Lucy whispered, “You look beautiful. Thanks for being my friend.”

Meg tried to smile. Really she did. But Lady Emma was heading down the aisle, and only Lucy was left, and Meg was cold all over.

Lucy moved.

Meg’s hand shot out, and she grabbed her by the arm. “Wait!”

Lucy looked over her shoulder.

“Get him,” Meg said on a wheeze of panic.

Lucy gaped at her. “You are kidding me, right?”

“No.” Meg gulped for air. “I have to see him. Right now.”

“Meg, you can’t do this.”

“I know. It’s horrible. But . . . Just get him, please?”

“I knew coming here was a bad idea,” Lucy muttered. Then she took a deep breath, fixed her old White House smile on her face, and headed down the aisle.

She kept that smile firmly in place right up to the moment she stopped in front of Ted.

He studied her. She studied him.

“Uh-oh,” said Kenny.

She licked her lips. “Uhm . . . Sorry, Ted. Again. Sorry again. But . . . Meg wants to see you.”

“I strongly advise you not to go,” Kenny whispered.

Ted turned to the Reverend Harris Smithwell. “Excuse me for a minute.”

The crowd broke out in an uproar as he strode up the aisle, not looking to the right or the left, but straight ahead toward the woman waiting for him just beyond the sanctuary.

At first, he merely took in the sight of that beloved face framed in a froth of white. Her cheeks were pale, her knuckles white around her wedding bouquet. He stopped in front of her. “Hard day?” he asked.

She set her forehead against his jaw, poking him in the eye with the tiara that held her veil in place. “Do you know how much I love you?” she said.

“Almost as much as I love you,” he replied, kissing her gently on the nose so he didn’t mess up her makeup. “You look beautiful, by the way. Although . . . I swear I’ve seen that gown before.”

“It’s Torie’s.”

“Torie’s?”

“One of her castoffs. It’s kind of expected, right?”

He smiled. “I sure hope it was from her wedding to Dex and not her earlier failures.”

“Uh-huh.” She nodded and sniffed. “Are you—are you completely sure about this? I’m a very messy person.”

His eyes drank her in. “There’s such a thing as being too neat, sweetheart.”

“Except . . . Let’s face it. I’m smart, but I’m not as smart as you. I mean . . . hardly anybody is, but still . . . It’s possible we’ll have dumb kids. Not really dumb, but . . . Relatively speaking.”

“I understand, sweetheart. Getting married for the first time can be nerve-racking for anybody, even a courageous person like yourself. Fortunately, I have experience with weddings, so I can help you.” This time he risked messing up her makeup to give her a tender kiss on her lips. “The sooner we get through this, the sooner I can strip you naked, lose my self-control, and humiliate myself again.”

“That’s true.” The color finally began to return to her cheeks. “I’m being stupid. But I’m under a lot of stress. And when I’m stressed, I sometimes forget that I’m good enough for you. Too good for you. You’re still kind of screwed up, you know, with the people-pleasing thing.”

“You’ll protect me from myself.” And everyone else, he thought.

“It’s going to be a full-time job.”

“Are you up for it?”

She finally smiled. “I am.”

He stole another kiss. “You know how much I love you, right?”

“I do.”

“Good. Hold on to that thought.” He scooped her into his arms, and before she could tell him it was unnecessary—that she’d pulled herself back together and he needed to put her down right this minute. Before she could say any of that, he’d started down the aisle.

“This one,” he announced to everybody, “is not getting away.”

AUTHOR'S NOTE

very book I write stands on its own, which doesn’t prevent the characters in one book from wandering into another. Lots of old friends wandered into this book—Francesca and Dallie Beaudine from Fancy Pants; Nealy Case and Mat Jorik from First Lady; Fleur and Jake Koranda from Glitter Baby; Kenny Traveler and Emma (oops . . . Lady Emma) from Lady Be Good, which also includes Torie and Dex’s unorthodox love affair. You can catch an earlier glimpse of Meg in What I Did for Love and meet a younger version of Ted in both Fancy Pants and Lady Be Good. And, yes, Lucy Jorik deserves her happy ending. As I write this, I’m hard at work on her story.

I have so many people to thank for their encouragement, including my irresistible dear friend and editor Carrie Feron, my longtime agent, Steven Axelrod, and my wonderful cheerleaders at HarperCollins, William Morrow, and Avon Books. Yes, I know exactly how lucky I am to have all of you in my corner.

I don’t know what I’d do without my able assistant Sharon Mitchell, who makes my world run so much smoother. Huge thanks to my peerless golf adviser, Bill Phillips. Also to Claire Smith and Jessie Niermeyer for sharing their “Tales from a Drink Cart.”

A standing ovation to my writing buddies: Jennifer Greene, Kristin Hannah, Jayne Ann Krentz, Cathie Linz, Suzette Van, and Margaret Watson, with a special round of applause for Lindsay Longford.

Hugs to the new friends I’ve made on Facebook and to all the incredible, extraordinary Seppies on my message board!

SUSAN ELIZABETH PHILLIPS

www.susanelizabethphillips.com