Page 15 of Loving Her

“Ange, ohmygoooooood.” Ruby’s hands flew to her cheeks when Angela emerged from the fitting room at Bella Moda Bridal, the very picture of a blushing princess of a bride. Next to her, Angela’s mother, Concetta, burst into tears, along with Elena and Angela’s college best friend, Kate, who was the maid of honor.

Ruby felt tears welling up in her eyes herself. With the ten-year age gap between herself and Surprise Baby Daniel, she’d basically helped raise him with her mother. Now he was getting married to a young woman Ruby had met when she was still a babyfaced college freshman with braces, who was now standing before her in a full-on sparkling white Cinderella ballgown, strawberry blonde hair gently pinned up under a softly frothy tulle veil. It was all so real now that Angela was getting her final fitting for her gown, and Daniel was up the street at Stein’s Fine Suits having the cuffs of his trousers turned up one last scant quarter inch.

Not to mention her own gown as Daniel’s Best Gal. His three groomsmen were wearing black trousers and suit jackets the deep maroon-ish color of Angela’s favorite roses. Ruby had beenoffered the suit option, but she just liked dresses better, and both Daniel and Angela were fine with that. So, she and Kate were wearing matching gowns, full maroon satin skirts with a wide black velvet wrap top to coordinate with the men in an inverse way. The three bridesmaids were in the same gown but all maroon. It was all very dramatic and romantic, everyone looked like the rosebuds that would be festooning the church and the reception hall.

Ruby loved it all, the pageantry and elegance and lush romance of everything. They’d been in New York for two days now, and it had been a nonstop whirlwind of love and joy all centered around Angela and Daniel. She truly felt like she was watching a rom com coming to life.

Speaking of rom coms…Ruby glanced over at Sasha, who was standing and fidgeting by the accessories counter. She’d tried to beg out of coming to the final dress fittings, insisting that she’d be fine at the house helping Rose and Cecelia put together the evening meal as she’d done each night since they’d arrived. But Elena had overridden her entirely, insisting that she come see Ruby try on her gown. “You telling me you don’t want to see your girlfriend looking like a princess? C’mon, Sasha. Don’t give me that. Get in the car.”

Sasha had tried to lock eyes with Ruby for help, but Ruby wanted her there, too. She didn’t know Kate at all, Angela was absorbed in making sure her dress was perfect, and The Mothers… well, they werecertainlymothering. Ruby wanted someone sane at the dress shop with her, just in case.

She walked over to Sasha now, carefully holding the voluminous skirt up off of the immaculate marble floor of the dress shop. “What do you think?”

Sasha’s cheeks were faintly rosy. “You look great, of course. But how are you managing in heels?”

Ruby stuck one black satin pump-clad foot out from under the frills of black tulle petticoats and maroon satin. “They can barely be classified as heels. Angela knows the whole story about prom night and wants no part of potentially recreating the disaster.”

“No ambulances at my wedding,” Angela called out from the platform in front of the three-way mirror. “Who’s gonna see their feet anyway?”

“I, for one, amgrateful,” Kate chimed in from where she was primping her glorious head of glossy black curls in another mirror. “I’m already nearly six feet tall in my bare damn feet. If Ruby weren’t in the wedding party, I know Angela would have me wedged into five-inch stilettos.”

“I would not! Even though you look great in them… no, on my wedding day I’m fine with you being as close to short as we can get you.” Angela grinned and tossed her veil back over her shoulder. “Why’s my bestie got to be a frickin’ supermodel?”

“I’m just glad we’ll be across the aisle from each other and that I don’t have to stand next to Kate,” Ruby whispered to Sasha. “I mean, I’m 5’4, and with this red hair, I’d look like a fire hydrant.”

“You wouldneverlook like a fire hydrant,” Sasha insisted. “No matter how tall the person next to you is.”

They both looked at Kate, who was having to bend nearly double to hug tiny, elfin Angela. “What do you think it’s like, never having to stand on a chair to reach the top shelf?” Ruby asked, tilting her head to regard Kate with amazement. “Or, no, wait, not just the top shelf, but that weird little cabinet over the top of every refrigerator in every home I’ve ever seen. She can put things in thereand get them out again.”

“She can dust the ceiling fan without having to get one of those special long dusters,” Sasha replied, shaking her head.

“I have to squat in every shower and it’s torture riding in Angela’s stupid little Prius,” Kate called across the bridal salon, sticking her tongue out and grinning.

“Noted!” Ruby called back, laughing.

They were all out of their dresses and climbing back into their street clothes when Elena let out a horrific shriek. “I’ll kill her! I willkill my sister-in-law.”

Ruby ran out of the dressing room, still yanking her black sweater over her head. She pulled her ponytail out of the neck as she skidded to a stop next to her mother, who was jabbing at her mobile phone with a violence not seen since she’d been beaten for Mom of the Year at St. Clair’s School for Girls. “Are you okay? What’d Aunt Cee do?”

“Not Cecelia,” Elena hissed. “Beth.”

Ruby’s eyes went round. “Oh, damn.”

“Who’s Beth?” Sasha asked, sidling up with curiosity all over her face.

“My Uncle Leo’s second wife.” Ruby looked over her mother’s shoulder to read the messages that had set her off. She let out a low whistle as she realized what had happened. “Did she seriously message you to say she’s invited both of her kids and their families to tag along to dinner tonight?”

“I will kill her,” Elena growled, sending back a short, polite message that utterly belied her fury. “We didn’t plan fortenextra people! Rose and Cee are going to mutiny, they were on the verge as it was this morning when I asked them if they could bake a couple cheesecakes.”

“That was ashockingamount of gall, even for you.” Ruby ducked the swat her mother aimed at the back of her head. “We can get through this, though, right? Maybe pick up something from a restaurant?”

Sasha had a thoughtful look on her face. “We don’t even need to do that. Remind me of the menu tonight?”

“Baked chicken casserole, mashed potatoes, a big salad, and rolls,” Elena rattled off. “And the cheesecakes. Rose and Cee are stretched to the bone as it is making enough of that to feed nearly thirty people. It’s five PM! Dinner’s in two hours, I can’t ask them to make more, as if there was any room in the kitchen to cook anything else.” She sighed and rubbed her head. “I can pick up a couple of rotisserie chickens and a tub of potatoes from a deli, but that witch willknowthey’re from a deli. I can hear her snide cracks now.”

“You’re not going to do that. You’ve got a grill on the back porch, right? And a blender somewhere?” Sasha had her phone out and was making a list. “Rubes, have Daniel come pick us up, we’ve got some shopping to do. Mama Elena, can you get home and get the grill ready? Angela, is it okay if I kidnap your fiancé?”

Angela was pulling on her Chelsea boots. “No problem. Mama can drive me and Kate to the Fierellicasa. Do you want us to pick up anything on the way?”

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