Sinners On Tour 06 Sinners at the Altar (23 page)

Chapter
Two

Jessica looked skyward and frowned at the heavy black clouds rolling in. Not a good omen, she decided. Especially since her wedding was scheduled to start in two hours and was supposed to take place on the beach.

“It can’t rain,” she said to Myrna, who was driving her from her nail appointment to her hair appointment. “It just can’t.”

Myrna scrunched her neck so she could see the sky better out the windshield of her minivan
, a vehicle Jessica couldn’t believe the woman owned, much less drove. But the soft coo from the back seat—where four-month-old Malcolm was secured in his car seat—was the only excuse Myrna needed. Jessica supposed any mother would give up driving her ’57 Thunderbird convertible to keep her baby safe. And the van came in handy for lugging Jessica’s bridesmaids from one appointment to the next. It even had room for the only male tagging along for the day.

“Can’t is a strong word,” Myrna said.

“We’ve been planning this for months.”

“And what was the backup plan for rain?” Aggie asked from the seat directly behind Jessica.

“There is no backup plan for rain.”

“It won’t rain,” Reagan called from the very back seat of the van
, where she was sitting with Eric’s wife, Rebekah, and Sed’s youngest sister, Elise. “I won’t let it.”

Jessica hoped Reagan’s confidence had the desired effect. She wanted this wedding to be over with. The planning of it had been driving her nuts. She
needed everything to be perfect and for everyone to have a memorable and enjoyable time, but mostly she just wanted to be Sed’s wife. God, she couldn’t wait to see him in his tux. He’d worn one to the Grammy’s during the two years they’d been separated and when she’d seen him in it on television, she’d nearly swallowed her tongue. Not that she’d ever admit to watching the awards in hopes of catching a glimpse of him, because at that time she’d hated his fucking guts. At least that was what she’d been trying to convince herself. Good thing she’d finally figured out that beneath the arrogance and domineering behavior beat the heart of a good man. A man she loved more than anything. A man who made her toes curl and her heart thud.

Maybe
he
could stop the rain.

“I can call the crew and ask them to set up a beer tent,” Rebekah offered.

Uh, no. Jessica refused to get married in a beer tent. She’d rather be drowned by rain.

“Thanks for the offer, sweetie,” she called, “but it can’t rain. It just can’t.”

“You should have eloped,” Sed’s sister, Kylie, said from her seat between Aggie and Malcolm’s car seat.

“I tried to tell Sed that,” Elise said. “But would he listen? Of course not. This is bullheaded Sed we’re talking about here. He doesn’t listen to anything anyone tells him.”

Sed would have eloped if Jessica had wanted to, but silly her, she’d thought having a big wedding with seven bridesmaids, seven groomsmen, and who even knew how many ushers would be fun. So far, not so fun. And if it rained on their big day… Jessica wasn’t going to let herself think about that.

Feeling as if she were forgetting some important detail, she ran a mental checklist and
toyed with the engagement ring on her finger, rubbing the band into her flesh. The inexpensive piece of jewelry meant the world to her; it was by far her most cherished possession. And not because it meant she belonged to Sed, but because he’d carried it around with him for two years while they’d been separated. He might have behaved like a horny imbecile for the entirety of their time apart, but he’d never stopped thinking about her, just as she’d never stopped thinking of him.

“Don’t forget to put that on a different finger for the ceremony,” Myrna said as they sat waiting for a red light to change to green.

She glanced up. “What?”

“You’re getting a new ring today,” she said. “You’re supposed to wear
the wedding band close to your heart.”

“This is the one that’s closest to my heart,” she said, but she slipped the ring off and put it on her right hand. It felt weird there, but she didn’t want to mess up at the ceremony. Everything needed to be perfect
because as wonderful as it was to be engaged to Sed, being his wife would bring her even more joy.

“I feel like I’ve forgotten something,” Jessica said, going through her mental checklist one more time.

“You haven’t forgotten anything,” Myrna assured her and smiled into her rearview mirror as she checked on her son who was giggling at Kylie’s game of peek-a-boo.

“Beth!” Jessica shouted as her subconscious churned out the missing piece of her morning.
Her best friend was a rather important part of the ceremony.

“Did I forget to tell you she called?” Myrna asked sheepishly.

Jessica’s breath caught. “Is she okay? She’s coming, isn’t she?”

“Everything is fine. She overslept and is running late. She’s going to meet us at the salon after she picks up the dresses.”

Even though the bridal shop was on the opposite side of town near Beth’s apartment, Jessica probably should have picked up the dresses herself. If Beth didn’t show with them in time, they might as well call off the whole wedding.

“
Breathe, Jess,” Myrna said and reached over to pat her shoulder.

Jessica sucked a breath into her lungs and
attempted to put her head between her knees but was halted by the seatbelt cutting into her shoulder.

“
Ow.” She laughed at her own stupidity and rubbed at her sore collarbone.

Everything will be fine, she told herself, but
herself wasn’t buying it.

At the beauty salon, Jessica’s hair was yanked, teased, curled, braided, coiled, pinned
, and tucked until her wedding veil and long strawberry-blond hair were an entwined work of art.

“Wow, Jess,” Myrna said, her own hair in the small and mighty fist of the son she had resting against one shoulder. “You look stunning.”

She smiled. “So do you,” she said just as Malcolm grasped the pearl adorning one of the bobby pins in his mother’s auburn hair and tugged it free. This sent half of Myrna’s carefully styled up-do cascading down one shoulder.

“Mal,” Myrna said
with exasperation, “those aren’t to play with.”

The adorable, black-haired baby, who looked so much like his gorgeous guitarist father his mother didn’t stand a chance, laughed with an orneriness rivaling Trey
’s. The tyke was immediately forgiven.

