The entire car was silent and sullen. They had just spent the entire day going from one bridal boutique to the next and they’d found nothing. Well nothing in the form of a dress anyway. They’d picked up random things in the boutiques, a veil, a ring bearer pillow, a flower girl basket—even though they didn’t have a flower girl—fancy Champagne flutes, and a cake cutting set. But not the one thing they’d come to Denver for—the wedding dress.

They’d had no luck whatsoever. The dresses were either something Alyssa couldn’t bear to wear, or they hadn’t fit right and would need too many alterations to have it ready in time. She had wide shoulders and small breasts and she was too short for anything readymade. There were a couple she liked that could be made for her, but it was a six-month process.

Rachel could tell Alyssa was close to tears as she drove her Equinox down I-70 west. Her shoulders were tense, and her mouth was clamped into a line of frustration, her hands tense on the steering wheel. She had to think of something to give Alyssa hope.

Suddenly an idea formed. “Alyssa, what about having Barbara make you one?”

Alyssa’s voice was rough with unshed tears. “I thought about that, but it takes Barbara forever to make dresses. Remember our prom formals, we tried them on a dozen times and it took her months. And those weren’t nearly as complicated as a wedding dress.”

“But maybe you should ask. She might have some ideas.”

Alyssa shook her head. “I don’t think—”

The car phone cut Alyssa off mid-sentence. She pushed the talk button. “This is Alyssa.”

“Alyssa, this is Barbara Clarkson.”

“Hi Barbara, we were just talking about you.”

Rachel spoke up. “Hi Barbara, this is Rachel, we’re in the car driving back from Denver.”

Barbara said, “Hi Rachel, what were you girls doing in Denver?”

“Looking for a wedding dress.”

Barbara sniffed. “Did you find one?”

Alyssa sighed. “No, we did not.”

“Well good, because you are totally going to hurt my feelings if you don’t let me make you one.” Barbara said sharply.

“But the wedding is in two months, it’s not enough time.”

“Alyssa Jefferson, you and your big day are more important than any other client I have. Besides my staff can take care of the other clients while I focus on you. How many bridesmaids are you having?”

“Just Rachel and Beau’s sister Emma, who’s also in the car.”

“Perfect. I’ll do their dresses, too.”

Alyssa looked at Rachel and she shrugged. “But what about fittings and stuff?”

“I have an invitation in my hand for a bridal shower in a month. I assume you’re coming to it.”

“Yes.”

“That will work perfectly. I’ll send you some sketches, you pick the one you like best and I’ll have them ready for the first fitting before the shower and a second fitting after the bachelorette party. Then we’ll do the final fitting and adjustments the week before the wedding. Chris and I are coming out early.”

Alyssa frowned. “You and Chris are driving out for the wedding?”

“Well, of course we are.”

“But what about your businesses?” Alyssa asked, and Rachel had to admit she wondered about it too. Barbara had a thriving online wedding dress design business and she also was a partner in a wedding and costume boutique in town. Chris was the spearhead of a large amusement park, based on a video game one of the residents had designed in high school and sold to a tech company in Seattle.

“That’s the beauty of owning your own. Chris and I are the bosses and can leave when we like. I’ve already made reservations at the Singing River Ranch. The woman assured me we could have a cabin that has enough room for my sewing machine and plenty of room for Jill to play.”

Alyssa’s breath caught, and Rachel looked at her to see an expression of delight. “Barbara, do you think Jill would be able to be in the wedding, as a flower girl?”

“Oh…” There was a shuffling sound and Rachel wondered what had happened.

“Barbara?” Alyssa said

“Alyssa? This is Chris. Barbara needs a moment.”

Rachel said, “Hi Chris, this is Rachel. Does Barbara’s needing a moment mean what I think it does?”

Rachel was certain she could hear the man’s chest puff out. “Yes, Rachel. Little Jill is going to have a baby brother before the end of the year.”

Rachel and Alyssa grinned at each other when they heard Barbara say, “Chris you are such a blabber-mouth, now give me my phone. Alyssa, we would be honored to have Jill be your flower girl. I’ll make her a dress to match your bridesmaids’.”

