I smiled gratefully and teared up. “You know you’re my best friend.”
“Congratulations Allie, how long do you think it’ll last?” Lucy’s husband Ed asked me.
I hit him on the arm. “Ed, it’s going to last forever.”
He nodded. “I’m starving. I can’t wait to dig into all that seafood.”
I chuckled as he walked away to look at Mr. Winters’ balloon animals.
“That’s Ed for you,” Lucy said. “I’m so happy for you.” Tears sprang to her eyes, and I hugged her again.
“Thank you, Lucy. I’m so glad that you’re here to enjoy this day with me. And I’m so glad that you did so much for me in preparing for it. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“I never would have thought we could put a wedding together in two weeks, but we did it. Maybe we should go into business putting weddings together in two weeks? It could be a thing, you know.”
I nodded. “I’m sure it could be. But I don’t think I want to do something like this again for a very long while. I’m exhausted.”
She nodded. “Me too.”
“Allie, you look so pretty in your dress,” Sarah said and hugged me. “This was the nicest wedding.”
“Thank you, Sarah,” I said and hugged her back. “I’m so glad you and Thad got to be here. I don’t think we could have gone through with it if you two hadn’t been able to get away.” Sarah had her own wedding coming up in August, and I knew that she had been working on it for months. It was going to be a large affair with the white ball gown and a couple hundred guests.
“I hope my wedding is half as nice as yours is,” she said.
“Now you’re just being nice,” I said and chuckled. “I’m sure your wedding is going to be beautiful. I know you’re putting a lot of work into it.”
She sighed. “I had no idea how hard weddings were. I can hardly believe you got yours put together in two weeks. You’re the best wedding planner ever.”
I chuckled again and shook my head. “I guess where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
“Mom,” Thad said, coming up to me and hugging me. “You did great. I’m glad you didn’t get too carried away with the laughing, though.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, and we moved away from the kitchen doorway so we would be out of the caterers’ way. “Let me tell you, that was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I never expected to see a pile of balloon animals at my wedding.”
He laughed. “Well, we’re definitely not having balloon animals at my wedding.”
“Oh? We could invite Mr. Winters, you know. You would have plenty of balloon animals to hand out to your guests.”
“I think the balloon animals are cute,” Sarah said. “I’m going to see if he can make me a yellow giraffe. I’ll be right back.”
She hurried off to where Mr. Winters was making the balloon animals.
“I underestimated how entertaining Mr. Winters could be,” I said. Mr. Winters was talking animatedly with the guests and making the animals at their request.
“We’re still not having any balloon animals at my wedding,” Thad said.
I chuckled, and we moved into the ballroom. Alec’s mother came up to me, smiling. “Allie, you are just beautiful.” She held a blue dachshund balloon in her hand. “My son did well when he chose you.”
“Thank you so much, Estelle,” I said and hugged her. “You’re so sweet. I’m glad everything came together, and I’m so glad that you’re here with us for our special day.”
She nodded. Her silver hair was cut short, and she wore a conservative navy blue dress. “I’m so happy for Alec. You make him happy, Allie. Every time I talk to him, he talks about you. He loves you so much.”
I was surprised by this. Not by the fact that Alec loved me, but sometimes Alec didn’t express his feelings very well, and to hear he was talking about how much he loved me, well, surprised me. “He’s the most wonderful man in the world,” I told her. “Thank you for raising him the way you did because I know that you’re the reason he turned out so wonderfully.”
She smiled and patted my hand. “Alec was one of a kind from the day he was born. Mothers always think their babies are special, and I knew it was true of Alec from the start.”
I looked up, and Jodi was standing in the ballroom doorway, her eyes wide. She waved me over, and I went to her. “Yes, Jodi, what is it?”
She shook her head. “Something’s wrong with Richard. I called an ambulance.”
My eyes went wide. “What do you mean something’s wrong? What happened?”
Thad and I followed her into the kitchen, and Richard was lying motionless on the floor.
“He said he wasn’t feeling well, and he fell on the floor.”
“He said he felt dizzy,” Lisa added.
I knelt down beside him. “Thad, get Alec,” I said over my shoulder. I grabbed his wrist and felt for a pulse, but I had was having trouble finding one.
Chapter Four
I looked up as the EMTs wheeled Richard out of my house on a gurney. As it turned out, he still had a pulse, although according to Alec, it was thready. I had no idea what thready was, but as long as his heart was still beating, then he hadn’t died in my house. As I watched the ambulance
