Honor sighed. “Okay, so maybe he wasn’t such a good choice in dating material.”
Brenna snorted.
“Hey, at least I am dating, which is better than hiding in the house all the time, Brenna.”
Brenna lifted her chin. “I’ll have you know I have a date this coming Friday.”
Honor gave her a suspicious look. “With whom?”
“Travis McIntosh.”
“Who the bloody hell is Travis McIntosh?”
Erin’s gaze shifted to Finn, who normally stayed quiet during meals. Right now he was glaring at Brenna.
That was a fascinating development.
Brenna gave Finn a curious stare. “He’s a guy I met at the library when I was doing genealogy research. He’s doing research for his masters in communications.”
“How interesting,” Erin said.
“Oh, good,” Honor said. “I’m happy to hear you’re dating again.”
Finn responded with a grunt, took his plate and got up from the table and went into the kitchen.
“What’s up with him?” Brenna asked.
Erin and Honor exchanged glances and half smiles.
“No idea,” Honor said.
They finished breakfast and Erin went upstairs to get ready for the day. Today was Ellen Hansen and Tamira Marsey’s wedding, and the early June day had dawned bright and sunny and absolutely perfect.
Since they had two brides marrying each other today, and Honor typically handled the brides, Honor was taking care of Ellen, and she asked Erin to look after Tamira. They had turned the groom’s dressing room into a bride-to-be’s paradise, complete with flowers and comfy cushioned chairs for family and attendants.
Armed with a tray of lemon-flavored water, orange juice and cookies, Erin knocked on the door to her bride’s suite. Stefanie, Tamira’s mother, opened the door.
“I thought you could all use some drinks and cookies,” Erin said.
Stefanie smiled broadly. “Come in, Erin. We were just about to help Tamira get into her dress.”
Tamira, a vision with her auburn hair curled and pulled up, one curl cascading over her shoulder, looked longingly over at the tray Erin had set on the table. “I was so nervous I couldn’t eat breakfast. Now I want a cookie so damn bad I could scream. But the corset in this dress is so tight if I eat anything I might explode.”
“I’ll wager you have room in that dress for one cookie,” Erin said. “And if you pass out at the altar it’ll be all over social media before you can say ‘I do.’ ”
Tamira nodded. “Point taken.” She grabbed a cookie and nibbled. Then devoured. And ate another. Erin handed her a glass of orange juice and she took several sips.
Satisfied that her bride wouldn’t face-plant at the altar, Erin stepped out and went to check on said altar. Flowers were set, the chair count was right and the grounds looked impeccable. She saw Agatha out of the corner of her eye going for a walk with her dad, so she sidestepped to catch up with them.
“Thank you for taking Agatha with you today, Dad,” she said, bending down to give her some love.
Her puppy was doing great. She’d taken well to her harness and leash, and her dad seemed to have all the patience in the world in working with her. Erin felt bad that she’d been so busy the past few days, but they’d had a rush of brides come in to do tours and plan weddings for next summer and Honor had been inundated, so Erin was helping pick up the slack. Then they’d had several sit-down meetings with families and brides and grooms to go over budgets and planning, and Erin was always involved in those. Which meant Agatha had to be somewhere else because not everyone wanted an exuberant puppy in a wedding conference.
Fortunately, the entire family had fallen madly in love with Agatha, so whenever Erin couldn’t be with her, someone was always happy to take over. She spent a lot of time with her dad or with Finn, since she loved being outside. Even the vineyard workers seemed happy to love on her or take her for walks. The one thing she never had to worry about was Agatha being neglected.
She ruffled Agatha’s fur, then went back inside the main house to grab her planner, checking off items that had been taken care of for the wedding.
Guests had started to arrive, and they had people to help direct the guests to their seats at the vineyard.
Erin found Honor on the walkway between the bride and groom areas.
“How’s Tamira?” Honor asked.
“Hungry. I took care of that. How’s Ellen?”
“Calm as can be, surprisingly. She just wants to marry her girl.”
Erin smiled. Wedding days always warmed her heart in ways she couldn’t describe.
Honor laid her hand on Erin’s arm. “You okay?”
“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“It’s a wedding day. You know.”
“Oh. I’m fine, honey. We’ve done weddings here for as long as I can remember. This isn’t my wedding day. It’s someone else’s. And, no, it doesn’t bother me in the least.”
“I’m so glad. Okay, I’ve gotta run. I’ll text you when my bride is ready.”
Since they had two brides today, they were going to do things a little differently. Ellen would walk down the aisle first, and then wait for Tamira to come down.
Erin was happy that both of the brides’ parents were present for the wedding, though not all of their family members had approved or would be attending. Even in this day and age, there were still some people who objected to gay weddings.
Erin shrugged. It was their loss. Love was love and those who decided not to attend would miss out on a major happily-ever-after today.
Honor texted, so Erin went to Tamira’s room to let her bride know they were ready. She had two bridesmaids with her, and her man of honor, her best friend from college.
The music started, and Erin led Tamira to the waiting area. The bridesmaids and the maid and man of honor had already walked down and were in place. After Erin got the text from Honor that Ellen had made her way down the aisle, she walked Tamira to the entrance to the vineyard.
Tamira took a deep breath, slipped her arm in her dad’s, and made her way down the aisle.
As was typical, all three sisters stayed back and watched the ceremony, out of the way, but close enough in case someone needed them.
It was beautiful, and when the two brides enjoyed their romantic kiss to seal the deal, everyone clapped. Erin and Brenna dashed away to make sure the barn was all set up for the reception, while Honor stayed behind to coordinate the bridal party and family photographs.
The afternoon wore on with drinks and lunch and photos and dancing. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. Erin didn’t even have a chance to check her phone until after the reception ended at eight that night.
She had a text from Jason.
Free after the wedding stuff?
He’d asked her out for today. She’d told him they had a wedding that would likely not end until evening, and that she’d need to be involved.
She texted him back. Reception just ended. My feet hurt.
He replied right away. Come over. I’ll rub your feet. Or any other parts that need rubbing.
Her lips curved and she typed a reply.
Okay.
Fortunately, they had a cleanup crew, so her services were done for the day. On her way back to the house, her phone buzzed. It was Jason again.