“Hello.” I gave them all a professional smile.
“Hello cousin Maggie!” A dramatic-looking brunette with dark-rimmed eyes marched straight to me and enfolded me in a big hug. She added a squeeze before pulling back to hold me at arm’s length. Eyes the same shade of green as Autumn’s grinned up at me. “I’m Ivy,” she said. “It’s great to finally meet you.”
“Hello.” I smiled politely at the gothic looking young woman. “Let me take your coat.”
“Don’t you worry about that.” She quickly peeled out of her black coat, tossed it to a sales associate, and grabbed my arm. “Come with me, there’s more family for you to meet.”
All my plans for a quiet smooth entrance and seating of the bridal party went straight out the window. Ivy steered me over to a woman with dark blonde hair and serious blue eyes, and introduced her to me as Lexie. Before I knew it, I was coming face to face with the third of my cousins, Holly.
“Hello,” she said, shaking my hand. “Welcome to the family.”
“Thank you,” I said, as the volume of happy voices rose around us. Holly, I discovered, looked nothing like her twin sister. She was a bit taller and in direct opposition to her sister’s sleek, dark bob and green eyes, Holly’s eyes were aqua-blue. Her hair was a wild tumble of ginger curls that hung halfway down her back. “Let me take your coat.”
“Thanks.” Holly relinquished her teal coat, and I, in turn, passed it on to the store manager.
“Miss Parrish, I thought you said you were related to the Drakes,” the manager said, softly.
I didn’t respond to her comment and gave her a stern look instead.
“I’m sorry. Maybe I’m confused.” She flashed a nervous smile. “Didn’t I just hear the Bishop girl welcome you to the family?”
The woman was nosier than I was comfortable with, and it was time to put my foot down. “I fail to see what business it is of yours.”
Her eyes grew round. “Are you somehow related to both the Bishops and the Drakes?”
“And if I am?”
“Oh my goodness.” She backed away from me and hustled to the far side of the room.
Old busy-body, I thought and deliberately ignored her. “Ladies,” I said to the bridal party, “if I could have y’all take a seat.”
Lexie—the matron of honor, nudged everyone to the seating area. I managed to keep Autumn in the center while Holly and Ivy sat to her left. Lexie sat on the bride’s right, Candice squeezed in and Violet sat on the arm of the sofa. They all turned to me expectantly.
I took immediate advantage of the temporary silence. “Now that I have your attention, we’ll get started.”
CHAPTER THREE
I needed a cigarette. Probably a stiff drink, or maybe both.
The bridesmaid dress fitting had been a success, but the strangest thing had happened. It was toward the end of the appointment, when Ivy and Holly had been standing in front of the three-way mirror. Ivy had been trying on the one-shouldered variation of the chiffon bridesmaid’s dress, and her sister had on a softer, more romantic version that featured fluttery short sleeves.
I had suggested adding an embellished sash to the dresses to doll them up a bit. And as I tried to hand the sash over to Holly, it had instead, somehow, flown out of my hand and straight into Ivy’s.
I didn’t recoil from the girls, but it was a near thing. I stood completely still as my mind raced to make sense of what it had seen. Telekinesis was rare. Typically only the most powerful of practitioners could control it. However, that sash certainly hadn’t slipped…
Before I could comment, Lexie walked up behind Ivy and had lightly cuffed her on the back of the head. “Knock it off, Ivy,” she’d said.
Ivy’s response was an unrepentant grin, and everyone had started to snicker…except for me.
“These beaded sashes are very pretty,” Holly said, gently taking a second embellished sash from my hand and tying it at her own waist. “Good thinking, Maggie.”
It had to have been an odd reflection of the three-way mirror, I decided. The only way I’d ever seen the gift used was to intimidate and control… Surely the young woman wouldn’t waste that sort of ability on a light-hearted prank. Would she?
I swallowed my unease and acted as if I’d seen nothing, and instead focused on the task at hand.
When all was said and done, Lexie, the matron of honor, had picked out a knee-length chiffon dress that featured a scoop neck, tank straps and a pleated bodice. Holly had selected the V-neck dress with soft fluttery cap sleeves. Candice had preferred a Y-neckline with a gently gathered skirt. Ivy had gone for the more dramatic, goddess-style, one-shoulder dress with a cascading side gather. Violet had favored a strapless version of the chiffon dress with a sweetheart neckline and ruching detail that cascaded down the front, adding a little dimension.
After much debate, Autumn had settled on the individual colors for her bridesmaids as well. Lexie had a pale lemon yellow, and Ivy a mint green. Holly was wearing sky blue, Violet would have the lilac—a wise choice considering her hair color—and finally, Candice would be in soft pink. The embellished sashes were unanimously approved, and the bridal salon gave us a discount since we were buying five of them. It was agreed that shoes would be nude and flats as the wedding ceremony and reception would be on the grass in a garden.
The dresses and sashes were ordered and had been guaranteed to be delivered to the shop by early April. Which was cutting it closer to the May wedding than I would have cared for, but I made sure that everyone had ordered their sizes correctly, so there shouldn’t be any problems.
As Holly paid for her gown, the cash register crashed. To my surprise, Holly backed up several paces and
