Mr Destiny by Candy Halliday Read Free Book Online

a sales-clerk were the only people in the shop.
    Good.
    She had Eve's crowd phobia under control.
    Now, if she could usher Eve past the rows of wedding dresses fast enough…
    Kate stepped closer to the window.
    A taxi had pulled up and stopped in front of the shop.
    She waved supportively when Eve left the taxi first. But she didn't miss the fact that Alex had to practically push Eve through
     the door.
    “Are you sure you want to do this, Eve?” Kate asked, ignoring the don't-sympathize-with-her look coming from watchdog Alex.
    Maybe Alex's no-nonsense approach
had
been responsible for forcing Eve back into a normal routine over the last two weeks. But Alex had the tendency to push too
     far, too fast. Besides, a
little
sympathy every now and then never hurt anybody.
    Eve nodded, and Kate said, “This won't take long, sweetie.” She didn't care whether Alex liked her protective attitude or
     not.
    Only Alex was too busy looking around the shop with her nose in the air to notice. “I still can't believe you prefer buying
     off the rack to having Grace bring you a designer dress from Paris.”
    “That's exactly what Harold said,” Kate told Alex, knowing suggesting Alex had anything at all in common with Harold would
     annoy her to the core.
    Alex's beady-eyed frown proved her right.
    “And,” Kate added, “I'll tell you exactly what I told Harold. Off the rack will suit me just fine.”
    “ ‘Off the rack will suit me just fine,’ “ Alex mimicked.
    Kate ignored her and turned back to Eve, who, unfortunately, was looking shakier by the minute.
    “I'm really glad you're here, Eve. I didn't want to make my final choice without including my two best friends.” She gave
     Eve a quick hug. “But Gram and I did narrow my choices down to three bridal suits before she left for Paris. This won't take
     long. I promise.”
    Eve smiled. Weakly, Kate noticed.
    But Alex frowned.
    “Bridal
suits
? Excuse me? You've been talking about the type of wedding dress you wanted from the moment Eve and I met you. A bridal suit
     is
not
the vivid description I remember listening to over and over and over again through four years of college.”
    Kate put her hands on her hips. “Well, excuse me for obviously boring you with that description over and over and over again.”
     She stared Alex down. “You're right. I never imagined wearing a suit to my wedding. But a suit is more practical than a wedding
     dress for a short ceremony in a judge's chamber.”
    Alex rolled her eyes. “A short ceremony in a judge's chamber isn't the vivid description I remember of the wedding you wanted,
     either.”
    “Only because I had no idea I'd be marrying an attorney whose mentor since his father died just happens to be a judge.”
    “And who probably really wants a short ceremony in his mentor's chamber because he's afraid his bride's quirky parents will
     show up stark naked from their latest new adventure, the happy camper nudist colony.”
    “
Not
funny,” Kate said. “My parents were invited to the wedding, and you know it. You also know they politely declined, rather
     than have
me
stressed out over their long-standing feud with Grace. They'll be holding their own ceremony in my honor on my wedding day,
     thank you very much.”
    “Right. I forgot,” Alex said. “The naked zenfest. Maybe I should go to that one.”
    “Maybe you should,” Kate said. “Since you're still boycotting the ceremony I'm having here.”
    “I'm boycotting the
groom,
“ Alex corrected. “Not the ceremony.”
    “Girls. Please,” Eve finally said. “All of this arguing is making me queasy.”
    Kate glanced in Eve's direction.
    The poor dear was starting to look a tad green.
    She sent Alex a see-what-you've-done-now look.
    Kate took Eve by the arm, led her past the rows of wedding dresses that were also possibly making her queasy, and directed
     her to the back section of the shop. When they reached the area with the customary viewing platform, a huge