A Wedding on Primrose Street (Life In Icicle Falls Book 7) (15 page)

“It’s your wedding,” Anne said.

“Glad you remembered.”

Ah, mother-daughter bonding. Nothing like it.

Once they got to Icicle Falls, Anne let her daughter have free rein. Laney picked out the biggest, boldest wedding cake possible at Gingerbread Haus and ordered a donut cake as high as the Trump Tower. By the time they added the groom’s cake, a chocolate mountain complete with a rock climber to celebrate Drake’s favorite hobby, they were over the cake budget by five hundred dollars. Anne didn’t blink.

“The donut cake will be an excellent addition,” said Cass, the bakery owner, which brought a big grin from Laney.

“Whatever my daughter wants,” Anne said. As long as it didn’t involve a pirate ship or zombie musicians.

“Thanks, Mom.” Laney threaded her arm through Anne’s as they walked away. “I love our cakes.”

“You’re welcome,” Anne said and patted her hand. Her daughter’s gratitude was worth an extra five hundred dollars.

Then it was on to Lupine Floral, where they met with Heinrich Blum, the shop’s creative genius. He greeted them warmly and predicted that Laney would be the most beautiful bride Icicle Falls had ever seen. Anne suspected he said that to every bride who came through his doors, but Laney ate it up.

“And what’s our budget?” he asked.

Anne told him and he nodded appreciatively. “We can give you something very nice for that. What are your colors?”

“Brown and forest green,” Laney replied.

“Very tasteful,” he said, and it was all Anne could do not to remind her daughter who had suggested those colors.

“We thought perhaps you might be able to do something with brown roses, ferns and some chocolate mints,” Anne couldn’t help adding.

“Chocolate mints. Love it!” Heinrich said, confirming Anne’s good taste.

He showed Laney several pictures of past Lupine Floral creations and then they spent some time surfing the net and discussing ideas. Finally it looked as though they had a plan. “How does that sound?” he asked.

Laney shrugged. “Pretty good.”

He held a hand to his chest in mock horror. “Only pretty good? I’m crushed.”

Laney quickly corrected herself. “I mean, it’s beautiful.”

It just wasn’t a pirate ship. Anne didn’t want her daughter to be disappointed with the flowers at her wedding. She didn’t want Laney to be disappointed with anything. “Maybe we could throw in a little more,” she said.

“A little more...pizzazz?” Heinrich guessed.

“Well, yes.”

“Of course. But you do want to stay in your budget, right?”

“Well, let’s expand the budget.”

“Okay, then,” he said with a smile. “We’ll see what we can do.” What he could do was incredible. He put together a plan that would turn the beautiful Primrose Haus into an enchanted castle, employing everything from the flowers and greens they’d already selected to twinkle lights and lanterns for the garden, and crystal vases stuffed with more twinkle lights for the inside. Table centerpieces would be branches (surrounded by flowers and greens, of course) with candle lanterns hanging from them. By the time he was done, Anne was practically drooling.

Even Laney looked impressed. “I love it,” she said, a huge smile on her face.

Anne’s savings account was probably in trouble, but so what? She’d find the extra money somewhere. And anyway, they weren’t
that
far over budget.

Yet. They still had to order food, had to buy the wedding dress, the favors and the gifts for the bridesmaids.

Anne saw the proverbial writing on the wall and it was all in dollar signs. Okay, so she’d be paying for this wedding for the next five years. She’d gladly do whatever it took to make sure the day turned out to be exactly what her daughter had always dreamed of—especially after shooting down the Vegas idea.

Ah, guilt. The perfect present for the mother of the bride.

Chapter Fifteen

Laney, Having to Choose

“I
don’t get why you don’t want me to come,” Drake said as he and Laney jogged side by side around Green Lake on Saturday after her shift at the coffee shop.

“I told you, it’s not that I don’t want you to come, but it’s just girls.” Guys never went along when their fiancées went bridal-gown shopping. She’d watched enough episodes of
Say Yes to the Dress
to know that. “Even my dad isn’t going.” And if anyone should be there, it was Dad, since he and Mom were paying for it. “Anyway, it’s bad luck to see me in my wedding gown before the wedding.” That was a silly superstition and not very practical for taking pictures, but the drama of waiting until the big moment appealed to Laney.

