Forever Wishes (Montana Brides Book 4) (27 page)

He stuck his hands in his pockets and frowned at the clothes.
 

She carefully put the lid back on the box, clicking the hinges closed. Taking a deep breath, she felt the heat of his stare on her face. “Well. That’s that then.” She risked a quick glance at him. “It’s okay. They’re just baby clothes.”

He folded his arms across his chest, glaring at her.
 

She couldn’t believe the gall of the man. Here she was, giving away boxes of baby clothes she’d treasured for years, and the man didn’t even have the decency to believe her half-baked explanations. Any other male would have taken what she’d said at face value, moving onto the next topic of conversation. But not Jake. No. He had to stand there, dissecting every nuance of her speech until she just about screamed.

“Do you want me to give you a hand to drop them off?”
 

Her heart plummeted. In a panicked voice she said, “No.”
 

His gaze tore straight to hers.
 

She tried to calm her voice, tried to look as though the boxes of clothes meant for her babies didn’t matter. “I mean, no. But thanks. I can do it myself.”
 

Erin couldn’t think of anything worse than having him with her when she handed the clothes over. In fact, she planned on doing a drop and run when Nicky and Sam were on their honeymoon. It was a cowardly way to face her demons, but they were her demons, and she’d face them any way she chose.
 

If Nicky was around when she dropped the boxes off, she’d put her through an interrogation about why the baby clothes were coming her way. And that discussion would lead to Jake. And babies. And a contract that was going nowhere. Knowing how stubborn Nicky could be, she’d probably try and make her take the boxes back home.
 

Last night Erin had done a whole lot of thinking about her future. Giving Nicky her baby clothes was the beginning of a new chapter in her life, an opportunity to focus on other things. Like the man standing beside her.
 

But not now. She needed to get Jake out of the room and off home before she lost the plot completely. Breaking down in a crying heap wouldn’t make him believe that she’d made the right decision. She felt exhausted. She felt disappointed. And above all, she felt sad for what could have been. “Come on. I’ll see you out.”

He hesitated.
 

Setting her mouth in a grim, determined line, she scowled at him.
 

He reached for her hand as they walked down the hallway, cocooning her cold fingers in his warm ones until she felt pins and needles prickling her skin. When they reached the front gate, he wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her nose. He stood looking down at her, as if there was something more he wanted to say but didn’t know where to start.
 

He gave her anther quick hug and let her go. “I’ll see you tomorrow at eleven. Have a good night’s sleep.”

Erin watched him drive off down the street. Walking back inside, she headed straight for the kitchen. She needed her secret stash of chocolate. Just when she thought life was ticking along nicely, something always came along to shake things up. In the last two months that something had been a six-foot-five, black haired, hunk of a lawyer, who’d managed to lodge himself firmly in her heart.
 

The best and worst thing was that even with all his baby issues she knew she wouldn’t have had it any other way.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“Open up. We’re here.”

“God almighty,” Erin groaned, as she stumbled down the hall in her pajamas. Flicking the lock on the front door, she stood back as Nicky hurtled down the hall shouting, “I need coffee, fast!”
 

Erin rubbed her eyes. “Fill the kettle up. There’s not much water in it.”

The sound of gushing water filled the hall. Emily pulled a big case into the living room. “Jeez, Nicky. What have you got stashed in this bag?”

A voice yelled from the kitchen, “Essentials.”

Erin’s brain still hadn’t moved past Nicky’s coffee run. She followed Emily into the living room. Make-up, brushes, tissues, and lotion were being stacked in neat little piles across the table in the middle of the room.
 

Yawning, Erin asked, “What are you doing here so early?”

“According to Nicky, I talk like a runaway train in my sleep. She said she hasn’t had a decent sleep in three nights, which I firmly dispute, given the snoring coming from the other side of the wall.” An impish grin crossed Emily’s face. “Anyway, we thought we might as well wake you up if we’re already awake.”
 

“And Emily doesn’t have any coffee at her place,” Nicky yelled from the kitchen.

Emily stuck her nose in the air, sniffing disdainfully in Nicky’s direction. “Oh,
please.
I’ve decided to keep my body pure and not pollute it with artificial stimulants.”
 

A scoffing noise erupted from the kitchen. “What do you call all the bourbon you downed last night? Therapeutic medicine?”

Emily rolled her eyes in disgust. “It’s alcohol. It kills off bad bugs.”

Nicky appeared in the doorway, cradling a steaming cup of coffee in her hands. “Well, all I can say is that you must have drowned enough nasties in that tiny frame to last a lifetime.” She took a grateful sip from her mug. “Ah. Nectar of the Gods.”

Erin looked bemusedly between her friends. “I don’t mean to state the obvious, but where’s the wedding dress?”

Nicky nearly dropped her mug of coffee. Emily fell over backward as she scrambled to get to her feet. “Oh-My-God. Quick Nicky! We left the car unlocked, and the dress is sitting on the back seat.”

Both girls streaked out of the house. Erin sat down on the sofa, taking a long sip from Nicky’s coffee. So much for a quiet start to the day.

Four hours later, Erin sat on a chair in the kitchen as the hairdresser back-combed her hair in an energetic frenzy. She looked at her reflection in a mirror they’d propped against a wooden box on the table. The wicked witch of the west stared back. “Are you sure this will work?”
 

The hairdresser laughed. “Leave it to me. You’ll look sensational.”

