SHELBY AND LUCY stood side by side as they looked at themselves in the mirror. It was a full-length mirror, one at the Lightning Bug Inn in what had been designated as one of the dressing rooms for the bridal party. Because it was full-length, Lucy and she had no trouble seeing that something had gone horribly wrong.
“Don’t you just love the embellishments I made to the dresses?” Rosy asked them.
No. Shelby didn’t love them, and she suspected from Lucy’s grim reaction that she didn’t, either. Rosy’s embellishments were what appeared to be tiny cloth armadillos that had been haphazardly glued to the red dresses. Well, haphazard except for the row of them that lined the side pockets. There were at least two dozen on each of the dresses, and it looked as if someone had sneezed the ashy gray critters all over them.
“I got a whole box of little Billy replicas,” Rosy added. There was plenty of glee in her voice and expression, and since Shelby would have rather sat on a cactus than dim that glee, she just smiled. Lucy managed to do the same.
“Very touching,” Shelby settled for saying. “It’s like Billy will be right here with us instead of only being at the hospital with Dad and you.”
“Yes!” Judging from her enthusiasm, that was exactly what Rosy had been going for.
“It’s...special,” Lucy piped in.
Such a clever—and kind—girl. Both a lie and the truth, and it caused Rosy to give another “yes!”
“I didn’t have time to put them on all the dresses,” Rosy went on, “but I’ve left the box and some glue out at the reception table for the other bridesmaids so they can help themselves.”
She hoped Rosy wouldn’t be too disappointed if there weren’t any takers for the armadillos, but she doubted Rosy would even notice. Soon, Rosy would be whisked away in a limo that Callen had arranged, and she’d be taken to the hospital where Buck would be waiting for her so they could finally say their I dos.
Shelby had considered being there with them, but she’d nixed the idea. Her dad and Rosy had had so few times when it’d been just them as a couple, and she thought that maybe this was the way to start their marriage. But to start it, they first had to get Rosy into her dress.
And there were time and space constraints.
Time because Rosy needed to leave for the hospital in less than a half hour. Plus, there were thirtysomething other bridesmaids, and while most would arrive in their dresses, they might still need to freshen up, and there was only one bridesmaid’s room. A room that was the same tiny size as Callen’s office—which was now being used as a groomsman’s dressing room. They were no doubt bumping elbows in there right now, but that would be small potatoes compared to the bumping that was about to go on in here.
Shelby went to the pink bridal gown that was draped over several chairs. It had been pressed like a frozen fish filet in a plastic bag. Not a regular garment bag, either, but one of those space-saver deals that had required a vacuum cleaner to suck out the excess air and flatten it enough to be transported. The moment Shelby released the seal on the bag, Lucy, Rosy and she might be knocked unconscious or get trapped under the expanding fabric.
“Take cover behind the mirror,” Shelby told Lucy and Rosy, and she waited until they were in place before she gulped in some air and went for it.
The dress expanded like a self-inflating pink bus. The fabric swooshed out, flinging sequins in every direction. Some landed on Shelby’s eyelashes. Probably in her nose, too. But when the fabric had finally finished swooshing, she was relieved that she still had about six inches of space to move around. Heaven knew how Rosy was going to fit in the limo, but that wasn’t Shelby’s problem.
“Oh, it’s so beautiful,” Rosy gushed, and she managed to sidestep and maneuver to make her way to Shelby. Lucy was right behind her. “And I was wrong to worry about it looking wrinkled. It doesn’t.”
Yes, it did, but that was because it was crinkled satin. Hard to tell which wrinkles were supposed to be there and which were a result of the pressurized bag.
“Go in and find the zipper,” Shelby instructed Lucy. They’d already worked this out on paper, complete with a diagram and dimensions of the dress. Too bad Rosy couldn’t just wear the paper because getting her into the garment looked a lot more hazardous in person.
Lucy dragged in the kind of breath that a diver might take before jumping into deep water, and she trudged forward, shoving aside the wads of satin, toile and lace until she reached the back of the dress. She slid down the zipper and motioned for Shelby to go on to the next step. Shelby took hold of a giddy, giggling Rosy and moved her toward the open zipper.
It took more than a little effort, but they finally got the woman into the dress. It took even more of an effort to zip her up. Then even more for Lucy and Shelby to back away without stepping on any of the fabric.
Rosy turned toward the mirror. “Oh, it’s so beautiful,” she repeated, and added “happy tears” when she started to cry. “I’ve been fighting them all day.”
