Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Caitlin frowned down at the magazine clippings that were spread out around her on the living room rug. Beautiful images of centerpieces and table settings and flower arrangements surrounded her, but instead of smiling at them, she was biting her lip.

When she and Michael had decided to change their wedding from a simple courthouse ceremony to a big, elaborate celebration on the beach, she’d been nothing but excited at first, even though she’d known how much work it was going to be. Now she was starting to feel stressed and overwhelmed by the whole process—their wedding was fast approaching, and the decisions seemed to be never-ending. She was already a busy woman, since she owned a dinner cruise and had a daughter to raise. Planning a whole wedding in a short amount of time had added a great deal to her workload, even though her fiancé, Michael, was also doing the planning with her.

Pearl, her eight-year-old daughter, scampered up behind her and gave her a hug.

“What are you doing?” she asked curiously, looking down at the pictures with her curly head close to her mother’s. “Planning the wedding?”

“I am,” Caitlin said with a sigh. She mustered a smile. “You want to help me?”

“I would love to!” Pearl sat down on the carpet next to Caitlin without hesitation. “All of these look so pretty.”

Caitlin beamed at her, feeling glad that Pearl’s enthusiasm had been added to the task at hand. “What about this one?” she asked, handing Pearl a picture of twinkling lights bordering a dinner table.

“Ooh, I love that!” Pearl cooed. “And it will look even better at your wedding, because your wedding will be on the beach. And the dinner will happen at night, so all the lights will be reflecting on the water too, and then there will be sparkles everywhere.”

Caitlin smiled, feeling a new rush of enthusiasm. “You’re right,” she said. “That’s a really lovely point, Pearl.”

“I know,” Pearl said cheerfully, and picked up another one of the drawings. “Oh, this one is so pretty! If you put candles on every table like that, your wedding will look like fairyland.”

Caitlin couldn’t help but get a warm feeling in her chest. She felt grateful that she got to have that moment with her daughter, and that Pearl was going to be part of a big celebration of her and Michael’s love.

“I agree.” She glanced down at her daughter. “What do you think we should pick for candles? Tall ones like these, or little tea lights?”

Pearl pressed her lips together in concentration for a moment, and then reached for another picture. “Do this,” she said. “The tall candles but with three different heights. That will help with the sparkle effect.”

“Good idea.” Caitlin grinned and picked up the picture, adding it to her pile of ideas she wanted to use. “Do you think we should use white candles or colored candles?”

“Hmm.” Pearl looked down at the rest of the photographs, inspecting them carefully. Caitlin found the little girl’s frown of concentration endearing. “I like white better.”

“Me too. And white candles will be cheaper too.”

“That’s good. Weddings are expensive.”

Caitlin hid a smile, amused by the way Pearl seemed to be parroting what she’d heard the adults say. She watched her daughter with affection for a moment, feeling a rush of gratitude for Pearl’s optimistic spirit. After Caitlin’s divorce from Pearl’s father, the two of them had moved to Blueberry Bay, and the little girl’s attitude had always been stellar. Despite all of the upheaval in their lives, Pearl had remained resilient.

I’m so glad we’re having this big celebration, Caitlin thought, still watching her daughter. Not only does Michael deserve it, but Pearl does too.

She saw how excited Pearl was about the upcoming wedding, and she reflected that celebrating her and Michael’s marriage with a big ceremony and reception would help Pearl with the new life transition they were about to make. Pearl already adored Michael and saw him as a father figure in her life, but Caitlin felt that a wedding celebration was the right way to honor the fact that their little family was becoming official. It would make it all seem more real and exciting to Pearl, more of a big deal than going to the courthouse.

“How many more days until the end of April?” Pearl asked, turning to her mother with an impatient grin.

“Not enough.” Caitlin laughed. “We still have too much to do!”

Pearl patted her mother’s shoulder reassuringly. “It’s going to be okay, Mom. We’ll get it done together. I’ll help you.”

Caitlin grinned at her daughter. “Thanks, honey. That makes me feel better about everything.”

