Surrogate and Wife by Emily McKay Read Free Book Online Page B

they first met at Beth and Stew’s rehearsal dinner, she’d been put off by Jake’s charm and good looks. She’d assumed they were all he had going for him. Funny, howwrong she’d been, when she was usually such a good judge of character. She couldn’t think of any other man—not even Stew—who would marry a virtual stranger under such circumstances.
    Beth smiled weakly. “He is a good guy, isn’t he?”
    â€œAbsolutely. So you don’t need to worry at all. Everything is going to turn out just fine.” Kate smiled gamely and hoped it hid her own nerves. Despite her reassurances to Beth, she wasn’t at all sure that everything would be anywhere near fine.
    Beth must not have sensed any of the doubts plaguing Kate, because she offered a wobbly smile of her own.
    â€œI brought you something. For the ceremony.” She held up a brown paper shopping bag from her store the Health Nut. “I was hoping you’d wear it.”
    Kate felt a wave of sinking dread. “Oh, Beth…”
    â€œI know you don’t think of this as a real ceremony, but you should still have something nice to wear,” Beth said in a rush. “It’s not fancy. Not a real wedding dress or anything.” She laughed nervously. “Not even I would bring you a real wedding dress in a grocery sack.”
    â€œI appreciate the offer, but I’m okay wearing what I have on.”
    â€œPlease, Kate,” Beth all but pleaded. “Let me do this. You never let me do anything nice for you.”
    â€œIt’s really not necessary.”
    â€œBut I still hope you’ll wear it. It would mean a lot to me.”
    Reluctantly Kate took the bag from her sister and pulled out the dress inside. It was a simple, cream-colored dress that would fall nearly to her ankles, with short cap sleeves and lace around the deep, heart-shaped neckline. Very feminine. Definitely the kind of thing she’d wear only to mollify her sister.
    â€œI know it’s not what you would usually wear,” Beth began before Kate could protest. “But it matched the shawl.”
    With a sense of resignation, Kate reached back into the bag. She knew what she would find before her hand even touched it.
    The delicate lace shawl that Beth had worn with her own wedding dress. The shawl that Stella—their adoptive mother—had worn with hers.
    Shaking her head, she tried to hand the heirloom back to Beth. “I can’t accept this.”
    But Beth refused to take the shawl, pressing it back into Kate’s hands. “Stella would have wanted you to wear it.”
    No, Stella had wanted Beth to have it.
    Kate and Stella had rarely gotten along during the nine years Kate lived with Stella and Dave—the adoptive parents that Beth adored and Kate could barely stand.
    Before Kate could log any more protests, Beth squeezed her hand and said, “Please, do it for me. This way I’ll know you’ve forgiven us.”
    How in the world was she supposed to say no to that?
    â€œBesides,” Beth added with a grin, “you can’t wear what you have on. You look like a waiter.”
    Kate looked down at her outfit of wide-legged black crepe pants and tailored white shirt. “A waiter?”
    So she caved. As she usually did when Beth looked at her with those big sad eyes. Funny, Beth was the older sister, yet Kate had always felt like the tough one. The one in control. The one who got things done and held things together.
    Because she’d always been the tough one, she’d never been able to stand seeing Beth upset. Which—she admitted to herself as she was changing into the creamdress in the bathroom of the courthouse annex—was what had gotten her in this situation in the first place.
    Just before sending Kate off to the bathroom to change, Beth had whipped out a brush and sparkly hair clip. She’d twisted and smoothed until Kate’s scalp ached,