Always The Wedding Planner, Never The Bride Part 20

Avery's beautiful face rose into a welcoming smile as she opened her arms. "I'm so sorry I haven't gotten over to see you," she said as they embraced. "Emma tells me you fit right in here at Jackson's hotel."

"I hope so," she replied. "It's so good to see you again."

"And this must be your fiance."

"Yes! Andy, meet Emma's mom, Avery."

"It's a pleasure," he said as Avery kissed his cheek.

"Your mother can't say enough about you, Andy. She's so happy to have you back in Atlanta."

"My mother? I didn't know you knew my mother."

"Yes, I made her acquaintance recently when she volunteered to help out with tonight's benefit."

Andy and Sherilyn exchanged puzzled glances.

"I had no idea," he admitted.

"She's lovely," Avery told them.

Sherilyn felt her hands go a little clammy. "Is she here?"

"Yes. I just saw her filling goodie bags in the back."

And has she brought her dear friend Maya along with her? she speculated, then chastised the bitter thought. She wondered if Andy had read her mind when he patted her hand and gave it a squeeze.

"I asked them to seat us all together," Avery said. "You kids and Emma and Jackson and his sisters. We've got the front couple of tables. Let's catch up over dinner. It's so good to have you back with us, Sherilyn."

"Thank you so much."

"Save me a dance, Sheri," Gavin said with a wink.

"Gavin, there's no dance floor at this one," Avery corrected.

Gavin gave Sherilyn a quick grin over his shoulder. "What kind of gala doesn't have a dance floor?" he teased, and the two of them moved on to the next cl.u.s.ter of guests.

Just as Sherilyn spotted Emma and Jackson, someone else moved into the foreground and stole her complete attention. Andy's mother Vanessa wore a simple black chiffon skirt with a red sequined top. Her coiffed blonde hair folded neatly behind her ears adorned with emerald-cut diamond stud earrings.

"Sherilyn, you look lovely," she said in her approach. She paused to kiss Andy's cheek and added, "Darling, you're just as handsome as ever."

She wished she'd known Vanessa would be attending; she could have worked up something to say to her that didn't revolve around hosting an afternoon tea for Andy's ex-girlfriend. She needn't have worried about what to say, however. Vanessa took care of that for her.

"Sherilyn, if you can spare me a moment?"

She hesitated before answering. "Of course."

Following Vanessa's lead, Sherilyn trailed behind her through the double doors and into the entry salon. When they reached the gla.s.s windows, Vanessa sat down on one of the velvet benches and patted the cus.h.i.+on beside her. When Sherilyn complied, the woman took her hand and examined her engagement ring.

"Did you choose the ring, or did Andrew?" she asked.

"Andy did."

"Exquisite."

"I think so too."

Vanessa paused for a moment before releasing Sherilyn's hand and s.h.i.+fting toward her. "Andrew was miffed with me about coming home to find Maya there," she said straight out. "And I don't blame him one little bit."

"No?"

"No. He packed his things and took that dreadful dog with him before I could explain anything to him," Vanessa told her. "He's very loyal to you, my dear."

She didn't quite know what to say to that, so she didn't say anything.

"It's one of Andrew's finest qualities." Vanessa pursed her lips. "I'm sure you're well aware."

"Yes."

With a sigh, Vanessa dropped her head for a moment before continuing. "Maya hurt my son very badly, Sherilyn. She broke his heart and drove him all the way to Chicago."

Sherilyn nodded tentatively.

"I love my son, and I missed him very much."

"I'm sure."

"I'm grateful to you for bringing him back home."

"Well, I didn't exactly-"

"Oh, I know. Not technically. But my point is that you make Andrew very happy. And that makes me happy. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Not entirely," she admitted.

"You're going to be part of my family now, dear. A daughter of sorts."

"Yes, I am."

Vanessa sighed again. Sherilyn wondered what on earth she was trying to say.

"I did not invite Maya to my home, Sherilyn."

She looked the woman in the eye. "No?"

"No."

"Then why-"

"She just showed up that day. She asked if she could have a conversation with me. She'd evidently run into Andrew somewhere, old feelings kicked up and-"

"And she wanted your help to get him back," she completed for her.

"Yes. I think so."

Even though she'd known it, Sherilyn hadn't been prepared for the confirmation.

"Mrs. Drummond, I-"

"Vanessa."

"Vanessa, I understand that you don't know me. Andy and I haven't really known one another all that long. But the fact of the matter is that I adore your son. We're just an unexpected . . . fit."

"He says the same about you."

"And we are going to get married. Whether you approve, or whether you don't." She paused and absently twisted her engagement ring. "But I'd prefer it if you did."

After a moment, Vanessa reached out and took both of Sherilyn's hands between her own and smiled. "I do approve, darling."

"You do?"

She laughed. "Would I prefer a different type of ceremony, an expanded guest list, perhaps held in our family church? Yes. In no uncertain terms. Would I trade you in for Maya, or any other woman that didn't make my son light up the way you do? Absolutely not."

Sherilyn hesitated. Skepticism tickled the back of her skull; suspicion waggled about in ricochets. But something told her Vanessa could be trusted. Only the pa.s.sage of time would eventually tell whether she made peace out of fear of losing her son or whether she actually wanted to forge a solid relations.h.i.+p between them, but for that moment just then, Sherilyn sensed an awkward sincerity in the woman's eyes.

"I hope you mean that," she said.

"I do mean it," Vanessa replied, shaking her hands for emphasis. "Welcome to my family."