“What else do we need to decide on?”

“Well, tablecloths. We need to decide if we want crushed satin, or plain satin, or this embroidered sheer overlay?—”

“Oh, pick that one!” Pearl said, clapping her hands. She pointed to the sheer overlay. “That one with all the roses embroidered into it.”

“You’re right, it is really pretty, isn’t it?”

For the next half an hour, Caitlin and Pearl continued to look at the wedding pictures, making all kinds of important decisions about decorations. None of the decisions were final—Caitlin wanted to run everything by Michael first—but she felt great about what they picked out. It was fun to spend time with Pearl and get her opinions on things—Pearl’s choices were always for the prettiest options, and Caitlin found that she agreed with her daughter most of the time.

“There’s one more thing we need to pick out,” she said as they were organizing the remaining pictures into a discard pile.

“What’s that? The rings?”

“No, Michael and I already picked out the rings,” Caitlin said, thinking about the rings that they had chosen together with a rush of excitement. Both rings were elegant, and hers was studded with small pearls, beautiful reminders of her daughter and the oceanside town where they lived. “What we need to pick out right now is something else. Something very important.” She stood up and went to get her laptop from where it was resting on the dining room table.

“What?” the little girl asked eagerly, turning around on the carpet.

“Your flower girl dress,” Caitlin answered, and Pearl clapped her hands with excitement.

Caitlin sat back down next to her daughter, opening her laptop. “We can look for dresses online,” she said. “That way we have the widest variety of options to choose from.”

“Oh, I can’t wait,” Pearl said as Caitlin started to search for dresses. “Can it be pink?”

Caitlin chuckled. “It can absolutely be pink. The bridesmaids are going to be in a sea blue, so that will go nicely with pink. You’ll look like a pink flower at the edge of the ocean.” She winked, and Pearl grinned.

They didn’t have to look long before Pearl gasped at the sight of one of the little dresses. “Oh, that’s it!” she exclaimed, leaning forward and peering at the screen. “That one’s perfect.” She was gazing at a pink, frilly dress with a full skirt. “It looks like a princess dress.”

“I agree,” Caitlin said, also finding the dress absolutely charming. “You’ll look adorable in that, Pearl.”

“Thank you, Mom!” Pearl hugged Caitlin tightly. “I love it!”

At that moment, they heard the back door open, and Pearl let out a squeal of excitement.

“Michael!”

The little girl scampered off to meet him, and Caitlin stood more slowly, smiling to herself as she set her laptop down on the dining room table.

Michael and Pearl appeared a moment later—the little girl was dragging him along by the hand, intent on showing him the dress that she and Caitlin had just picked out.

“Look what we found!” she said, leading him up to the laptop and gesturing to the picture. “That’s going to be my flower girl dress.”

Michael shared a quick grin with Caitlin before giving his full attention to the dress. He leaned forward and looked at the dress with a genuine smile of excitement. “Pearl, that’s so pretty! Good choice.”

He fist-bumped the little girl, who giggled happily.

“Now we need to show you everything else we picked out for the wedding,” Pearl said. “You’re going to love all of it.”

She skipped over to the pile of pictures that she and Caitlin decided on, bringing it back to the dining room table. Michael turned to Caitlin with shining eyes.

“You two were picking stuff out?”

“We’ll only go with these if you also like them,” Caitlin said, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a quick kiss. “Pearl had some great suggestions.”

“Yes, I did,” Pearl said proudly, starting to lay the pictures out across the table.

Michael and Caitlin shared another grin, and then Michael leaned forward to look at the pictures.

“Oh, these look fantastic,” he said.

“You like the white candles?” Caitlin asked, keeping her arm linked through his. “We were thinking those would look more elegant than pink or blue ones, alongside everything else we picked out.”

“And they’re cheaper,” Pearl said importantly.

“Absolutely.” Michael’s eyes shone with excitement. “Do you think we could add seashells to the centerpieces?”

