Page 62 of Cut The Cake

And with that, Nick swept her into his arms again for another kiss.

Epilogue

In the end, they decided to wait six months before walking down the aisle. Jenny and Nick put the delay to good use by spending every available moment together. Not that they had as much time on their hands as they would have liked. Business was up at I Do Cakes. Even with Jimmy’s help, Nick worked long hours filling the orders for weddings, birthdays, and celebrations of every kind.

As for Jenny, her new position as Alicia’s second-in-command occupied most of her days. She’d expected to be good at her job—and she was. The work was demanding, but seeing the happy glow on the faces of the brides she helped more than made up for the long hours.

No matter how busy she was, though, Jenny took a break at two o’clock sharp each day and wandered down the hill from the Captain’s Cottage to I Do Cakes. There, Nick greeted her with a kiss and one of the specials he’d set aside just for her. Over cupcakes and coffee, they swapped stories about their day before they each dashed back to work until dinner time.

On weekends, they studied real estate ads and dropped in on open houses until they found an older home in Cathedral Heights they loved at first sight. A wide front porch and a big backyard made the Cape Cod the perfect place to raise the family they hoped to have one day. Once the current owners accepted their offer, they spent weekends prowling estate sales for furnishings so the house would be ready to move into when they returned from their weeklong honeymoon in Newport.

And so it went until, finally, the day they’d been waiting for arrived.

Jenny buried her nose in the mixed bouquet of red and white roses and inhaled the rich floral scent. Next to the aroma of cakes fresh from the oven at Nick’s bakery, the smell was her all-time favorite. A soft smile tugging at her lips, she smoothed a tiny wrinkle in the satin wrapped around the stems. She broke away from her musings as Karolyn rushed into the bride’s dressing room on the first floor of the Captain’s Cottage.

“It’s almost time,” her cousin gushed. “Any sign of those cold feet everyone warns about?”

Jenny grinned while Kay searched her face. “Not a one. In fact, if you don’t step aside, I might run you over in my rush to walk down that aisle.”

“That wouldn’t be hard to do, considering I’m still half blind from the camera flashes that went off in my face on my way in here.” Like they did everywhere the star went, news vans and reporters had tracked her every move from the moment her plane had touched down in nearby Providence.

“Should we ask the police to make them leave?”

“You wouldn’t dare! Having the camera crews here is worth a few spots before my eyes. Think of the free publicity Heart’s Landing is getting. By tomorrow, pictures of Chad and me walking into the Captain’s Cottage will be on the front cover of every tabloid in the country. You couldn’t pay for that much exposure.” Karolyn tapped a perfectly manicured finger to her lips. “I may have even let it slip that the Cottage employs not one but two first-class wedding planners, who are ready to give every bride a perfect Heart’s Landing wedding.”

“Kay, you didn’t!” Jenny eyed the woman who’d become the town’s unofficial spokesperson. Over the past six months, Kay had sung the praises of America’s wedding capitol at every opportunity. As a result, bookings across the board were up over last year’s.

Kay’s brows lifted while her lips shifted into a knowing grin. “It’s the least I can do to make up for all I put you through last summer.”

The stunning diamond drop earrings she wore swung gently when Jenny shook her head. For one solid week after Kay and Chad had slipped off to Vegas, she’d blocked her cousin’s calls. The two of them might still be at odds if it hadn’t been for Nick. He’d insisted that Kay was family, and as such, deserved a second chance. When Jenny had finally relented and checked her phone for messages, she’d taken one look at the long list of her cousin’s voicemails and had known Kay was serious about repairing their relationship. She’d had no choice but to forgive her. Her cousin hadn’t been satisfied to let it go at mere forgiveness. Not only had she paid every bill for the wedding-that-never-happened, she’d tipped each vendor generously and had insisted on covering the costs of Jenny and Nick’s special day as her wedding gift.

“The ballroom is amazing. It’s like a fairyland,” Kay whispered.

Picturing the grand room draped in white with touches of gold and red, Jenny smiled. In keeping with the snow on the ground and the sharp nip in the air, she’d settled on a winter theme when she and Nate had decided on a December wedding.

“It makes me wish Chad and I hadn’t run off to Vegas to get married.” Karolyn twisted the rings on the third finger of her left hand.

“You’ll have to come here to renew your vows on your tenth anniversary.” Jenny lifted her gown’s voluminous skirts as she turned so her cousin could fasten the satin belt at the back. “I happen to know a great event planner who could handle the arrangements for you. Although you’ll have to sign an iron-clad contract guaranteeing there won’t be any last-minute changes.”

Her fingers making swift work of the task at hand, Karolyn gave a wry laugh. “Okay. I deserved that. Chad and I put you through the wringer, didn’t we?” She straightened the belt at Jenny’s waist. “There. All set.”

Slowly, Jenny rotated. Last-minute doubt shimmied through her midsection as she waited for Karolyn’s reaction. Would her cousin approve of the choices she’d made for this, the most special day of her life?

Time stood still for a long second. At last, Karolyn gave a breathy, “Ohhhh!” Real tears welled in her eyes. “Jenny, you look like a princess in that dress. Nick is going to lose his mind.”

“Thanks, Kay.” Jenny expelled a breath she hadn’t known she was holding. “I knew this was the gown for me from the first moment I tried it on.” And it, like the rest of the details of their wedding, had fallen into place just as easily. From the invitations she and Nick had sent to their small families and their not-so-small group of friends, to the flavor of their wedding cake, they’d created a simple, but elegant, celebration of their love for one another.

“Nick and the minister were standing up front when I checked. We probably shouldn’t keep them waiting much longer. Do you have everything? Something old, something new?”

“Right here.” Jenny traced the edges of the pendant Nick had given her as a wedding present. Fashioned from a chip off one of Captain Thaddeus’s handmade carvings, the miniature stone heart hung from a chain around her neck, where it served as both her something old and something new.

“Something borrowed?”

Jenny touched one finger to the dangling diamond earrings on loan from Kay’s private collection. “You never did tell me how much these are worth.”

“That’s because you’d never wear them if I did, and they’re perfect for you. So, something blue?”

“Alicia embroidered blue flowers on my handkerchief.”

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