Wedding #2 at The Tanglewood Inn October 2010 Jennifer Aames-Edward Hall Daytime garden wedding in the courtyard Menu: * Appetizers and tea sandwiches * Specialty drink: Mint julep Cake: * English Garden cake with roses and hydrangea * White cake, white b.u.t.tercream icing, four layers filled with raspberry ganache

13.

I've never seen Fee like this," Emma said in a whisper as she leaned in toward Sherilyn. "To tell you the truth, I didn't think she had a giddy bone in her body."

"And yet . . ."

The two of them watched Fee and Sean where they stood, off to the side of the dining tables, their heads close together, their conversation in hushed, intimate tones. When Fee began to laugh, Emma cracked, "Oh no she didn't. Was that a giggle I just heard come out of Fiona Bianchi?"

"I do believe it was."

Emma leaned back into her chair and glanced over at Jackson next to her. "Well, now I've seen it all. There's nothing left to surprise me."

"Don't be so sure," Jackson replied.

Sherilyn scanned the room for Andy. She found him standing behind his mother's chair, conversing with several other people at the table. When he pressed his hand on his mother's shoulder and smiled at her, Sherilyn's pulse rate twittered from halfway across the room. Vanessa grinned and squeezed her son's hand before nuzzling it to her taut cheek.

Sherilyn wondered what it must be like to share that sort of connection. She'd lost her parents far too early, but she didn't imagine she and either of them had ever looked at each other in that same way. Vanessa and Andy knew one another, truly knew each other. Vanessa had wiped his nose and nursed his wounds, watched him drive a car for the first time, take some lucky girl to prom, graduate college; and Andy knew the tenderness of a mother, remembered Vanessa's face before her first face-lift, had no doubt gone through countless shades of blonde before his mother landed on this most perfect one with golden highlights. She looked and carried herself like a movie star, but Andy could probably remember back to a time-if there was one-when Vanessa's confidence hadn't been fully developed, or when a few less gemstones adorned her perfect long fingers. She envied a solid connection like that, one borne out of history; in fact, she yearned for it.

Sherilyn saw her own life as a series of rolling hills, a dip here and an incline there, but Andy's life was a mountain range, a solid vista of rock upon rock upon rock; a well-built and firmly established saga. Emma and her family were the closest she had to it. Anything that came before them had been washed away in the flood.

She snapped out of her own thoughts the moment Andy's eyes met hers. From twenty yards or more away, he'd plugged in, and the electrical current jolted her a bit. Her heartbeat picked up its rhythm as he moved toward her, smiling one of those all-encompa.s.sing Andy Drummond smiles at her, until her breath caught in her throat.

When he reached her, Andy offered his hand. She softly placed hers into it, not sure where he planned to lead her but knowing she would follow him anywhere.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked him when they turned the corner and headed down the corridor, away from the ballroom.

He didn't reply, just tossed her a casual grin over his shoulder as he tightened his grip on her hand and led her around another corner.

"Andy?"

When he finally came to a stop and led her into the darkest corner he could find, Andy turned toward her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He pulled her close to him, so close that his breath felt hot on her cheek. He smelled of distant spices, and his wavy brown hair fell across his forehead as he angled his face down toward her.

Sherilyn's pulse pressed hard against her chest, and a trail of gooseb.u.mps skittered up her spine from the spot where Andy's hand rested on the small of her back.

"We've been a little off since we came to Atlanta," he said with a whisper, and she nodded. "I just wanted us to take a minute to remind ourselves who we really are."

Sherilyn fell into his embrace, and his warm breath thrilled her as his lips hovered over hers for a moment before he finally kissed her. She felt that kiss to the tips of her polished toes as she melted into a warm liquid version of herself. Even her hair tingled as flashes of their relations.h.i.+p beginnings simmered over her.

"Tomorrow," he said, his eyes sleepy and intimate.

"Tomorrow?" Her voice was broken, like shards of colored gla.s.s.

"Let's go on a date," he suggested. "To remind ourselves."

A brisk flow of eager enthusiasm coursed through her. "Really?"

"I want us to spend the day together. Can you manage it?" She nodded.

"I'll meet you in the restaurant at 8:30, and we'll have breakfast. Afterward, I'll take you to services at the church where I went while I was growing up. Then I'll plan a whole day for just the two of us. No wedding plans or talk of jobs or mortgages or the future. Just you and me. Andy and Sherilyn."

"That sounds-"

Just in the knick of time.

"-really good."

French toast stuffed with strawberry preserves and cream cheese, sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon . . . hot bold-roast coffee with real cream . . . a table by the window just in time for the show as the first winter snowflakes fluttered to the sidewalk. When Andy Drummond planned a date, he left no snowflake unturned. Sherilyn had almost forgotten that.

She wore black leggings beneath a long cornflower blue cashmere sweater with chunky four-inch Mary Janes, doublestrapped with a black leather bow. She was so glad she'd decided to pack her favorite winter coat rather than s.h.i.+p it later with the rest of her things. The black DKNY coat with the standing collar and ruffled edges was a last-minute addition when she packed up the Explorer, and it was perfect with the pale pink gloves, scarf, and furry earm.u.f.fs Emma brought her that morning when she heard it might snow.

Andy surprised her when he wore black jeans to church, but she figured whatever he had planned for their date must have required it. When he rounded the car and opened her door, Sherilyn couldn't help grinning like a schoolgirl. He looked so handsome in the camel-colored shawl neck pullover, just a hint of a black tee-s.h.i.+rt peeking out from beneath it, and the long black wool coat. Sherilyn faced him and pulled his coat shut, fastening the third b.u.t.ton.