A Nantucket Wedding(91)

    “I’ll just get my toothbrush.” Ethan sprinted up the stairs.

As if entranced, all the men rose and followed Esmeralda to the front door. Alison went with them, leaving Jane, Felicity, and Poppy behind.

Jane said, “Wow.”

“She’s a Venus flytrap,” Poppy muttered. “She eats men for breakfast.”

“She thinks Canny’s going to be the flower girl.” Felicity chewed a fingernail.

“Don’t worry. The three of us can handle her,” Poppy assured the sisters.

They heard Ethan thudding down the stairs. The front door shut. The men and Alison returned to the den.

Alison looked slightly shell-shocked. “It’s late. I think I’ll go to bed, too. Last person up, turn off all the lights, okay?”

“We’ve got to get the kids to bed,” Felicity said.

Jane and Scott lingered in the den, channel surfing, so that the others could get settled upstairs. Jane heard the laughter of the five children and the light thumps of their feet as they ran from bathroom to bed. Then, low adult voices murmured. Then, silence. The children had been really good all day, she thought—she hoped Scott had noticed. They hadn’t discussed getting pregnant since they’d been back on the island. They were so busy, getting Scott to his doctor’s appointment to check on his arm, unpacking from Wales and packing for the island, and then they’d arrived on Nantucket and were immediately caught up in the family activities. It was difficult, Jane thought, not to wince when children fought or screamed. But it was difficult, too, not to smile when the children came down for breakfast with their hair all bedheaded like a chicken’s feathers, and their faces bright and glowing with life. The children laughed so easily, and slipped onto any adult’s lap and cuddled up.

    “It seems quiet up there,” Jane said. “Shall we go to bed? We’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”

“Yes,” Scott said. “Let’s head up. Although I’m not sure you’ll be able to be quiet.”

Jane cocked her head. “What? Why not?”

“Because,” Scott said, looking pleased with himself, “I think it’s time we had some unprotected sex.”

Jane smiled. “But what about your arm?”

“I’ll manage. Don’t worry about that.”

“I’ll be quiet,” Jane promised. And she leaned forward to kiss him, taking care not to hit his cast, and she thought this was the best kiss she’d had since she’d first met him, and she couldn’t stop kissing him, and he couldn’t stop kissing her, and awkwardly, grinning at themselves, they slid down onto the sofa together, and while the television continued to drone on about politics, they still kissed, not like man and wife, but like lovers. They didn’t make it up to their room for an hour.





twenty-seven


It was the day before the wedding. After breakfast, Alison, Poppy, Felicity, and Jane gathered together in Alison’s bedroom, to see the girls in their wedding finery. The little girls had shut the door to dress, giggling in Alison’s walk-in closet. Then they threw open the door and filed out.

The matching flower girl dresses that Felicity and Poppy had agreed on for their daughters were simple and elegant. Both dresses had pink satin bodices with pale pink tulle tea-length skirts and a rose satin sash with a fat bow in back. Their shoes were pale pink ballet slippers.

Canny’s dress was also pale pink, but it was crusted with faux pearls and thick loops of embroidery. Sequins sparkled, metallic lace crinkled, miniature rubies and emeralds gleamed as Canny slowly twirled so everyone could admire her dress.

“Your dress has more sparkly bits than ours,” Alice remarked.

    Canny said sweetly, “That’s because I’m the head flower girl.”

Daphne looked at her mother. “You and Alice’s mom have bling on your waist. Why can’t we have some sparkly stuff, even if we aren’t the head flower girl?”

Poppy, aggravated by her sister-in-law’s bold fashion statement, snapped, “Because for some reason Canny has more sparkles on her than the bride. And that many sparkles are not appropriate for—”

Abruptly, Alison stood up, clapping her hands. Esmeralda was still at the hotel with Ethan. Even though Canny was a confident child, she was still a child, needing an adult on her side.

“Daphne, you are absolutely right! You and Alice should have some bling, too. I’ve got a jewelry box just filled with rhinestones, which are like diamonds, that I’ve inherited from my mother and grandmother. I’ve been meaning to give them to you girls to let you play dress-up, but I’m going to get the box now. And you can choose what you’d like to wear in the wedding.”

“Yay!” Daphne and Alice jumped up and down as Alison left the room.

Alison quickly returned with a deep blue velvet box. She put it on the bed and opened it. The little girls gasped. They pulled out rhinestone necklaces, rhinestone hair clips, rhinestone rings and bracelets.

Poppy rose to supervise. “Two apiece, girls. Just two. More than that, and you’ll look tacky.”

Alison noted Canny’s frown.

“I think three apiece,” Alison said. “Each girl should wear a sparkle in her hair. You, too, Canny. Come, let’s find a sparkle for your hair.”