Page 139 of Not Your Average Vixen
The lights in the room flickered, and she glanced out the window at the falling snow.
“I’m glad Dan was able to pick up the wedding cake last night. It’s really coming down out there.”
Best man or not, this wedding was going to happen. She’d veered from her focus thanks to his beguiling eyes that drank her in with each look. And there was no denying the overpowering attraction that crackled between them whenever they were together.
Stop!
He was gone. He’d made his choice.
Putting on a brave face, she adjusted the neckline of the wedding dress as Lori ran her hands down her abdomen.
“It won’t be long before I look like I’ve eaten an entire wedding cake,” Lori said, resting her hand on her belly.
The strippers couldn’t hold a candle to the shock of learning that Lori and Tom were expecting.
Bridget placed her hand on top of her sister’s as they stared into the mirror. “You’ll be an amazing mother.”
Lori grinned, her eyes growing teary. “Can you believe it? Me, a mom?”
“I can. You’ll be just as loving as Mom and Grandma.”
Lori turned to face her. “And you! Don’t forget, you had a hand in raising me. You were almost worse than Mom and Dad. You’d check my homework. You never let me date, and you still signed us up for community service projects,” she finished as her expression grew somber.
“What is it, Lori?” she pressed.
Her sister blew out a slow breath. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the pregnancy right away. It was such a shock. It didn’t even seem possible. I had Tom run down to the village to buy another test. And after that one came back positive, there was no denying it. I was going to tell you after the wedding. I know how much work you’ve put into it, and I didn’t want that huge announcement weighing on you while you were busting your ass to replicate Mom and Dad’s big day.”
Bridget waved her off. “I understand. But were you guys trying to conceive?”
Lori shook her head. “No, I’d switched birth control pills and must have started the new pack at the wrong time. But to be honest with you, I don’t know what happened, but I’m over the moon about it. I’m so in love with Tom, and despite what Scooter thought, he’s excited to become a dad. He loves being an uncle. Sure, we’re terrified of taking the leap into parenthood, but we’re in it together.”
At the mention of Soren, her body stiffened as a sharp pain, both icy and searing, sliced through her chest.
How many times could a heart break?
She’d stopped counting.
“Birdie, have you read the letter yet?” Lori asked gently.
Bridget frowned. “What letter?”
“The one from Grandma Dasher.”
How had she forgotten?
Well, that was a stupid question. After she’d lost the man who she foolishly believed could be the one, she hadn’t even thought of what her sister had given her at the chapel.
Flustered, Bridget rose from the bed. “I think it’s still in my coat pocket.”
“We have some time now, Birdie. I would like you to read it. You need to know what’s in the letter.”
Bridget eyed her sister warily. “You keep saying that.”
“It’s very important. Let’s read it while it’s just the two of us.”
Bridget resurrected her placating expression. In all fairness, she didn’t know if she could handle another jolt of shocking information. From Soren’s deception to the strippers to Lori’s pregnancy, a message from the past felt eerily ominous.
But if it was important to Lori, she’d do it.
