“Oh come on, Jackie,” Sofia said. “We’re all over twenty-one.”
“Some of us much more than others,” Grandmother Margaret agreed.
Meredith grimaced and pulled the game box from the bag. “Pin the tail on the donkey, anyone?” She opened the box and lifted out a large folded piece of felt with a crossbar at the top, which held suction cups so the item could be stuck to a wall. Hope had no idea what it was until Meredith turned the fabric around.
Sally’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s not a donkey,” she said, giggling. “That’s the torso of a man.”
Sofia blushed. “A very naked man.”
“Yes.” Margaret sagely surveyed the design, which was cartoon-like yet nearly anatomically correct. “But he’s missing something very important.”
“I’ve got that!” Meredith exclaimed, digging into the game box for an envelope. “Each one is Velcro,” she said, her cheeks bright red.
Hope buried her face in her hands. “You didn’t.”
Meredith bent forward to whisper in her ear. “Like Granny said, this hopefully only happens once.” She held up the silky purple eye covering that served as a blindfold during the game and waved it in the air. “Who wants to play?”
Elsa pursed her lips, then said, “I’ll wait for someone else to go first.”
Meredith looked around. “Sally?”
Sally started to stand, but Margaret intervened. “I’ll take a crack at it,” she said, stunning the others. Before she took the blindfold, she tilted her empty prosecco glass toward her granddaughter. “Another splash?”
“Sure, Grandmother.” Sally’s cheeks bloomed red. “No problem.”
Nobody could believe it, but Grandmother Margaret actually won the game. Sofia whispered lightly to Hope that she thought she saw Margaret peek under the blindfold, but nobody honestly cared. They were all having so much fun. This was the most amazing party Hope had ever been to. So many generations, all getting along. Her mom seemed to be having a really great time, too.
“This is quite a family you’re marrying into,” her mom said happily, sitting beside her. Meredith had packed away the man game, and they were on to presents. Hope didn’t know how four hours had flown by, but somehow they already had.
“I know. They’re really awesome. But, hey. So are you.”
“I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.” Meredith handed Hope a stack of presents, not really looking regretful in the least. She actually appeared pretty pleased with herself because everything had gone so well.
“I’ll just have to get you back sometime.”
“Ha-ha,” Meredith said brightly. Then people started chanting for Hope to open her gifts. She was half worried Meredith had given her something really shady and was relieved to find a pretty wedding-night negligee in the package instead. The rest of the gifts were just as nice. Sofia supplied scented soaps and bath salts. Sally gave her a pretty travel purse for her honeymoon, while Margaret gifted her with a pretty silk scarf from Italy. Elsa presented her with an elegant gold-chain bracelet with a small gold anchor on it. “To remind you of our fun day here,” she said, warming Hope’s heart when they hugged. Ava proffered her present last. It was a stunning silver frame that she suggested might hold a favorite pic from her wedding.
“This has been so wonderful,” Hope said with a sigh, thanking the others. “I don’t know how I could ever top this day.”
Elsa’s eyebrows rose. “How about with ice cream and a pajama party?”
“And pizza,” Sally said.
“And chick flicks.” Sofia grinned. “Can’t forget those.”
“Will we really all sleep in the house?” Hope asked, charmed by the idea of an adult sleepover.
“We’ve got plenty of sleeping bags in the attic,” Margaret said. “We can sleep in the den.”
Elsa viewed her worriedly. “If you’d like to take the sofa…”
“Bosh, Elsa. I’m not that old.”
“No.” Elsa giggled, her eyes on the wall where the man game had been. “Apparently not.”
Chapter Seventeen
Hope’s eyes popped open when she heard the first car door slam shut. Then there was another, and another.
“My goodness, it’s the boys,” Margaret cried, scuttling in from the kitchen. She held a mug of coffee and wore her hot pink robe with fluffy pink slippers.
“Ack. What?” Meredith sat up abruptly, her face caked with Mother of Earth Mud Mask, which she’d apparently failed to remove before going to bed. Hope propped herself up on her elbows, nearly upending a half-empty bowl of popcorn, and stared around at the disarray. Streamers dangled from the ceiling while partially deflated balloons hovered near the ground. An open box of half-eaten donuts rested on an end table, and the case from the old VHS tape Margaret had located very late at night rested on the coffee table. She claimed to have purchased it by accident some time ago, mistaking its contents by the title. Little snippets of the film came back to Hope, all involving a male dancer with a blond mullet who looked like Rod Stewart on a bad hair day. He’d gone through four wardrobe changes and stripped down to nearly nothing.
Sofia pushed back the eye covering she’d been wearing, and Hope saw it wasn’t a regular eye mask at all, but the one from their man-part game. “Wha-what’s going on?” she said, looking dazed.
Ava sat up and rubbed her eyes, goggling at the mess.
Sally tugged her pillow over her head and moaned, “Five more minutes.”
Hope could relate.
Before she could process much else, there were footsteps in the front hall and the sound of the front door closing. Meredith scrambled out of her sleeping bag and bolted toward the French doors. She threw one open and shrieked again. “Who are all those people?”
Hope craned her neck to see a crew of guys setting up a huge white tent while others carried in chairs. Eleanor Bell followed closely at their heels, barking out orders while waving her tablet. That’s when she remembered Eleanor saying something about logistics and getting the “hardware” in place early.
“The wedding planner’s here,” Parker announced from the doorway to the library. He stopped short, staring at Elsa, who blanched when she noticed him eying something on her head. A cardboard man-part adhered to her hair, and it was sticking straight up, protruding from her crown like an X-rated antenna. She reached up and snatched it off, shoving the offending item beneath the flap of her sleeping bag.
Elsa smoothed down her braid and managed to say with dignified calm, “What are you guys doing back so early?”