“Oh, that’s a great idea!” Caitlin and Pearl both exclaimed at the same time, and then all three of them started laughing.

“Glad you approve,” Michael teased.

They finished showing him the rest of the pictures, and he loved all their ideas.

“You’re both geniuses,” he said, kissing Pearl’s head. “This is going to be the most beautiful wedding there ever was.” He turned to Caitlin with shining eyes, and she had a feeling he was thinking what she was thinking—that to them, it really was going to be the most beautiful wedding because they got to marry each other.

She grinned at Michael, feeling a rush of happiness. It didn’t matter how much work she needed to do first—she was counting down the days until this man became her husband.

Mid-afternoon sunlight streamed across Alissa Taylor’s desk as she typed with adept fingers at her laptop. She was smiling quietly to herself as she worked, since the topic of the article she was writing was something that made her happy.

“What do you think of this?” she called to Josie Cliff, The Outlet ’s secretary, and her husband, Dane Taylor. She read aloud from her draft, “One of Blueberry Bay’s most dedicated teachers, Olivia Dunlap, has proved just how much she cares about Little Clams Elementary School by arranging for renovations to be made to the school before the springtime Kids’ Fest celebration.”

“Sounds great to me,” Josie said, taking a sip of her coffee. A beautiful wedding ring sparkled on her hand, and she grinned affectionately at Alissa. She had seemed to glow with more happiness than usual ever since her marriage to Wesley.

“Good, but can you add something about her brother right away in the first sentence?” Dane called from inside his office. “That’s the best angle of the story.”

“You got it, boss!” she called back cheerfully, pushing her glasses up on her nose.

Taking a sip of her lavender latte—Dane had gone out and brought them all back beverages from Tidal Wave Coffee earlier—she narrowed her eyes at her computer in concentration. She set her coffee cup down and continued to type, editing her first sentence and then expanding the article.

She wrote about Olivia, finding it fun to write an article about one of her good friends. She described how Olivia was spearheading the renovations for the elementary school and going above and beyond to get it all done. She smiled as she worked, reflecting that this was one of her favorite articles she’d ever composed. She was very fond of Olivia, and she liked the idea of renovations being made to the school—a school that her and Dane’s baby Oscar would go to when he was old enough. She glanced down at her pregnant belly for a moment, feeling a glow of anticipation.

After she’d been writing for a while, a notification popped up on her phone.

“Hey, sweetheart!” she called to Dane. “The crib is being delivered soon! I should go.” She finished her coffee quickly and stood up, beginning to pack up her laptop.

Dane poked his head out of his office. “Are you sure you don’t want me to go?”

“I won’t try to lift the box, I promise.” She laughed. “But one of us has so sign for it, and you’re busier than me today. Besides, I can finish up my articles at home. I’ll make sure to finish that ‘How to Babyproof Your Home’ article for the homeowner’s column.”

Recently in their magazine’s homeowner’s column, in which they highlighted useful tips for home repair, they’d been focusing on things having to do with babyproofing specifically. She’d enjoyed it immensely—and found it easy to do, since they were spending a great deal of time learning how to babyproof their own home.

“That’s okay, sweetheart, you don’t have to do it today,” he said, giving her the concerned look she’d grown so used to. Ever since she’d gotten pregnant, he’d been watching over her like a hawk. “You can do it tomorrow.”

She waved her hand through the air as if to wave his words away, smiling at him. “I’ll do it today—I’m enjoying writing it.”

“Well, okay, but promise me you’ll take it easy.”

She walked across the office with her laptop bag slung over her shoulder and gave him a kiss. “I will.”

She said goodbye to Dane and Josie and stepped outside into the spring afternoon. It was warmer that day than it had been the day before, and she took a deep breath of the air, enjoying the way it smelled of things beginning to grow.

She got into her car and drove back to their house in a few short minutes. She was just in time to catch the delivery man and sign for the package, which he offered to bring into the front entryway of the house for her.

