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The cake lady was seventy, if she was a day.
Elizabeth shot Jack a look and he bared his white teeth in a huge smile as he laughed.
“Jack!” The old woman threw her arms around him, her tiny frame dwarfed by his large one.
“Hi, Edith. How are you doing?”
“I’m fine. What can I do for you?”
“Tom’s getting married this Friday. I know it’s short notice, but we were hoping you could manage to make a wedding cake for him.”
She looked at Elizabeth for the first time. “Who’s this? Is she the bride?”
Elizabeth had to stifle a laugh. “No! I mean, no, I’m not the bride. It’s Carol.”
“Oh, good.” Edith gave her an assessing once-over. “So who are you?”
“I’m Tom’s daughter-in-law.”
“Reggie’s wife?” Edith asked in horror.
“Reggie’s widow.”
“Oh, poor Tom.” Then she turned back to Jack and her demeanor changed. “So he’s finally going to marry Carol? That’s good. How many people?”
“We figure a couple of hundred,” Jack said.
“What style cake do you want?”
Jack looked at Elizabeth. “That’s your job.”
Elizabeth described it, and was a bit concerned when Edith didn’t write anything down.
“Got it. I’ll have it ready Friday by noon.”
Jack thanked her. “We would’ve given you more time, but he didn’t ask her until last night.”
“A couple of romantics, eh?”
“Yeah, I guess they didn’t want to waste any time,” Jack said with a grin.
“I don’t blame them. They’re not getting any younger.” She gave Jack a smile, and Elizabeth swore she saw the woman bat her eyelashes at him.
Jack stepped back, a fearful look on his face. “I…I’ll see you Friday.”
He got out of the farmhouse before Edith could kiss him goodbye. Elizabeth could only laugh as she followed.
When they got to the truck, he shot her a look. “I don’t think it’s funny. Sometimes that woman scares me.”
She tried to stop laughing. “I’m sorry.” When she sobered, she said, “I’m also sorry for thinking you were dating Edith.”
“Thank you.”
She shrugged. “It’s none of my business anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
“It means that I have no right to be concerned about who you date. You’re a single man with no ties. You can date whomever you want.”
Jack nodded at her comment, apparently in agreement. But the thought struck her as untrue.
It did bother her who Jack dated. But why?
Because she was jealous.
Because she cared about him.
Because, she realized with a gasp, she was falling for him.
When they arrived back at the ranch, Jack went straight to Tom. They had important business to discuss.
Elizabeth followed him and immediately went to Brady, who was sitting on the floor, playing cards with Tom. “Brady, is everything all right?”
“Sure, Mommy. Jenny’s asleep and we’re playing cards.”
“I didn’t know you knew how to play.”
“Grandpa taught me.”
Tom seemed pleased. “Jenny’s upstairs asleep.”
“I’ll just take Brady and go check on her.” Elizabeth ushered her son out of the room. “I’ll let you guys talk business.”
Tom stood up and turned to his ranch foreman. “You look serious, Jack. What is it?”
“Have you booked a honeymoon, Tom?”
From the look on Tom’s face Jack knew he hadn’t even given it a thought.
After checking on her sleeping baby, Elizabeth called Carol.
“Did you talk to Edith?” the bride-to-be asked.
“Yes, and your cake should be beautiful.”
“Thank you so much.” Carol hesitated, then added, “Elizabeth, I have one more favor to ask you.”
“Anything. You name it.”
“Will you be my matron of honor?”
Elizabeth was dumbfounded. She’d never been in anyone’s wedding party. In fact, she’d never been to a wedding. Her own had been a quickie without a reception.
“Elizabeth,” Carol prompted when she didn’t reply. “I’d love for you to be my matron of honor.”
“But I’ll have the baby to take care of.”
“We can get someone to take care of Jenny and Brady.”
“But I don’t have anything to wear.”
“We’ll get you a dress.”
Elizabeth had run out of excuses. “Okay, Carol, I’ll do it.” A big grin lit up her face as she thought of the ceremony and the romance and the flowers and the cake. It was going to be a beautiful affair, and she was so honored that Carol had chosen her.
“Great,” Carol said. “It’s going to be perfect. Tom’s asking Jack to be his best man. You two will make a lovely couple.”
Elizabeth dropped the phone.
Chapter Eight
“IS SOMETHING wrong?”
Elizabeth jumped. She hadn’t heard Jack come into the kitchen. She picked up the phone, hung it up and turned to him.
“Nothing’s wrong,” she said quickly.
“Want to buy them a wedding present?”
“Oh! I’d forgotten about a present. I need to get a dress, too.”
“For what?”
“Carol wants me to be her matron of honor. I need to buy a dress.”
“Good. I need to buy a tux.” He smiled at her, his blue eyes twinkling. “I’m the best man.”
“You’re going to buy a tux?”
“Aren’t you going to buy a dress?”
“Well, yes. Will you have another opportunity to wear it?”
“Yeah, I’m planning on it.”
“May I go with you and do my shopping, too?”
“Sure. I’m leaving just after lunch.”
“Thank you, Jack.”
“No problem.”
She hurried upstairs.
Jack stood there, watching her departure. A smile played across his face. Yesterday she’d been jealous when she thought he had another girl. Today she was jittery at the thought of being partnered with him at Tom’s wedding. He hadn’t missed her dropping the phone and the splash of color on her cheeks when he came in.
It was going to be an interesting wedding.
But first he needed to buy a gift.
Earlier when he’d been talking to Tom, Tom mentioned getting some new furniture for their bedroom. He also wanted to spruce up the room with a more formal sitting area in front of the fireplace. That would make a perfect gift.
She had the money to buy her dress for the wedding. And he’d get to see her in it before anyone else. That thought made him smile to himself, his eyes dancing.
“I’ve been thinking about my gift to Tom and Carol and I had an idea for you, too.”
Elizabeth turned to him as he drove them into town to shop. “What do you have in mind?”
He told her about the bedroom set he planned on buying. “I thought you might want to give them a TV so they could go to their room for some privacy in the evenings.”
“You’re right, Jack. I think that’s a good idea, but I don’t know anything about televisions. Can you help me pick out one?”
“Sure.” After a moment he said, “Are you saying you didn’t have a television?”
She shook her head.
“Did you not want one?”
“Reggie never saw a reason to buy one. I hadn’t had one when we got married, so I guess he assumed I didn’t want one.”
“He wasn’t much of a husband, was he? I mean, aside from the obvious, he didn’t know you very well.”
“Let’s just say he didn’t waste any effort trying to get to know me.”
Because talking about Reggie seemed to sadden her, he changed the subject. “You know, this is the second time in a week that we’ve gone shopping. That’s pretty amazing. I never shop that often.”
“You could’ve fooled me.”
He grinned. “I didn’t think I knew what to do. The salesladies helped me a lot.”
“Yes, I’m sure the salesladies helped you, but I think you did an amazing job.”
“With no cooperation from you, by the way.”
“That’s true. I didn’t think Tom should spend that much on us. I didn’t feel he had a reason. After all, he didn’t really know us.”
“You were all he had left of his son.”
