patients. Your brother is on his own for the rings. There needs to be limits to your paranoia, Hope.”
“You’re joking, right? Last week, Matthew warned me if I screwed anything up, my shame would be witnessed by royalty. I told him he was delusional. What sort of self-respecting member of royalty would be friends with my brother? He needs to worry about himself. He’s the one who wants to marry a thoroughbride.”
We laughed. There was little else we could do in the face of impending disaster.
At exactly eight in the morning, I presented myself for bride-herding duty. Amy opened her door and gaped at me, her expression so stunned I had no doubt she’d expected me to flake from the very beginning. “Rise and shine, Amy. It’s your big day.”
Take six.
“Hope? You’re already dressed.”
Not only was I dressed, I wore makeup and had nice hair, which wouldn’t survive the day if everything went as I expected. I forced a smile. “Of course. I need to give you my complete attention today so everything’s perfect.” I kept smiling until my face hurt. The effort to keep from clenching my teeth left me tired and ready to go back to bed. “Did you sleep well?”
“I spilled wine on the dress last night. Mat was over, and we were drinking.”
While my brother liked to drink, had she actually spilled wine on her dress while he was present, he would’ve called me in a complete panic. I questioned my decision to make certain my brother got the wedding he wanted.
I also swore I wouldn’t judge until I had a chance to ask him if he had actually gone over and been a participant in the death of a dress worth more than I was. With my smile fixed in place, I retrieved my phone from my purse and texted Clarice about the first disaster of the day. “Where’s your stylist?”
“He quit last night when I told him I’d need him an hour earlier.”
There went one deposit, and I’d be lucky if I got any of that money back. Wolfgang might forgive me one day. Maybe. If I groveled sufficiently and became his slave for the rest of my life. The second text of the day went to him. Then again, if I survived the day, I’d consider it a win and sell myself into slavery without regret.
Wolfgang’s world seemed so much better than mine.
I drew in a steadying breath. “Any other problems?”
“I think the photographer quit, too.”
Any sensible photographer likely would when faced with Amy at her worst. I really couldn’t see what my brother saw in the woman, but I couldn’t make his important life decisions for him.
Clarice would forgive me. Wolfgang might forgive me. Ben never would. Poor Ben. I texted Ben with a warning we’d upgraded from a thoroughbride to a bridezilla, and if I could somehow procure his skills for the day, my brother’s soul would be his to do with as he pleased.
My brother’s soul, in the grand scheme, was worth a lot more than mine.
As my bride-induced paranoia knew no bounds, I texted my father, an older man who’d stepped in when my parents had died years ago. The request to bring his parents’ rings would be the icing on the wedding cake for him, even if my brother and his goon of a bride didn’t manage to screw up their rings.
My father would consider forgiveness in exchange for a son-in-law. He’d be a long time waiting for that disaster to happen, but if he hadn’t figured that out on his own, he hadn’t been paying attention for the past ten years of my life.
It occurred to me we might have worse problems on our hands than a runaway bride out to ruin the wedding. I texted my mother just to make certain my brother showed up for his big day.
Our parents would be rolling in their graves over my brother’s poor choice of bride. The first chance I got, I’d visit their tombstones and tell them all about the woman who’d turned Matthew’s life upside down.
Amy stared at me, and I kept on smiling. Careful to keep my tone pleasant, I asked, “What is the situation with the florist?”
“They’re the only thing not ruined.”
Not only would I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I’d have tea with the devil to negotiate my takeover of hell before the day was through. Several pings on my phone drew my attention to the screen, with Clarice, Wolfgang,