She trailed off when she saw the shoe box, then thoughtfully opened the lid.

Her mouth dropped open. He doubted any other reaction could have been as satisfying.

“Shoes? You bought me shoes? Oh, really fabulous shoes.” She took out one of the high, skinny-heeled pumps, holding it like a woman might hold a fragile gem.

“You like shoes.”

“

Like is a soft, weak word for my feelings regarding shoes. Oh, these are gorgeous.Look at the way all those deep jewel tones flow together. And the texture.”

She slipped off the heels she wore, slipped on the new ones. Then sat there admiring them. “How did you know my size?”

“I’ve been in your closet.”

She continued to sit, studying him. “I have to say, Malcolm, you astonish me.You bought me shoes.”

“Don’t expect me to ever do it again. It was . . . grueling. I thought, I should just go get her some sexy underwear, but that seemed self-serving. It would’ve been a lot easier and less weird. You women are vicious in the shoe department.”

“Well, I love them.” She rose, did what he thought of as a little runway walk. Pivoted. Smiled. “How do they look?”

“I can’t take my eyes off your face. I really missed your face.”

“Okay.” She breathed it out, then stepped to him.“You just flatten me,” she murmured, and moved into his arms. “I really missed yours, too.”

“We need to be okay. It would really piss me off if my deal with Artie screwed us up.”

“Asshole Artie isn’t going to screw anything up.”

He drew back. “Asshole Artie?”

“That’s what we call him around here.”

He let out a half laugh.“I like it. I want to be with you, Parker.”

“That’s good, because you are with me.”

He rested his forehead on hers. “Listen I ...” He didn’t have the words, wasn’t sure of his moves. “Hell. Let’s just say you’re the first woman I’ve bought shoes for.” Again, he drew back, met her eyes. “And the last.”

“It means a lot.” She laid her hands on his cheeks, kissed him. “So, we’ll take today to be grateful we’re okay.”

THE WEEK BEFORE MAC’S WEDDING MEANT SALON APPOINTMENTS. Manicures, pedicures, facials. It meant logging those last-minute acceptances and regrets and adjusting the seating chart.

It meant final fittings, opening gifts, updating the spreadsheet Parker had created for keeping track of the gift, the sender, the relationship of the sender to the bride or groom, and the mailing address for thank-you notes.

It meant errands and phone calls, confirmations, final consults.

When added to the business of planning and prepping for other events, it meant insanity.

“Why did we think December was a good idea for this?” Mac demanded with a wild look in her eye. “We’re swamped, we’re crazed. We’re not going on the honeymoon until next month anyway, so why didn’t I take advantage of the slow time to get married? God, I’m getting married.Tomorrow.”

“And it’s going to be perfect.” Parker said it with grim determination as she worked at her laptop. “Hah! The weather’s going to be perfect. Cold, light snow in the morning, one to two inches, and clear in the afternoon. Light winds and low thirties for the evening. Just what I wanted.”

“Sometimes they say light snow, and we get dumped on. What if—”

“We’re not going to get dumped on.” As if daring the weather gods, Parker bared her teeth. “We’re going to get a couple pretty, fluffy inches in the morning for a gorgeous December evening wedding. Go get ready for rehearsal.”

“I’m afraid of rehearsal. My voice is going to squeak. I think I’m getting a zit right in the middle of my chin. I’m going to trip coming down the aisle. It’s okay if Carter trips. People expect it. But—”

“Your voice is not going to squeak, you’re not going to get a zit, and you’re certainly not going to trip.” Parker thumbed out Tums. For herself, and for Mac. “Do I know what I’m doing?”

“Yes, you do, but I’m—”

“Trust me. It’s going to be perfect and beautiful and the happiest day of your life.”

“I’m being a pain in the ass.”

“No, honey, you’re being a bride. Now go take a nice, warm bath.You’ve got an hour.”

“Carter isn’t nervous.” Mac narrowed her eyes in a scowl. “I could hate him for that.”