“My brother saw his wife. They had their pictures taken before the wedding.”

Laney tried another tack. “You’d be bored.”

“Seeing you all dressed up? No way.”

“You’re so sweet.”

Drake always said stuff like that. She was marrying the best guy ever.

“So, come on. Let me go with you.”

Laney grinned over at him. “Uh-uh. You need to be surprised,” she added with a teasing smile.

He shook his head. “I don’t get why you’re looking for a wedding dress anyway. I thought you were gonna wear shorts.”

“I changed my mind.”

Actually, her mother had changed her mind, but Mom was probably right about this. Getting married was major, and she might regret it if she went for casual.

Drake was frowning now. They weren’t going to fight about this, she hoped.

“Come on. Don’t be mad,” she coaxed.

“I’m not mad. I’m just...”

“What?”

“I don’t know.”

Guy-speak for
I don’t want to talk about it
. “What?” Laney pressed.

“I hate being left out of everything like I don’t matter.”

She stopped running. So did he. A cyclist whizzed past them.

“You do matter,” Laney said. “You should know that. You’re the most important person in my life.”

“Yeah? Then how come I don’t get to be involved in anything? How come you don’t even ask me what I think?” He wiped his sweaty brow and looked away.

Two women jogged past them, laughing about something.

“I haven’t even seen the place where we’re getting married,” he continued.

“I’ve shown you pictures.”

He gave a snort of disgust. “Big deal. I thought we were gonna go up there. You’ve gone up twice without me.”

She moved closer and put a hand on his chest. “Come on, babe. That was to order flowers. What guy is into flowers?”

“And cake. You ordered the cake. I’m into cake.”

“Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t think it was that important to you.”

“Well, it kinda is. I mean,
I’m
getting married, too. Someplace. Someplace I haven’t seen.”

Now Laney’s stomach hurt. She hugged him and laid her head on his chest, hoping that would take away the hurt for both of them.

“It’s not that I want to tell you what to do or anything,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “I just want you to care what I think.”

“I do care,” she protested.

“Yeah, right,” he said sullenly.

They were getting married! This was supposed to be fun. Why wasn’t she having fun? Maybe because her period was right around the corner. She always felt bitchy before her period.

That was it, of course. She’d be back to normal in a few days.

Meanwhile, though, she had to get back to normal with Drake. “How about we go up there the first weekend in May? I think they have some festival then. It’ll probably be lame, but we can check it out, maybe do some rock climbing. I’ll show you the park on the river, and we can go to the rafting place and talk to them about renting a raft for the wedding.”

Mom had forgotten to add that to their list of things to do when they’d gone to Icicle Falls. She’d probably be glad to see that Laney had taken care of it. Not that she was worried about Mom right now. It was Drake she wanted to please. She looked up at him, hoping to see the smile back on his face.

It wasn’t yet, but he nodded in agreement. “Okay. Fair enough.”

“And to make things even, I won’t go with you when you and the guys pick out your tuxes.”

Now he did smile. “I’m not doing that without you. I don’t wanna screw it up.”

“It’s hard to screw up renting a tux. But you’d find a way,” she teased and started jogging again.

“That’s why you have to come with,” he said, falling in step with her.

They completed their jog in perfect harmony, so she should’ve been in a great mood later that afternoon when she picked up her best friend, Autumn, to go wedding-gown shopping. But she found herself feeling mildly grumpy. What bride felt grumpy about shopping for a wedding gown? Oh, yeah, one who had PMS. Oh, well. Trying on wedding dresses was bound to put her in a good mood.

It
was
just PMS, wasn’t it? “It’s not that I don’t like everything we decided on,” she said as she and Autumn drove to meet her mom and aunt and grandma at the bridal shop in the U district that her mom had suggested.

“What’s with this ‘we’ stuff?” Autumn scolded. “It’s your wedding. Who’s in control?”

“I am,” Laney insisted. She was. She was having her donut cake and she was getting married on the river.

