Page 49 of Bride Games

“You sure do. You’re going to be in our wedding.”

Cheering while wriggling in her car seat, Lucy said, “Will my dress be white like yours?”

Emma turned onto the street. “No, only the bride wears white. It’s a tradition.”

“What’s a ‘dition?”

Grinning, Emma said, “A tradition is sort of like a custom or?—”

“What’s a cus?—”

Emma loved her daughter dearly, but the child was always inquisitive. She exhaled. “It means the bride almost always wears white.”

“Almost always?”

Emma knew her daughter would never understand about second marriages or simply some women who prefer to buck norms. “Yes, almost always, Luce. Meaning, the first time a woman gets married, she usually wears a white gown.”

“O-tay. What color will I wear?”

“Eli and I are struggling a bit with colors.”

“Why?”

Emma burst out laughing. “That’s a very good question. It shouldn’t be this hard, should it?”

“How ‘bout pink?”

I knew this was coming. “I know pink is your favorite color but I want to use sunflowers, which are—do you know what color they are?”

“Wellow.”

“Yes, yellow. And Eli’s favorite color is orange.”

“Why?”

Again, Emma giggled for far too long and too hard. “I kind of wanted to ask him the same thing because it certainly isn’t my favorite, but he gets to pick his own color. Don’t you think that’s fair?”

“Yes.”

“So, we have yellow and orange. I think Nigel can help us see what colors go with those. We’re considering hot pink. That’s a lot of bright colors. What do you think?”

“I wuv pink!”

Emma hadn’t realized they were nearing the bridal store and pulled into the lot. “We’re here. Let’s try on some dresses. Maybe we’ll decide then.”

44

Once inside the bridal store, Lucy attempted to take charge. “Go away, Mommy. I’m going to tell Nigel.”

Emma bent down, brows furrowed. “Tell Nigel what?”

Lucy gave her mom her best exasperated look. “My sec-wet.”

Emma crossed her arms. “Okay, but hurry. You need to try some dresses on.”

After listening to Lucy whisper in his ear for a full minute, Nigel blurted, “Bloody hell. That’s brilliant.” He immediately clapped a hand over his mouth. “Don’t say those bad words, Lucy. I shouldn’t have said that. It’s a bad habit.” He slapped both of his cheeks. “A very, very bad habit.”

Lucy got a mischievous look in her eye and whispered, “Don’t worry. I won’t say bloody hell, Nigel.”

---