to be at my side. “Thank you for everything. It’s a beautiful wedding and I’ve had the best time.”
She’s sheepish, unsure how to handle such an earnest compliment from sarcastic me. She’s still not used to the woman I’ve grown into. “How can you have had the best time? It hasn’t happened yet.”
“Well, it has for me. And I just wanted to thank you. You and Dad have been incredible.”
She throws up her hands in an embarrassed frenzy. “Well, who knew he had a savings account set aside for this! The man never ceases to surprise me!”
“We could have handled it,” I tell her, for the millionth time.
“Tish tish. Stop already.”
Taryn stands back to check out her masterpiece. “Does Brendan surprise you, Annie?”
“Every single day.” I turn to look at myself in the mirror. The white silk shines in the sunlit room, and my pregnancy-breasts are overflowing the dress’s low bodice. I touch the pillowy tops of them. “Can my boobs stay like this all the time, please?”
Everyone laughs and we all look toward the door as it opens. My dad walks in and freezes at the sight of me. He shakes his head. “You look like a whale.”
“Dad!” I crack up laughing, knowing he’s joking, but my mom nearly loses her lunch and my girlfriends don’t know him well enough to laugh, until they see his eyes glitter. He walks over to me. “You look beautiful, Annie.”
“Thank you, Daddy.” I give him a big hug.
“Don’t crush your dress!!!!” My mom nearly yells.
Dad and I separate and Laura puts her glass down to come fiddle with my dress, but it’s fine. They’re just excited. “Mom, it’s good you’re here so you can do all the freaking out. Someone’s got to!”
Nicole pokes her head in the door and calls to us, “It’s time!”
Laura cocks her chin to the side and asks dryly, “You ready for this?”
Nodding, I follow them to the door. My mom follows me, fastidiously fixing my gown with every step. “Mom, don’t go overboard.”
She stands up indignantly. “I’m the Matron of Honor–I’m allowed to go overboard.” Then she mumbles as we all wait by the door for the music to start. “Since you don’t, someone’s got to.”
Chapter Thirteen
Brendan
Me: not religious, but a place like this sure does calm the spirit.
I take my place by the priest, and we nod hello to one another. “It’s going to be fine,” he tells me.
“I’m not worried. But thank you,” I smile.
I was raised catholic and my mom insisted we get married at St. Dominic’s since I’d been baptized here, and my dad would have wanted it. Annie’s not religious, neither am I, really, but it didn’t take much persuading when I drove her to look at the church and told her it was done in English Gothic style. It’s one of, if not the most, majestic in the city.
“How does this size up to the churches in Italy?” I’d asked her as we walked around inside, our footsteps echoing.
“It’s just as amazing as any I’ve ever seen,” she’d beamed, admiring the stained glass windows and all the details of the columned arches that ran the length of the long hall. “It’s perfect.”
“You think so? Good. My mother will be very happy you said that.”
And now on the big day, I take my place in front of the high alter. Mark’s beside me as my best man and Bobby is on the other side of him. We all exchange a look and turn to the face one hundred and eleven guests who are hushing each other now that we’ve appeared. Nicole, sitting in the second pew, smiles at Mark and makes a face like she’s nervous for Annie. He whispers to me through a smile, not moving his lips, “She’s terrified. Look at her.”
I chuckle and glance through the room at all the familiar faces, nodding to a few I know more than others, like Margaret, who’s seated a few rows back next to her husband. She’s been slowly coming around after the shock of hearing about Tommy. I’ve never told her I know about their affair, and I never will. I feel for her. She must feel the betrayal I feel, learning how crooked he really was.
Everyone from my agency is here, spread around on both sides. Annie and I didn’t want the formality of splitting up the room in terms of her guests and mine, since we’re blending our lives together for good anyway. I was surprised when the list