Chapter Thirty-Six

Cars lined the roadway outside the old chapel with the ancient stone façade. Kit loved the look of this place with the small bell tower jutting up like a beacon to all who entered. She swallowed hard as she navigated the flagstone walkway where tulle ribbons were tied into bows on the railings at the stairs.

A few attendees already sat in the wooden pews, although it was too early for the ceremony. The photographers—three of them, for God’s sake—were setting up their equipment, and what appeared to be a planning person, a tallish woman with her hair in a too-tight bun, was fussing with the floral arrangements and the white fabric runner that had been rolled out onto the aisle.

The air inside the cavernous space was cool despite the heat outside. The organist up in the balcony played background music that Kit welcomed, the notes soothing and holy. An errant feeling of awe poured over her like water. Peace knocked on her broken heart and wanted in.

She found the small room where the bride awaited her. She opened the heavy door and stood in the entrance. Co-Co was in front of a wheeled, full-length mirror, most assuredly a piece of the bride’s equipment.

Aunt Dee Dee looked lovely in her mauve taffeta suit with a peplum. Her hair was starched and choppy, and her earrings dangled, their swaying catching the glints of light coming in from the cross-hatched window.

But it was Co-Co who stole her breath. Gram’s dress was spectacular on the bride’s tiny frame. The fabric flowed as if it were alive, as if it had breath and a heart of its own. A tear stung the corner of Kit’s eye.

“Kitty-Kat!” Co-Co opened her arms wide but did not move away from where she stood. Her maid of honor, Kelly, in a billowy yellow chiffon dress, stood at her side. Co-Co’s face beamed, and Kit could not help but notice a quiver to the bride’s perfectly glossed lips. “Well, what do you think, cousin? Do I do our grandmother’s dress justice?”

With each step toward the bride, Kit willed the peace from the chapel to be with her. She licked her lips and blinked back the moisture in the corner of her eyes. “You’re beautiful, Co-Co.”

“You think so?”

Co-Co gently lifted the fabric into her hands and took a tiny yet giant step to stand before Kit. Her perfume, a springtime floral scent, wafted to Kit’s nose. Her makeup was so perfectly applied she looked like a cover of a bridal magazine.

She grabbed Kit’s hand. “Thank you.” She paused and uttered a small nervous laugh. “Thank you for the magic you’ve done with this gown. It’s perfect.”

She nodded. “It is perfect.”

“You look so pretty, Kit,” Aunt Dee Dee cooed. “Your mother told me all about your dress, and she was right. You look like a movie star in it.”

Kit emitted a noise that sounded like a laugh, but really, it was a release of air that had been trapped in her lungs. Mom had said she looked like a movie star? A lump grew in her throat. She swallowed hard.

Co-Co pressed her hands together, as if in prayer. “Mom, Kelly, will you excuse Kit and me for a moment?”

A pause hung heavy in the room, but her maid of honor broke the silence. “I’ll go see how things are progressing out there.”

“I’ve got to visit the powder room.” Aunt Dee Dee took cautious steps across the wooden floor, hands up for balance, as if she were walking on ice. Maybe those two-inch sling backs weren’t the best choice.

Kit’s eyes lingered on the closed door after the bride’s companions exited. She could feel Co-Co’s stare from behind her.

“Kit…”

She turned her head. “I brought a needle and thread if we need it. Is everything okay with the dress?” Moving into seamstress mode was like shrugging into a favorite old coat. She stepped around Co-Co and examined the back of the dress. She touched her fingers to the fabric-covered buttons. She knew without counting there were thirty-seven. “The buttons are secure.”

Co-Co covered Kit’s hand. “I want to say something, Kitty-Kat. Please let me.”

She didn’t want to hear whatever her cousin had to say. Despite its brokenness, her heart thudded in her chest, and she feared that muscle could not take one more tugging before it fell to pieces like a bad game of Jenga.

“This is your day, Co-Co.”