“Oh goody.” A thrilled smile covered Alyssa’s face.

“I’ll need your colors and Emma’s measurements. You and Rachel are still relatively the same size you were in high school, aren’t you?”

Rachel nodded, and Alyssa answered, “Yes, we haven’t changed much.”

“Good. Then I have your measurements from your prom dresses. I’ll sketch up some ideas and email you,” Barbara said decisively.

“Don’t you want to ask me what I like?” Alyssa asked.

“Alyssa, I’ve known you since you were a toddler. I’m fairly certain I can send you some ideas to start with, you can fine tune whichever one you like best.” Rachel had to admit if anyone knew what Alyssa would like it would be Barbara, when it came to clothing the woman was hawk-eyed.

Alyssa said, “Awesome, thanks, Barbara.”

“You’re welcome, I’m just glad you didn’t find some nasty dress in Denver. Honestly, I don’t know why you even looked. Send me colors and measurements. Oh, and Emma will need to come with you to the bridal shower, so she can be fitted too.”

Emma said, “Hi Barbara, this is Emma. I will be happy to come.”

“Good, I need to go now. I’ll email you, Alyssa.”

Before they could say goodbye, the car phone signaled the call was over.

Meg laughed. “That woman is a force to be reckoned with. How did you know she was pregnant, Rachel?”

Rachel looked into the back seat and gave Meg a grin. “Barbara gets very emotional when she’s pregnant and bursts into tears at the slightest provocation. She runs off to the bathroom and then comes out a few minutes later and acts like nothing happened. When she’s not pregnant she is never emotional. The first time she got pregnant everyone thought she’d gone crazy, but as soon as little Jill was born Barbara settled right down to her normal self.”

Meg laughed. “Pregnancy does affect each person differently.”

“Well at least our wedding dress dilemma is taken care of,” Emma said cheerily.

Alyssa sighed, and Rachel was thankful to see a wide smile on Alyssa’s face as she said, “Thank God for that. Barbara does such an excellent job on her dresses, it will be perfect.”

Emma asked, “How old is Jill?”

Alyssa shrugged and glanced at Rachel. “Four, about the same age as Tony actually. They will be adorable together.”

The rest of the drive back was happy and they all chattered about the wedding and who all might be driving in from Washington. Alyssa didn’t think many would be joining them. Rachel on the other hand, would be surprised if there was anyone left in Chedwick, Washington the weekend of the wedding. She suspected some of them would fly into Denver if they didn’t have the four days to spend driving back and forth.

* * *

Adam collapsed into an overstuffed chair in the living room as his father and brothers did the same. Tony had run all six of them ragged. He honestly did not know how Emma did it, day after day. There’d been six of them and they were exhausted. Emma took care of him all day every day, attended night classes online in the evenings and did bookkeeping on the weekends while his mom watched Tony.

The six of them had been in charge of the boy for twelve hours and could barely move. He hoped like hell that the women had found dresses, so they would not have to go shopping and leave the boy with them for the whole day again. An hour or two here and there was fine, but twelve hours was killer. He had a whole new respect for his sister. The woman was clearly made of stronger stuff than he was.

Beau shook his head. “I don’t know how Emma does it.”

Chase opened his eyes. “Right? I was thinking the same thing.”

Dad rubbed the back of his neck and sat up. “You know, we can’t let on that the little guy tuckered us out this much, or we will never hear the end of it.”

He and all four of his brothers groaned at the truth of the statement.

“Coffee? Energy drinks? Sugar?” Cade said looking at each of them.

“Not coffee or energy drinks, caffeine lasts too long. Sugar is the best bet, it will give us some energy, but not enough we won’t be able to sleep,” Adam said.

Cade nodded. “True. Cookies or ice cream?”

Drew stood. “Both. I’ll dish up the ice cream. Cade, you get the cookies. The rest of you drag your butts to the kitchen.”

