Three Weddings and a Dress Read Online Free PDF Page B

clearing my calendar for the wedding. My day is fairly free until the rehearsal dinner.”
    “Good. Cross out the publication part then and sign it, I’ll meet you Friday morning. What time?”
    “Say nine o’clock at the courthouse? Unless something changes with some of our other arrangements, I’ll have Skye meet us.”
    “Skye is over the bank change, right?”
    “Yes. Thank you, Fanny. I know you’re busy and probably have a million things to do.”
    “Hey, what are friends for? I’ll take this with me and bring it Friday.” Fanny threw the paper in her case and stood.
    Cecelia followed her example, gave her a brief hug then trailed her out of the coffee shop.
    What to do next? She glanced at her watch. Joy was in charge of setting up appointments to see apartments. She hadn’t called yet.
    That didn’t matter. She wanted to throw back her head and squeal. Let her exhilaration bounce off the buildings and spread through the mundane. Part one of her five-part plan was in motion and she could barely contain the excitement.
    Chandler, to be fair, would not have tried to manage her. Maybe they could have been friends.
    She wasn’t going to marry him to find out.
    The most important thing now, her father didn’t control her life. She did.

Dear Diary;
    Things work in Mysterious Ways
    Today I met Carla. After my bride left, loneliness crept over my silk and constricted my bodice. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to me.
    Then I heard a loud humming. At first my lace quivered. When the door opened a lady in some kind of uniform entered pushing a vacuum. Heidi had several of these machines to clean up scraps.
    At least this was something with which I was familiar.
    Carla had on earphones and danced as she cleaned. I was thoroughly entertained. Then she surprised me. After she’d clicked the vacuum off and silence settled over the room she walked up to the hook where I’d been carefully hung.
    She looked intently from every angle. I felt more than a little vulnerable. Then she did the most amazing thing, she faced me front and center to address me as if she knew I could understand.
    “Miss Bella, you’re bound for disappointment. Miss Cecie isn’t going to marry Chandler Evans. Not that there’s anything wrong with the man, he’s just not her hero.”
    Surprise ruffled my ribbons. How the scrap did she know? Sure, my bride hadn’t really said anything, though I’d had plenty of time to consider her odd behavior.  
    Again, as if understanding my question, she answered. “I raised my Cecie to be smarter than that. I’ll bet my right hand she’s got something cooking.”
    I couldn’t make much sense of her rambling since I always thought the mother was the person to raise the daughter. I did understand that Carla was speculating. Heidi did this while working on her creations.
    Worry raced over my bolero. Would someone else figure out what Cecelia was planning? If so, would they stop her? It didn’t seem Carla would, except my bride’s mother or father may.
    Oh, if only I had a way to warn her that her secret wasn’t so secret.
    After Carla left, quiet filled the room again. Not for the first time I questioned why Cecelia had settled for me. What was I supposed to do?
    Not long after Carla left, Cecelia entered, her face wreathed in smiles.
    This was the first time I’d seen her happy. Joy shot through my beads and though she wasn’t my soul mate, I was delighted for her.
    Cecelia went to her desk and dropped her case. Her posture straightened and I wondered what had caught her attention. She turned and in her hand, I saw the brochure for Heidi’s designs.
    Her gaze rose and she studied me from bolero to train. Dropping the catalogue to the desk, she slowly walked to me. Then Cecie laid her hands on the shoulders of the hanger that anchored me.
    “Bella, the brochure says Heidi believes all of her creations are magic.” Her hand gave me a gentle squeeze then she smiled. “It’s true. You