So had Shelby, but she wouldn’t cry. Would. Not. Cry. This was a day for happy stuff, and red eyes and a clogged nose weren’t on her happy list. Rosy, though, had lost that particular fight now, and her mascara was running. Since Havana was in charge of makeup, that would be a fix she’d need to make.
For now, Shelby gave Rosy another once-over to make sure everything was covered that was supposed to be. It was. Of course, with that much fabric, it would have been impossible to screw that up.
And Shelby saw it then.
When she looked at Rosy, she looked past the yards of pink and at the woman’s face. Dazzling. Just dazzling.
“You’re such a beautiful bride,” Shelby said. She hadn’t tamped down the emotion in her voice, so it set Rosy to crying again. But since they were more happy tears, it only added to the dazzling.
“Okay, let’s get out of here before I start blubbering,” Shelby told Lucy. “You and I go first, and then Havana can get in here for the makeup touch-up.”
The six-inch walk space wasn’t easy, especially when the armadillos on Lucy’s dress tangled with some of the ones on hers. The little Billys now had spatterings of pink sequins on them. But they finally made it out into the hall.
Where there wasn’t much more room.
Bridesmaids were literally lined up on both sides of the wall. They were primping, adjusting dresses and bobbling around while they put on heels. There was plenty of elbow bopping going on out here, and it would have felt like some kind of walk of torture had it not been for the friendly, familiar faces and the warm welcomes.
It was one blast from the past after another.
Rosy had made name tags for everyone and on them she’d had printed the dates when the girls—who were now women—had lived at the ranch.
Buck’s kids.
Shelby remembered many of them. Zinnia Carter, the blonde beauty who had introduced Shelby to beer—which Shelby had promptly thrown up. Elie Monroe, the genius who’d helped Shelby through algebra. Lupe Sanchez, the busty brunette who had almost certainly been Callen’s first lover.
Shelby smiled at Lupe in spite of that.
It didn’t matter to Shelby that she hadn’t been his first. She was his current lover, and that was better than being first. However, there weren’t enough rose-colored glasses to make herself believe that her “current” status would last much longer.
No.
Now that his promises to her dad were nearly fulfilled, Callen would be going, and he would unknowingly take a sizable piece of her heart right along with him.
Shelby felt someone squeeze her hand and looked up. Lucy. “You look like you’re about to cry, and I don’t think they’ll be happy tears.”
Clever indeed. Shelby smiled at her, kissed her cheek and then studied her. “Are all of yours of the happy variety?” she asked when she spotted the girl blinking back some of her own.
“Mostly,” Lucy answered after a hesitation. “But I’m worried about Mr. Buck. Mateo and I went to see him, and he said he was okay, but he had to wear a mask, and he looked really pale.”
Of course this had been bothering Lucy. Probably Mateo, too, and Shelby silently cursed herself for not talking to them more about it.
“Yes, he’s pale, but he’ll get better,” Shelby assured her. “The doctors believe they got all the cancer, but he’s getting the treatments to make sure of that.”
“You’re sure?” Lucy asked. “Because sometimes grown-ups try to keep things from kids. Don’t keep anything bad from me.”
“I’m not, and I won’t.”
Despite the crowd, Lucy stopped, studied her expression and then nodded. “Good. Because I, uh, love Mr. Buck. I, uh, love you.” The relief came, and she gave Shelby a long, hard hug.
“I love you, too, Lucy.”
Well, crud. Shelby had to go another round with fighting the blasted tears. Somehow, she managed to keep her eyes dry. Well, dry-ish. But it was hard to do because it was an incredible moment. Lucy—her newest sister—was going to be okay. Even if things didn’t work out with the Millhouse family, the girl was still on her way to recovery.
By the time Lucy and she made it to the end of the hall, Shelby had fought her way through the latest tear threat, and she’d got through the wall of kids with minimal damage. She had also lost some of the sequins but now had what she was certain was lipstick kisses on various parts of her face. Maybe Havana could fix her up, too.
And speaking of Havana, Shelby spotted the woman at the reception table. She was gluing armadillos on her already-armadillo-covered dress.
“Aren’t these just the coolest things?” Havana asked.
“They’re special,” Lucy said when Shelby was at a loss for words.
“Exactly!” Havana agreed. “They’re so Rosy. Say, is Rosy ready for me to do her makeup?” Havana picked up a hamper-sized bag that would take up at least 75 percent of the free space in the dressing room. “Got my primp stuff.”
“Yes, she’s ready, but you should probably hurry,” Shelby explained. “Rosy needs to leave soon.”