“Mackensie.” Parker turned from the computer. “I was in the kitchen this morning when Mrs. G made him sit down and eat some breakfast. He put maple syrup in his coffee.”

“He did?” She threw up her arms in a cheer.“He is nervous. I feel better. I want him to be nervous, too, and I want his ears to blush the way they do, and I want . . . Since I’m the bride it can be all about what I want, right?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay. So, I want to thank you for temporarily lifting my mother’s banishment.”

“Mac—”

“No, I mean it. Let me just vent this out, and it’ll be over.”

“Okay.Vent away.”

“It’s important she be here tomorrow, even though she’s a massive pain in my ass, and everyone else’s.”

“She’s still your mother.”

“Yeah, and that’s for better or worse, too. Anyhow, I know you’ve talked to her about it, and the rules of the road.”

“It took one brief phone call. It’s nothing.”

“One brief, unpleasant phone call.”

Now Parker smiled. “Not for me. Did she give you grief over it?”

“She tried. She failed. Her power is diminished in that area, which pisses her off.” Mac’s dimples fluttered. “I’m small enough to enjoy that.”

“I’d say you’d be stupid if you didn’t.”

“Good. So I’m not stupid.” On a breath, Mac folded her hands in her lap. “But I want her here because we’ve been through this enough to know you don’t want to look back on the biggest day of your life and have a single regret. And hell, since my father apparently can’t work the wedding into his busy schedule of parties and cruising the Ionian Sea, I should have one parent here.”

“We know, even though it’s our job to supply them, a wedding isn’t just about the lights and the music and the show. It’s about the feelings.Your family’s going to be there, Mac.”

“Yeah.” Mac reached out, gripped hands with Parker.“The one that counts.”

“And more, Carter is going to be there, waiting for you, looking at you, promising you.”

“Oh God, yeah. I’m so ready. Nervous, but so ready.”

“Go take that bath, soak out the nerves.”

“On it.” Mac got up, started out.“Parks? I love him so much it feels like there’s more inside me, a better me in there than there used to be. I’m not nervous about being married to him. I’m just nervous about, well, the show. Forgetting my lines or not hitting my cue.”

“Leave all that to me. Just think about being married to Carter.”

“That I can do.” She dashed back, caught Parker in a hug. “I love you so much, too.”

As she hugged, Parker reached over for a tissue, put it in Mac’s hand. “Thanks. I’m not going to cry tomorrow, so I’m planning to cry a lot tonight.”

“That’s a very good plan. Make sure to seal your mascara so it doesn’t run.”

Twenty minutes later, Parker dashed downstairs to check with Laurel.

And stopped as her breath caught.

“Oh, Laurel.”

“She’s demanding to be called Super-Laurel,” Del told Parker as he sat at the kitchen counter munching a cookie.

“And who could blame her? She is Super-Laurel. It’s the most beautiful cake ever created.”

“Not done yet,” Laurel mumbled, and continued to place sugar-paste flowers.

“Carter’s is.” Del jerked a thumb toward the remodeled mudroom that now served as Laurel’s auxiliary kitchen.

Parker went in, opened the cooler. “I love it! It’s even better than the sketch. The open book, the scene from As You Like It. I swear it looks like you could turn the page.”

“Try it and die.” Laurel rolled her aching shoulders and glanced over as Parker came back. “Oh God, don’t cry.”

“I’m following Mac’s plan.” She pulled tissues out of her pocket. “Cry tonight, stay dry tomorrow. I have gel masks for all of us chilling in the main fridge so we won’t be puffy tomorrow.”

“Thank God,” Del said, “I was really worried I’d have puffy eyes.”

“Take your cookie and go check on Carter,” Parker ordered. “And you can call or run over to Emma’s, tell her she’s not allowed to be late. Have Jack carry her over if necessary.”

“Fine. I know when I’m not wanted.”

