Felicity Carmichael’s heart slammed against the inside of her chest as she witnessed pieces of the bridal bouquet she’d worked so hard on fly out over the room in all directions. She caught her breath as one of the clumps shot straight toward her. Instinctively, she closed her eyes and reached up to catch it just before it smashed her in the face.
Opening first one eye and then the other, she looked down at the small tuft of flowers she held and fleetingly wondered if catching only a portion of a bouquet meant anything. She shook her head and sighed. It was nothing but a near miss…just like her two previous engagements. No. She wasn’t going to think about that now.
Clasping the flowers to her heart, she took a deep breath and willed her racing pulse to slow down. She looked down at the mangled little cluster of flowers, and her heart sank. All her work had been torn to bits in a matter of seconds. She closed her eyes once more to fight against the threat of tears. When she opened them, it was only to immediately blink against the bright light of a camera flash going off somewhere very close.
David, the bride’s brother, had been taking pictures of his sister Abby’s wedding reception all afternoon. From what Abby had told her about him, Felicity was pretty sure he’d be teasing his sister forever about her pitching style…especially after witnessing the aftermath of that pitch.
She watched him turn to catch his sister doubled over laughing at the expressions on the faces of the women who’d hoped to catch her bouquet. Felicity couldn’t help but chuckle herself. If Abby wasn’t upset, she certainly shouldn’t be. After all, it wasn’t her wedding day.
Looking around, Felicity shook her head but couldn’t keep from chuckling as she watched David continue to take pictures of the wedding reception and the havoc the flying bouquet had caused. He moved around the room snapping pictures right and left. How he could hold the camera still with his shoulders shaking with laughter was beyond her. No telling what those photos were going to look like. But she found it hard to take her eyes off him. A handsome man with thick dark hair and blue-green eyes, he was even better looking when he smiled or laughed—his eyes crinkling at the corners and a dimple suddenly appearing out of nowhere.
Felicity was surprised at the way her pulse sped up when he turned and caught her staring. He began to walk toward her. She didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath until his parents stopped him and she released the pent-up air in her lungs with a whoosh.
Feeling the heat rising on her cheeks, Felicity didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed when he turned and started in a different direction, but the way her pulse began to race, she decided it might be for the best if she found something to do besides watch David Edmonds. It didn’t take long…there were bits and pieces of the bride’s bouquet everywhere. Felicity gently put the tiny portion of bouquet she’d caught into her skirt pocket and began to pick up some of the scattered blooms off the floor.
David hadn’t had time to think since he’d dodged the flying flower bundle that flew past his ear. For a scant second he’d wondered if he was seeing things and then realized what it was he had seen. The look of shock on his sister’s face as she’d thrown her bouquet had him aiming his camera first at her and then at her attendants, who’d been waiting to catch the bouquet. Their expressions were priceless. As Abby dissolved into laughter, he turned to the room.
He took a picture of Felicity Carmichael, Abby’s friend and the florist who’d made the bouquet, holding one of the errant flower bundles close to her chest. There was a vulnerable look in her eyes that made him want to stop and talk to her, but laughter from across the room had him aiming his camera in a different direction just in time to catch his best friend, Geoff Manfrey, reaching for the clump of flowers stuck on top of his head.
David felt the mirth building in his chest…his chuckles inching toward huge guffaws…but he didn’t dare let them out as he watched the responses of the people who’d caught or been hit by parts of the shredded bouquet. Somehow he didn’t think most of them would appreciate it. It wasn’t easy holding the camera steady while he tried not to laugh, but he didn’t want to miss one good shot. Thankfully, Abby didn’t seem too upset…at first. But when her expression changed to one of concern and she darted across the room, he followed.
It took him longer as he framed first one and then another shot. By the time he got there, a crowd had gathered around the cake table—or what was left of it—and the caterer, Rose something, and Stan’s best man, Lucas Montgomery. David couldn’t get close enough to really see what was happening, and he wondered if the bouquet had anything to do with it. He then dismissed that idea. They were flowers after all. How much damage could they do?
He turned and saw Felicity across the room and suddenly remembered that Abby had suggested that he interview her for the newspaper—that it would be a way of helping Felicity’s business out since she had given Abby such a great price on the flowers. It was the least he could do for someone who’d helped make his sister’s wedding so beautiful, and he started toward her to try to set up an interview. But he was stopped by his parents telling him that Abby and Stan would be leaving soon, and when he looked back, he didn’t see Felicity. He made a mental note to try to talk to her later. He took a couple more pictures and decided he’d better head toward the door so that he could take the going-away pictures of his sister and her new husband.
He looked at his watch. If the newlyweds hurried, he’d be able to get these pictures developed and into the Sunday paper. He turned quickly, stumbled, and almost tripped over Felicity, who was bent down picking floral bits up off the floor.
“Oh! I’m so sorry,” he said, extending a hand to help her up. “Are you all right?”
Her laughter was light and lilting, and as he looked into her eyes, he was surprised by the way his heart began to beat faster. He’d seen Felicity many times over the last few months—at church, although they didn’t attend the same Sunday school class, and at times on the street as they passed each other coming or going from his sister’s house just next door to hers. But he’d never been really up close like this. Her eyes were the most unusual shade of brown…almost gold. They sort of shimmered as she looked up at him, and something in his chest seemed to flip into his stomach. He was pretty sure it was his heart.
