in no more than fifteen minutes; passed hot hors d’oeuvres ready for the servers in twenty.”
“Yes, Chef,” his staff called.
“This is Anne Hawthorne’s wedding reception, folks. I know most of you weren’t working here when she was the event planner for B-G, but you do know how much business she brings the company—and that she’s Mr. and Mrs. Guidry’s niece. So let’s make this perfect beyond her expectations.”
“Yes, Chef!”
He slipped into the staff break room off the kitchen and changed shirts, then plugged in the earpiece that connected him with everything happening outside the kitchen.
“Lori, this is Major. I’m back. How’s everything front-side?”
“Fine. Two of my staff showed up late, so we got off to a later start than I wanted, but everything’s fine now.”
“Good. First guests should be here in about fifteen. Did you and Jana brief the servers?”
“We did. No one is to approach Mr. Ballantine any differently than any other guest—no asking for autographs and stuff like that.”
“Okay, thanks.” He released the Talk button and returned to the kitchen.
Could it really have been nine months since Major had prepared the food for mega–movie star—and Anne’s one-time fiancé—Cliff Ballantine’s engagement party in this very kitchen? Ironic that Anne would have chosen to have her wedding reception in the place where she learned George had been keeping Cliff ’s identity secret from her for weeks.
“Chef, taste,” called one of the cooks. He crossed to the station and tasted the cheese grits.
“Needs more pepper.” Major tossed his spoon into the sink and went to the meat station. “How’s the prime rib coming?”
“It’ll be perfect just in time to set up the carving posts.”
Major ran down the list at each station, pleased that everything had been timed just right.
“Chef,” came Lori’s voice through the earpiece, “guests are arriving.”
He pressed the Talk button. “Thanks.” He clanged a ladle against an empty metal bowl. “Cold trays out now. Hot trays in five.” He spoke into the earpiece again. “Jana, send in the servers, please.”
Meredith managed to make it through the ceremony with only a couple of tears escaping—sighing over George’s British accent as he recited his vows, giggling with Jenn when the kiss lasted a little too long.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in congratulating Mr. and Mrs. George Laurence.” The pastor’s voice was nearly drowned out by the applause from the wedding guests.
Meredith handed Anne’s bouquet back to her, leaned over to adjust Anne’s train, then took Henry Laurence’s arm to be escorted to the vestibule behind Anne and George. She hugged her cousin and new cousin-in-law as soon as they reached the foyer. Inside the auditorium, the pastor invited everyone to stay while photos were being taken.
Meredith groaned.
“I know—you hate the idea of people watching you while we’re taking pictures,” Anne said. “But it was either that or a receiving line, since most of these people aren’t invited to the reception.”
“I guess feeling like a monkey in the zoo is a little better than standing there for two hours—and then still having to get my picture taken.” She followed Anne down the side hall to reenter the sanctuary near the front.
For all that everyone had been invited to stay, not many did. Meredith smiled at Ward as warmly as she could when he joined them at the front, while Anne and the photographer discussed the best way to get the shots Anne wanted.
“You looked stunning up there—like a princess.” Ward pulled Meredith into a hug.
She sighed, disappointed that Major had never hugged her like this. “Thanks.”
When she stepped back from his embrace, she caught a glimpse of her sister hovering nearby. Meredith looked around for Henry Laurence—ah, he and George were deep in a private discussion.
“Ward, I don’t believe you’ve met my sister yet.” She introduced Jenn. Was it her imagination or did his gaze linger, his handshake last just a little longer than necessary when he greeted Jenn? Well, even if it had, it wouldn’t matter. Jenn had had eyes for no one but Henry from the moment George’s youngest brother set foot off the plane.
With Anne’s guidance, the photos were finished in short order.
Meredith, Jenn, Forbes, and Henry climbed into the first of the two limousines waiting outside the church. Forbes and Henry sat toward the middle of the stretch vehicle, while Meredith and Jenn—not wanting to trip on and possibly damage their skirts—sat in the back.