“I guess,” Autumn said dubiously. “Your mom’s really sweet, but sometimes she kinda takes over.”

“Well, she’s not taking over today.
I’m
the one wearing the wedding gown. And the bride is always right. That’s what Mom says.”

“Sure. If you say so.”

She did say so. And yeah, okay, maybe her mom was a little controlling. But Autumn should talk. Her mom still got on her about cleaning their house, even came over every other week with her Pledge and dust rag to check that it was done right. Mom never did stuff like that. She hadn’t told Laney what to do since she moved out.

Only since she got engaged.

No, she hasn’t
, Laney reminded herself.
She’s just made suggestions.

Well, she wasn’t going to be making any suggestions about Laney’s wedding gown. Laney wanted the decision to be hers and hers alone. She wanted to fall in love with the perfect gown for her big day.

Autumn dropped the subject, and they picked up the two other bridesmaids, Drake’s younger sister, Darcy, and Laney’s other close friend Ella, who’d recently gotten engaged.

“I don’t know how you guys are pulling this together so fast,” Ella said to Laney as they drove down Forty-Fifth. “There’s so much to do.”

“It helps when your mom does it for a living.”

“I’m impressed,” Ella said. “Gordy and I aren’t getting married until next February, and I’m about to have a nervous breakdown.”

“Go to Hawaii and get married on the beach,” said Autumn. “That’s what I want to do when
I
get married.”

“That’s what I want to do, too,” said Darcy. She was the youngest of them all and had just broken up with her boyfriend, so Laney suspected a wedding on the beach at Kauai would be a ways off.

“Too expensive,” Ella said. “Half the family wouldn’t be able to come, and my mom would have a shit fit.”

“It’s not about your mom,” Laney told her, and Autumn pretended to choke on the Diet Coke she was drinking.

“Tell that to her,” Ella retorted as they pulled up in front of Here Comes the Bride.
Even though they were ten minutes early, Mom’s car was already parked in front of the shop. They walked in to find her standing in front of a rack of size-six gowns along with Aunt Kendra and Grammy, in earnest conversation with the saleswoman.

“Let’s set this one aside,” Mom was saying, pointing to a low-cut gown with sheer sleeves.

“Not taking over at all,” Autumn said under her breath.

“Shut up,” Laney whispered back, and Autumn smirked.

Having heard the little bell over the door, Mom looked over her shoulder and smiled at Laney. “Hi, sweetie,” she called. “Are you ready to play princess?”

That was what they’d called it when Laney was a little girl and dressing up in pillowcases, lace and bits of organza and anything else Mom had lying around. This time she’d be dressing up and it would be for real. The last time they’d done anything like this was when they’d gone shopping for her prom dress. The dress shopping had been fun but things had gone downhill fast.

She remembered how Mom had tried to control her prom night and ruin all her big plans with Drake. “Someday you’ll understand,” Mom had predicted right before the fight got really ugly. She was an adult now, and she still didn’t understand.

The memory of the prom-night battle didn’t exactly sweeten her mood. But she smiled and went over and dutifully kissed everyone.

“Hi, girls,” Mom said to the bridesmaids. “I’m so glad you could join us today. Maybe we can find your dresses, too.”

“Wow, you are efficient,” Ella murmured.

“We don’t want to put it off too long in case we need alterations,” Mom told her. To the saleswoman, she said, “This is my daughter, Laney.”

“Hello, Laney,” said the woman. “I’m Glenda. My assistant, Rose, and I will be happy to help you find the perfect gown today.”

The perfect gown.
Laney’s bad mood melted. “Thanks.”

Mom held up the one she’d been looking at. “What do you think of this one?” she asked Laney.

It was okay, but... “I don’t like the long sleeves,” Laney replied.

“Up in the mountains it could still be chilly in the evenings,” Mom said.

Grammy pulled out a gown weighed down with ruffles. “Here’s a nice sleeveless one.”

Laney wrinkled her nose. “Too ruffly.”

“Oh,” Grammy said, surprised, and put it back.

“Told you,” Aunt Kendra said to her.

