We entered the double doors and I set Savannah down. Cricket bent down and straightened her skirt for her.
“Is this the flower girl?” a random woman asked.
“Uh, yup,” I answered.
She spoke into a handheld device and soon another woman came bustling forward with a ring of flowers for Savannah’s hair. It was set low on the crown of her head.
“This itches.”
“Leave it on and I’ll let you have a giant piece of cake.”
She settled down until she discovered the bell of her dress and then she twirled around.
“Bribery. I like it,” Cricket commented.
I tapped my temple. “Future reference.”
She winked.
Cricket had grown out her hair and it almost reached the small of her back. She curled it, and all I had wanted to do was run my fingers through it since she’d walked out of our bedroom.
My lids felt heavy and I rushed her side. I kissed her throat and moved up to her ear. “Wait until we get home,” I growled.
She gave me her clever smile. “Why go home when we have a perfectly nice car back at the ranch?”
I stood, slack jawed. “Cricket Blackwell, you saucy minx.”
She winked.
“We need all bridesmaids and groomsmen, please,” the woman with the device shouted.
Cricket shoved pulled my arm to where she stood and I resisted, snatching up my wife by the waist and swinging her around. “Spencer,” she laughed. “You are a troublemaker!”
The woman gave us the stink eye, so I placed Cricket back down. We both snorted into our hands.
“We need the maid of honor and the best man in the back here,” she said and we stepped in the far back of the line.
I took the opportunity to pinch Cricket’s butt. She gasped, inviting everyone to turn around and stare at us. I shrugged my shoulders at them like I had no idea what was going on. They turned back around and she hit my arm. “You’re gonna get us in big trouble,” she giggled.
“I hope so.”
“What a thing to say.”
“Time to get serious, people,” the woman announced, but she looked directly at us, inciting another laugh from us. “In a moment, the bride will come through here. The groom’s up front already. Remember, just like rehearsal! This is go time.”
The door to the cry room opened and out came my sister and she was breathtaking. A lace top and dupioni silk skirt. I know this because she and Cricket would tell me about it, like I gave a crap. I was glad they did though. Looking at her in that moment was one of the proudest of my life.
She strode forward and I stopped her before she met our mother’s side.
She smiled wide. “Bridget, you look stunning.”
“Thank you, brother,” she said, kissing my face.
I hugged my mom. “You too, Mama.”
She palmed our cheeks. “I’m so proud. So very proud of both of you.”
Bridget leaned down and kissed her daughter. “You look very beautiful too, Savannah. Very grown up.”