“You never told me Ward is so good-looking,” Jenn whispered, stealing a glance at Henry to ensure he and Forbes were still in deep discussion about the differences between practicing law in the States and in Australia.
“Didn’t I?” Meredith closed her eyes against the inevitable. She’d seen the glaze overtake Ward’s eyes when she introduced him to Jenn.
“And if you two aren’t dating, as you keep protesting, remind me why you asked him to be your date for the wedding.”
“Anne told me I should. And yes, we were sort of dating.”
“Meredith! You denied it all this time? After all this time you finally get a boyfriend, and you pretend like it’s nothing—what do you mean you were dating?”
“I mean I’m going to tell him that I don’t think things are going to work out between us.”
“Are you crazy?” Jenn smiled at Forbes and Henry when they looked over at her shouted question. She leaned closer and lowered her voice. “Are you crazy? He’s gorgeous.”
Would it do any good to try to explain? “Yes, he is very handsome. And he’s a wonderfully charming guy. But after seeing him for almost two months, I don’t feel anything for him but friendship.”
“Try.”
Meredith groaned in frustration. “I have tried. I’ve prayed, begging God to let me stop being in love with—” She clapped both hands over her mouth.
Jenn’s eyes grew huge. “In love with who? Meredith Emmanuelle Guidry, you have to tell me. I’m your sister. I tell you everything.”
Whether I want you to or not. She might as well go ahead and spill the whole can of worms now that it was open. Jenn would never leave her alone otherwise.
“Major.”
Jenn stared at her for a few seconds. “Major ... O’Hara?” she whispered, shock obvious.
“Yes, Major O’Hara. Who works for me—well, for Mom and Dad, but he reports to me.”
“Major O’Hara?” Jenn looked as if she was going to laugh, but Meredith quelled her with a withering glance.
“You have to promise you won’t say anything to anyone, Jenn.”
“But if you’re in love with Major, why are you dating Ward Breaux?”
“Because I made a promise to myself that this year I’m going to finally get over this thing I have for Major and not spend next New Year’s alone.”
“What do you mean ‘finally’? How long have you harbored feelings for him?”
“Jenn—”
“No. I want the truth.”
“Oh, all right.” Meredith huffed, but a sense of release seeped in around her frustration with her sister. It actually felt good to finally tell someone other than Anne. “Eight years.”
Jenn’s mouth dropped open. “Eight years?”
“Yes. Ever since he started working at B-G.”
“So if you’re not interested in Ward Breaux, can I...?” Jenn tipped her head to one side and waggled her eyebrows.
Meredith snorted. “What about Henry?”
Jenn looked over at George’s handsome younger brother. “He’s a lot of fun for right now, but he will be returning to Australia day after tomorrow. Ward lives right here in Bonneterre.”
While Meredith wished she could be jealous over the idea of Ward turning his very romantic attention onto her sister, the thought brought profound relief—especially since she’d always hoped her sister would find a man as wonderful as Ward.
“Yes, by all means, go for it ... him.”
The limo rolled to a stop in front of Lafitte’s Landing. Meredith scrambled out as soon as the door opened, allowing one of the boys taking invitations at the entrance to assist her out of the car.
“Wow, Miss Meredith, you look great.”
“Thanks, Jeremy.”
Lori met them inside the front door.
“Anne and George’s limo pulled up just behind ours,” Meredith told her. “Let the kitchen know and go give the DJ the heads-up—” She stopped with an apologetic smile. “Sorry. Old habits.”
The veteran event planner shrugged her shoulders. “I was getting ready to defer to you, so I guess we’re both operating on old habits.” She stepped away from them to do just what Meredith had instructed and rejoined them as Anne and George came in. “Everyone is ready. Bridal party, if you’ll come with me.”
Meredith reminded Jennifer with one look that as maid of honor it was she, not Jenn, who should be escorted in by Henry Laurence.
It was going to be a long night.