Always the Wedding Planner, Never the Bride (32 page)

The minute he reached her, Sherilyn snatched his hand and tugged him behind her into the ballroom where Russell stood on the stage with a microphone.

"So that being said," he told the bride and groom, seated at a long table with the rest of the wedding party, "I hope you'll allow me to give you a little gift in return for welcoming me when I crashed your wedding."

He replaced the microphone to the stand and picked up the acoustic guitar leaning against the piano. He climbed up on a stool and adjusted the microphone as he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Mr. and Mrs. David Pendleton to the floor for their first dance."

Sherilyn muffled her squeal with both hands before she grabbed Andy's arm and shook it. "It's their song," she whispered to him. "And the mother-in-law wasn't even allowing it to be played."

"So you recruited Russell," he said with a smile.

Sherilyn stepped in front of him and leaned back against Andy. He wrapped her up in his arms, and they swayed to an astonishingly great rendition of Bob Seger's song, "You'll Accompany Me," as the bride and groom danced across the floor in front of the stage.

When the song came to a close, the room erupted with applause, and the bride took off at a full run toward them. When she reached Sherilyn, she threw her arms around her and repeated "Thank you, thank you so much!"

Sherilyn held her by the arms and grinned from ear to ear.

"You deserved to have your first dance to
your song,
Brittany."

"But Russell Walker," she cried. "It's just too much. You so ROCK!"

"Standing at the back of the room," Russell said into the microphone, "along with our beautiful bride, is the woman who asked me to come and play for the first dance. Let's give it up for Sherilyn Caine, the wedding planner here at The Tanglewood."

Andy joined in the applause as Sherilyn turned fifteen shades of crimson.

"At the risk of taking over your day, David and Brittany, would you indulge me just one more song?"

Brittany raised both hands into the air from the back of the ballroom and shouted out a resounding, "Yes!" The rest of the room ignited in thundering applause as the bride hurried back toward the stage.

"This song is especially for one of the coolest young women I've ever met," Russell told them. "Sherilyn Caine, your best days are certainly not behind you. Come on back, girl. Rock 'n' roll never forgets."

And with that, Russell took that guitar to town and belted it out in a way that Andy felt certain would have made Seger himself proud. The lyrics seemed tailor-made for Sherilyn as Russell sang about how she'd become much less bolder with age.

Sherilyn covered her face with her hands, turned toward Andy, and peered at him through her fingers. By the time the lyrics declared a teenaged Sherilyn was now in her thirties, Sherilyn's laughter sounded to him like part of the song. And when Russell hit the bridge, reminding her that rock 'n' roll hadn't forgotten her, she grabbed Andy by the hand and rushed toward the stage, already surrounded by throngs of people, all

of them clapping to the time of the song. When she joined them in cheering Russell on, Andy did too.

He couldn't help but wonder for a moment what the mother-in-law had to say about what Russell Walker and the wedding planner had done to the dignified wedding reception she'd counted on for her future-governor son. But when he saw the sheer joy in his fiancée's gorgeous face, Andy couldn't have cared one iota less.

"Oh, Em, it was such a kick!" Sherilyn exclaimed. "You should have seen Brittany and David. They had the time of their lives. And all of their guests were tearing it up!"

"I wish I'd seen it, but after Andy left, Jackson and I went over to tell my parents our news and show them the ring."

"Speaking of which," she grinned, "let me have a closer look at that baby!"

Emma extended her hand and curtsied. "Isn't it perfect,
dahling?"

A single princess-cut diamond, a couple of karats at least, surrounded by tiny twinkling rounds. Sherilyn traced the platinum diamond-encrusted band with her finger.

"It's exquisite. But more importantly . . .
how did he ask you?"

The two of them giggled like schoolgirls as they ran to the micro suede sofa and dove in.

"This is like the old days," Emma observed. "All we need is the nail files and polish!"

"What did he say?"

"Oh, it was better than I even hoped," she exclaimed, "and I was totally surprised. I mean it, you could have knocked me over with the flick of your finger. We were having dinner at

this new Italian place in Buckhead, and when the dessert cart came, they had a sugar-free red velvet cupcake! Well. Come on. That was almost too good to be true!"

"He must have hunted for that place for a month!" Sherilyn said, laughing

"So of course I had to try it. He knew good and well I was going to! And when they brought it to the table, it had this gorgeous, glittery decoration on the top. When I looked closer, I realized . . . It was a
diamond ring!
And when I looked over at him, he'd gotten up from his chair and was down on his knee in front of me!"

"Ohh, that is too delicious!!"

"Ah, Sher, I made a total idiot of myself and cried like a dork! And he finally said, 'Emma Rae, will you give me an answer, please?'"

"And that's when you said yes."

"No. That's when I told him I'd let him know after I ate the cupcake."

"You didn't."

"Come on. A sugar-free red velvet cupcake, Sher."

They leaned into one another and laughed until Sherilyn could hardly catch her breath. When she did, she sputtered, "Speaking of cake . . . did you bring the wedding cake sketches?"

"Yep, they're on the table."

Emma hopped over to the table and brought them back to the sofa, spreading them out on the coffee table in front of them.

"You have five to choose from," she said. "And you know you don't have to pick any one of them. I can do whatever you want with them."

The sketches looked like artwork on an eclectic gallery wall.

From florals to elegant and classic to quirky art deco, Emma had outdone herself once again.

"I was thinking about a groom's cake," Sherilyn told her as she examined each sketch again.

"A groom's cake? With only fifty guests, you want a wedding cake
and
a groom's cake? You'll be eating cake until your tenth anniversary!"

"Your point?"

Emma chuckled. "You don't need a groom's cake, Sher."

"I know," she replied, somewhat deflated. "But I wanted to do something special for Andy. Maybe I should get him a gift; something extraordinary!"

The doorbell rang before they could brainstorm the idea, and Sherilyn raised a finger. "Hold that thought," she said, and she padded toward the front door.

She jumped the very moment that she opened the door as Claudia Boyett—Aaron's mom from down the street—jammed the end of a leash into her hand.

"Take this!" she demanded. "You have to take this dog back. He's horrible, just horrible. I won't have him in my house another night."

"Well . . . what . . . What happened?" she asked as Henry looked up at her, panting/smiling, looking just as innocent as could be.

"What didn't happen!" she cried. "This dog has eaten the television remote, the cordless handset, two rugs, and the edge of my patio door. You have to take him back. You just have to."

"I'm—"

"No!" she interrupted. "I won't take no for an answer. I won't take that dog home. If you don't want him, you'll have to find another sucker to take him in. I won't do it," she said

as she backed down the sidewalk. "Don't follow me! I mean it. I don't ever want to see that creature again."

Sherilyn stood there looking at Henry, and he swiped her hand with his juicy tongue.

"Don't try to get into my good graces, mister," she said, and he licked her again, this time more timidly.

Sherilyn closed the door and led Henry by the leash, down the hall and into the living room. When Emma looked up and saw them both standing there, she burst instantly into laughter.

"Well, you said you wanted an extraordinary wedding gift for Andy. I'd say God dropped one right at your door."

"More like propelled him straight
through
the door."

Two hours later, after Emma had gone, Andy came home to find Henry sitting next to Sherilyn on the sofa, surrounded in yards of red ribbon.

He laughed and asked, "What's this?"

Henry bounded toward him, happily jumping on him, trailing ribbon all the way back to the couch.

"Your wedding present!" Sherilyn exclaimed. "I had him wrapped up all pretty for you, but he ate his way out of it before you got home."