The Accidental Florist

'It's something you need to know. The timing of the wedding has been moved up by three weeks.'

'That's unacceptable.'

'Does that mean you're not coming for either wedding?'

Jane asked, hoping desperately for Addie to say yes. 'I'll talk to you later. I have a client in my car.'

The client was obviously more important than Jane

and even her only son.

Jane hung up and went outside to smoke one cigarette. She had only two left in the pack she'd bought two weeks ago. The way things were going, she feared she'd soon be buying them by the carton.

Jane hadn't even been able to tell Mel yet about the date changing. She'd left several messages for him earlier and been told his line had been in use for quite a long time.

'It's not vital,' Jane said. 'Just ask him to call Jane when he's free.'

He finally called two hours later. 'I've taken some of your advice and contacted the press to help find Miss Welbourne's children, if in fact they really are her children.' ?

'Is there any doubt of that?'

'Not much. But anything's possible. Sorry I had the phone line tied up so long. What's up?'

'The date of the wedding has been moved to three weeks earlier. My dad worked things out in Denmark quicker than he thought it would take.'

'The sooner the better,' he replied. Jane could tell from the tone of his voice that he was smiling.

'You need to talk to your mother about this.' 'Haven't you told her yet?'

She hated to rat on Addie. After all, he was her only son, and he might actually care what she thought. Mel knew his mother's flaws, but in spite of them, she'd produced and raised a very good man.

'I tried,' Jane said. 'But she was riding around with a client and said she'd get back to me later. I've also booked rooms for the fake wedding at that hotel where the mystery conference was. You, me, Shelley and Paul, and my parents and Uncle Jim will be staying there, too. I don't know if your mother wants to book one as well. You might want to ask her. She also needs to confirm to a Miss Tarlington to make a down payment to hold the room for the wedding and the dinner and dancing. Here is the telephone number.'

When he'd written it down, she could hear in the background, 'Some reporter is waiting on line two.'

Jane said, 'I'll let you hang up and answer that. Call me back after you talk to your mother.'

She'll blame it on me, Jane thought. And I hope he'll object.

At least it was a good reason to get back to planning her book about Sally. Shelley had found the right hotel. And the right person to work with there, who could cope with Addie without involving herself. All she had to do was wait for her hat to be made, give the new dates tothe florist, and look forward to spending time with her parents. She'd been in touch with them through e-mail and phone calls, but hadn't seen and visited with them at leisure for several years.

'Shelley, I need to call Katie and Mike to let them know the changed date. Then we have to go to the hat shop with my dress.'

Katie was upset. 'Mom, this is on a Friday and Saturday, right? I can't be gone long. Could you get me a plane ticket for early Thursday morning and another early one on Monday morning? I really wanted to spend time with Grump and Nana.'

'I've booked them in a suite at the hotel. They don't need the second bedroom. You can stay there. And I'll tell you the flight and send a car service for you both ways.'

'Thanks, Mom. That'll be perfect.'

Mike didn't care. 'It's only a short drive from here. I hadn't even told my boss when I'd be gone. So any time suits me.'

When she'd booked the flight for Katie and made a copy of both sides of the credit card to send along for the e-ticket, and when she'd dropped it off at the FedEx box at the corner of the block, she called Shelley. 'I have all the travel plans lined up. Let's take my emerald suit to the hatmaker.'

Jane had the rest of the roll of quarters along and fed them into the parking meter and then went back to the shop.

'Here's the suit I'm wearing,' she told Madelyn. 'I

hope you can match the color. And we're shorter on time than I thought. The wedding is only three weeks from now, instead of six weeks.'

The milliner held up the dress and said, 'I think I already have a good match. I'll hunt through the greens and we'll take a look.'

She returned ten minutes later with a length of perfectly matching matte silk fabric. 'I usually use this as liner but I'll line it with something a little sturdier.'

'How do I make sure it doesn't slip right off my head?' Jane asked

The milliner picked up another beret and turned it inside out. 'There are three little combs that hold it. Let me show you right now how to use them.'

She put Jane in front of the three-way mirrors and showed her how to adjust the combs so they wouldn't slip, or make her hair look odd.

Next Shelley tried out the black one she'd chosen. She looked fabulous in it.

'I can have this green one done by the end of the week,' she said.

'I'll be back on Friday then,'Jane said. 'What time do you open?'

'At nine, but wait until ten or you'll never get a parking place. There are so many deliveries to shops around here that you'd have to park blocks away.'

This time Shelley had driven and refused to wait to see if someone pulled into the place they'd vacated and the meter showed another five hours.

'When we pick up my hat and dress, we're almost done.' 'Except for dealing with Addie. Didn't she say she'd get back to you about the dates?'

'I'm keeping a close eye on the caller ID. Mel is going to have to deal with her from here on out.'

'But will he?'

'He's been coping with her bossiness all his life. He must know by now how to control her.'

Chapter

NINETEEN

W

ith almost everything Jane needed to do for the weddings done, she was eager to get back to Sally's story. She wasn't going to actually write another scene until she'd made her list of twenty or thirty things that might or might not happen in the story. She enjoyed this process. They were in no particular order, and could be deleted or added to whenever she thought up something new.

This had been suggested to her at the mystery conference she and Shelley had attended. A well-known