CHAPTER 33
Two months later…
The morning light streamed in through the curtains in Cassie’s old room. She yawned and stretched, only sitting up when a knock sounded at her door. She’d slept surprisingly well without Parker by her side, in spite of the anticipation for all that today would bring.
She reached for a pillow, the diamond on her left hand catching in the sunlight and casting an array of sparkles across the room. “Come in?”
Beside her, her sister Carolina stirred. “Mmmm, what time is it?”
“My wedding day, sleepyhead.”
Lexie and Lydia popped up from the floor. “Can someone shut the shade?” they asked in unison.
Adulthood had never taken away their twinness. Cassie grinned down at her sisters, heart full. For the first time in years, the Grace sisters were together in one room. It still amazed her, how they’d pulled it off. She never expected them to drop everything and come home on short notice. But they had, and she was thrilled.
Dottie pushed open the door. “Rise and shine my sunflowers, we have work to do.”
They groaned in unison. For three days, under Dottie’s sharp eye, the sisters had spit shined the house, decorated the porch, strung garlands, and prepared dozens of pies. While Dottie had offered to make a wedding cake, she and Parker had passed, requesting apple pie instead. After all they’d been through, they wanted nothing fancy. Just family, friends, and a party with her mother’s pie.
Cassie’s eyes went wide when she saw the women crowded behind Dottie in the hall. “Mother?”
“Mama, what is this?” Carolina squealed, reaching for the blanket.
Lydia started giggling from the floor. “Ohmygod Cass, you’ve been Possied.” She fell backward laughing uncontrollably. “And you tried so hard.”
She had. She’d patently refused her mother’s efforts to have the Posse throw her a wedding shower. She didn’t need anything. She and Parker were living in a bunkhouse on the Hansen ranch. It was already furnished. And Cassie had spent too many years in the military, traveling with nothing but a standard issue wardrobe and the barest of necessities, to want more than she already had. Besides, she’d heard the stories from Millie Prescott and Emmaline Andersson about how wild the older ladies were when they put their party on.
The women crowded into the bedroom, her mother in the lead carrying half a dozen champagne flutes. Millie carried a tray of pastries and a somewhat apologetic smile, Gloria McPherson, the organist at the Lutheran church carried two bottles of champagne and more flutes, Parker’s aunt Martha followed with a bowl of strawberries, and his mother, Peggy, recently adopted into the Prairie Posse, carried another two bottles, plus a bouquet of flowers. Emmaline brought up the rear carrying her wedding dress.
Her sisters, Lydia and Lexie, quickly scrambled off the floor and crowded onto the bed. “Mama,” Cassie begged. “I haven’t even had coffee yet.”
“Plenty of time for coffee after we celebrate. I want to toast my daughters being home together and this day. I never thought one of you would settle down. Especially here in Prairie,”
The sisters groaned. Carolina reached for the flutes and passed them around. “I want to toast to Cassie finally snagging the man of her dreams.”
Uh-oh. She could feel it. The roasting was about to begin.
Lydia leaned over the bed and rooted around in her purse until she raised her hand with a piece of lined paper, folded into a cootie catcher.
Cassie’s stomach dropped. “You didn’t.”
Lydia grinned over her shoulder. “Oh yes, I did. I’ve had this for years.”
“Just waiting to blackmail me, huh?”
“I figured I’d mail it to Parker someday if he didn’t get a clue and finally ask you out.”
“What’s this?” Peggy asked.
Heat burst across Cassie’s chest. Lexie snatched the cootie catcher and jammed her fingers into the tiny folds. “Pick a number between one and eight.”
“Four,” Emmaline spoke up.
Lexie moved the paper back and forth, eyes merry. “Now pick one, three, five, or seven.”
“Five,” Gloria called. Lexie moved the paper again.
“Now, an even number between two and eight.”
“Eight,” the women said in unison.
Lexie removed the paper from her fingers and opened it up. “Cassie is going to marry Parker, have 6 children and live in Tahiti.”
The room sounded in laughter. Cassie’s face was on fire, but at the same time, she couldn’t stop laughing either.
“But here’s the best part,” Lexie said, flattening the paper. “One. Cassie marries Parker, has no children and lives in NYC. Two. Cassie marries Parker, has four children and lives in Europe.”
“So it was always Parker?” Millie asked, starry eyed.
“Yes,” Carolina chimed in. “I found their initials carved into a corner of the playhouse when I was a teenager.”
Cassie waved her arms in surrender. “Enough, enough.” She met Peggy’s eyes across the room of women. “These might have been the schoolgirl fantasies of a girl with a crush.”
“A super crush,” Lydia added.
Cassie ignored her sister, her heart bursting. “But I love your son with all that and more.” She crawled across the bed and stood to give her soon to be mother-in-law a hug.
“I know you do. And I’m so happy we get to share today with you.”
“Time for a toast,” Millie suggested as she worked the wrapper on one of the bottles.
Dottie pulled a long box from one of her pockets. “I know you didn’t want to use my wedding dress, and that’s fine.” She looked over Cassie’s shoulder to her sisters. “One of your sisters might want it. But I hope you’ll consider wearing these.” Dottie opened the box. Inside, lay a strand of pearls, creamy and soft in the morning light.
Cassie gasped in wonder.
“These were your great-grandma’s. First worn at her wedding, then by my mother, then me, of course.”
Cassie nodded furiously. “Yes, I love them. They’re perfect.” They’d go beautifully with her simple linen dress, too.
Someone pressed a flute into her hands, and soon, the women were raising their glasses. “To love that is a beacon in the darkness, an oasis in the fire, and warmth in the cold.”
“Here, here,” they echoed.
“Cassie,” Emmaline spoke softly. “May I show you something?” She motioned Cassie to the dress hanging from a hook on the wall. “I hope it’s okay that I took a little liberty with your dress.”
“What do you mean? It looks fantastic.”
“When you came for your fittings, you kept talking about all the people in your life who were important to you, who shaped you, and how happy you were that they were here with you today. So I sewed them into your dress.”
“What? Where?”
Emmaline pointed to the embroidery that vined its way along the hem and up the side of the dress. They were white sunflowers, but inside the petals, she’d embroidered a name. Cassie’s breath stuck in her throat. Following Emmaline’s finger, she could see a line of names, beginning with her parents, and ending at the top sunflower where her name was entwined with Parker’s.
“On the back side, it’s names from Parker’s family.” Emmaline lifted the hem to show her.”
“You’re a true artist Emmaline,” Lydia said reverently. Of course, her sister the shoemaker would recognize a kindred artist. “Speaking of, would you like to see your shoes, sis?”
Cassie nodded eagerly, unsure of what to expect.
Lydia reached under the bed and pulled out a white box. “I know you live in army boots, and your first priority was function. So I made you something soft, with good support, since you’ll be on your feet most of the day.” She thrust the box into Cassie’s hands.
Again, Cassie was too surprised to speak. How was it possible that she was the recipient of so much love? Nestled in the tissue paper were a pair of satin flats, embroidered all over in white, silver, and gold camo. “How did you?”
“I had mama take a picture of some of your fatigues, and I scanned it into a computer program I have and resized it super tiny, and then made the pattern.”
The effect was incredible. To the uneducated eye, it looked more like an elegant tapestry than a camo pattern. “I love it.”
Dottie coughed and brushed a finger across her eye. “Well, ladies, I think it’s time we had ourselves a wedding.”