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Orville left shortly after dinner and a quick round of Dinosaur Chutes and Ladders. The board game thing was kind of a ritual. If he came over to eat, which he was doing more frequently now that we were ‘out there’, then the meal was usually followed by a quick game between him and the kids while us women folk cleaned up the kitchen.
Technically, the women folk would include Nancy, but we let her off the hook for game time. Besides, three in a kitchen, even for cleaning duties, was a bit much.
The next morning, we got the kids off to school and opened up the shop. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw three people waiting outside for us to unlock the doors. Tourist season rarely started in Wind’s Crossing until June. So why was my little shop suddenly so very busy?
It wasn’t just gawkers either, they were buyers. Kind of made me wonder what was going on. Was there an event going on that I didn’t know about?
I’d planned to cut out about mid-morning to make a trip to the local printer to order our wedding invitations. I didn’t want to make the same mistake I’d made with the cake. I was hoping the printing of four dozen embossed white cards with our names and the date and time of the wedding wouldn’t be a big deal. Or take long at all. After all, I needed to get the darn things made out and in the mail.
As it was, with the steady flow of customers, I didn’t get a chance to go until lunch time. And that was delayed a good half an hour. We even had to lock the door to the shop to stop people coming in. It was that crazy.
Which is just my way of admitting, and explaining, the fact that I might have been more than a little cranky by the time I made it to the printers. I walked in their shop a full fifteen minutes before their posted lunch time, and there wasn’t a single person ahead of me in line. Mistakenly, I thought that was one of those good omens we witches liked so much.
I was wrong. Way wrong.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t help you.”
I glanced around the empty shop. “Are you taking lunch early?” Not that I saw that as a reason not to wait on a customer who was standing right in front of you. To me, that was more than a little rude.
“No,” the woman behind the counter said, standing up to her full height. “I’m saying we won’t print your wedding invitations.”
I took yet another glance around the shop. Nope, no one had shown up in the past few seconds. It was still just me and her.
“May I ask why not?”
She sneered at me. “I think you know full well why not, but sure, I’ll tell you. This town doesn’t want you marrying Sheriff Orville Taylor. And we will not be a part of it in any way, shape, or form. Good luck getting anything you need for your wedding here in Wind’s Crossing.”
That kind of sounded like a threat to me. And I really, really didn’t like threats. Not when other people made them, anyway. My threats were more like promises of what could happen should someone not see the error of their ways. Big difference.
I had two choices. I could make a scene—after all, who would see but me and her? — or I could turn around and walk out.
I walked out.
By the time I made it back to the shop, I’d totally forgotten to eat. Not that I thought I could swallow a bite right now. No, between my worry and my anger, I was full enough as it was. Adding food to that mix might not be the wisest of things to do.
As it stood, I had a wedding in less than a month. We had no preacher, which could pose a major problem with the whole me being a witch thing. We had no cake. And now we had no wedding invitations.
The omens just kept piling up.
I was starting to think Sapphire had been the smartest of the two of us by just eloping. No ceremony to worry about then.
Of course, the contrarian in me wouldn’t allow the townsfolk to win that easily. We’d have a wedding all right. And it would be a beautiful, loving, friend and family filled day. Or, well, night. I’d see to that personally.
But it just might be time to concede that I needed help.
It was time to bring in my sister.
***
I LEARNED FROM MY MISTAKES. We locked the door to the shop ten minutes before closing time. The shop was just about as full as it could get, anyway. If this continued, I’d be in for a record-breaking week in sales. And by the middle of the week, too. I didn’t sell this much stuff in the height of tourist season, or at Christmas, for that matter. Whatever was up, it was certainly going to be good for my bank account.
The bad news, though, was that it meant me having to help out in the front of the shop rather than spend a few minutes here and there doing wedding planning stuff. Why did this week have to be the busy one?
The sign on the door clearly said that we closed at four. I sent Kimberly and the kids home then and stayed behind to wait on the stragglers. There were always a few, weren’t there?
I’d called Sapphire earlier, in a very tiny break between helping customers—and yes, I made the call from the bathroom if you must know—and arranged to have dinner with her tonight.
For once, she was coming to us. As it happened, Archie was out of town for a few days, and my sister was at loose ends. I perked up at hearing that. Finally, something was going my way.
I’d told Kimberly not to worry about starting supper. It was going to be a Carney’s pizza night. Everyone deserved a few of them. I would have invited my man, but he’d warned me last night that he would be tied up with the case for the next few days.
Now that he could concentrate on it again.
I was hoping to get one thing crossed off my list tonight if nothing else. The wedding dress. Mom’s dress was safely tucked away in Sapphire’s attic, as we’d been sure of the two of us, she’d be the one to use it. Only she hadn’t. Which, in my mind, meant it was available for me.
As we munched on pizza, we started talking about the wedding. Namely, all the trouble I was having trying to get the darn thing off the ground.
I must have been showing more concern than I thought I was because I noticed Kimberly and Sapphire giving each other a knowing glance.
“What?” I asked.
“You know we’re here to help out, right? We just didn’t want to step on your toes, so we were waiting for you to ask. You get persnickety sometimes when people assume you can’t do these things all on your own.”