“I thought about letting you sneak into my room tonight,” Laurel said.“But you didn’t buy me a fabulous new pair of shoes.”

“Mal’s going to pay for that, for screwing the curve for the rest of us.”

When they were alone, Laurel glanced down at Parker’s feet. “They really are fabulous. Everything else okay?”

“It’s fine. I got tomorrow’s forecast, and—”

“I’m not talking about Mac’s wedding, which is a change from most conversations this week. I’m talking about you and Malcolm.”

“That’s fine, too.” She opened the refrigerator for a bottle of water, then sighed when she turned back to see Laurel staring at her.“No, he hasn’t mentioned the fact that I told him I loved him, and neither have I. And no, he hasn’t reciprocated. I’m fine with that.”

“Liar.”

“I’m trying to be fine with that, and mostly succeeding. Plus there’s too much to do to think about it.” She smoothed at the hair she’d coiled into a sleek twist for the rehearsal party. “We’re in a good place, and that’s ... fine. Don’t make me say fine again. Let’s just focus on Mac and Carter.”

“Okay.Where is the blushing bride?”

“Taking a bath to soothe her nerves. She needs to start getting dressed,” Parker realized as she checked her watch. “We’re going to start in—”

“Parker, relax. We’re having the rehearsal dinner here.You can ease up on the timetable, at least a little. Does she know Linda’s not coming tonight?”

“Yes.And I think she’s relieved.We talked about tomorrow, and she’s glad her mother’s coming to the wedding. So, tomorrow’s soon enough for Linda.”

“What about—” Laurel broke off as Malcolm came in.“I wear a seven medium, just like Parker. Just in case.”

“I only buy shoes for women I’m sleeping with.” He grabbed a cookie from the plate on the counter. “If I slept with you, Del would get pissed off.”

“He’s so narrow-minded.”

“Did you—”

“Picked up and delivered to Carter’s, as instructed.”

The weight on Parker’s shoulder slipped off. “Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.” She took his face, kissed him.

“He’s here.” Laurel stepped away from the cake. “You pulled it off.”

With a hand on her hip, Parker angled into a pose. “You doubted me?”

“I’m so ashamed. You can be Super-Parker. I need to go change my shoes, which unfortunately aren’t those,” she said with another envious glance at Parker’s feet.“Freshen my makeup, and so on. I’ll get Mac moving if she’s not.You did good, Parker.” She grabbed Parker, kissed her hard on the mouth.

“Could you do that again?” Mal asked. “In slow motion?”

“Perv.” But tears sparkled in Laurel’s eyes as she turned and laid one on him.“She said again and again it didn’t matter, but it did.” She sniffled, smiled at Parker. “We know it did. Back in fifteen.”

“Everyone’s getting the crying out of the way tonight.”

“Thank God. I’m having a hard time holding it in.”

“Funny guy.” She drilled a finger in his belly.“I need to check on the caterers, and the Parlor, and the Grand Hall, and—”

He grabbed another cookie and went with her.

THERE WAS ALWAYS A BUZZ IN THE AIR BEFORE AN EVENT, MAL thought, but not like this buzz.This one almost shocked the skin. The photographer Mac had trusted for her wedding already worked with her assistant, getting candids as Carter’s family came in and the noise level rose.

He watched Parker move among them, offering drinks, crouching down to talk to the kids. In short order the big foyer, the Parlor vibrated with people and movement. Flowers—he imagined they were a mild prelude to tomorrow’s—perfumed the air.

He tried the champagne and glanced over as Parker talked with his airport pickup.As he started toward them, Mac came racing down the staircase.

“I’m not late!” She laughed, searched Carter out of the crowd. Her smile only beamed brighter. “I just wanted to—”

Malcolm saw her face change, and for a moment the utter shock on it made him wonder if Parker had made a mistake.

Then her eyes welled. “Dad?”

Geoffrey Elliot, handsome, charming, and absent for most of his daughter’s life, stepped forward, opened his arms. “Baby.”