Cora watched Rachel turn slowly. “You look like you just stepped out of the middle ages.” She grinned at Leena pulling the train out behind her. “That is so amazing, Lee.” She stood back and looked at it again. “I love the multiple blue shades and showing those shoulders off. We’ll be lucky if Steven doesn’t take one look and flip her over his shoulder and run off into the trees.”
Rachel grinned. “We can hope he does after the ceremony though, can’t we?”
Leena pulled the waist. “A little tighter through here and it’s perfect.”
Rachel nodded. “Yes.” She turned around. “Where’s Kase?”
“Right here.” Kasey said from the doorway.
Cora turned and held her hand over her mouth. “Oh… look at you.”
“I had to have the Camelot style. Do you think Chris will like it?”
Rachel motioned for her to turn. The front was low, the back dipped down into a big bow at her lower back. It was pure white trimmed with lace. The sleeves were long and layered like a butterfly.
“Oh Kasey. Chris is going to drop to his knees when he sees you.”
Kasey blushed. “I hope so.” She watched Leena pulling the material here and there. “I love this, Lee.” A tear rolled down her cheek.
Leena backed away. “Don’t start, Kase, pregnant woman here, we’ll never make it through the rest if you make me cry.” Kasey nodded and took a deep breath. “Okay.” She smiled. “Turn around I want to make sure it’s hanging straight down in the back.”
Kasey turned and grinned at Cora. Cora smiled and nodded at her. “You’re beautiful.” She turned to Leena. “Hurry up and go put yours on, I want a hundred pictures.” She went over to her purse and pulled out the camera.
Rachel stood and looked at herself in the mirror. “What should I do with my hair, Cora?”
Cora walked up behind her and ran her hands through Rachel’s dark hair, watching in the mirror. “I think you should use a small crown of baby’s breath with blue and white ribbons hanging down the back.”
Rachel stood there and looked at herself. “Yes, just that.”
Kasey walked over and ran a hand through her short choppy hair. “Mine needs a miracle.”
Cora grinned. “No, yours just needs to do what it does best, whatever it wants.” She stepped behind her and looked at the gown in the mirror. “A crown of beautiful white flowers to go with the gown, it would be so Camelot.”
Kasey nodded. “That’s great.”
“Well?” Leena stopped in the door and all three women turned to look at her.
“My, my, aren’t we the Avalon goddess.” Cora took a few steps and grinned. “That is perfect.”
Leena walked over to the mirror and looked at the cream-colored dress. The bodice was tight, and getting tighter by the day with her present condition. The sleeves were long and draped at the wrists, falling gracefully down. The long train was straight down the back behind her.
“I better not grow any more boob in the next week,” she whispered. She reached down and adjusted the wide sash around her waist. “Or any more anything.” She turned to Cora. “I want pale flowers through my hair and a thin headband. Will you be able to help with that?”
Cora walked up and ran her hand down the long length of her hair. “Absolutely.”
She backed up and lifted her hands over her mouth and looked at her three best friends. Her eyes watered. “You guys look so amazing.”
Leena waved a hand. “No tears. Go get changed. I had the hardest time with yours.”
Nodding, Cora sniffed and turned to leave the room.
Cora changed into the gown quickly and went back to the other women. She peeked around the door. “Okay so if this is too much you have to tell me, I will not outshine the brides.” They nodded.
She stepped into the room and watched their faces. Kasey’s lit up with excitement.
Rachel grinned and nodded. “If that doesn’t knock Dade Jones on his ass then he’s hopeless.”
Leena walked around her and pulled at the material. “Of course, it looks perfect on you.”
Cora walked over to the mirror and looked at herself. The gown Leena made was a pale gold. Not too shiny, but just enough of a light sheen, like it was glowing. It hugged her tiny waist slid down over her hips to form a long slender skirt. “The slit isn’t too much, is it? I need it to walk in a skirt like this.” Rachel shook her head. She looked at the top that dipped almost to her belly button but hung loosely until it reached her waist. “Well?”
“Awesome.” Kasey sighed. “What are you doing with your hair?”
Cora pulled as much as she could up to the top of her head. Tendrils of curls hung scattered around her face. “Something like this I was thinking, without any adornment.”
Rachel grinned. “Fucking amazing. You must get someone to take pictures of the expressions on the guys’ faces as we approach the arbor. I’ll be too nervous to notice, but their mouths are going to hit the ground.”
Leena laughed. “Definitely.” She glanced at her watch. “Wonder if they’re behaving.” She chewed her lip. “I don’t want to phone and be a nag…”
“Oh!” Cora smiled. “Allow me.” She walked over to the other side of the room away from them and took a deep breath. Thinking of Dade, she smiled and focused on the memory she wanted. She turned and smiled. “Dade should be calling shortly.”
Steven had just gotten there and sat down when Dade sat forward and closed his eyes. Not knowing if it was for medical reasons or not, he just sat there and stared at him along with Owen and Chris.
Dade closed his eyes and smiled. The image was of her putting on those black nylons. Her hands ran up over her legs slowly. Then she was standing looking at herself wearing nothing but the nylons and lace thong. He sat there for a moment. “I have to make a phone call.” He looked around and grabbed the phone from the floor beside his chair. Dialing quickly, he looked at the guys and held his finger up to silence their questions.
“Hi Lee, is that tall witch handy?” he grinned.
Steven looked at Owen who shrugged.
“Nasty woman.” He grinned into the phone.
“Oh, you got that?”
“Very clearly.”
“I hope I didn’t interrupt you…”
“Wouldn’t have made a difference what I was doing, and you know it.”