“Will someone hold him while I get the damage repaired?” Myrna asked, holding Malcolm around the middle
and out of reach of another pearl he was staring at intently.

Rebekah claimed the honor. She touched Malcolm’s tiny fingers and traced the lines of his face
. She was obviously completely enamored. And who could blame her? Jessica would have loved to have held Malcolm, but if Myrna’s tiny pin pearls weren’t safe from his grasp, Jessica’s veil would never survive the interaction.

As soon as the make
-up artist was finished with Aggie, she went to work on Jessica’s face. Though the woman had been unable to talk Aggie out of wearing her typical red lipstick, she’d toned down her usual heavy eyeliner for a more understated look. Jessica wouldn’t have minded Aggie showing up looking the way she always did, though she was glad she wasn’t planning on wearing her corset and thigh-high boots. Jessica’s grandparents would likely have keeled over on the spot if she had.

The salon door flew open and Beth dashed into the waiting area, her blue eyes wild and her tangle of brown hair even wilder. “I’m here,” she announ
ced.

Jessica’s shoulders sagged with relief.
“Took you long enough.”

Beth spotted her and rushed to her side. “Oh God, I’m so sorry, Jess. I was up late studying and fell asleep on the sofa and didn’t hear the alarm go off and then I couldn’t find my keys and finally found them
in yesterday’s jeans, but then I was halfway to the salon and remembered I needed clean underwear and had to go back to the house to get them out of the drier and—” She finally sucked in a deep breath. “Can you ever forgive me?”

“Did you remember to pick up the dresses?” Jessica asked.

“Of course. They’re locked in the car.”

“Then you are forgiven. But you owe me ice cream
for making me worry.” Jessica winked at her.

Beth hugged her
. In her haste, she knocked aside the eye shadow brush the make-up artist was using on one of Jessica’s lids. The woman scowled and reached for a cloth to undo the damage.

“You’
re the best,” Beth said loudly in Jess’s ear.

“You’re the best,” Jessica returned. “Thank you for picking up the dresses.”

“No problem.”

Beth was hurriedly directed to a chair so her bed hair could be tamed into something more appropriate for the occasion and Jessica relaxed.
A little.

When all
seven ladies were properly beautified, they returned to the van. Beth climbed into her dated sedan to follow them to the venue with her cargo of dress. Jessica would have ridden with her to keep her company, but every inch of Beth’s trunk was stuffed with books so the backseat was full of bridesmaids’ dresses while Jess’s wedding dress rode shotgun. Jessica hoped she’d have time to catch up with Beth later. She didn’t get to see nearly enough of her friend since their lives had taken different paths.

Jessica scowled up at the clouds as soon as she was belted into Myrna’s van.
The sky was even darker than when they’d entered the salon, but the rain was still holding off. Thank God.

Jessica continued to stare at the sky all the way to the beach location where the ceremony was to be performed. Perhaps it was just gloomy and the clouds would clear
up before she walked down the aisle at eleven. Maybe she should have scheduled an afternoon wedding instead of a morning ceremony. She bit her lip. Maybe it was too late to change any plans so she should stop worrying so much. She was supposed to be enjoying her time today.

She fought the urge to call Sed
to ask him to commiserate. He’d understand why she was so worried about this; he’d been dealing with her insanity over the wedding for months. Sometimes she was astonished that he still wanted to marry her.

Myrna parked the van near the small building where they were to change into their dresses.
Closer to the shore, the small white tent where she’d wait to make her entrance had already been erected and the rows of white wooden folding chairs set up. Several people were decorating the aisles with red roses and sprigs of baby’s breath, trailing lace, and satin ribbons in red and white. The decorating was going rather smoothly, considering how breezy it was.

Maybe she was worried about nothing. The women chatted among themselves as they entered the little beach house. Jessica paused at the dining room table to admire the bouquets set in a neat row. All eight of the smaller bouquets matched hers. The only difference was that the bridal bouquet was larger and had white lilies worked into the red roses. She bent to draw the sweet lily s
cent into her nose and sneezed unexpectedly.

She drew away and sneezed again. And again.

“Are you allergic to your flowers?” Beth asked.

Jessica’s eyes and nose began to itch and ache. “I must be,” she said, her voice nasally from the sudden swelling in her face. She sneezed again and again, backing away from the offending allergens wafting from her bouquet.

“What am I going to do?” she asked. “I can’t say my vows if I’m”—
ah ah ahchoo
—“sneezing the entire time.” She sniffed, searching the room for a box of tissues.

“I’m allergic to certain flowers,” Myrna said. “You just have to pinch off the
anthers. Or is the stamens? Gets rid of the pollen.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Jessica said, hoping she was right.

Myrna picked up the bouquet and headed into the small kitchen near the back of the cottage. Jessica sneezed again as she passed by, but felt less bothered once the flowers were taken from the room.

“I didn’t sneeze when they showed me their samples,” Jessica said to Beth, who handed her a tissue. Jessica blew her nose and blinked to prevent her watery eyes from ruining her make
-up.

“Because their samples were fake flowers,” Beth said. “Remember?”

Beth had gone with Jessica to pick out most of the items for the wedding since Sed had been on the road touring with Sinners almost the entire time she’d been planning the occasion. But she’d sent him pictures of everything and asked his opinion on every detail. He hadn’t lost his patience once, even though she must have been driving him bonkers. He probably didn’t give a rat’s ass if the red ribbons in the flowers were matte or satin, but she had required his opinion on the matter, by God, and he offered one. She’d wanted him to feel he was a part of every decision, every step leading up to this day. She wasn’t the only one getting married today.

Jessica chuckled. “You’re right. I guess that would explain why I wasn’t allergic to them at the florist.”

“I hope removing the anthers does the trick,” Beth said. “Are you ready to put on your dress?”