I’d have argued, but deep down I knew she was right. Being the eldest meant something to me. Independence was something I valued very highly in my life. But now? I needed help, dang it all. If that meant asking for it, so be it.
“Fine. Then I’m asking. Can you two help me with this thing?”
Sapphire grinned at me. “Absolutely. Oh, I have so many ideas! And I brought along my wedding book, too, just in case.”
I stifled a groan. How on earth could I have forgotten about that blasted wedding book? Sapphire had been all about getting married, even as a teenager. That’s when she’d started the book. Pictures of wedding gowns, flower arrangements, you name it, it was in there.
“Orville and I are going with a very simple ceremony. No flowers, other than what the Goddess provides, and family and very close friends only. Not a super big deal, Sapphire. I just need help with a cake, a preacher, and invitations. I think I can handle the rest.”
“What about the dress?” From her look, I could tell she knew one of the reasons I’d invited her over.
I looked her straight in the eye. “I was kind of thinking I’d wear Mom’s wedding dress.”
There was a story behind that dress. It had never actually been worn. Mom never quite got around to getting married. Up until Orville’s surprise proposal, I’d kind of thought I’d just be following in her footsteps. Funny that I’d be the one wearing the dress down the aisle.
Then I noticed that Sapphire hadn’t said anything. In fact, she was no longer meeting my eyes.
“What?”
She took a deep breath and shook her head. “It’s nothing. I’d just had all these visions of me wearing that gown down the aisle. I guess it took this for it to hit me that now I’ll never get that chance.” Another deep breath and a smile. “But it will be nice watching you do it, all the same. The dress deserves to be worn for the purpose it was made for.”
“It does.” I glanced at her wedding book. Goddess, but that binder was a thick one. She’d put a lot into that thing over the years.
My guilt ratcheted up a couple of notches too. Not because I was having the wedding that she’d always dreamed of, either. More because it was more than likely that I was the reason she didn’t have one, to begin with. The whole reason she’d run off and eloped was because of me and my feelings about Earth witches.
My feelings on that matter, I’ll admit, may have been more than a little prejudiced. I’m still working on that, now that we have Earth witches in the family. The fact that their Earth magic had turned out to be useful more than once helped.
It didn’t seem right not to put some of that book to good use. But not just for me. I wanted a simple wedding, dang it.
But that didn’t mean I couldn’t share it, now did it?
I knew I should have run something this big by Orville first, but I knew my man. I’d be dead shocked if he had an issue with what I was about to say.
“You know, Sapphire, you could still have a wedding.”
She gave me a small smile. “Isn’t that kind of like closing the barn door after the horses get out? I’m already well and truly married, Opal. No regrets on that, either.”
“True. But people renew their vows all the time. And people that run off to Vegas often have a ceremony back home for everyone else. Don’t see why you and Archie can’t do the same. In fact, how hard would it be to make my wedding a double one? Share the work and share the day?”
She gasped in glee. An actual gasp with actual glee. That was my sister.
“You’d do that for me?”
“Seems only fitting as I’m the reason you didn’t have your big day to begin with.” Then I hesitated. “But nothing too fancy, okay? Close friends and family, up on the hilltop under the light of the full moon. Would you be okay with that?”
Sapphire threw her arms around me. “More than okay with it! Oh, Opal, thank you. This is wonderful.” Then she sat down on the couch and patted the cushion beside her before pulling the huge and heavy book onto her lap. “Now, let’s plan our wedding.”
And that’s just what we did. I kept her restrained, for the most part. But she wasn’t budging on the issue of flowers. We both had to have bouquets. Pink and white roses for her, and white daisies for me. Our personal favorites.
And yes, she was also holding out for a flower-covered archway for us to walk under. One side of the arch was to be covered in daisies, the other in roses, with the top a delicate weaving of both. According to her, we had to have one “for the photos, if nothing else”.
Which brought up another thing I hadn’t thought of. Wedding photography. Not that it was an issue. Sapphire’s daughter, Amie, was great behind a camera. And I really couldn’t see her telling her mom and me no. Family did for family.
At least one piece of the puzzle fell neatly into place. Unfortunately, with the new double wedding plan, another piece fell out.
I looked at Sapphire. “Now for the big question. Who gets to wear Mom’s dress?”
Her face fell as she looked at me. “Oh.”
Yeah, 'oh' was right.
By this time, Kimberly and the kids had all gone upstairs, and Sapphire and I had long since moved into my little apartment for our discussions and negotiations. At Sapphire’s wish, baby Pearl was spending the night with us.
That’s all kind of need to know information for what came next.
Bridget, my macaw familiar, had been sitting on her post, watching our deliberations quietly. Now, she shook her head and spoke. “Divide the dress.”
We both just looked at her, then at baby Pearl. We’d thought baby Pearl was fast asleep, but two bright eyes looked out at us from the little travel crib.
Then we looked at each other. “Is she talking like King Solomon and the baby? Whoever loves the dress more will agree to let the other have it?”
Bridget cackled. It sounded a lot like Mom when she got tickled. “You can sew.”
Oh. Now I got it. She really meant the whole divide the dress thing.
And you know? It just could work.