Good Buy Girls 05 - All Sales Final (28 page)

They each hugged Maggie on their way out, wishing her luck and dabbing at their eyes as the tears of joy began to flow.

Blue Dixon had escorted Lizzie to the wedding, and Maggie found there was something right about that as well. As he waited for Lizzie to stop fussing with Laura’s hair, he stood beside Maggie and looked at her with approval.

“Ida’s dress looks lovely on you, my dear,” he said.

Maggie’s eyes went wide. “Ida’s? How did you know?”

He looked embarrassed and then said, “When I gave you the items from storage, something made me hold that dress aside. Then one night, I dreamt that Ida demanded that I get up in the middle of the night and deliver the dress to this house. The next day when I woke I thought
it was the strangest dream ever, but when I went to my closet to see where the dress had been hanging, it was gone.”

They exchanged wide-eyed looks and Maggie said, “She wanted me to have it.”

“Yes, I believe she did,” he said. “And she was right. You are absolutely breathtaking.”

“Thank you, Blue,” Maggie said.

He bowed his head and turned to escort Lizzie from the room. Her mother gave her a tiny finger wave and headed out the door on Blue’s arm.

“Are you ready, Mom?” Laura asked.

Maggie paused to listen to the house. There were no cold spots, no flickering lights, no slamming doors, nothing. There was a sense of contentment in the old place that eased Maggie into a feeling of deep and abiding peace.

She turned and grinned at her daughter. “Yes, I am.”

The ceremony was simple. The vows were traditional. The Good Buy Girls wept, along with a good many other attendees, with the joy that weddings bring. But laughter won out when Maggie’s grandnephew Josh felt compelled to stand on his chair and shout in his bossy three-year-old voice, “Kiss her, Uncle Sam!”

Sam did. The band played. Everyone danced, but the makeshift floor was owned by Doc Franklin and his wife, Alice. Ginger’s cake received rave reviews and Michael’s barbecue was a hit but not quite as big of a hit as the bacon station, which Dot and her boyfriend, Javier, circled repeatedly.

When the night started to wind down, Sam and Maggie
slipped away from their guests and hid in the lilac bushes that lined the yard.

“Well, you’ve been Mrs. Sam Collins for five hours now,” Sam said. He pulled her into his arms so they were facing each other. “How does it feel?”

“Honestly?” Maggie asked. She looped her arms around his neck to pull him even closer. “Never better. I think I scored the bargain of my life when I married you.”

Sam laughed and hugged her hard. “How do you figure?”

“Well, I now have a wonderful man to share my bed, pay half the bills, start a new life in a new-to-me house, and he’s the sheriff so we can investigate crimes together. All this at the rock-bottom price of saying ‘I do.’ Seriously, it’s a smokin’ good deal.”

Sam kissed her. It was a knee-buckler, and Maggie had to hold on tight so that she didn’t wilt into a puddle right then and there. When he pulled back, he pressed his forehead to hers.

“I’m glad you think so,” he said. “Because this bargain is an all-sales-final sort of situation.”

Maggie laughed. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The sheriff and the bargain hunter lived happily ever after, and usually, at 50%
off.

The Good Buy Girls’ Wedding Bargain Tips

1. Being the queen of thrift and resale, Maggie recommends looking there first for your wedding dress. Many designer dresses with original prices of three to five thousand dollars wind up in secondhand stores where they’re sold for a fraction of the original price. The key to finding the perfect secondhand dress is to give yourself plenty of time to search in stores and online.
   
2. Ginger is all about the cake, wedding cake that is. To save on the cost of the cake, she recommends ordering a smaller two-tier custom cake to be put on display while using a back-up sheet cake of the same flavor to be served to the guests.
   
3. Wedding favors are Summer’s forte. She believes the best wedding favor is a consumable like Tyler’s honey that can do double duty as a treat for the guest but also serve to mark the special day. Some of her favorites include personalized cookies or candies, which are cheaper when bought in bulk.
   
4. Claire believes that the entertainment portion of the wedding is the most important as that is what the guests tend to remember the most. To save money on music, look for a smaller band or go with just a DJ to spin your favorite music. Another way to save money is to have the ceremony and the reception at the same location and have the band or DJ provide the music for both.
   
5. Joanne steered Maggie in the right direction for the food. Offering comfort food, like barbecue, and letting guests serve themselves at strategically located food stations will cut the cost and is a lot more fun than a swanky seven course meal.
   
6. Sam and Maggie nailed it by using their own house to host the wedding and reception. Using one location for both the wedding and reception always saves money but using their own house made it even more cost effective and renting larger tables means less centerpieces!
   

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