Page 79 of Dreaming of You

"Well, practically speaking, you should always get your wife a birthday present, even if she says she doesn't want one, always tell her she looks good, and if she asks you to pick an outfit, pick one, otherwise, she'll think you don't care. And be forgiving. Neither of you are perfect. But it's all the imperfections that make life the most interesting."

"Noted," he said with a smile. "I think I can do all that."

"You can and you will. Or I'll have something to say about it."

"Got it," he said.

"I'll see you in the church."

As Lance left, Matt smiled at him. "I might have to take some of Lance's advice, too."

"You and Amy?" he asked with a quirk of his brow.

"Getting close," Matt replied. "But let's get you married first."

* * *

"You look beautiful, honey," her grandmother told her, as she stepped into the dressing room.

Her friends had all moved into the outer hall to give them a few moments of privacy.

"Thanks, Grandma," she said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Your mother is in the church. She said she'd talk to you after."

"That's fine. You're the one who has been the real mother to me all these years, the one who helped me plan this wedding, the one who brought me up to be the best person I can be. I'm so grateful, Grandma."

Her grandmother's eyes blurred with tears. "Oh, Katie, you're going to make me cry and ruin my makeup."

"I just want you to know how much I love you."

"I love you, too. And I love Barrett. He's a good man and he's the right man for you. He'll support you, but he'll also encourage you to be all you can be. And you'll do the same for him."

She and Barrett had spent a lot of time with her grandparents in the past year and a half, and she'd been pleased at how well they'd all gotten along.

"Anyway, I'll let you spend the last few minutes with your bridesmaids," her grandmother said. "I'll see you after the ceremony."

"Thanks."

As her grandmother left, her bridesmaids came into the room.

As she looked at the group of her very best friends, the women who would stand by her side not just today but always, she felt incredibly blessed. Maybe her parents had been next to worthless, but she had wonderful grandparents, great friends, and a loving man she would soon call her husband. She was incredibly lucky.

"Okay, usually you do the champagne, but I am handling it today," Maggie said, passing out champagne glasses to everyone.

"You all look beautiful," she said.

She'd put her bridesmaids in dark-blue cocktail dresses that they could definitely wear again, while she'd chosen a beautiful fitted gown with hand-placed beads, a plunging neckline and an open back. It was her biggest splurge. The rest of her wedding was actually quite modest by most standards, and that wasn't because Barrett had wanted things simple. He'd given her free rein to plan everything, but she'd found after planning so many over-the-top weddings that what she wanted for herself was something small and intimate.

"So do you, Kate," Jessica said. "Maybe the most beautiful bride of all."

"Well, I'm the last one anyway," she said with a laugh. "What should we toast to?"

"Let's toast to us," Andrea said. "To eight friends who came together in the first year of college, who navigated the school years with the help of each other and grew up to be amazing women. To Laurel, who started us off on our bridesmaid journey. To Liz, who found love with her first crush and to Julie, who got over her hatred of baseball players to find the love of her life. To Maggie, who took a walk on the wild side with a rebel biker, who turned out to be so much more. To Isabella, who danced her way into Nicholas's heart and to Jessica, who got it right the second time around after getting stuck in a doghouse." Andrea paused, looking at her with a smile. "Finally, to Kate, who helped get us all down the aisle and now it's her turn."

"And to you, Andrea," Kate put in. "Who put love before career to marry an incredible man and who hosts all of our amazing parties."

"To us," Andrea said, as they lifted their glasses and then clinked them against each other.

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