Steven looked over at Chris then back to Dade. Dade just grinned at him.
“What are you doing that you needed to send that my way, honey?”
“Was just thinking about you.”
“Hmm. That wasn’t me. Don’t suppose that means you’ll come home tonight then?”
She laughed. “No, we have alterations to deal with here, hair to figure out, shoes, capes, you know girl stuff.”
He sighed. “Fine.”
“Did you find everything today?”
“Every single thing on that list is sitting at your place awaiting your next instructions.” He wiggled his eyebrows at Steven who smirked.
“Wonderful. What are you going to do to pass the time tonight?”
“Not what I’d like to be doing.” He looked at the other men still staring at him. “Presently we’re sitting here, doing, nothing. It’s been so long since we’ve had guy time none of us knows what to do with it.”
“Rachel said to remind Steven he has to be at work in about an hour.”
Dade bobbed his head. “Yeah, he knows he won’t be late for work.”
“Oh and Kasey would like you to remind Chris that she needs that stuff moved.”
He quirked and eyebrow at Chris. “He’ll get it moved for her.”
Chris dropped his shoulders and sighed.
“Well I’d better let you go, we have a lot to do.”
He didn’t want her to, but he couldn’t whine with the other three men watching him. “Okay. Feel free to think like that and send it along if you need to, honey.”
“I will. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay. Bye.” He hung up the phone and dropped it back to the floor.
Steven shook his head. “And you knew to call her, how?”
Dade grinned. “She sends me images when she thinks about me.”
Owen sat up and looked at him. “From the grin you had, you’re not going to share those are you?”
Dade shrugged. “That one wasn’t X-rated. She damn near killed me with those the other day.” He hissed out a breath. “You two get your messages?”
Chris nodded. “Apparently, the bedroom would look better with the furniture moved around.”
Steven dropped his head back. “Like I’m going to forget work, I sacrificed an hour of sleep to come here and find out what you have planned that involves a horse.”
“Pardon?” Chris leaned forward.
Owen laughed. Then waved his hand. “Sorry, you have a plan with a horse?”
Dade nodded and grinned. “Yeah, a white horse. Now just shut up and listen, but remember I have to go through all this because you three are jerks and had to do the whole public proposal thing.”
“Oh” Owen whispered.
“I see.” Chris grinned.
Steven nodded at them. “If I’d have been driving today when he suddenly asks where he can find a white horse, I would have killed us both.” All three men laughed.
Dade held up his hands. “Are you guys finished? I need help here. Not only don’t I have a white horse, I have no fucking idea how to ride one. I don’t know what stone to get her, and I really, really have no idea how I’m going to pull this off without falling off on my head or breaking something important.”
Chris held his hand over his mouth for a minute then straightened up and took a breath. “Okay, we’re listening, fill us in and we’ll figure out how we can help.”
“What are ya’ gonna do if she says no?” Owen asked while gasping.
Just the look on Dade’s face made Steven fall over on the couch grabbing his waist and laughing hard.
Chris shook his head at Dade and squeaked, “Sorry.” While he bent over and tried not to laugh any louder.
Dade leaned back in the chair and watched the three men squirm around, laughing like children over his serious dilemma.
Cora dropped down onto the couch. “I’m exhausted, no don’t tell me the time just throw a blanket on me.” She grinned at Kasey who wandered into the room and mumbled good night.
Rachel smiled. “I’m all for that, wow are we getting old? An hour ago we were laughing and playing dress up.”
Leena sighed. “Well in our defense, Rachel and I are pregnant, tired goes with that.”
Cora smiled. “Or the fact that we worked all day, then ran around after work and then came here fed ourselves and completed four gowns, finished the seating arrangement, the ceremony outline, found the shoes we want and then finished our cloaks, might have something to do with it.”
“I second that,” Rachel said standing. “I’m going to go phone my doctor and whisper nasty things in his ear.”
Leena stood up. “Your fine on the couch?”
Cora nodded. “Absolutely. See you in the morning.”
Steven stood at the door. “You know you’re going to make the rest of us look like jerks when you do this?”
Dade nodded. “Yep. Your idea, remember that.”
Steven shrugged. “Well doesn’t matter now, I got her and now gentlemen I have to get gone.”
Dade sat back down when he left. He grinned at Owen. “So, you’ll come with me in the morning?”
Owen nodded. “I would not pass up the opportunity to see you fall off a horse.”
Dade laughed. “Let’s hope I’m a natural.” He got up and went into the kitchen then came back in and handed a box to Chris. “This is Cora’s, it was her mothers and I know she wears it on her ring finger.”
Chris took the box and opened the lid and looked at the fine gold ring. “I’ll get it back to you tomorrow, so you can get it put back before she finds it missing.”
Dade sighed. “Yeah, that would be bad.”
Chris stood up. “I have to get gone too, furniture moving awaits me.”
Owen patted the couch. “Only thing I’m moving is my ass up to an empty bed.”
Chris grinned. “I saw your laptop hidden in that bag by the stairs, you’re going to sit up all night and stress your brain writing.”
“Maybe.” He grinned. “Lee can’t tell me to go to bed if she doesn’t know.”
Chris walked to the door. “Talk to you later.”
Dade sat back down and Owen grinned at him. “What?”
He shook his head. “You’re crazy. If this works, all the women are going to cry at how romantic it is, but you’re still crazy.”
“Maybe a little.” He ran his hands down over his face. “I’m off to bed. You know where everything is.” He got up and walked up the stairs grinning to himself. He was crazy but in a new and very good way.