She squeezed Kit’s hand. “You’ve been wonderful through this, cousin. I know how selfish I’ve been.” A nervous laugh came from her lips. “Since forever, right? I mean, you’ve had to deal with me and my antics since we were in kindergarten.” She smiled, and that tremble was back on her lips in a discernible quiver.

Kit’s heart squeezed. Don’t. Please don’t.

But the bride continued. “I was delighted when I learned you and Shane were so happy. Really that was more selfishness on my part, wasn’t it? If you’re happy, then I can rest easy with what happened with Brian and my being together.” A caustic laugh popped from her mouth. “But don’t think I don’t know in here how much I’ve hurt you.” She closed her fist and held it to the place where her heart beat. “And that’s the price, Kit. I’ll always know.”

Kit pulled in a breath and expelled. “Co-Co, it’s your wedding day. How you and your groom came to be doesn’t matter now. True love is true love. Right?”

“You wanted Grammy’s gown. I knew it all along.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Yet you helped make it look like this.” She gently lifted her arms wide, like a bird about to take flight. “You’ve made me beautiful.”

“You were born beautiful.”

“Not inside. Not always.”

“Gram would be proud of you now.”

A tear dribbled down the bride’s cheek. “Mostly of you, Kitty-Kat. You and Grammy were cut from the same cloth. Both of you funny and likeable, everyone clamoring to be around you to hear what you’ve got to say about any old thing. And like you, she was smart and nice. Really nice. Everyone wanted to be like her.” She swatted at the tear that had dribbled down her face just in time for another one to cascade down the other cheek. “To be like you.”

Instinctively Kit reached up and stopped the tear from traveling to Co-Co’s chin. They locked gazes as her finger froze where it touched the bride’s face. “Look at you messing with that makeup,” she admonished. “Stop now, Co-Co. Where’s your makeup? Let’s touch you up.”

“On the table.”

Kit went to the table and opened what looked like an overnight bag. She withdrew a compact of powder and a brush. “Is this the brush you use for the powder?” She came up to Co-Co with the brush aimed.

“Yes, but, Kit…”

“Close your eyes and your mouth, too.”

Co-Co did as she was told, and Kit tapped the brush into the powder, blew off the excess, and gently dabbed it over her cousin’s expertly applied makeup.

“You know—”

“Stop talking for crying out loud, Co-Co.”

A smile turned up on Co-Co’s mouth. “You’re not the boss of me.”

The words conjured all the times over the years when the two girls had locked horns. Kit had always been the wronged one, and Co-Co the perpetrator of some sneaky or underhanded escapade. She studied her cousin’s face as she stood there with her chin up and her eyes closed. The false lashes were expertly applied and looked like dark fans feathering out from her eyes. Kit bit down on her lip. Had she been pompous over all this time, knowing she was the self-proclaimed good one, the nice cousin? Had that given her the kind of satisfaction Co-Co had gotten from her own antics? What did it matter now? This young woman was about to embark on her new life, and today of all days this tearful bride wanted Kit to know she was sorry and had even confessed that she’d wished she were more like her.

“Good as new,” Kit said.

Co-Co opened her eyes. “Thank you, cousin.”

“You’re welcome.” They shared a smile.

The door opened, and Kelly and Aunt Dee Dee came in with their cousin Paul, dapper in his tuxedo. Outside the doorway, music met her ears. The organist was playing the “Bridal Chorus.”

“Look at you,” Paul gushed, and just the sound of his awe brought another stinging tear to Kit’s eyes.

She needed to get a grip. She stepped away and made her way toward the door.

Kelly did a little hop and flashed a grin. “Kit, your man’s out there already.”

My man? “Shane?”

“Of course Shane, silly. He looks delicious in that dark suit. Hubba-hubba.”

Shane was here at the ceremony?

“I, um, better get out there.” She turned to the bride, who was fussing with her bouquet. They shared a wink.

“He’s sitting with your mom up in the second row.”

She went through the door and slowly walked to the chapel, trying to remember how to breathe.