A Ring For Christmas: A Bride by Christmas / Christmas Lullaby / Mistletoe Manoeuvres

“What did you do? Put all your women’s names in a hat, pull one out and decide to marry her because your brother is obviously so happy, so what the heck, why not?” She paused. “Sorry. That was rude. Very rude.” She cleared her throat. “So. You wish to hire me—Roses and Wishes—to coordinate your wedding. I appreciate your confidence. It is a bit unusual that you’re tending to this and not your bride-to-be, as it’s traditional that the woman…Forget that. To each his own. How many people are you going to invite?”

Luke propped one ankle on his other knee and smiled pleasantly. “A lot.”

“Could you be a tad more specific?”

“Not at the moment. Just go with a lot for now.”

“And when do you plan to have this life-changing event?” Maggie said, looking over at him.

“The sooner the better,” he said. “But I’m not exactly sure at this point in time.”

“I see.” Maggie frowned. “No, I don’t. Call me stupid, but this isn’t making one bit of sense. You want me to coordinate a wedding for a lot, number unknown, of guests, and it’s to be held the sooner the better, but you don’t have a clue as to when.”

Luke nodded. “That’s it in a nutshell.”

A rather hysterical giggle escaped from Maggie’s lips. “Do you know anything for certain? Like, for example, who the bride is?”

“Oh, yes, ma’am,” he said. “That is etched in stone.”

“How nice,” she said miserably. “What I mean is…I’m not sure what I mean. This is very confusing.”

“It is?” Luke said, an expression of pure innocence on his face. “I need a wedding planned, you’re a wedding planner—coordinator, whatever.” He shrugged. “Seems to me I’ve come to the right place, especially after seeing what a dynamite job you did for Ginger and Robert.”

“But Ginger knew what she wanted and when she wanted it,” Maggie said, throwing up her hands. “Well, sort of. She did change her mind about a ton of things, but generally speaking, she knew. You know—three hundred, give or take, guests, a summer wedding, seven bridesmaids, yogurt-covered almonds in the nut cups, details like that.”

“Oh,” Luke said, nodding. “Well, I don’t know any of that stuff. Except forget the almonds. I don’t like almonds, yogurt-covered or otherwise.”

“Oh, well, with that data I’m ready to roll,” Maggie said, throwing up her hands again. “No almonds in the nut cups.” She shook her head. “This is insane.”

“Tell me this, Maggie,” Luke said, leaning toward her. “How long does it take to put on a production like Ginger and Robert’s shindig?”

“At least six months,” she said, “and that’s going full speed ahead.”

“Really? That long? Grim, very grim. Well, if that’s the best you can do…Okay, let’s aim for a Christmas wedding. How’s that?”

Sure, Maggie thought, feeling the threat of tears again. Merry Christmas to Maggie Jenkins. She could watch Luke St. John get married. Hooray.

Darn it, what difference did it make? Why was she falling apart because Luke suddenly realized he was in love with one of the high-society women he dated and wanted to get married and live happily ever after? It had nothing to do with her beyond being a real coup for Roses and Wishes.

So why did she feel so sad?

Why did she want to crawl into bed and cry for a week?

Forget it, just forget it. She wasn’t talking to herself about this anymore because she was being absolutely, positively ridiculous.

“Maggie?” Luke said. “Does that work for you? A Christmas wedding?”

“Yes,” she said softly as she looked at a spot in space a couple of inches above Luke’s head. “A Christmas wedding will be just fine, very beautiful and…special. Definitely a Christmas to remember forever.”

Chapter Five

Luke nodded and rubbed his hands together. “Actually this schedule will work out perfectly. A holiday wedding. That’s really romantic, don’t you think?”

“What? Uh, yes, very romantic,” Maggie said with a rather wistful sigh as she shifted her gaze to the opposite wall. “It’s a magical time of year as it is. And to be getting married then, too? Goodness, that’s over the top or however you want to put it.”

“Yep.” Luke paused and looked at Maggie intently. “I’ll tell…them…the good news.”

Maggie snapped her head around to stare at Luke. “Them? Them who?” She paused. “You mean the families?”

“Nooo,” Luke said slowly. “I was referring to the bride and groom.”

“Pardon me?” she said, obviously confused.

“Oh,” Luke said, snapping his fingers, “I didn’t make myself clear on this at all, did I? I do apologize, Maggie. The wedding we’re discussing is for my cousin and his fiancée.”

“What?” Maggie blinked. “You mean you’re not…What?”

“Let me start at the top,” Luke said, lacing his fingers on his chest. “My cousin…Clyde…”

Jeez, what a name, he thought, inwardly groaning. He should have given thought to the identity of these people before he got here. The bride, the bride. What was the bride’s name?

He looked frantically around the room, his gaze falling on the cover of a thick photograph album imprinted with the words Precious Memories in gold.

“…and the love of his life…Precious,” he went on, “are in London working for the State Department.”

“Clyde and Precious?” Maggie said, raising her eyebrows.

“Yep, good ol’ cousin Clyde. Anyway, they decided they’d best get married here in Phoenix to keep the families from murdering them. However, they agreed to stay on in their positions as long as possible to train their replacements before returning to the States.

“They did stipulate to their boss, though, that they definitely wanted to be back home for the holidays. So, you see, a wedding at that time of year keeps everybody happy. Are you happy, Maggie?”

“I’m ecstatic,” she said, smiling. Because Luke wasn’t getting married. He wasn’t. Thank goodness, because…Because why? She didn’t know, but there was no denying that the dark cloud that had settled over her was gone, poof, just disappeared, because Luke wasn’t talking about his wedding. “Ecstatic because…Yes, because this is wonderful news for…for Roses and Wishes.”

“Of course,” Luke said, nodding. “Now let me make something very clear. Precious is a rather unusual young woman. She’d much prefer to just go to City Hall in her jeans and marry her beloved Clyde, but the mothers would freak and Clyde and Precious would never hear the end of it.

“So when I spoke with them on the phone yesterday I suggested that they hire you to arrange the whole shebang and all they have to do is show up. They’re thrilled. Precious said she’d go along with any decisions you make. Clyde? Hey, guys don’t care about this kind of stuff. It’s a woman thing.”

“You mean I get to plan the whole wedding, make it the way I want it to be and…What about the mothers? The mothers will never let me do that. They’ll want to step in and put this production together.”

“No way,” Luke said. “They’re as different as day and night, those mothers. My aunt and Precious’s mom together are a war waiting to happen. They’re not going to know a thing about it.

“They’ll get an invitation in the mail, just like everyone else who is invited. They’ll pout for a while, I suppose, but then they’ll jump right into fast-forward and start thinking about becoming grandmothers, and all will be well.”

“This is crazy,” Maggie said, shaking her head.

“No, this is exactly the way it should be done.” Luke leaned forward, only inches from Maggie as he looked directly into her eyes. “You pretend this is your dream wedding, Maggie. Make the decisions based on what you would want if you were getting married.”

“Oh…my…gracious,” Maggie whispered.