“This is nice.” Autumn lifted a simple satin gown with a sweetheart neckline and a full skirt from the rack.

“Nice” didn’t come close. It was freakin’ awesome. “I love that,” Laney breathed.

“How about this one?” Aunt Kendra asked, pulling out a gown with cap sleeves.

It was pretty, too, trimmed with lace and sequins, but she didn’t love it the way she did the first one.

“Why don’t we set you up in a dressing room and you can try these on,” suggested Glenda. She called over her assistant, who took one of the gowns. Then she smiled at everyone else. “Ladies, if you’d like to go on over to our seating area, we’ll bring your bride out in a minute.”

“Try this one on, too,” Mom said, handing over the long-sleeved gown.

Laney frowned. She’d already said she didn’t like it. “No, I don’t want that one.”

“Just try it on,” Mom urged.

“Okay.” But she wasn’t taking it.

“Hey, here’s one,” said Ella, holding up a lacy number with seed pearls, a full skirt and a long train.

“I’ll try that one on, too,” Laney decided.

So, off she went to the dressing room, with Glenda right behind her.

The first gown she tried on was the one with the sweetheart neckline. She felt like a princess in it. Glenda fluffed out the skirt and Laney turned and smiled at her reflection. Drake would love her in this.

Glenda ushered her from the changing room to where her family and friends sat in a grouping of comfy chairs.

“Oh, wow,” said Aunt Kendra. “You look great.”

Grammy’s expression was slightly pained and Mom was half smiling.

Laney would never fight with her grandma, but Mom was a different story. “What?” she demanded. As if she didn’t know.

Mom almost jumped. “Nothing.”

“You don’t like it.”

“No, it’s very nice,” Mom said and managed a long-suffering smile.

“You don’t like my tat showing.” And if she wore her hair up, the one on her neck would show, too. But so what? She happened to like her body art, even if her mother didn’t.

Mom sidestepped the issue. “We don’t have to buy the first dress you try on. Let’s see what the others look like.”

“Fine,” Laney snapped. With a swish of her skirt she whirled around and marched back to the changing room.

Next came the gown with the capped sleeves. “I like the first one better,” said Autumn.

“Me, too,” Ella chimed in.

“Yeah, me, too,” said Laney.

“It’s a very pretty gown,” Grammy said, and Laney noticed her grandmother didn’t say
she
looked pretty in it.

The third gown got slightly more positive reviews but Grammy still wasn’t oohing and aahing and neither was Mom.

“Let’s see the long-sleeved one,” Mom said.

Keep an open mind
, Laney told herself as she returned to the dressing room.

One look in the mirror confirmed it; this wasn’t the gown for her. It was definitely a princess gown, but one a dated Disney princess would wear.

“My goodness, she’s beautiful,” Grammy gushed when she came out to model it for the others.

She shook her head. “It’s too old-fashioned.”

Grammy disagreed. “That’s not old-fashioned. That’s classic.”

“The tat will still show,” Laney said. So if that was Mom’s issue, what was the point of getting it?

Her mother studied the gown and tapped her finger to her lips thoughtfully. “It’s not bad.”

Oh, just what she wanted, a gown people would look at and say, “It’s not bad.”

“Don’t do it,” cautioned Autumn.

Autumn was right.

“We’ve got all afternoon,” Aunt Kendra said. “I say try on every gown they have in your size.”

And so she did, with Glenda and Rose scurrying back and forth, their arms full of lace and organza and satin. None of the gowns did it for her like that first one. “I want to try that on again,” she said to Glenda as her assistant bore away yet another gown.

The woman nodded and helped her into it. She looked at her reflection. Oh, yes, this was the gown she wanted. She went back out. “This is the one.”

“It
is
nice,” said Grammy.

“If that’s the one you want, that’s the one you should get.” Sadly, it wasn’t Mom who said this. It was Aunt Kendra.

“Let’s look a little more,” Mom suggested.

“I’ve tried on every friggin’ gown in the place,” Laney growled.

“I know. But there are other shops.”

“Mom, my tat’s gonna show. There’s nothing you can do to hide it.” Maybe her mom would like her to get married in a white body bag.