Daughters Of The Bride Read Online Free PDF

nearly twenty-four years, Maggie had dated on and off, sometimes getting involved with a man for a few months at a time. But the relationships had never gotten serious. Then Neil had come along.
    On the surface, they couldn’t be more different. Maggie was tall and thin. Neil was at least two inches shorter and much more round. But he’d won her over with his kind heart and honest love. Now they were getting married. Every now and then Courtney poked at her heart to see if she minded that her late father was being replaced, but there had been no reaction. More than enough time had passed. If marrying Neil made her mom happy, then Maggie should go for it.
    As for the “until death do us part” section of the vows, well, Courtney wasn’t the one getting married. She was willing to admit she’d never been in love, but from what she’d seen, most romantic relationships ended badly. As for the nonromantic kind of love, well, that hurt, too.
    “The cosmos will be so pretty,” Joyce said. “And there’s an open bar for anyone who wants something different.”
    Maggie leaned back in her chair. “I’m so excited. I always wanted an engagement party, but my mother said we couldn’t have one.” She looked at Joyce. “I was only eighteen when Phil and I got engaged, and nineteen when we got married. My mother made all the decisions. It was awful. We argued every day for a year. I wanted different dresses for the bridesmaids, a different cake. I hated the flowers she picked. So I swear, this time, I’m going to do everything the way I want. Convention be damned.”
    “You have good taste, Mom. No one’s worried,” Courtney assured her. Something she’d passed on to her other two daughters. Sienna could make a paper bag look like high fashion, and Rachel made her living by doing hair and makeup. Courtney knew she was the only one missing the style gene in their family.
    Her mother grinned. “You should be a little worried. I started planning my wedding when I was fourteen. I have a lot of pent-up ideas.” She eyed the pool. “Is that treated with chlorine?”
    Joyce looked a little startled by the question. “Of course. Why?”
    “Oh, I was just thinking swans would be nice. But they can’t swim in chlorinated water, can they?”
    Courtney felt her eyes widen. “No, and swans poop a lot, Mom. Cleaning the pool after the fact would be a nightmare.”
    Her mother sighed. “Too bad. Because I’ve always wanted swans.”
    Joyce shot Courtney a look of concern. Courtney quickly flipped through the files on her tablet, then turned it so her mother could see the photo on the screen.
    “I’ve been playing around with some ideas based on pictures I’ve seen on Pinterest. For example, a champagne fountain before the toast. Kelly, one of the waitresses here, knows how to stack the glasses and is going to help me with it. Won’t that be great?”
    She figured it was the adult equivalent of shaking keys at a fussy baby, and her odds were about the same.
    Maggie leaned forward and nodded slowly. “That’s lovely. Neil and I would like that very much.”
    “Good.” Courtney flipped to another picture. “This will be the table runner for the head table.”
    Her mother stared for a second, then her eyes widened before filling with tears. “How did you do that?” she asked softly.
    “It was easy. I uploaded the pictures to the website, then arranged them. The company prints out the runner and ships it.”
    The custom table runner was made up of a collage of photographs. Most of the photographs were of the sisters as they grew up. A few pictures showed Maggie with her daughters. Interspersed were pictures of Maggie and Neil on their various trips.
    “Where did you get these?” her mother asked. “They’re wonderful.”
    “Rachel had a lot of them on her computer. I borrowed a couple of photo albums the last time you had us over for dinner. I got the ones of you and Neil from him.”
    “It’s lovely. Thank you.