When Greer went onstage to join the other four finalists, she was visibly in shock. Ford noticed how pale she went as soon as her name was called. Her smile was too bright. Her eyes were wary. And he wasn’t sure why. This is what she wanted.
It was true that Pierre appeared to be sulking, and maybe that accounted for her uptight reaction. He wasn’t a guy you wanted to anger if you could possible avoid it.
Kiki held the mike under Greer’s face, and all she said was, “Wow. Thank you all so much.”
Henny stepped into the awkward moment and congratulated everyone, then reminded the audience and the finalists how the rest of the contest would play out: there would be three challenges that week. Whoever had the most points at the end of the third challenge would win the gown.
“The winners will participate in the first challenge tonight,” she said. “They’ll play a short version of the Newlywed Game with their partners.”
Everyone cheered, but Ford’s heart sank. No way could Greer participate. The military bride, Lisa, was able to connect with her faraway soldier on FaceTime, so she could play.
“The next challenge will be a wedding cake bake-off fund-raiser the brides will host for a great charity,” said Henny. “The public will sample five distinct wedding cake recipes chosen by the brides and baked by one of five local wedding cake vendors. They’ll vote on their favorite based on taste and presentation. The winning bride gets a bundle of points. However, more points may be accrued if their soul mates can determine which cake belongs to their future bride. If they’re right, their votes are doubled.”
Greer couldn’t do that one, either! Luckily Lisa would be allowed to use her father as a stand-in for her partner.
“The third challenge,” Henny said, “takes place at a luxurious beach house on the Isle of Palms, where the future brides and their One-and-Onlys will be treated to a weekend of fun, parts of which will be telecast. The public will vote via text or online ballot that will be tallied and the results reported on the Lowcountry Live morning show on Channel Four. FaceTime will be allowed to include our military bride’s true love in the weekend assessment.”
It was obvious Greer wouldn’t be able to compete. At all. She just stood there, looking sad. And quiet.
“A lot of good it does being a finalist,” Macy said to Ford. “She can’t compete without a partner.”
Pierre did look amazingly happy now. In fact, he was outright chortling. No one chortled. Only bad guys in films.
So Ford made a decision. He walked up onstage in his borrowed white dinner jacket, got on one knee, pulled off his gold signet ring, and in front of the entire room, asked Greer, resplendent in her sequined gown, to marry him.