“I’ll get right on it.” Havana added a kiss to both Lucy’s and Shelby’s cheeks before she started her trek down the hall. “In the meantime, you should take a final look at the party room. The guests are starting to arrive,” she said from over her shoulder.
Shelby and Lucy headed that way, but they stopped when the front door of the inn opened and snow blew in. Nico came in right along with it.
“It’s snowing?” Lucy blurted out.
“Sort of. I rented one of those machines. It’ll follow Rosy to the hospital and spew some of the white stuff there, too. I thought she’d like that.”
“She will,” Shelby assured him. “What about the cameras? Are they working?”
“They are. Just doing the final test on them right now.”
He led them into the party room, where there were indeed already guests milling around and seated at the tables. The room was not only where the guests would watch the ceremony, but it was also where the reception was being held.
Rosy had gone for all the flowers that she’d considered. All of them. Sunflowers, poinsettias, violets and roses. The explosion of colors worked surprisingly well with the pink tablecloths.
Nico motioned to an open laptop that was sitting on a small corner table. “This image will be projected there.” He pointed toward a large screen mounted on the wall. “We have audio, too.”
Nico pressed a new button, and not only did Shelby see her father sitting in his hospital bed, she heard him say, “There’s my girl.” He smiled, but there was some alarm on his face. “Are you okay? Are those bruises?”
It took Shelby a moment to realize what he meant. “Oh no. Lipstick kisses from your other girls. There are a lot of them here, Dad. Here, because of you.”
Buck’s alarm morphed to a reaction that Shelby knew all too well—misty eyes. There was a lot of that going around, but once again she fought the tears and won. No stuffed-up nose and red eyes for her on one of the most important days of her father’s life.
“I love you, Dad.” She touched her fingers to her lips and then pressed them in the direction of the screen. Later, she’d give him a kiss in person, and she didn’t mind that she’d have to do that through a mask.
“Love you right back,” he said.
Since Nico was waiting to adjust something on the laptop, Shelby waved goodbye to her father and took a look around the party room. It was perfect—despite the prominent placement of the rearing stallion as a centerpiece and the zombie bunnies that Rosy had apparently ordered in bulk. It got even more perfect when Callen walked in.
Oh my.
Callen in a sleek black suit was even hotter than cowboy Callen. Long, lean and hers—for today, anyway. Smiling that smile that stirred sins and heat, he walked toward her.
“Hey,” Shelby greeted him.
“Hey, yourself. Interesting dress,” he said when he skimmed his gaze down her body.
“They’re special,” Lucy repeated, with more humor in her voice this time. Humor aside, it was a reminder for Shelby that this silent lust exchange between Callen and her wasn’t private.
“Special indeed,” Callen agreed. “They’ve got Rosy written all over them.”
“More like Billy glued all over them,” Lucy muttered, making Shelby beam. It probably wasn’t good to encourage smart-assery or sarcasm, but it was healthier than the gloom that Lucy had carried around with her.
“Rosy’s responsible for this, too.” Callen lifted his tie. Yes, it was the shape of an armadillo. “She got them for all the groomsmen.”
Better than the zombie bunnies or the generously endowed rearing stallions, so that was something at least.
“You’ve been crying,” Callen said to Lucy. His forehead bunched up, and he led them to a small alcove and out of the earshot of the other guests.
“Some,” Lucy admitted. “The good kind of crying. Not Shelby, though.” There was some admiration in Lucy’s voice.
“Another of my vast skills,” Shelby joked. “Just call me ‘dry-eyed McCall.’”
Lucy eked out a smile, took in a deep breath and looked at Callen. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for Mateo and me. Thank you for working to find the Millhouses.”
Callen winced a little, and Shelby knew why. Yes, Callen had found them by pressing his social-worker friend, but he was no doubt blaming himself for Avis showing up and maybe ruining things.
“I’m sorry about what happened,” Callen told Lucy.
Yep, Shelby had been right. He was blaming himself.
Lucy shrugged. “It’s okay.” She paused, chewed for a moment on her bottom lip. “I feel a little bad, though, about Mr. Buck. I mean, if Mateo and I do leave, he’ll be okay, right? I mean, he won’t be mad at us or anything, will he?”
“No, he won’t be mad,” Callen assured her just as Shelby said, “Of course not.” Shelby was the one who continued. “It’s the way things work. Kids come to my dad until they find a home, and then they go and live happily ever after.”
That last part wasn’t exactly an exaggeration. Shelby had seen proof of that as she’d walked down the hall. Saw proof of it, too, with Kace and Nico. Callen and Judd, though, were still works in progress.
“I’ll make sure everything is in place,” Lucy volunteered. “Maybe I can put napkin capes on the bunnies at the tables where children will be sitting.”
