A Wedding on Primrose Street (Life In Icicle Falls Book 7) (23 page)

“It certainly looks delicious,” Sal remarked. “Aren’t we blessed to have wonderful children to take us out?”

“We certainly are,” Mother agreed.

“I guess we’ll see you around,” Hank said. The look he sent Daphne promised he wasn’t about to give up chasing her.

Maybe that was fine with her, after all. Maybe somewhere in the distant future her heart would heal and she’d dive once more into love’s choppy waters. “I’m sure you will.”

Hank and his mother went back to the reception area to check in with Charley Masters, who was busy seating people. Then, as she led them to their table, he winked at Daphne, turning her internal thermostat even higher.

“He really is a nice man,” her mother said. “Not that I’m encouraging you to start dating.” This was followed by a guilty expression. “Of course, I don’t want to tell you what to do.”

“Of course not,” Daphne murmured. Her mother would probably never change. She’d interfere in Daphne’s life and try to run the show as long as she drew breath. But here was one area she didn’t need to worry about. Daphne had finally learned her lesson about love. “I’m in no hurry to start dating. I’m doing fine on my own. And I think that things are only going to get better,” she added. Because from now on, she’d be making wiser choices, choices that were right for her.

Actually, she’d already started. Moving to Icicle Falls had been one of the smartest decisions she’d ever made.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Anne, Distracted Wife and Loving Mother

T
he family gathered at Anne’s house for Mother’s Day, and talk naturally turned to how the wedding plans were progressing.

“We still have so much to do,” Anne said as she passed around slices of chocolate cake. “Invitations need to go out.”

“I’m working on that,” Laney said vaguely.

“They should go pretty soon.” Her daughter shouldn’t be procrastinating, and she shouldn’t have to keep nagging.

“They will,” Laney said curtly.

“At least the save-the-date announcements went out, so people will have it on their calendars,” Kendra reminded Anne.

“Bring the invitations over here,” said Julia. “We can all help you and have the whole thing done in an evening.”

“Good idea,” Kendra said.

Laney didn’t say anything.

Anne went on with her list of unfinished business. “The bridesmaids still need to get their dresses. Laney, when are you and the girls going shopping?”

“Probably next week,” Laney said, digging into her cake.

She was more interested in the cake than she was in talking about her wedding, and Anne found that disturbing. Lately, Laney seemed rather cranky, too, which was also disturbing.

But hardly uncommon. Planning a wedding could be stressful, so the crankiness was understandable. The lack of enthusiasm, not so much. In fact, it was downright mystifying. When she was a tween and a teen she’d been fascinated by what her mother did for a living, wanting to see pictures and check out links to various sites right along with Anne. Now, when it counted, she wasn’t focusing on any of it.

“I want to get my flower-girl dress,” Coral, Kendra’s oldest, announced.

“Me, too,” her little sister, Amy, chimed in.

“Don’t worry,” Kendra told them. “You will.”

“And the bridesmaids’ gifts. Have you decided on them yet?” Anne had sent her a couple of different links to check out.

Laney heaved a long-suffering sigh. “Not yet.”

“Who’s going to be your photographer?” Julia asked.

“I don’t know yet, Grammy,” Laney said. “I still have time.”

“Not as much as you think,” Anne cautioned. “We really need to get going.” She hated to push, but honestly, they had a lot to do.

Laney made a face. “Jeez, Mom. Stop already.”

Stop? As if she was, somehow, being unreasonable in trying to get her daughter moving? “Laney,” Anne said sternly.

“Good cake,” Cam said, and everyone else at the table happily went along with the change of subject.

Anne sat and stewed. Happy Mother’s Day. Hmmph.

“I only want our daughter’s wedding to turn out well,” she said to Cam after everyone had left. It seemed she’d said that a lot over the past couple of months.

“Everything will get done,” he reassured her, leading her over to the couch.

“When?”

“Before the wedding,” he said, slipping an arm around her and pulling her close. “Stop worrying.”

“Easy for you to say,” she grumbled. “All you have to do is show up.”

“And, when it comes right down to it, that’s all you have to do, too. This is Laney’s wedding. She can plan it.”

“I know,” Anne said. “But the problem is, she’s not. She’s letting things slide. She needs help.”

“Maybe she doesn’t want help. Maybe she doesn’t care about some of those things.”

“Then she shouldn’t be having a wedding. She should just elope.” Wait a minute. What was she saying?

Cam grinned. “Yeah, I can picture you allowing
that
to happen. Seriously, Anne, let some of this go and make her do the heavy lifting.” He disappeared into the spare room that served as their office and then returned with his laptop. “Let’s do some planning of our own. How’s that sound?”

