He’d taken them to every dress shop in Greenville, Dallas, and even Austin trying to find a dress for their mother’s best friend’s wedding in July, but they’d found nothing suitable in their size. Then they’d moved to Celeste, and Dixie had seen the sign for The Perfect Dress just down the street from the house Graham had bought. When she looked it up on the internet, they’d found the place made customized wedding, bridesmaid, and prom dresses—but only for plus-size women.

“Daddy, will you run by there on your way to work? It might be too late for us to get anything special made, so get ready to beg or bribe,” Dixie said.

He’d gotten used to doing all things a mother should do from the time the girls were born. His ex-wife, Rita, just flat out didn’t have a drop of mothering instinct, and once she’d found out that his folks controlled the family money and weren’t happy with his eloping right out of high school, she wasn’t interested in being married. She’d left him when the girls were barely two years old.

Yet last winter she’d called and wanted to see the twins. He’d let them make the choice. They agreed to meet her for ice cream but only for an hour. From what little they’d said about it, it had been like meeting a stranger. He could tell they were relieved when she didn’t call again for two months. That time it was to ask if they would be in her best friend’s wedding as junior bridesmaids. They agreed to spend the day with Rita, but they wouldn’t say yes to staying overnight. That meant Graham would drive them to Dallas early that morning and pick them up after the wedding reception.

“We should have big ball gowns so we really would look like cotton candy,” Tabby said. “With one of them big southern flounce collars and a wide satin sash. That’ll teach Mother to just tell us a color and to pick out our own style. I still think she was ashamed of us. She’s so short and tiny, and she wanted daughters that looked like her. She said that she recognized us that day because we reminded her of Aunt Alice.”

Little bits of their opinions on that day kept filtering down with time. Graham glanced up at both of them and realized that they did look a little like his sister. Maybe not in the face as much as their build—tall, big-boned girls. But their eyes came from Rita—clear light blue, a striking combination with all that thick black hair.

“Now that sounds like a great idea. We could have the lady at the dress shop make us look like Scarlett O’Hara,” Dixie said.