The Perfect Dress(60)

“I mean about Quincy. Did you feel an attraction to him? Sounds like he is a nice-lookin’ guy,” Mitzi asked.

“Who even cares? I’ll never see him again,” Jody said.

“Crap!” Mitzi said.

“What?” Jody cocked her head to one side.

“I wanted you to say that you were intrigued by this Quincy guy,” Mitzi answered.

“It hasn’t even been two weeks since Lyle left. I’m not a bit interested in any man right now, not even a rebound. Besides, we’ve got your love life to worry about and a new baby coming into the family. This is not the time for a romance for me,” Jody declared.



Guilt poured down on Mitzi like hard rain. Even if they were putting up a good front, both her friends were still hurting. What right did she have to be happy that she’d shared a kiss with her old crush? Telling them about it was like rubbing their faces in her happiness.

“Why the sudden long face?” Jody asked.

Paula laid a hand on Mitzi’s shoulder. “Don’t let us rain on your day. We made our choices and we’re living with the consequences. We’re happy for you.”

Jody’s head bobbed up and down. “Of course we are. We want to hear about you and Graham. It puts a little ray of hope and sunshine in our lives.”

“Here’s to the future.” Paula laid her hand on the table. “Y’all with me?”

“To the future.” Mitzi put hers on top of Paula’s.

“Amen.” Jody added hers to the pile.

Then, like they did when they were little girls, they all jerked their hands free and high-fived each other.

“I know we said we weren’t working on Sunday, but let’s break the rules. I’m going downstairs to finish up the hem on Ellie Mae’s dress,” Paula said.

“I’ll go with you.” Jody stood up. “I can always bead a veil. That job takes a lot of time, and when I’m working, I’m not fretting.”

“Well, I’m not sitting up here all alone all evening. I’ll work on a pink-satin quilt for the new baby.” Mitzi tossed her empty cup into a nearby trash can.

“That’s so sweet,” Paula said. “But what you should be doing is looking up a pattern for your own dress. Like I told you before, you’re going to be the first one of us to get to the altar.”

Jody started out of the room but stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Just make sure you get a marriage license. You’ve seen what can happen if you don’t.”

“I’m not sure I even want a perfect dress,” Mitzi said. “I’d just as soon get married in shorts and bare feet on a beach somewhere.”

They paraded down the stairs and were headed toward the sewing room when a hard rap turned them all around toward the front door. Since she was the last in line, Mitzi opened it, and Ellie Mae fell into her arms. Makeup ran down her face in black streaks as the tears flowed. Sobs wracked her body and soaked Mitzi’s T-shirt.

Jody hurried over to pat her on the back. “Did someone die?”

Paula guided both her and Mitzi toward a pink sofa, grabbed a fistful of tissues, and put them in Ellie Mae’s hand. “Stop cryin’ and tell us what’s happened.”

“Darrin doesn’t want . . .” Ellie Mae blew her nose on a tissue and tossed it in the small trash can. “He doesn’t want . . .” The sobs started again, and then in a high-pitched squeal, she said, “Want to marry me anymore. I’m pregnant. My family’s goin’ to disown me, and that beautiful dress you’re makin’ . . . oh, my God, what am I going to do?” She bent over and gagged.

Paula quickly ran for the small bathroom trash can and put it in front of her. “Did your mama find out that you’re pregnant?”

“No,” Ellie Mae wailed.

“Do you need a glass of water?” Jody asked.

“I’d throw up anything I try to put in my stomach right now. I didn’t know where to go. I couldn’t go home. Mama doesn’t know about the baby, and it’s a boy.” She dragged out the last word in another high-pitched wail. “I don’t know anything about boy babies, and I’m going to be a single mother, and a boy needs a father,” she sobbed.

“We’re not living in the Stone Age, darlin’.” Paula patted her on the shoulder. “It’s not a sin to be a single mother.”

“Your daddy isn’t a preacher. I’ve never even been around little boys.” Ellie Mae’s voice went so high that it lost the last syllable.

The music from Blake Shelton’s “Honey Bee” startled Mitzi for a couple of seconds when it filled the foyer. Then she realized the sound was a ringtone coming from Ellie Mae’s purse, which she’d thrown on the floor just before collapsing in Mitzi’s arms.

“That’s Darrin’s ringtone,” Ellie Mae whispered. “I don’t want to talk to him.”

“Then turn off your phone,” Jody suggested.

“No, I might change my mind. I want to think about it.” Ellie Mae blew her nose on another fistful of tissues and tossed them into the trash can. “We were in bed. He said he was glad that he was my first, because that was important to a man.”

Mitzi shut her eyes to keep from rolling them toward the ceiling. “And?”