It sounded better than fretting over her daughter’s lack of motivation. “Sure.”

He opened the computer and they went online, comparing cruises. “This one with Holland America looks good,” he said.

At that moment Anne’s cell phone rang.

“Don’t answer it.”

“It’s Laney.” Of course she had to answer it.

Cam sighed and slumped against the sofa cushions.

“I’m going to make an event on Facebook instead of sending out all these invitations,” Laney told her.

“Sweetie, I think that would be tacky, and not everyone we know is on Facebook. Anyway, Grammy, Aunt Kendra and I are going to help you. Remember?” Since they’d paid for the invitations, it seemed silly not to use them. Cam picked up the remote and brought the TV to life. An action film roared onto the screen and Anne moved to the kitchen. “We’ll do it one night this week. Between all of us we can have it finished in no time.”

“I guess,” Laney said dubiously.

“It’ll be fun.” Anne tried to encourage her. “Meanwhile, check out the links I sent for your bridesmaids’ gifts.”

Now her phone was telling her she had another call. She glanced at caller ID. “That’s Aunt Kendra. I’ll talk to you later,” Anne said. As she switched from Laney to Kendra she could see her husband channel surfing, waiting patiently for her to return to planning their anniversary. “What’s up?”

“I was going to ask you that. Is Laney ticked at you? She seemed kind of grumpy at dinner today.”

“Pre-wedding stress,” Anne said. “You know how that goes. But she’s fine. I was talking to her when you called.”

“Okay. Just thought I’d ask.”

She was barely off the phone with Kendra when her mom checked in, also wondering about Laney.

By the time she wandered back into the living room, Cam was involved in a TV show. Or pretending to be. She could tell by the expression on his face that he was miffed. “Okay, now where were we?” she said in her cheeriest voice, sliding next to him.

“
We
were obsessing about our daughter’s wedding and ignoring our husband.”

“I’m sorry. But, Cam, these things take a lot of planning.”

He turned to her, his face solemn. “Anne, I get that you want to help, and I know this is your business, but you don’t need to do it 24/7. And like I said, you need to let Laney do some of it herself. It’s her wedding.”

“I agree. And I am, but planning a wedding is complicated.”

He shrugged and turned his attention back to the TV. “Tell me when you’re done.”

“I’m done now,” she said and put a hand to his chin, forcing him to look at her.

He obliged, but he was still frowning.

“Come on now. Don’t be mad. This is important. This is our daughter.”

He sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Kiss and make up?”

The frown disappeared. One kiss was all it took to make him forget about the action on the TV and switch his attention to the action on the couch, which started heating up pretty fast, clothes slipping off and Anne slipping into a horizontal position. It was nice to lie here and enjoy her husband’s caresses and kisses. She didn’t have to spend every second thinking about the wedding to-do list.

Except it was such a long one and they had so many things to check off. Crud, and when she was talking to Laney she’d forgotten to bring up the subject of “Wedding favors.”

Oh, no. Had she just said that out loud? Judging by the look on Cam’s face she had.

* * *

“Now, that’s funny,” Kendra said the next day as she and Anne perused dresses in Macy’s, looking for Anne’s mother-of-the-bride dress.

“Oh, yeah. Cam was laughing. I hope my marriage survives my daughter’s wedding.”

“Your marriage could survive a zombie apocalypse.”

Anne pulled out a champagne-colored dress with a nipped-in waist and pleated skirt. It was love at first sight. “I like this.”

“Oh, yeah. Try it on.”

She did, and the love affair grew stronger. “I’ll take it.” Oh, that everything would go as smoothly.

But it didn’t. It seemed that there was constantly something new to deal with, both at work and on the home front.

The bridesmaids finally got their dresses. So did the flower girls. When Kendra’s husband was supposed to be watching them, the girls put on the dresses and played wedding, which somehow resulted in Amy ripping her dress and Coral getting chocolate all over the bodice of hers.

Laurel Browne had two more meltdowns before her daughter’s wedding, and on the night of the actual wedding, the caterer was short-handed, the booze ran out and three of the goldfish on the dinner tables did the dead-fish float.

In the end, though, Laurel was so happy with the flowers, her daughter and her new son-in-law that she hugged Anne and thanked her. “Didn’t it turn out beautifully?” she gushed.

“Weddings usually do,” Anne replied sagely.

She reminded herself of that as she hurried around trying to cover all the bases for Laney’s upcoming nuptials. The invitations finally went out, but Laney continued to avoid some of the more minor details.

