Page 96 of Christmas in Paradise

“I need help, girls,” I say to the other bridesmaids as I set Charly in the middle of the room.

“What happened to her?” Cassie, Georgia’s roommate from LA asks.

“Seb and ebelskivers. That’s what happened to her,” Britta answers, assessing the damage.

Izzy, Evie and Georgia’s college roommate, steps into the circle we’ve formed around Charly. “I’ve seen worse. I once had a kid finger paint herself and a goat five minutes before pick up. I had her cleaned up and ready to go before her parents got there.”

She teaches kids’ goat yoga in Creekville, Virginia, so she’d know. But then she adds, “They were fifteen minutes late, but still, I got the kid clean.”

“Let’s get to work, before Evie and Georgia walk out of that bride’s room and freak out.” Stella puts down her bouquet and runs to the sink in the corner of the room. She pulls handfuls of paper towels from the receptacle, wets them all down, and runs back to us.

I pull Charly’s clothes off. I put her in a button-up shirt this morning, so I wouldn’t risk messing up her hair when I changed her, but her hair is already a mess. To Seb’s credit, I can tell he tried to redo the buns, but they look even worse than his attempt at the Mistletoe Inn.

While the other ladies go to work wiping Charly down, I fix her hair. She whimpers a little as I wind up her buns and put the elastics around them, but Stella pokes her bare belly and makes her laugh. I look around at the women surrounding me and my little girl and think how lucky Evie is to be connected to them.

Suddenly, someone is tugging at my dress. I look down to see another bridesmaid, Tessa, wiping at a section of my tulle covered skirt. “I think she got a little something on you, but I’ve got it.”

I smile, feeling like I’m also a part of this family Evie has created and is about to marry into.

When she and Georgia walk out of the bride’s room, Charly has her tights and dress on, her hair is perfect, and she’s got her basket of flower petals ready to go.

“Everything is perfect!” Evie exclaims, and Georgia nods. “Absolutely.”

There’s a knock at the door, and Dad peeks his head in. “It’s time. Ready?”

Evie smiles at him and there’s a genuine love and care between them that I know has taken a lot of work.

Georgia’s dad follows mine inside, and the two men crook their arms for their daughters to hold down the aisle.

I bend down to Charly and whisper, “Ready, baby?”

She presses her cheek next to mine and says, “Where we go, Mama?”

And a little ball of panic rises in my chest. “We go down the aisle like you practiced yesterday, remember? For Aunt Evie’s wedding.”

She sticks out her lower lip. “I want Gigi.”

Cue the sugar crash.

“Gigi is out there.” Trying to stay calm, I point to the chapel where everyone is sitting, waiting for us. Waiting for Charly. “You can sit with her as soon as the wedding’s over.”

Music drifts through the doors from the chapel. That’s the bridesmaids’ cue. I’m the second to last in line, which means I go before Charly.

“Everything okay?” Dad asks.

I open my mouth to ask for his help, but he looks so nervous and happy at the same time to be standing next to Evie, ready to walk her down the aisle, I don’t say anything. He didn’t think Evie would want him to do this, and I don’t want to ruin their moment together.

“I want to go now.” Charly bounces on her toes, a pot ready to boil over if I don’t turn down the heat fast.

I’m silently cursing Seb’s name, but then I switch tactics. Since he’s partly to blame—like ninety percent at least—he can be part of the solution too.

“Would you like to stand next to Sebby?” I cross my fingers and send up all the prayers that she’ll agree. The rest of the bridesmaids are already lined up at the door.

Charly's eyebrows crease behind her glasses, then she breaks into a smile. “Okay!”

“Okay?” I hope I heard what she actually said and not what I want to hear.

Charly nods.

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