Page 21 of Wedding Season
“I told you it’s fine.” Mariella turned as a mother-daughter duo approached a row of wide-brim summer hats. “Try the one with the peach ribbon,” she told the preteen girl. “It’s perfect for your face shape.”
The girl nodded and took the hat Mariella had indicated from the display. “Oh, my gosh,” she breathed. “I love it. It makes me look like Grace Kelly.”
The mom smiled and winked at her daughter. “I wasn’t even aware you knew who Grace Kelly was.”
“I saw a TikTok about her,” the girl said, and Mariella stifled a laugh.
She understood the power of social media. She’d started the online accounts for Belle Vie immediately upon launching the company.
Some of Belle Vie’s early success had been due to her savvy marketing in positioning herself and her brand of wedding couture in the social media sphere. Of course, she lost access to her social media accounts when she left the company.
The vitriol she’d received online in response to Amber’s smear campaign after the wedding had been enough to make Mariella never want to put herself out there for judgment or public consumption again. Only recently had she created accounts for A Second Chance.
However, she was also proud of what she was building in the Magnolia community. She provided more than just a convenient spot for locals to buy and sell clothes. She did her best to also source gifts from local artists, particularly women of varying backgrounds. Every time she posted, she tried to remind herself that it wasn’t about her anymore. It was about the people who benefited from her store and the community she served. She was a conduit for helping to get merchandise into the hands of people who would appreciate the work that went into crafting it.
She’d arrived in Magnolia at the start of the revival of the town championed by three half sisters who’d discovered their relationship and then used it to create a deep connection.
She benefited from the work Avery, Carrie and Meredith had put into making Magnolia a desirable destination for vacationers and visitors from around the region.
The Grace Kelly-inspired girl’s mother bought the hat with the peach sash along with one for herself, as well as several bath products made by a local goat farmer. As Jasmin rang up the sale, Meredith carried little Isabella around the store talking to other customers.
To her surprise, people didn’t seem put off by the baby the way she would have been while shopping back in the day. In fact, holding Isabella had the opposite effect. Customers smiled and talked to her, asking questions about the merchandise as well as her opinion on specific items.
Mariella knew she could be intimidating and didn’t exactly try to fight that image. She was creative and cared about her store as well as the brides she designed for now, even it was on a much smaller scale than what she’d done in her past life. But she didn’t want anyone asking questions or getting too personal.
She was just finishing up with a customer near the far end of the store when Jasmin called her name. She felt a little pulse of something go through the baby as if she was reacting to the sound of her mother’s voice. That was impossible, Mariella thought. At two months, the child had to be too young for that sort of recognition. She placed a gentle hand on the back of Isabella’s tiny head as she walked toward the counter then stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed Heather standing next to her employee.
Jasmin reached for Isabella. “Your new sitter is here,” she said as if the girl could understand her words.
Heather smiled at the baby then glanced at Mariella with a look of utter disdain and a bit of challenge mixed in, like she was daring her to reveal their connection.
Mariella stood stock-still but didn’t release the baby to her mother. She didn’t know what to do. Why was Heather doing this? What did any of it mean?
“I don’t mind if you keep Isabella at the store,” she said, wrapping a protective hand around the baby. “Customers seem to like her. Maybe I should put her on the payroll.” She gave a laugh that sounded terrible and phony even to her own ears.
“That’s fine during the week when we’re not as busy.” Jasmin stepped around the counter and took the baby from Mariella. “But it’s too much of a distraction for me on weekends. Besides, Heather comes highly recommended by Mary Ellen. She has lots of experience babysitting, right?”
Heather nodded. “My twin sisters are eight years younger than me. They were a surprise. My mom needed a lot of help when they were little.”
“Sounds like a great fit,” Mariella agreed. What else could she say? What was she supposed to do with this new piece of information about the daughter she’d given up?
Heather had sisters. She didn’t sound resentful about having to help with them but had she turned into some kind of glorified nanny for her family once the babies arrived? Mariella had so many questions. She was curious about this daughter she didn’t know even though she had no right to be.
“You’ll just be upstairs with her?” She directed the question as much to Jasmin as to Heather.
“That’s the plan,” Heather said.
“This is my sweet Isabella.” Jasmin held the baby toward Heather who took her with a smile. At least this didn’t seem like the start of one of those cable-television movies where somebody got their revenge by stealing a baby.
Oh, lord, what was the world coming to when Mariella would even entertain the thought that Heather might do something so nefarious?
“Definitely just upstairs,” Mariella repeated. “I’ve heard there’s some sort of summer cold going around town and we wouldn’t want to expose Isabella to anything that could make her sick.”
Jasmin gave her a funny look then laughed. “Mariella is like the doting aunt,” she told Heather. “She took such good care of me during my pregnancy and now Isabella, too. I don’t know what we’d do without her.”
Heather nodded, and Mariella doubted that Jasmin noticed the tightness around the edges of the teen’s smile.
“Lucky,” Heather murmured. “You sure are lucky.”
