Behind her, Math said quietly to Hue, “Why would you marry my sister? She’s so annoying.”
Hue laughed at his friend. “Because I love her.”
Shutting the door, she couldn’t stop grinning. Hue loved her, and in a few minutes, he was going to tell more than Math that. He was telling everyone.
Lifting her dress, she headed down the stairs. She needed to get to her own room of waiting, which was in the basement. Just like at every wedding, the bride was in the basement and the groom in the wine room. Not its actual name, but when you were raised in the church, it was the most important thing in the room.
Just as she hit the bottom step, she almost ran into her aunt Dotty and uncle Roger coming from their car. Roger didn’t even look her way as they went, but Dotty stared at her and then looked up the steps. She knew exactly where Amanda had been.
Blushing, Mandy dipped her head and felt embarrassed for getting caught. As if her aunt knew exactly what they had been doing and that Amanda no longer had panties on.
Then she straightened. It didn’t matter what her aunt thought of her. After all, everyone coming to the wedding—hell, everyone in the entire town—knew that she and Hue had already slept together. Mandy was visibly pregnant again. They were living together.
This time around, the depression she had felt throughout her pregnancy with Noah wasn’t there. There wasn’t even a hint of it. Which meant that it wasn’t caused by her pregnancy, just her stupid decision to tell nobody about it.
“Morning, Dotty, Roger.” She smiled politely at them.
“Morning, Amanda. Your dress is beautiful.”
“I know.” She touched the dress—it was gorgeous.
“Mandy, can you aim the bouquet at Mia today? I know Kit is probably going to be next, but Mia needs all the help she can get,” Dotty whispered and looked around.
“Mia will find love when she finds love. A few roses tossed in the air won’t help that.” It was exactly how it had happened with her. Why hadn’t she fallen for Hue her first day back in Landstad? It was a mystery, one she had stopped trying to solve. She loved him now, and that was all that counted.
Dotty just sniffed in annoyance as Roger opened the door of the church and let the two women in. Amanda ignored her aunt and headed to the basement, then to the room where she knew Mia was waiting for her. A short breastfeeding session had gone on long.
Mandy rushed into the room and looked Mia up and down in her peach dress. It was Mia’s choice to wear the dress, but it did little for her. It just washed her out and made her look sad. “Look at you all lonely.”
“I’m here with all my friends.” Mia smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“Then it’s a good thing I came.” Mandy jumped up beside her.
“Get down. You’ll wrinkle your dress,” Mia warned.
“I don’t care; let it be wrinkled. I’m sitting with my favorite cousin.” Mandy put her arm around her.
Mia’s mom was pushing for her to get married, and Mia was feeling the pressure. But in a town like Landstad, single men were few and far between. With her words still ringing in Amanda’s ears, she tried to tell her cousin that there was someone out there for her.
Mia smiled. “At least we will always be cousins.”
“Does that mean that we won’t have lunch once a week when we’re old?” Like their moms did, Mandy didn’t add.
“Probably not. You will get together with Kit and never have enough grandkids to beat her.” Mia laughed.
“Kit wins all day long. I’ll stick with you, though. We’ll talk about our mom hips and have a competition to see who has more grandkids.”
“You will win, no kids means no grandkids.” Mia sighed.
“There’s always Rafferty,” Mandy said with a wink. She had never understood why they weren’t a couple or even dated, not once. They were a cute couple who had a lot in common, but it seemed there was no spark, or something would have happened by now.
“No, that’s over. Whatever it was,” Mia admitted.
“Then there’s someone out there for you.”
“No, he was the one. Ever since high school, he was the one.” Mia’s words sounded so like all hope was gone.
“High school?”
“Yup.”
“Why are you giving up so easily then?” If she was in love with Rafferty, shouldn’t she fight for him? Mia had been there for everyone’s rock bottom, and here she was, alone.
Amanda promised herself once this wedding was over, she was going to make sure her cousin got the man she wanted. And she wanted Rafferty Brooks, that was for sure.
Everyone was convinced she was being too picky, but she had already picked. She had just been waiting.
The End