Blissed (Misfit Brides #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

simple, old-fashioned, 1940’s era dress—probably similar to what Gabby’s grandmother had worn on her own wedding day.
    Before Natalie’s mom died, Nat had quietly taken the occasional major modification and from-scratch jobs for out-of-town brides. Their secret, Mom had called it. A way for Natalie to use that fashion design degree her parents had paid for. Mom’s way of trying to give Natalie her full dream. 
    The last few months, without her mom as a buffer between the indignity of Natalie’s divorcée status and the Queen General’s rules of Bliss propriety, Nat had mostly done her best to keep a low profile. And that had included closing the door on her secret favorite projects.
    Not making waves so she could last on The Aisle long enough to finish Mom’s work on the Games. Or trying, anyway.
    But this—making Gabby’s dress—this could be her last chance to connect her name to anything in her hometown.
    “Your Nana would want you to have the dress,” Jeremy said.
    Gabby swiped the back of her hand over her eyes. “I have you. That’s worth a million dresses.”
    “If I can’t give you your Nana at our wedding, I’m going to give you the dress she wanted you to have.” He pinned Natalie with a dark-eyed, silent order. “Can you do it?”
    “Jeremy,” Gabby said again. “We can’t afford it.”
    “Nat?”
    “She’s busy,” Gabby said. “We can’t ask her to take this on too.”
    Natalie had the boutique to keep afloat. The Games to plan. Noah to keep fed and clothed—and she liked to see him on occasion too. She did not have time to take on another project. Especially if there was any chance of the Queen General hearing. Gabby and Jeremy weren’t Aisle people, but they were one of the success stories from the last bachelor auction, which would put them on the QG’s radar. Natalie could be accused of sewing divorce cooties into Gabby’s wedding dress. Wouldn’t that be fun? She was hanging by a frayed thread here already.
    Jeremy had one giant arm tucked around Gabby, who was watching Natalie as though she held the key to giving her back her grandmother.
    Natalie was leaving Bliss. She might as well leave with a bang.
    “Of course,” she said to Jeremy. Because if she looked at Gabby again, she’d see herself in those first few days and weeks after Mom passed away, lost and sad and angry, but Gabby had something else.
    She had a future with a man who loved her. She had hope.
    Natalie swallowed hard. “Bring me everything you have.”
    “Really?” Gabby whispered.
    “For my favorite couple? Absolutely.”
    Gabby tackled her with a hug. “We’ll repay you for this,” she said, her voice wavery and watery. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
    “I got you covered, Nat,” Jeremy said.
    Natalie squeezed Gabby back. “Not necessary,” she said.
    Because nice as a little extra cash might be—especially given the state of Bliss Bridal’s financials and a few things she’d done for the Games—having friends who trusted their wedding dress to her was worth so much more.
     
     
    A FTER JEREMY AND GABBY left, Natalie checked that everything was running smoothly—if a bit slowly—out on the showroom floor and upstairs. Then she tucked herself into the office to answer the most vital Husband Games e-mails—one from the farmer in charge of the sunflower field, the other from the web design company that was setting up the voting page for one of the Husband Games events. The rest she saved for after Noah was in bed tonight, and she set to work on payroll.
    Thirty minutes later, she needed a Tylenol. An hour after that, she wanted a whiskey sour, but since she was shaving her own salary down to the bare minimum to pay the rest of the employees, she couldn’t afford a drink, much less the cash she owed Noah’s college fund.
    If sales didn’t pick up, they wouldn’t make it to Knot Fest. And she didn’t know how she’d tell Dad.
    Mom had been the primary force behind everything