The ice cream and cookies did start to revive them and as they ate they laughed about the events of the day. Tony had been thrilled to be allowed to ride his own horse. Cade had led the gentle mare by the reins as Tony perched on top. He’d always only ridden with another adult, so he’d been in hog heaven, all alone. Chase had been on one side with their dad on the other so either one could catch him if something went wrong. But it hadn’t, and Tony’s grin was huge when they got to the river.

The fishing had been a hoot. Tony loved playing with the worms they’d dug up to use so they had resorted to using salmon eggs. Drew and Adam had brought along their fly fishing rods, so they would be certain to have some fish for dinner. Chase and Cade were so busy with Tony they didn’t really have time to fish at all.

They stopped for a while and had a picnic lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, apples and water. After lunch Tony did manage to catch one fish and as far as he was concerned he was the best fisherman ever. When he pulled the fish in, he’d gotten a little too close to the river and ended up wet from his knees down. Fortunately, that incident was toward the end of their fishing time, so they could get him home without being too cold. It was a warm day, but it was still in the mountains of Colorado and the water that fed the river was made up of snow melt, so it was icy cold.

When they got back to the ranch they made Tony take a bath. The water was practically black from the little guy digging in the dirt and playing with the worms. Then he took a short nap on the couch with Grandpa K, while the brothers put away all the fishing equipment, brushed down the horses, cleaned the fish and set up the camp fire. Travis made some corn bread and Grandpa K doctored up some pork and beans. They set up some logs to sit on by the fire and brought out the pie tins to use as plates.

When Tony got up from his nap he was raring to go. They played Cowboys and Indians around the campfire and eventually got around to cooking over the flames. Tony declared it was the best meal he’d ever eaten. Once they got some real food in him they let him roast marshmallows to make s’mores. He ended up just as dirty from the playing in the dirt, being near the fire, sticky marshmallows and gooey chocolate as he had from fishing, so he had to take a second bath and then they all went into his room to see his tent bed.

He was so excited he bounced all over the room. They finally got him calmed down enough to read him some stories.

He was almost asleep when he cried out, “But mommy can’t kiss me if I’m in the tent, she won’t be able to reach me when I’m asleep.” His chin started to tremble and all six of them panicked not wanting him to start crying.

Grandpa K heard the commotion and came into the room to ask what was wrong. Tony explained with tears forming in his eyes.

Grandpa K calmly said, “We can fix that easy as pie, don’t you worry one bit. Chase get a piece of paper and a marker. Drew get some scissors or a sharp knife. Chad, there’s twine in the mud room, grab a couple feet of it. Adam there are safety pins in Meg’s sewing kit. Beau read the boy another story while we fix up his tent.”

When they all returned with their assigned items. Grandpa K said. “Chase, write Mother kisses here. Drew, cut two nice long slits in the tent right where Tony’s pillow is to make a flap. We’ll pin the sign above the flap and tie the twine to the bottom of it, so Emma can lift it easily in the dim light.”

Tony had stopped listening to the story and was watching them work to fix his dilemma. When it was ready he went over to look at it. He pulled on the string and saw it lift the flap. When he saw his pillow right behind it he grinned and hugged Grandpa K. “You’re the smartest Grandpa ever.”

Grandpa K patted the boy on the back. He cleared his throat. “Now get on in your bed and we’ll try it out to make sure it works.”

Each one of them gave the boy a good night kiss through the tent flap and he drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face. The men walked silently out of the room knowing they had dodged a bullet. Happy, but exhausted.

As they laughed about the day while eating ice cream and cookies they discussed how much to tell Emma and the other women. They certainly didn’t want to tell them that the little guy had run them ragged. They weren’t sure they wanted to mention him getting wet at the river or the fact that they’d had to give him two baths.

Adam was sure Rachel would get a kick out of the pictures they’d taken with their phones. Rachel? Why was he thinking about her? The pictures were of Tony, so Emma would love them. Actually, all four of the women would enjoy the pictures, but he wondered why his mind had gone straight to Rachel, bypassing his sister.