Once that was all settled and the delivery man had driven off, she sat down at the kitchen table with her laptop, getting ready to resume her work on the babyproofing article.

Her fingers moved at a regular speed at first, but after a few minutes, her mind started to slow down with sleepiness. The sunlight flickering across the kitchen table was warm and soothing, and she found herself being lulled into a heavy, pleasant drowsiness.

The next thing she knew, she was snapping awake to the sound of someone knocking on the front door.

“Oh,” she grunted, stretching and looking at the time. She’d only dozed off for a few minutes, but her neck felt stiff from sleeping sitting up. “Coming!” she called after whoever was at the front door knocked again.

She hurried to the front door and opened it, and her face broke into a grin when she saw that it was her mother-in-law, Johanna Taylor, standing there. She was surprised to see her, but very glad to. Johanna’s brown hair was pulled back into a tidy chignon, and she was wearing a beautiful purple sweater that Alissa guessed her friend, Marsha Dunlap, had knitted for her.

“Hey, Johanna!” she said, giving the older woman a hug. “To what do I owe the surprise?”

“I brought over a casserole for you two for dinner,” Johanna said, smiling warmly. “It’s filled with all kinds of good things— noodles and tomatoes and black olives. It’s an old family recipe. Dane loves it.”

“Oh! That’s so thoughtful of you. I didn’t expect anyone to bring us meals until after the baby was born.” Alissa laughed.

Johanna spoke delicately. “Well, Dane told me that you’ve been a bit tired lately. I thought I could step in and help you take it easy. Remember you’re growing a whole person; you need your rest.”

“You’re right,” Alissa said, glancing down at her growing belly. “I keep thinking I’m all right, that I’ve got plenty of energy to keep going on, but I was dozing off just now before you got here.”

Johanna tutted affectionately, and the two of them went into the kitchen together.

“The casserole is pre-made,” Johanna said, turning on the oven, “but it should cook for another hour or so. It’s similar to a lasagna.”

“That should be perfect—it’ll be ready right when Dane will be getting home from the office.”

“I know,” Johanna said, and Alissa grinned to herself as her mother-in-law placed the casserole dish into the oven. Timing things out carefully was typical of the efficient Johanna—Alissa wasn’t surprised that her mother-in-law had arrived with the meal at the right time so that it would be ready by dinnertime.

“Now,” Johanna said, straightening and grinning at Alissa. “I think it’s time to watch our favorite show.”

“Oh! Well, I should—” Alissa glanced at her laptop, and remembered the way she’d just fallen asleep. “I guess I do need to rest.” She laughed. “Perfect. Let’s go watch our show.”

The women trooped into the living room together and settled down comfortably on the couch. Johanna used the remote to find their favorite show, and they settled in to rewatch a season that they’d both already seen. They had bonded over the home renovation show when they’d both had broken bones, and their relationship had been significantly closer ever since.

“Oh, I remember this!” Johanna said eagerly. “This is the cottage with that amazing loft. This is one of my favorite episodes.”

“Mine too.” Alissa looked over at her mother-in-law, feeling grateful for her. Johanna had proved to be a fun and steadfast companion, and she felt happy that their relationship had deepened and changed as much as it had. All at once, she felt a rush of affection for her mother-in-law, and she leaned over to give her a big hug.

“Thank you,” she said. “For the food and for coming over and spending time with me. And reminding me that I need to rest. And for being a good friend.”

Johanna flushed a little, smiling warmly and hugging Alissa back tightly. “You’re so welcome,” she said softly. “Thank you for being a good friend.”

The two women smiled affectionately at each other and went back to watching their show. A few minutes later, Johanna got up to make them both cups of peppermint tea.

Alissa sighed with contentment as she sipped the fragrant tea. Her feet were resting on the ottoman, and she was snuggled up with a soft blanket. She hadn’t realized how much she needed some rest until she was there getting it.

She glanced over at Johanna again and smiled quietly to herself. The savory aroma of the casserole filled the house while the two women laughed and chatted over their show, waiting for Dane to come home for dinner.