“I’m fine,” she said, sounding a little out of breath.
“Good. I think we’ve already had one casualty today.” Funny. He sounded the same way—as if he’d been out running.
“Oh?” Felicity looked around. “Who?”
“The wedding cake.”
“The cake?” She looked confused.
“Yes. It seems to have crashed to the floor.” David looked back toward the cake table, but the crowd had dispersed and Rose and Lucas were nowhere to be seen. He shrugged. “I’m not sure what happened.”
“That’s a shame,” she said, shaking her head. “I was looking forward to a piece of that cake. Oh well.”
David chuckled. “You can have a piece of the groom’s cake.”
“Of Bowser? Oh…I’m not sure I can do that.”
The groom’s cake was adorable…shaped and decorated to look just like Stan’s basset hound.
“From what’s left of it by now, you probably wouldn’t recognize him.” David wasn’t sure what to say next, but he wanted to keep talking to her. “I noticed that you caught one of the pieces of the bouquet. I guess this means there will be more than one bride coming out of this wedding.”
Felicity shook her head. “I don’t think it works that way.”
“No?”
“No.”
Her smile seemed a little wistful, and David wondered why he hadn’t noticed how really pretty she was before. “I’ve been—”
“David!” Abby called. She and Stan were hovering by the front door of the inn. “Are you going to get pictures of us leaving?”
He looked down at Felicity. “I’m sorry. Duty calls.”
“Abby wants those pictures.” She grinned and motioned back to the newlyweds. “And it looks like Stan wants to leave. You’d better go.”
David turned to look at his sister and her new husband. Stan was motioning for him to hurry. He chuckled and grinned at Felicity. “Looks like you’re right. I guess I’d better go…if you’re sure you’re not hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
“Okay, then. I’ll talk to you later.” He hurried away, a little put off by his sister’s timing, now that he realized he’d like to get to know her neighbor a whole lot better.
A light snow had begun to fall when Felicity left the reception. The temperature had been steadily dropping all evening, and by the time she’d changed clothes and fixed herself a light supper, the snow was beginning to accumulate on the sidewalk outside. She cleaned up the kitchen and then went to take a warm bath.
Dressed in her warmest robe, she made herself a cup of hot chocolate and carried it into the living room. Felicity looked out the window and shivered before settling into her recliner. She took a sip of the warm liquid in her cup and picked up the remains of Abby’s bouquet that were lying on the table beside her. She still couldn’t believe that it’d been sliced into pieces.
Had her work been inferior? Felicity shook her head. She’d spent hours on that bouquet. The fragile blooms just couldn’t stand up to the force of the fan. She twirled the small clump around in her fingers and thought about what David had said. Could he be right…that catching a portion of a bouquet would have the same results as catching a whole one? She shrugged and shook her head. Did it really matter? No…not for her.
David certainly was an attractive man. Especially up close. She’d seen him many times, but she’d never really talked to him. She wondered why that was when she and Abby were such good friends. Of course they’d gone to college together, and David was already out of college by then. Felicity had only been living in Loudon for about a year, having moved here when her parents decided to retire in Florida. Besides, Abby knew how relationship-shy she was after her two broken engagements and probably hadn’t wanted her to think she was trying to set her up with her brother.
Abby knew Felicity well enough to know she’d run the other way, because her heart had been broken too many times. Months ago Felicity had come to the conclusion that the Lord intended for her to stay single, and that was the reason she’d put everything she had into opening her own flower shop. Flowers by Felicity was all she had time for now, and she needed to put all of her energies into making a go of it.
She’d only been open a few months, and while she had enough business to hire one other person to help, she was barely getting by. It seemed her hired help was clearing more take-home money than she was. Of course, right now she was putting everything she made back into the business. She was just lucky the shop had a small house attached to it so that she wasn’t paying for both a business and a place to live.
Abby’s wedding was the first one she’d supplied flowers for, and she hoped word of mouth would garner her more business. Everything had looked lovely. Abby’s attendants’ skirts were multicolored, and she’d wanted the flowers to be made up of roses of those very same colors. Finding just the right shades of red, yellow, pink, deep rose, and peach had been quite a challenge. But Felicity had contacted all her suppliers and managed to order in enough for Abby’s bouquet, the attendants’ smaller ones, and the table arrangements at the inn.
Abby had been thrilled with the final result…and the price Felicity had given her. She wasn’t making much of anything on this project, but she hoped it would pay off in more business.
She sighed, thinking back over the day. It had been a beautiful wedding. Abby and Stan seemed to have found that elusive true love that Felicity had given up on. She really was happy for them…if a little sad for herself. She still longed for a love of her own, but it wasn’t to be, and she certainly didn’t need to sit around moping about it. She flipped on the television and tried to find something to take her mind off weddings and happy endings. It didn’t take long.
It was the news hour, and none of the stories were uplifting. The weather was going to get worse during the night, with record snow accumulations for this time of year predicted. Felicity shivered and hit the OFF button on the remote. She took a sip of hot chocolate and picked up the book on the table beside her chair.
It held all the answers she needed and the assurance that she was indeed loved. She flipped open her precious and well-worn Bible. She loved seeing what the Lord had in store for her when she turned to His Word and sought His guidance.