The chiffon had a side zipper, so no contortions were needed this time. Hannah didn’t bother to look at her reflection before stepping out to show Celeste.
“Oh. Oh, my, I knew it. Here. Try these shoes with it.” Celeste handed her a pair of heeled sandals embellished with yellow roses. They were feminine and fun and nothing like any shoes Hannah had ever worn.
“One more thing.” Without so much as a by-your-leave, Celeste gathered Hannah’s hair up and, with a few twists, secured it with hairpins sporting enameled yellow roses. Then she placed her hands on Hannah’s shoulders and turned her toward the mirror. “Now look.”
Hannah went tense. The woman in the mirror with the tousled updo was a stranger. A stranger who wore a sleeveless springtime print with a sweetheart neckline and fitted bodice and just a hint of ruffle on the hem that hit four inches above her knees. Unable to help herself, she gave her hips a little swish. The skirt swirled before settling around her legs like a cloud of rose petals.
Staring at her reflection, Hannah felt a stab of an emotion she could not name. She cleared her throat and said, “This isn’t me.”
“No, it’s not. Not yet. But I want you to take a good look at her and remember her. She’s the woman you are becoming, Hannah.”
The woman I’m becoming. Hannah’s heart began to pound.
“You need to recognize that you’ve made a significant step today in Eternity Springs, here in the Angel’s Rest Boutique. You’ve opened yourself to color once again. Take pride in that. Take comfort in it. Take your time. Take your half steps. The whole spectrum awaits you. Whenever you have doubts, you think of this woman in roses, and you believe. A wonderful world of color awaits you.”
Hannah closed her eyes.
“You aren’t alone any longer, Hannah,” Celeste assured. “Eternity Springs has your back.”
It all sounded too good to be true. “How can you say that? I’ve been here one day. You’re only the third person I’ve met!”
“It’s how we roll here. Besides, I know things.” Celeste chuckled and gave Hannah’s shoulder a reassuring pat. “Now, let me show you what I have in mind for your rehearsal party outfit. There will be dancing. Do you have jeans?”
“Yes.” After a moment’s pause, she added, “Black ones.”
“Even better.” Celeste crossed to a rack of sportswear and pulled out a long, violet-colored, loosely woven shirt. She handed it to Hannah. “While you slip into this, I’ll duck into my stockroom for the belt and the boots.”
“Boots?”
“It’s a Texas crowd, Hannah. But don’t fret. Dating Boone McBride, you’ll get plenty of wear out of them.”
“Dating? One date does not make an ing.”
“Technically, it’s two dates. Friday and Saturday. Unless you’re planning to spend the night with him, in which case I guess one could call it a single date.”
“Spend the night with him?” Her eyes went round. “I’m not going to spend the night with him. His mother is staying at his house!”
“Yes, of course. In that case, I guess he’d spend the night with you.”
With that, Hannah abandoned any attempt to resist the steamroller named Celeste. Twenty minutes later, she walked out of Angel’s Rest Boutique carrying a shopping bag, and dress bag, and wearing new western-style leather boots in order to “break them in.” The boots were two-toned—purple and dove gray.
The same color gray as Boone McBride’s eyes.
Chapter Seven
Half an hour before sunrise, Jackson McBride buckled his eight-year-old daughter into a safety booster seat in the back of Boone’s Land Rover and said, “You be good for Uncle B, Sugar Bug.”
“I will, Daddy,” Haley McBride said. “I’m so excited. I hope I catch a rainbow. It’ll be my first time!”
“Be sure to take a picture.”
“I will, Daddy.”
Jackson picked up his daughter’s pink plastic tackle box and handed it to his cousin to stow next to the fishing gear in the rear of Boone’s vehicle. Keeping his voice soft, he asked, “You certain you’re ready for this? Her emotions have been all over the place of late. She goes from adorable to mini-monster in the blink of an eye.”
“We’ll be fine. It’ll do Haley good to have some one-on-one attention.”
“Yes, it will. I’ll admit I didn’t expect the wedding to be hard on her. She adores Caroline. They have a great relationship, and Haley seems to be sincerely happy that I’m getting remarried. She loves living in Redemption. Her mother gets along with Caroline as well as Sharon gets along with anybody.”
“Maybe it’s not the wedding. I wouldn’t be surprised if what you’re seeing isn’t some churning of her grief. It rolled over me in waves, and at the time, I didn’t always recognize it for what it was.”
“Could be,” Jackson said as the Land Rover’s rear gate clicked shut. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
Jackson gave his daughter one more kiss and hug as Boone climbed into the driver’s seat. The stretch of water where he intended to take Haley fishing was about a twenty-minute drive away. They should reach it just as the sun came up.
He asked her questions about her trip from Texas to Eternity Springs during the drive up into the hills. He wanted to keep things light today. Last September, Haley’s world had changed when the private jet carrying members of her mother’s band and Haley’s beloved nanny, Poppins, crashed in the Nevada desert, killing all aboard. Jackson and his ex-wife had done everything right as far as providing counseling and comfort, but Boone knew from experience how grief could manifest in unusual ways.
A vision of Hannah Dupree ghosted through his mind just before Haley began chattering about getting grubby with her Uncle T. Technically, Boone and Tucker were cousins to the girl. Still, the McBrides didn’t get hung up on semantics. Getting grubby referred to the wilderness adventures that Haley had shared with Tucker during the past six to eight months. Time outdoors in Enchanted Canyon had proven to be an effective therapy in the girl’s recovery. It was one of the reasons why Boone had suggested this morning’s fishing trip when the family got together at his house last night.
His parents and sisters had arrived yesterday midafternoon, having dropped Linda Gail Pearson off at Angel’s Rest, where a room vacancy for the wedding weekend had miraculously appeared. He’d given his family the grand tour of his new home, and they’d grilled hamburgers and sat beside the lake catching up on the happenings in one another’s lives. It had been a great evening, though his attention had been divided between his visitors and his new tenant. The light shining in the window at the Serenity Cabbage continued to catch his notice until he’d gone to bed.
He’d noticed Hannah’s car had been gone when he’d left this morning.
Boone’s conversation with Haley continued to bounce from one subject to the next. As they approached his favorite fishing spot, a stretch of water on a pristine section of land that Boone had purchased from Cam Murphy a year ago, she was telling him about the two-pound catfish she’d caught two weeks ago using bacon as bait.