“Great idea,” Shelby assured her.
The girl hurried away so fast that Shelby knew Lucy must have realized that she wanted a moment alone with Callen. Actually, what she wanted to do was kiss him, and she sneaked in a quick one. And again had to push away any thoughts about their kissing days being numbered.
Since she wanted something to lighten her own thoughts and cool down the heat simmering between them, Shelby took out the nunchucks from her dress pocket and wrapped them over her wrist. “I wanted to wear them to show you how much I appreciate the gift you gave me.”
Callen smiled, put his mouth against her ear and flicked his tongue over her lobe. “I appreciated the one you gave me.”
Good grief. That didn’t cool down anything. Just the opposite. If Callen was soon going into the retreat mode because he’d be leaving, he was showing no signs of it now.
Shelby decided just to go with it. If it lasted only minutes more, then she’d take each and every one of those minutes. Except she didn’t even get a single minute before there was an interruption.
“Callen, Shelby,” someone called out.
Shelby didn’t mind this particular interruption when Sarah, Dan and Katie Millhouse came walking into the room. Shelby was relieved. Even after partially witnessing the incident with Avis, they’d come. That was a good sign. And while it wasn’t a bad sign, both Sarah and Katie were wearing red dresses spotted with the armadillo patches.
“Miss Rosy asked us to be bridesmaids,” Katie happily announced. “This is just the coolest dress.”
So, a good sign after all, and even Sarah didn’t seem to mind. Shelby couldn’t say the same for Dan, though. Definitely no “coolest” vibe from him as he looked down at his tie.
Shelby reached out to shake their hands and only then remembered she still had the nunchucks wrapped around her wrists. Sarah’s eyes widened. “You’re not expecting trouble today, are you?”
“No,” Shelby quickly assured her. “They’re good-luck charms.” She got them off fast and shoved them back in the pocket of her bridesmaid dress.
Great. Now both Dan and Sarah had uncertain looks on their faces.
Callen didn’t groan, but Shelby suspected that was what he wanted to do. “I’m glad you came,” Callen told the Millhouses. “Maybe we can talk—”
But that was all Callen managed to say before Havana came rushing in. “Rosy’s in the limo. Let’s not get into how we managed that,” she added. “Anyway, she said she wanted us to start as soon as she got to Buck’s room.”
Which wouldn’t be long at all. Only minutes.
“I’ve already started lining up the bridesmaids.” Havana shifted her attention to Callen. “Judd’s doing the same for the groomsmen, but I think you should get involved in that.”
“Definitely,” Callen grumbled as he headed out. Wise call since Judd lacked the finesse and patience for a chore like that.
Shelby motioned for Lucy, and she waited until the girl joined them before she went back to help. Havana had it under control, though. The bridesmaids were now lined up on one side, the groomsmen on the other.
The line seemed to go on for infinity, coiling not just in the hall but also in and out of the rooms. Despite all the excited chatter, Judd and Havana were in the middle giving orders. As expected, Judd’s orders were a little less friendly than Havana’s, so Callen stepped in to take over a duty that Judd seemed very happy to relinquish. He moved to the back of the line. So did Shelby, but first she made sure Lucy was with Sarah and Katie. Thanks to Callen, Mateo was positioned with Dan.
Chatter continued. So did the attempts to adhere the cloth Billys onto some of the dresses. There were tie adjustments and talk about the “old days” when they’d lived at the ranch. Shelby smiled when she realized that Nico was filming everything with camera feed that was no doubt being sent directly to Rosy and Buck. Rosy would be dabbing at tears, and her dad would be the happiest man on earth.
The music started in the party room. “The Wedding March.” An unexpected touch of tradition, but it only lasted until about half of them were in the party room, and then it switched to “Boot Scootin’ Boogie.” Like the flower explosion, that felt right, too.
It took a little shifting and letting people go ahead of her, but Shelby managed to be next to Callen as they reached the party room door, and they walked in together. Like the kisses, she wanted to hang on to moments next to him, as well. Even if they were surrounded by one hundred and fifty friends and family.
Everyone cheered when Rosy and Buck appeared on the large screen on the wall. As expected, Rosy was smiling and, yes—still crying. Her dad even had some color in his cheeks, though Shelby had to admit that might be a reflection from all that pink.
Reverend Jimmy Joe Daughtry stepped onto the small stage in the corner of the room. As he held his Bible, he positioned himself facing the screen.
“Dearly Beloved,” he said.
With just those two words, Shelby burst into the loudest ever of happy tears.