Erin wasn’t so sure.
 

Nicky quietly sipped what must have been her sixth cup of coffee and nibbled on some muffins Emily had found in the pantry. Looking nervously at her watch Nicky asked, “What time’s Jake arriving, Erin?”

“Eleven o’clock. I think you should switch to water. That coffee is giving you Alzheimer’s – that’s the fourth time you’ve asked me when he’s coming to pick us up in as many minutes.”

Emily muttered something under her breath that sounded remarkably like, “I told you so,” as the make-up artist brushed foundation on her face.

Nicky stood up, hopping from one foot to the other. “I’ve got to pee. What am I going to do if I need to use the bathroom during the service?”

Erin groaned. She’d never seen Nicky so nervous about anything. “Go to the bathroom, Nicky. You’ll be fine. Just don’t drink any more coffee.”

Pulling up outside Erin’s house, Jake felt quite pleased with himself. The sun was shining and there wasn’t a grey cloud in sight. It was a great day for a wedding, and an even better day for the early morning round of golf he’d enjoyed with Sam and his brothers.
 

After he’d been beaten on the golf course, Sam had given him a hand to tie the ribbons on one of the hired 1975 Daimler Convertibles. Nicky’s dad was dressing the other car and picking Sam up in about ten minutes.

He patted the gleaming white bodywork, glancing down at his watch for what felt like the hundredth time. Driving one of the wedding vehicles wasn’t a problem, but he’d been given strict instructions not to be late. What was it about weddings that had everyone paranoid about the time?

Before he got a chance to ring the doorbell, Emily threw the front door open, disappearing back down the hall. She raised her arm in the air in what he hoped was a back handed wave, yelling at Erin that he’d arrived.

Nicky sat on the edge of a chair in the living room, looking stunning, but slightly queasy. “Are you okay?”
 

She nodded carefully. “I’ve drunk too much coffee. I feel like I’m going to puke.”

He looked at all the white satin and lace and decided he’d better get a bowl. He rushed to the kitchen, flinging cupboards open, frantically searching for something Nicky could be sick in.

Emily poked her head around the kitchen doorway. “What are you looking for?”

Jake whacked the top of his head on the breakfast bar. “
Shit
,” he muttered, as he grabbed an old ice cream container. “Out of my way. Nicky’s going to vomit.”

Emily beat him down the hall, grabbing a towel from the bathroom on her way through.

“Erin!” Emily bellowed, “Get out here with a cold wash cloth for Nicky. She feels sick.”

Jake heard a thump from the back bedroom and the sound of running water. A minute later Erin hobbled into the room. She moved closer to him and the scent of roses washed over his body.

Her hair had been twisted into a knot on the top of her head, drawing his eye down the length of her neck and around to the soft swell of her breasts. Inky blue silk wrapped around her body, falling to the ground in a soft pool of fabric. Her eyes were focused with concern on Nicky, her lips slightly parted, as she whispered words of encouragement to her friend.
 

“Here Jake, give this to Nicky. I’m going to get a fan.”

He jumped as Emily held a glass of water under his nose.
 

Water sloshed near the rim as she moved it around, trying to get his attention. Clearing her throat, she said, “Now would be good.”

Grabbing the glass, he held it in front of Nicky. She looked at him with a miserable expression on her face.

“I can’t drink it. I’ll pee all through the ceremony.”

His eyebrows rose and his mouth dropped open. When it dawned on him that he’d heard her correctly, he couldn’t help himself. He burst out laughing.
 

The thought of Nicky running out of the church at regular intervals to use the bathroom had his eyes watering. And that didn’t even account for the logistics of aiming for a toilet seat under all the puffed up layers of satin.
 

Erin stared at him like he was mad, then her lips twitched and her eyes gleamed with laughter. She looked at Nicky, moving the wash cloth away from her face. “Come on gorgeous. Maybe a glass of water would help dilute the caffeine.”
 

Nicky reached for the glass, barely managing a small sip before Emily blasted them all with gale force winds from a fan she’d pulled into the room.
 

Emily lunged for the glass of water, tipping at an alarming angle over Nicky’s dress. The fan blew the fancy knot at the back of Emily’s head to smithereens, spilling masses of red curls around her shoulders. She dropped the glass onto a table, using her spare hand to try and catch the mop of hair flying in all directions.
 

Erin fell flat on her bottom, smothered in a billowing cloud of white satin and tulle. Nicky sat in the middle of the chaos, gripping the ice cream container to her chest with one hand, and holding her tiara on her head with the other.
 

Emily dodged the cold blast of air, and yelled something across the room. She turned the fan off at the wall and looked at her watch. “It’s five past eleven,” she shrieked. “We’ve got to leave.”

Jake sat up and wiped his eyes.

Bedlam erupted around him as three crazy females rushed to fix what gale force winds had managed to destroy in seconds.
 

Emily’s hair was teased and twisted until it sat back in a fairly good imitation of where it had begun. Nicky drank the glass of water and made a hasty exit to the bathroom. Erin managed to find her missing shoe, and came back triumphantly from her room with a bag of makeup and a box of aspirins clutched in her hand.

As soon as Nicky had finished in the bathroom, Emily flicked some more makeup over her face and they made a mad dash to the car.
 

The neighbors stared at the bridal party racing toward the Daimler.
 

Emily jumped in the front seat beside Jake. “Put your foot to the floor,” she yelled. “We’re late for a wedding.”