Page 15 of Capturing Hearts

Chapter Twelve

Annie

Stomach: sticking out all the way to Maine.

Iturn from side to side looking at my reflection with my eyebrows twisted. “Do I look like a whale?” Taryn’s poking flowers into my hair, worn long with loose wavy curls. Laura’s examining me with a glass of Chardonnay in her hand. “No. You look stunning. Like a fertility goddess or something.”

I laugh and throw her a look. Taryn smiles and my mother rushes around the photographer who’s snapping pictures like crazy. She pulls my train out and claps her hands together, “Oh Annie, why’d you have to pick a dress with a train this long? What if you trip and fall in your condition?”

I shake my head, fingering a small white, baby rosebud tucked in my hair. “Well, you’ll have to make sure it stays free and clear of my feet then, Mom. Hey… come here.” She looks up and rises to walk the couple steps 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.”

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