“Well, ladies,” Theresa Manetti told her two best friends happily, “this is one more in our plus column.”
Theresa slipped into the pew next to Maizie and Cilia after double-checking with her staff to make sure that Mikki and Jeff’s specially designed wedding cake would be arriving at Jeff’s restaurant in plenty of time for the reception. She had put her best pastry chefs on the job.
“You mean two more, don’t you?” Cilia asked. She glanced knowingly in Maizie’s direction.
Totally in the dark, Theresa questioned, “Two? Maizie, what is she talking about?”
This was a topic for future discussion, not in church right before the wedding ceremony was about to begin. Maizie’s expression was one of pure innocence as she said, “I really have no idea.”
Theresa thought otherwise. She turned her attention to Cilia. “Tell me,” she ordered.
“Apparently, our friend has taken it upon herself to freelance without telling us.” Cilia’s smile was triumphant. “You forget,” she told Maizie, “our daughters talk.”
“Well, somebody talk,” Theresa insisted. She hated being kept in the dark.
“All right,” Maizie relented. “My daughter came to me after talking to Mikki to see how things were going. She was afraid Mikki was never going to risk getting married no matter how wonderful Jeff was—not until her mother finally found someone stable she could really settle down with. If that happened, that would encourage Mikki to say yes to Jeff.”
“And so Maizie found someone for her,” Cilia said, taking over the narrative. “Honestly, Maizie, sometimes you just talk too slowly—the wedding’s almost starting.”
“Wait,” Theresa interrupted, still trying to get the story straight. “So you played matchmaker for Mikki’s mother?” she asked Maizie. “Without us?”
Maizie nodded. “I’m afraid I did,” she confessed. “I knew a gentleman who was just perfect for her mother—and Nikki helped,” she added proudly.
“Nikki? Your daughter, Nikki?” Theresa questioned, surprised.
“The apple doesn’t fall all that far from the tree,” Cilia told their friend.
Maizie quickly filled her friends in. “Randolph is a retired army doctor. Kind, intelligent and not the type to be intimidated by a forceful woman. I think he’s just the influence that Veronica needs in her life. Her mother marrying Randolph also showed Mikki that the right one can come along if you don’t give up. And Lord knows, that woman never gave up.”
Theresa laughed softly. “My, the lengths we go to in order to help our unsuspecting clients find happiness,” she marveled.
“Well, it worked,” Maizie said proudly. “The happy couple had their reception at Jeff’s restaurant. And during the celebration, Jeff worked up his nerve to propose to Mikki.” Maizie’s smile went right to her eyes. “I hear tell that she couldn’t say yes fast enough.”
“You are one devious woman, Maizie Sommers,” Cilia told her friend.
Maizie exchanged glances with her two friends. “We all are.” Then, before either one of them could say anything in response to her comment, she said, “Shh. It’s starting.”
A moment later, Cilia looked at her closely. “Maizie, you’re tearing up.”
“Nikki is her matron of honor,” she pointed out. “Isn’t she beautiful?”
“Always,” Theresa and Cilia both agreed, although it wasn’t clear if Maizie was talking about her daughter or the latest young bride.
* * *
Right about now, she’d expected to be nervous—to the point that she would be contemplating bolting from the church. Instead, Mikki realized that she had never felt more confident in her life. Marrying Jeff, committing herself for the rest of her life to this man, was not just the right thing to do, she knew that it was the only thing to do.
And here she was, slowly walking down the aisle toward the man of her dreams.
She couldn’t believe it.
And to think that she had almost thrown it all away out of fear because she didn’t want to emulate her mother’s mistakes.
Mikki glanced over to where her mother was seated with her new husband. Her last new husband, her mother had whispered when she’d introduced Randolph to Mikki, and she’d felt her mother actually meant it. More important, she felt that this man was going to keep her mother happy.
Love was possible in this turbulent world, Mikki thought happily—and she had found her love. Thank goodness he hadn’t given up on her.
As she slowly made her way down the aisle behind her best friend, her eyes were focused on the man at the altar. The man who had been patient enough to wait out her craziness.
The man she was meant to be with forever.
When she finally reached the altar and joined Jeff before the minister, Jeff leaned in and whispered to her, “You came,” as if he had been harboring some doubts.
Mikki smiled warmly at him. “Wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” she whispered back.
And then they both turned to look at the minister, who began to say the words that would, in the end, join them for the rest of their lives.
The way they were meant to be.
* * * * *
Check out other books in Marie Ferrarella’s MATCHMAKING MAMAS miniseries:
A SECOND CHANCE FOR THE SINGLE DAD
MEANT TO BE MINE
TWICE A HERO, ALWAYS HER MAN
DR. FORGET-ME-NOT
Available now from Harlequin Special Edition!
Keep reading for an excerpt from A BRIDE FOR LIAM BRAND by Joanna Sims.
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