“Sweetie, you have to decide on wedding favors,” she told Laney during one of their many phone conversations.

“I don’t know,” Laney said, not for the first time.

“What about the bracelets?” Laney had talked about giving away some kind of bracelet since she liked making jewelry. Although now, even with the help of her bridesmaids, Anne doubted she’d be able to get them ready in time.

“No. I changed my mind.”

Nice of her to tell her mom. “Okay, then, what about the bubbles?”

“I think using all those little plastic bottles wouldn’t be very environmentally responsible. People might not recycle them.”

At this rate they’d never decide. “Okay, let’s go with the M&M’s with your names on them. Everybody likes chocolate.” And heaven knew Anne could use some right about now.

“I guess that’ll be fine.”

She guessed. “Is there something you’d rather have?”

“No, that’ll work.”

Her daughter’s enthusiasm was underwhelming. This was really beginning to bother Anne.

When she said as much to Cam, though, she didn’t get the support she wanted. Considering his earlier comments, she shouldn’t have been surprised.

“Like mother, like daughter,” he said.

Anne frowned at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He frowned right back at her. “It means that’s pretty much the reaction I’m getting from you about our anniversary. If you don’t want to do the cruise, Annie, just say so.”

“Okay, fine. I don’t want to do the cruise,” she said and then shocked both herself and her husband by bursting into tears. Oh, no. Where had this come from?

He was instantly apologetic, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead. “I’m sorry, Annie. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“It’s not you. It’s just that...”

“I know. You’re all caught up in Laney’s wedding.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to celebrate our anniversary,” she said with a sniffle. She did. Of course she did. “But I’d like to have the time and energy to enjoy planning it. I know you wanted to take a cruise, but I’d rather go up to the mountains and have a getaway, just the two of us, rather than be stuck on a boat with a few hundred—or thousand—other people.”

“Don’t tell me. Let me guess. To Icicle Falls.”

“That’s not as exciting as a cruise, is it?”

“I don’t need to go on a cruise.”

“But you want to.” He’d been the one to bring it up.

“Not that much. I thought you wanted it.”

“
You
suggested it. I agreed it would be nice to get away,” she said with a shrug.

He frowned and shook his head. “After twenty-five years, our communication should be better.”

Or she should say what she really wanted more often. But she hadn’t done that from the very start of their marriage. She’d set the pattern and, for the most part, they’d lived by it. Not that she didn’t enjoy the same things Cam did or that she had a problem going along with his ideas, especially when they were great, like those dance lessons they’d taken years ago.

Still, she did have a few dreams of her own, and maybe she should start sharing them more. She sighed. “If I was a rich woman, I’d buy a little cabin on a lake where we could go for weekends, or up in the mountains where we could hike, take the kids for Christmas. But I’d settle for a weekend somewhere quiet.” She smiled. “Of course, we could do that
and
a cruise.”

He dismissed her compromise with a wave of his hand. “Forget the cruise. I was trying to think of a big-ticket item you’d enjoy and that’s what I came up with. I don’t care what we do. I just want to give you something special for our twenty-fifth, something to make up for the fact that you never got your big, fancy wedding.”

“But I got you. That’s what matters,” she said, “and our daughter will get the big, fancy wedding.” She studied his face. “Are you disappointed?” Maybe he was; maybe he was simply trying to cover it up. Probably not, though. That was her modus operandi.

“Whatever you want. We can decide on something after we get the kids hitched.”

She took his face in her hands and kissed him. He was such a good man. “I know I’ve been...”

“Absent,” he supplied. “But I understand, and I’m sorry I was a jerk. You’re doing this for our daughter.”

In spite of the fact that their daughter didn’t seem to appreciate everything she was doing.

She wound up confessing as much to Roberta Gilbert when she made a day trip to Icicle Falls on the flimsy excuse of deciding where she wanted the flowers to go. Really, she just needed the R & R. There was something about seeing those mountains standing guard over the town that eased the stress from her mind and body. The quaint frescoes on the buildings, the hanging baskets and storefront window boxes filled with flowers made her smile. And visiting with Roberta was better than a shrink session.

“I sometimes wonder if my son-in-law would like a picture of me so he can throw darts at it,” she said. “He and Laney originally wanted to go to Las Vegas to get married.”

“It’s a popular place,” Roberta said diplomatically.

“I talked them out of it,” Anne admitted.

“If they wanted to do it that badly I doubt you could have.”

“My daughter always wanted a big, fancy wedding.”

“Most girls do.”

Anne set aside her teacup. “I plan weddings for a living. I shouldn’t be this stressed.”