mother?”
“I’m not marrying them, dear. I’m just taking their money. I rather admire Kiki. She’s smart, she’s tough, and if she’d been born ten years later, she’d be running the family business. But her Neanderthal father refused to train her for business and her silly mother pushed her into society. I admit she’s vulgar. But if she were a man, would you even notice her outrageous behavior?
“Besides, Kiki may not seem like it, but she’s a god-send. I need this order to survive. Business has been too slow for too long.”
“Was it 9/11?” Helen said.
Millicent leaned forward to confide. “You won’t believe this, but for a month after the disaster, my sales shot up. I sold dresses like there was no tomorrow. You know why? Because the brides believed there was no tomorrow.
“One bride came back here six times,” Millicent said. “She wanted a twenty-six-hundred-dollar dress, but she was budgeted for two thousand. She couldn’t justify that price—and women are great justifiers. Come September twelfth, she bought the dress. She said, ‘What’s six hundred dollars when I could be ashes tomorrow?’
“Around November, reality returned and my sales slumped with everyone else’s. They’ve never quite come back.
“The eighties were the great days of retailing in Florida. That’s when the cocaine cowboys were riding high. The drug dealers would come into the shop with a suitcase full of cash. I’d lock the door and they’d pick out twenty dresses for their girlfriends. I’d have a forty-thousand-dollar sale in one afternoon. Those days are gone for good. Now I have to work to sell a two-thousand-dollar dress.
“So I can take all the dirt Kiki hands out, because it looks green to me.”
Chapter 4
It was bad luck. It was also unnatural.
There were no mistakes during the rehearsal. Not one.
In Helen’s experience, if the wedding party stumbled around during a rehearsal, missed their cues, and laughed a lot, then the ceremony would be perfect. But everything went right at Luke and Desiree’s rehearsal. Something bad was going to happen tomorrow at the wedding. Helen knew it. She also knew that was superstitious nonsense.
Kiki had chosen Coco Isle Cathedral, the most fashionable church in South Florida, for the wedding. She did not belong to the congregation, but a big donation made her devoutly welcome.
Jeff, the wedding planner for Your Precious Day, was directing the extravaganza. Jeff was high-camp wholesome. He looked like a cute kid brother, right down to his freckled nose, but he fluttered, fussed, and talked in italics.
“Kiki, this cathedral is just
Helen stifled a laugh. Jeff didn’t realize he’d been punning. The cathedral wasn’t a sacred place for him. It was a theater. The altar was a stage.
“Wait till you see how those stained-glass windows look in the
“Why?” Helen said.
“So the bride is
Jeff was practically palpitating. Helen wondered if she should get the smelling salts from her emergency kit. Millicent had packed her a suitcase with everything from sewing materials to spot cleaner.
Jeff had recovered from his surge of ecstasy and was now only wildly enthused. “Wait till you see the
Helen felt sad that no one in the wedding was as excited as Jeff. Some wedding party. Helen had never seen a grimmer gathering.
The blond bridesmaids had the bland young features that passed for beauty and the slightly superior expressions of private-school graduates. Their skin seemed steam cleaned. They stood a little apart from the others. Helen knew their names were Lisa, Allison, Amy, Jessica, Jocelyn, Julia, Meredith, and Beth, but she couldn’t have said which was which if you put a gun to her head.
The groomsmen looked like actors hired for the occasion. Most were. Kiki had chosen the best-looking men from the Shakespeare company. Jason was the studliest, but Helen thought his arrogance spoiled his good looks. Jason had the overconfident manner of someone who’d always been handsome—and knew it.
Still, his blond hair, bold green eyes, and beefcake body were eye-catching. Jason had leading-man looks, until he stood next to the groom. Luke glowed with energy. People turned toward Luke like flowers toward the sun.
Next to Luke’s star power, Jason wilted. He moved to the far side of the church. Helen wondered if Jason was jealous. He outshone Luke only one way: Jason was the best-dressed man at the rehearsal. His Hugo Boss outfit could have paid Helen’s rent.
Jason was paired with the blond Lisa. They exchanged smoldering looks and hot smiles for almost an hour at the rehearsal. Then Kiki homed in on Jason. She’d flirted with all the groomsmen, but her behavior with Jason was outrageous. She enjoyed taking the young man from Lisa, who turned sulky and snippy.
Kiki practically propositioned Jason in front of Lisa. She looked like a has-been movie queen in her gold gown.
The creamy blond Lisa sniped back with carefully disguised insults. In between bouts of marching down the aisle, one bridesmaid said, “Have you seen Pamela? She’s so skinny. How did she lose that weight?”
“It’s the South Beach Diet—Ecstasy and Corona,” Lisa said. “Right, Jason?”
Jason shot her a murderous look. The others giggled.
Helen was relieved when Kiki and Jason disappeared, until Jeff sent out a search party for them so they could do another run-through. This wedding had more rehearsals than a Broadway musical.
The church’s elevator was out of order. Helen had to lug the dresses up the steep back stairs. That’s where she stumbled over the missing Jason and Kiki. Kiki’s breasts were nearly popped out of her low-cut gold gown, and Jason had popped out as well. Was he auditioning for the role of chauffeur?
“God, you’re making me so hot,” Kiki said. “Let’s come back here after the rehearsal.”
“I’ve got a bed,” Jason said, grinding his pelvis into hers. “We don’t have to do it on the back steps.”
“I want to do it in the church,” Kiki said.
Oh, Lord, Helen thought. She wished she hadn’t heard that. The couple was so intensely wrapped up in—and around—each other, they didn’t notice her. Helen stepped around them and said nothing. Let someone else find them
Rod the chauffeur sat in the car like an abandoned pet. Helen wondered if Rod knew his days were numbered.
The only man in the wedding party who hadn’t been personally selected by Kiki was Chauncey. The groom insisted on the theater director as his best man. Helen liked Luke for that. There was a decided coolness between Chauncey and Kiki.
But it was nothing compared to the frost between Kiki and her ex-husband, Brendan. Under their ice was real fire. Helen heard them exchange hot words when no one was around.
Helen gave Jason and Kiki enough time to put their body parts back in their clothes, then hauled more dresses up the steps. Now Jason was gone. Kiki and her ex were fighting on the landing. The little lawyer looked like his daughter, except he had more vitality and more chin.
“You’re making a spectacle of yourself.” Brendan was dangerously red in the face.
“It’s none of your business. I’m not married to you.” Kiki’s face-lift was stretched at the seams. Helen could see white scars under her anger-reddened skin.
“You should think of our daughter,” Brendan shouted.
“You’re a fine one to talk, questioning every penny I spend on her wedding.”
