Always the Baker, Finally the Bride (31 page)

“Oh, hush!”

“From the cereal?” Hildie asked as she pushed her way upright. “Really?”

“Well, who do you crush on?” Emma asked her with a grin. “Justin Bieber? All he can do is sing. He’s not out there saving the world and making it a better place, like Race.”

“Justin Bieber?” Hildie rejected. “Not likely.”

“Who, then?” Kat asked her. “Whose picture will go up on your wall? Nick Jonas? Zac Efron?”

“Please.”

“Hildie likes a higher class of heartthrob,” Fee remarked.

“Like who?” Emma asked.

“Johnny Depp.”

“Ooh, Fee! The same as you,” Emma exclaimed. Turning to the others with a smile, she added, “Fee
ah-dooores
Johnny Depp.”

“You do?” Hildie asked her, and Fee shrugged one shoulder and gave a nod.

“No one these days is as handsome as Robert Redford in
The Way We Were
,” Norma told them with a swoon.

“Yeah, but if we’re going back in the day,” Audrey chimed in, “I think Humphrey Bogart was The Man.”

“I like Clooney,” Kat added as she plucked a handful of popcorn out of Emma’s bag. “George is dreamy.”

“I know who Sherilyn’s crush is,” Emma teased, and she sang his name. “Jon
Bon Jo-vi
.”

“Oooh, yeah,” Norma said, nodding enthusiastically.

“Norma! You surprise me,” Emma said with a giggle.

“Jon transcends generations, diversity, and tastes,” Sherilyn pointed out as she stole a handful of popcorn. “He’s been with the same woman for, like, thirty years, he’s a philanthropist, and he’s a gifted musician.”

“And he looks good in jeans,” Emma cracked.

“Well, there’s that,” Audrey quipped.

“You know who I think is cute,” Pearl piped up. “Joel Osteen.”

Silence boomed as the women exchanged curious glances.

“You mean . . . the
television preacher
?” Kat exclaimed.

“Yeah. I mean, he has such a nice smile.”

“I don’t think you’re allowed to put Jon Bon Jovi and Joel Osteen in the same conversation,” Fee pointed out. “It’s in the Book of Isaiah somewhere.”

“Who’s your current-day Race Bannon, Emma?” Kat asked.

Emma pulled a very thoughtful face for a moment before singing, “Jack-son.”

Groans, moans, and laughter all around inspired Henry to bark a few times to join in the fun, and the hum of idle chatter and the happy joking of Emma’s friends morphed into a sweet melody for her.

These people
, she thought, and she grinned and munched on popcorn as she looked around at them.
They’re music to my ears
.

Interesting Wedding Trivia

Although there is no law mandating that a bride must
take the last name of her groom, over 70 percent of
Americans polled think that she should.

In many Eastern cultures, a white wedding dress is not
worn because the color symbolizes mourning and grief.

The wedding ring is placed on the third finger of
the left hand because ancient cultures believed that the
vein in that finger leads directly to the heart.

The tradition of tossing rose petals at the bride’s feet
was derived from the intent of laying out a path
toward a beautiful and prosperous future.

The old adage “Three times a bridesmaid, never a
bride” dates back as far as the sixteenth century. It was
believed that if an unmarried woman had been a
bridesmaid three times, she was doomed to remain single.
However, if she served as a bridesmaid a seventh time,
the spell was broken and she would at last be married.

In Roman times, a small bun was broken above the
bride’s head at the end of the wedding ceremony,
and during the Middle Ages the bride and groom would
kiss over small cakes.
These traditions led to today’s wedding essential:
the wedding cake.

Note: Facts found at
http://facts.randomhistory.com/interesting-
facts-about-weddings.html

Emma’s eyes fluttered open, burning as the morning sun poked at them from outside the window. She blinked several times to bring Sherilyn into focus on the other side of the bed. Instead, however, a large white blob looked back at her through a mop of unkempt hair.

“Morning, Henry,” she muttered, and the dog panted at her. “Oh, man, Henry, did you ever hear of mouthwash?”

She turned and buried her face in her pillow and, as she did, something jingled. She jerked her head upright at the sound. Henry flinched at the same time, and the two of them lay there, face to face, eye to eye.

“What was that?” she asked him, but when she rolled over, the jingle sounded again, this time with the intensity of a clamoring alarm.

Clumps of silver sleigh bells were strapped to both of her ankles with elastic bands. As she moved, they clanked out a ballyhoo that sent Henry flying from the bed, out the door, and down the stairs.

Emma stood up and peered at herself in the mirror. In addition to the sound effects fastened around her ankles, she’d been wrapped in pink streamers and a bright feather
boa, her messy hair held back by the previous night’s plastic rhinestone tiara. She glared at her reflection for a closer look and discovered that block letters spelled out the word BRIDE in purple glitter on her forehead.

“Very funny, ladies,” she called as she tromped down the hall to the stairs.

A stream of muffled giggles was the only reply.

“I scared the poor dog half to death, and that’s on your heads,” she continued as she descended the stairs. And through the hall she sang dry, one-syllable exclamations that synched with each jingling step. “Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.”

Sherilyn met her at the end of the hallway and handed her a steaming pink mug with a large purple flower on the side.

“English breakfast tea,” she declared. “Cream, one packet of sweetener.”

“Thank you,” Emma replied as she took the mug. “Now help get me out of all of this.”

“No,” Kat said from the kitchen. “You have to wear it through breakfast.”

“Well, at least let’s tidy her up,” Audrey suggested as she moved around behind Emma. “The loose tails of these streamers make her look like a mummy queen coming unraveled.”

A sudden flash of light blinded her, and Emma blinked away the residual spots to find Sherilyn standing in front of her, camera phone in hand.

“Really?” Emma grumbled as she passed her by, Audrey scurrying after her, tearing off the ends of the crinkly pink streamers.