Page 9 of Bridles and Bribery

“Welcome home, Mrs. Phillips.” To make things easier on them, Gil had already cracked the door open. Jillian either didn’t notice or chose not to comment on it.

Since her face was conveniently turned his way as he stepped across the threshold with her, Dave took the opportunity to plant another kiss on her. It was something he was never going to get tired of doing. He’d waited a very long time for her to come into his life. If there was a contest for the happiest man on the planet, he was sure he’d win it hands down.

“Surprise!” A chorus of voices made Jillian jolt in his arms and break off their kiss. She whirled her head around to see what was going on.

Dave carried her further into the kitchen, which connected seamlessly with the open dining room andvaulted great room. Other than the Justice of the Peace, everyone who’d attended the wedding was present.

They’d outdone themselves, too. The normally bare granite countertops in the kitchen were covered with tiered white porcelain platters, clusters of red and white roses, and strands of flickering white lights. The charcuterie style array of food was so pinkies up that his mother might as well have signed her name to it. Regardless of the fact that the Harrises had left his office building first, the feast in front of them was entirely her doing.

He caught her eye, nodding gratefully at her. She was wearing a tight expression that seemed to be aimed more at the Harrises than at him. Her lips softened momentarily into a smile, presumably for his benefit. Then her pinched look returned.

Yep, there was most definitely some bad blood brewing between her and Jillian’s family. It didn’t take him long to figure out why.

“General Phillips tried to twist our arms into blowing up a balloon arch,” Julia trilled in a falsely sweet voice. She waved a hand languidly at the sliding glass doors overlooking the balcony off from the great room. “I’m sad to say, all three of us are asthmatics.” She didn’t sound the least bit sad about it.

“Hmm. I never would’ve guessed,” Eloise Phillips retorted in a deceptively pleasant voice.

“Nobody would’ve,” Jillian whispered to Dave as he lowered her gently back to her feet, “on account of all the hot air they give off.”

He muffled a chuckle as he nuzzled her temple. Then he spun her in a full circle so he could watch her reaction to the pile of gifts on the coffee table in the great room. His mother had gone to the trouble of special ordering amassive cake-like centerpiece that was primarily made of white diapers. They were rolled up and tied with white satin ribbons. Next to the coffee table was an oak bassinet he’d assembled the night before. It had a white glaze finish that offset the frilly white blankets his mother had laid inside it to perfection.

“Oh, Dave,” Jillian breathed. “Look at all of this!” She drenched him with an awed smile. “Can you believe…?” She broke off the question, chuckling. “But of course you can! You were in on the surprise, weren’t you?”

He shrugged, grinning. “I might’ve had a clue there was something in the works.”

“This is so amazing,” she gushed, spinning in another circle. “Thank you, all of you.” Her blue gaze sparkled with appreciation. “I had no idea you were planning a full-blown wedding reception for us.”

“And baby shower. Just glad I didn’t accidentally say or do anything to blow the surprise.” Dave made a show of wiping the imaginary sweat off his forehead. His antics drew a few chuckles. “We figured it made sense to wrap both events into one, while both families are in town.”

“If we’d known about the surprise sooner,” Nell Harris whined, “we?—”

“Time to start the food line,” Eloise Phillips interrupted briskly. She waved Dave and Jillian forward imperiously. “As the guests of honor, you get to go first.”

Dave led Jillian to the front of the line. Before he reached for their plates, he bowed his head. “Let’s say a blessing.” Without waiting to see if anyone else closed their eyes, he launched into a prayer of thanksgiving for the food, gifts, and their guests. As far as he knew, his mother hadn’t darkened the door of a church for decades, and the Harrises certainly weren’t radiating Christian charity.

Jillian’s fingers were nestled warmly against his while he prayed. That was all that mattered to him. “Amen,” he concluded, raising his bride’s fingers to his lips. He kissed them unashamedly in front of everyone else. “Let’s eat,” he announced.

The next hour passed in a flurry of feasting, opening gifts, and trading veiled barbs. The barbs weremostly exchanged by their two mothers, though Julia plunged into the fray a few times. The rest of the time, she watched the byplay between the two women without bothering to hide her smirk. She was clearly enjoying their exchange of unpleasantries.

“What an adorable set of onesies,” Eloise Phillips sang out after Jillian opened her parents’ gift. “I saw something exactly like that on an end-of-season clearance rack at Carter’s.” Her meaning was clear. She was calling Mr. and Mrs. Harris cheap.

One of her own gifts to Dave and Jillian was a delicate ivory blanket with a scattering of tiny pink, blue, and yellow baby toys stitched on it.

“Let me guess,” Nell Harris ventured airily. “A bargain find from a flea market?”

“I think the term you’re looking for is heirloom.” Dave’s mother spoke in an equally airy voice. “I embroidered it myself.” Her smile was triumphant as she snapped a bunch of extra pictures of Jillian trailing her fingers over the soft blanket.

“It’s lovely. Thank you.” Jillian gave her a grateful look that went straight to Dave’s heart.

His mother continued snapping pictures as fast as she could to capture each moment of his bride’s happiness.

The tension in the air notched up a few more degrees. Jillian had to be aware of what was going on, though shewas doing her hardest to ignore it. Now and then, her smile would freeze or her hands would pause while untying a ribbon, but those were the only tells Dave was able to pick up on.

As they reached the bottom of the pile of gifts, one of the phones in his back pocket vibrated with an incoming call. He ignored it. Or tried to. Just as soon as it stopped, it started back up again and again and again. It soon became apparent that whoever was trying to reach him had no intention of giving up. They weren’t staying on the line long enough to leave a voicemail. They were hanging up and hitting redial to keep his phone vibrating.

He glanced across their huddle to catch Gil’s eye. His friend was perched on the dark leather loveseat with one arm slung casually around his wife’s shoulders. He’d left his Stetson on the hall tree by the front door, revealing wavy auburn hair that he’d been wearing a few inches longer since his retirement. He was sporting a short layer of scruff threaded with frost, too. Retirement definitely suited him.

Gil gave Dave a sympathetic look as his business cell phone continued to vibrate. He knew a thing or two about getting called away on business in the middle of family time. He’d probably welcomed the interruptions while married to his first wife. She’d been in the process of divorcing him when she was diagnosed with cancer. Like the trooper Gil was, he’d torn up her request for a divorce and stuck it out until the bitter end.

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