Page 27 of June Bride
“All I’m saying is that I’m not 100% sure that Brandy is the woman I’m meant to be with for the rest of my life. This wedding has taken a toll on our relationship. What if it never recovers after today? What if I spend the rest of my life making concessions to keep her happy?”
Anita flung herself back onto the bed, the whole thing shaking enough that Sunny almost rolled onto the floor. “What if, what if, what if! Do you know how many times a day I hear that phrase from my students? The little buggers love throwing it at me.‘What if I lose my file, Ms. Tichenor?’ ‘What if I regret going to U of O instead of OSU?’ ‘What if my dad decides to leave my mom?’Like, give me a break. I’m not a seer. I can’t look into the future and tell you whether or not you’re making the right decision about a major life event. You either do it or you don’t! But I’ll tell you what I tell my students.” Anita rolled over, finger pointing right in Sunny’s face. “You have to ask if you would regretnotdoing something more than having done it. Is the one college really more appealing, or are you being indecisive? Would you be more upset if you broke up with Brandy than if you ended up going through a divorce later? I mean really, Sunny, what’s the worst that happens?”
“Like you said, a really messy divorce…”
“What’s the alternative? Not getting married? Splitting up? Wasting all the money you’ve spent on this wedding and nothing happens? Come on. Is that really what you want? Or do you want to marry the woman you love? If you could make it through this wedding planning, you can make it throughanything.Probably.”
Sunny sat up, her feet finally touching the ground again. “You’re right. I have to decide what I would regret the most. Damn the consequences!”
“Not quite what I said…”
But Sunny was marching to her closet, doors flying open as her determination only grew.
Chapter 17
BRANDELYN
Brandy made the point tonoteat breakfast on the morning of her wedding. She didn’t want to risk the bloat in her perfectly fitted wedding dress. She also didn’t want to risk throwing up from the nerves exploding from both within and from all around her.
That meant she was more than a little woozy as she stepped off the stool Apple the seamstress used for last-minute alterations to the hem of the dress.
“Oh, look at you!” Cathy flashed a camera in her daughter’s face. Brandy swore she was about to be sick. Again. “My little girl on her wedding day! This dress is prettier than I remember! You look like anangel!”
“I do?” Brandy turned to the mirror. She had commandeered Aunt Jill’s guest room in Waterlily House for her glow-up, since she would be damned if she sat in a car with this thing on. (Let alone before the ceremony and the appropriate number of pictures.) She wouldn’t risk a single crease or stain until the cake was cut! “Thanks, Mom.”
They shared a hug – that definitely stuck a crease in Brandy’s dress – before she went to find her sister and cousin in their dresses. Lizzie was radiant in her pink chiffon gown that sported a big bow in the back and an acceptable neckline. Much better than the tawdry dress she originally wanted to wear before Brandelyn stepped in and told her to “class it up for the wedding!” More city hall shotgun wedding jokes were shared as everyone remembered the cleavage Lizzie sported at her own wedding.“As if we didn’t know how you got a bun in the oven to begin with…”Cathy always loved to hoot.
Monica wasn’t an official bridesmaid, to keep the numbers even, but she also wore a pink dress and pinned a red rose to her bodice. She was in charge of the boys, currently running amok up and down the stairs of Waterlily House, but Brandelyn was too excited about her big day to yell at them for shaking the photo prints on the wall.
The photographer arrived right on time for the family photos and the pre-ceremony shots of the bride. Brandelyn corralled her nerves as she sat in a windowsill, her veil, gown, and bouquet arranged in such a way that she would be captured in such a radiancy again. Her mother shed more than a few tears behind the cameraman as she took multiple photos from different angles. Every time the words“Such an angel!”were uttered, Brandelyn smiled a little wider.That’s right. I am an angel.That meant this was Heaven!
All the beauty! All the potential!
All the attention!
Debbie popped into the guest room fifteen minutes before the start of the ceremony. “Brandy!” she hissed, hand waving the bride over to the doorway. “We need to talk.”
The color drained from Brandelyn’s face. What had happened? Were the caterers stuck on the highway? Had the flowers blown away in a strong breeze? Was Mayor Rath too sick to perform the ceremony?I swear to God, Karen, if you bail on me on my wedding day, I’m making you pay for SO many tests during your next checkup!
“What is it?” Brandelyn braced against the doorframe.
“There’s been a slight change to the ceremony.”
“What!”
“Sunny insisted. She, uh…” Debbie pulled at her collar. “She asked me to not tell you what she had decided, but you’re to go on at the usual time. Just… don’t panic if things are a little different.”
Brandy had half a mind to grab Debbie by the collar and shake her. “What!” she repeated.
“Everything is fine!” Debbie backed away before the bride could choke her. “You go on in ten!”
That didnothelp Brandy, who took one step toward the wedding planner before her mother intervened.
“Do you know anything about this?” she asked Cathy.
“Not at all. I hope everything is all right. Why would she tell you something like that if it wasn’t that dire?”
Don’t panic, huh?Brandelyn had no idea how to take that. She was stuck following her usual schedule, only now with a new layer of dread settling in over her.I swear to God, Sunny…Last minute changes had to be run by her first!
