Chapter 17: The Dress

“Mina is tired, the baby has been sitting on her bladder since breakfast,” Kade said brightly, putting down his glass and sliding his arm around my waist. “We will see you all Saturday.”

“Poor child, take her home and feed her something with iron in it, red meat, spinach, Nana’s soup,” Nana Rose called after us.

“I am the best man, I should come, I have opinions about flowers,” Bash said, grinning.

“Saturday, Bash, you can have all the opinions you want, save some for the day,” Kade said, and his smile did not move an inch until the door shut behind us.

In the elevator, Kade leaned against the mirror and closed his eyes, and the smile dropped off his face like a mask.

“Whoever sent that was in the room, or watching the room, or knew exactly when everyone would be holding a phone,” I said.

“Or it was a very well timed guess, which is what I would do if I wanted you to suspect everyone you love,” Kade said, without opening his eyes.

“That is what I said earlier,” I said.

“I know, I am still angry about how right you are,” Kade said, and his mouth twitched.

“Who was in the room, Pierce, Nana Rose, Brandt, Bash, and us,” I said.

“Four people I have trusted for years, and one who would stab herself with a cane before she hurt me,” Kade said.

“So we do not accuse anyone, we find out,” I said.

“How?” Kade asked, opening his eyes.

“Zola calls it a canary trap, she watched it in a movie, you tell each person a different secret and see which one comes back,” I said.

“A different secret about what?” Kade asked.

“The wedding, you tell each one a different place and time, and whichever place the photographers show up at, that is your leak,” I said.

Kade stared at me, and then he started to laugh quietly, shaking his head. “You are a menace, I have a security team of forty and you just out thought them in an elevator.”

“I have a lot of time to think, I do not sleep, and the baby sits on my bladder,” I said.

“Pierce hears the lawyer’s office at five, Nana Rose hears the rose garden at six, Bash hears the courthouse at noon, Brandt hears the Harbor Hotel at three, and the real place only you and I will know,” Kade said.

“That is a lot of weddings for one week,” I said.

“Mina, I have never cared about a secret as much as I care about this one,” Kade said, and his voice dropped. “If it is Bash, I do not think I will recover.”

“It is not Bash, he hugged you like you were his brother,” I said.

“It could be anyone, that is the part that hurts,” Kade said.

An hour later Zola was waiting outside a white bridal boutique with her arms folded and an expression like a general before a battle.

“You are late, I have been standing here for twenty minutes, and a woman in a veil just asked if I was the bride,” Zola said.

“What did you say?” I asked.

“I said yes, and that the groom had left me for a better looking woman, she gave me a sandwich,” Zola said.

“Zola,” I said, laughing.

“Come on, we are going to find you a dress that makes the groom forget his own name,” Zola said, and she pushed the door open, and a bell rang.

Inside, a tall saleswoman in pearls looked me up and down. “May I help you?”

“We need a wedding dress for a pregnant bride, with curves,” Zola said.

“Our designs run slim, I am not sure we carry anything for a figure like yours, perhaps a larger boutique across town,” the saleswoman said, with a smile like a closing door.

The words landed in my chest like a hand, too big, boring, nobody wants you, and I took a step back toward the door.

“Mina, stay,” Zola said, catching my wrist.

“Maybe she is right, I can wear a suit, I can wear gray, nobody has to look,” I said.

“Look at me,” Zola said. “That woman sells pretty clothes to pretty people for six thousand dollars, and you are a chief executive with a billionaire’s baby in your body and his grandmother’s ring on your finger, she should be grateful you walked in.”

“Excuse me, ma’am, we would like to see everything you have, the big dresses, the soft dresses, the dresses with room, and we would like the owner, and we would like a chair,” Zola said, turning around.

“Madam, I really,” the saleswoman started.

“Or I can call my friend Kade Voss, who is paying for this whole afternoon, and who I am told is very fond of buying stores,” Zola said sweetly.

The saleswoman went pale, and a minute later the owner appeared, an older woman with silver hair and kind eyes.

“I am so sorry, dear, my assistant is new, come with me, I have been waiting for someone like you for thirty years,” the owner said.

“Someone like me?” I asked.

“A woman with a body that remembers being alive,” the owner said, and she took my hand. “Come, I will show you.”

Twenty minutes later I stood on a little round platform in a dress the color of cream, with soft sleeves and a waist that sat just under my chest and flowed down over my stomach like water.

“Mina,” Zola said, and she pressed both hands to her mouth.

“Is it too much?” I asked.

“Look in the mirror,” the owner said.

I turned, and a woman looked back, with soft shoulders, round arms, a gentle curve under the fabric, and eyes that were not looking at the floor.

“That is me,” I whispered.

“That has always been you, you just kept her in a sweater,” Zola said, and she was crying openly now.

“I did not know I could look like this, nobody ever told me I could,” I said, and the tears came, and I laughed through them.

“Somebody should have told you a long time ago, and I am sorry it took a pregnancy and a billionaire,” the owner said gently.

“What do you think Kade will say when he sees you?” Zola asked.

“He will say something rude and perfect,” I said.

“And your father?” Zola asked gently.

I looked at the mirror, at the woman who might have been a bride in any other year, and my smile wobbled. “I wish he could see it, I wish he would look up from his desk just once.”

“Maybe he will, maybe he is looking in his own way, from a locked drawer,” Zola said.

“Do not make me cry again, I have cried on three dresses already, the owner is going to charge me for tears,” I said.

“I will take it,” I told the owner.

“Of course you will,” Zola said, wiping her face with the back of her hand. “Now we need shoes.”

My phone buzzed, and I thought it was the unknown number, and my stomach lurched, but the screen said Kade.

Photographers are swarming the Harbor Hotel lobby. I gave that location to one person only. Do not let Brandt out of your sight.

“Brandt, the big gray bearded teddy bear who stands outside the door?” Zola whispered, reading over my shoulder.

“He has been standing outside that door for forty minutes,” I said, and I looked up at the frosted glass of the front window, where a huge shadow stood perfectly still.

The bell over the door rang.

“Miss Hale,” Brandt’s deep voice said from the front of the shop, “I am sorry to interrupt, but I need you to come with me, right now, and I need you to not tell anyone where we are going.”