Page 66 of Lush Curves

Jax shrugged, ran his hands through his dark hair. “I dunno. I guess I just thought maybe you’d be more likely to have twins, being one yourself. Like, maybe it runs in your family?”

“Oh, Christ. Yeah. Yeah, it does.” Sarah gulped her coffee. “Why have I never thought about this before?”

“Are twins an issue?”

“Well… no. I mean, yes. I mean, they’re a lot of work.”

“You think you’d be on your own, baby? I’m not your absent Dad, and youknowyour Mom would be here faster than you could say, ‘Grandma’.”

“True.” Sarah ate a piece of apple. “She practically has ‘free babysitter’ in a balloon over her head.”

Just then, the bell from the front gate rang. Sarah jumped to her feet, launched herself over to the security system on the wall.

“Elise?” she gasped. “That you?”

“You know it,” came the sultry, husky voice of Elise Jordan. “I said I’d be here sweetie, and here I am.”

“Thank the Lord.” Sarah pushed the button that swung the gate open, and she smiled at Jax. “You were right.”

“From what I’ve seen on TV shows, baby, that’smygo-to line to survive married life.”

“Bah,” she huffed. “I love you, handsome.”

“Love you too, Red.” Jax kissed her, then held her face in his hands. “I’m gonna see you in a few hours… and then about an hour after that, you’re gonna be my wife.Mine, forever. You and me, doll, for better or for worse, you and me against the world.”

“I’ll be there,” she whispered. “I’ll be the one in the wedding dress.”

**

Elise Jordan stepped back, cocked her head, shifted her weight to one curvy hip, stared hard at Sarah.

“Perfect,” she pronounced. She shook her head in wonder. “You’re beautiful, hon.”

As Annie, Gabi, Mirrie, Noami, Callie, Maria, and Tessa gathered behind her, Sarah turned to look at herself in the bedroom mirror, blinked in astonishment. Somehow, the floor-length, pale blue dress was even more stunning than she remembered: clean, simple, elegant, with a bit of beadwork around the bodice. She looked at it and saw no sign – not evenone– that Elise had hand-sewn some alterations into the back just a couple of hours earlier.

“My God,” Sarah said. “Elise, you’re agenius.”

“You are,” Annie agreed, awe-struck at her daughter. “And Sarah is almost perfect.”

“Almost?” Callie said, clearly scandalized. “That’s not very nice. EvenIknow that it’s rude to insult the bride on her wedding day. Noah and I read about wedding etiquette on the internet, and it said so.”

Everyone laughed; Callie looked confused.

“What did I say that was funny?”

“I was just teasing Sarah, sweetie,” Annie said gently. “Because there’s one more thing that she has to put on. Then she’ll be perfect, believe me.”

“Oh,” Callie said. “What does she still have to put on?”

“This,” Elise said, opening a large, square blue box with a flourish. “A pre-wedding gift from your future husband.”

“Ohhhhh, no,” Sarah breathed. She saw the crystals reflecting on the ceiling, bouncing and catching the sunlight, and she already knew what it was. “No, no, no. Elise… I said it was too expensive when I tried it on at your shop.”

Elize shrugged, lifted the tiara from the box. “Jax didn’t care about the cost. He wanted you to have it.”

“Ohhhh,” Sarah repeated, deathly afraid that she was going to cry and ruin her eyeliner. “Damnthat man.”

“Put it on,” Mirrie said gently. “Let us see you in all your bridal glory.”

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