Page 43 of Tizzy's Little Thanksgiving

When the kind, older woman didn’t follow that up by mentioning her name, Teresa felt her heart begin to crack. But it was probably for the best. This trip had been wonderful, but she’d always known it couldn’t last. Fantasy never did.

Pasting a bright smile on her face, she said, “You know what they say, ‘Mom knows best’. I’m just glad Georgie proved you right.”

Chapter 18

Eddie

Introducinghis parents to Edward and Maude Preston, the owners of the B&B, Eddie knew Georgie had made the right decision in booking the beautiful Victorian home for their folks. Clara became instant friends with Maude over their shared love of antiques. All it took for his father to feel at home was seeing a cabinet displaying autographed paraphernalia and learning Edward was also a baseball fan. After dropping their luggage in their assigned room, Eddie, Teresa, and his mom and dad climbed back into the car for the drive to the only diner in Porter’s Corner.

Eli, the Ranch’s famed wedding planner, had given his services as his wedding gift to the couple. He and Georgie had collaborated on many a party since her arrival at the Ranch, but he’d arranged for the day’s festivities and due to the holiday and time crunch, he’d combined three events into one huge party dubbed as a “Bride and Groom Triple Play”.

Eddie watched his parents smile in honest pleasure when they’d hugged the man they’d known since he was a little boy. Lucas would never have to worry about how his in-laws felt about him They’d been his second family for years and now, as their future son-in-law, it was a perfect fit for all involved.

Georgie was beyond happy. She was the epitome of the perfect bride-to-be. Her eyes shone and she was bubbly like he’d never witnessed before. Lunch was a lovely buffet with Roxanne, the town’s favorite waitress, greeting almost everyone by their name and expertly refilling glasses and plates as their guests mingled before the shower began.

The engaged couple charmed everyone as they opened gifts during that part of the event. Eddie chuckled as he watched the groom when he opened a box one of his and Georgie’s aunts had sent along with their parents. Lucas pulled out a matching set of plaid flannel pjs meant to keep the newlyweds warm on cold Montana nights. When their eyes met, Lucas grinned and Eddie winked, friends silently acknowledging how they’d prefer to keep their Littles warm.

The majority of the guests left after the shower, allowing the bridal party to regroup and rest before returning to the town that evening for the rehearsal dinner that Eli had also arranged. The smaller guest list allowed for a more intimate meal in the dining room of the B&B, the Clarks the perfect host and hostess.

It started after they’d rehearsed the steps for the wedding, using the large backyard of the B&B instead of the actual site as Lucas was keeping that a surprise for his bride. Eddie watched Teresa who was acting as if every direction and every word spoken was a matter of life or death. Despite his attempts to keep her relaxed, he could tell she was beginning to stress. She barely ate any of her meal at the rehearsal dinner, too busy worrying her bottom lip with her teeth to actually eat.

His questioning of if she was feeling all right was met with quick bobs of her head and one-syllable answers he found hard to believe. It came to a head when the servers began to clear the table where we were seated.

Georgie reached over and grabbed Teresa’s arm. “Don’t forget, we’re going to get ready in your extra room tomorrow and not our apartment.”

“We got it the first nine times,” Eddie said, though she might have reminded them more often than that.

“I don’t meanyou, just Teresa,” Georgie said. “You’ll change in our apartment with Lucas. My party will change in the unneeded-room-slash-bridal-suite.” Her grin as she said it belied just how happy she was that Tizzy happened to have an unused room, and how she felt about the reason it was unused. Not to mention the fact that it had all worked out when Eli and Georgie realized that with all their detailed planning, they’d forgotten to save a space for the bride and her attendants to get ready in. By the time they had remembered, all the rooms at the resort had been booked up because of the holiday weekend.

“Relax, sis, we’ve got this, and we won’t let you or Lucas down.”

Georgie still looked a bit dubious and was most likely about to remind Teresa again but was forced to sit back in her chair as a dessert plate was slid in front of her.

“Yum! Eli is a doll. This has to be one of Angel’s chocolate creations,” she said, her smile huge at the sight of the slab of chocolate cake with three different types of curled chocolate shavings.

Teresa pushed hers away as if it held a slice of spinach quiche instead of cake. And when a bowl of sorbet was placed next to the dessert plate, her look of horror was the same one Eddie had seen when he’d plopped a spoon of Brussel sprouts on her dinner plate the day before.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, leaning toward her.

Instead of answering, she just shook her head.

Eddie put a bite of the cake in his mouth and practically moaned in pleasure. “Whoever this Angel is, he’s a true artist.” He lowered his fork to cut off another piece. Instead of putting the bite to his lips, he held it out to her. “You’ve got to try this, sweetie.”

“I can’t eat that!” she exclaimed adamantly, though the look of longing she gave said she very much wanted to dig in.

“Why not? It’s not like you’re allergic. You ate chocolate pie and drank hot cocoa last night.”

“I know!” she wailed, drawing the attention of Georgie as well as the other bridesmaids sitting around the head table.

“Hey, it’s all right,” Eddie said, setting down his fork and reaching for her hand only to have her bat his away.

“How can you say that? It’s not all right! What if I gained weight? What if I can’t fit into my dress? I couldn’t be the maid of honor and I’d ruin Georgie’s wedding and then she and your parents would hate me, and Lucas would be mad and—”

“Whoa, you need to calm down,” Eddie said, pushing his chair back only far enough to make room for her as he reached over, scooped her out of her chair and settled her on his lap. When she attempted to push off, he tightened his hold. “Settle down. Just breathe… breathe with me,” he instructed, cupping her chin in his fingers and turning her face up to his. “Inhale”—he took a deep breath—“hold it”—he demonstrated by holding his breath for several seconds before exhaling slowly. “Now, exhale.” Eddie repeated the cycle twice more before she began to breathe with him, the panic in her eyes and tenseness in her body beginning to soften, but not nearly enough even after two full minutes of deep breathing.

Making his decision, Eddie bent to drop a kiss on her forehead and then looked up to see every eye at their table staring at them, Georgie’s the widest, while Lucas just gave him a single nod of his head. But it was when his gaze saw his parents’ exchanging looks of puzzlement and concern that Eddie finally had an inkling of what was going on. He could kick himself for not taking the time to sit down and discuss this very thing with Teresa, but he couldn’t go back in time and fix that faux pas. What he could do was be the Daddy she needed right now.

“We’ll see you both tomorrow.” Eddie didn’t add assurances that they’d also show up in the right place at the correct time. He knew Lucas would make sure his bride’s nerves were settled. As for the two of them, it was time for him to teach his own Little girl the difference between punishment and funishment and Eddie knew the perfect place to do so.

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