Both Paula and Mitzi were staring at her when she hung up the phone. “Don’t start on me. I’m not ready to talk to him. Until I am, he doesn’t need my digits.”

Ellie Mae showed up Friday morning with a hickey the size of a silver dollar on her neck. She’d covered it with a scarf, but when she undressed, there was no getting around what it was.

“Mama would have a fit if she saw it, so I wore a scarf,” Ellie Mae laughed. “Has Graham marked you yet? I hear y’all are spendin’ a lot of time together.”

“No, he has not.” Mitzi was tempted to pull her hair up to prove the point.

“Well, don’t let Fanny Lou see it if he does. She’s liable to shoot him dead.” Ellie Mae held her arms up for Paula to drop the dress down over her body.

“And by the way, I heard that Rita is spending lots of time up in Whitewright taking care of her granny’s things. She’s been tellin’ around that she and Graham are getting back together. I understand she’s got to get a divorce first,” Ellie Mae said as Jody pinned the back where the hidden zipper would go in later.

“I thought he was crazy for marrying her in the first place, and to do so a second time should be grounds for committing him,” Jody said.

Mitzi could have hugged her, but instead she just turned Ellie Mae around to face the mirrors, hoping that she’d be so excited about the dress that she’d stop gossiping.

“It’s beautiful! I love it so much, I’ll hate to take it off for the honeymoon.” She twisted and turned in front of the mirror to catch all the angles. “Darrin and I may do role playing. I’ll be the blushing virgin bride, and he can be the dashing knight in shining armor that carries me away from an arranged marriage with some old lecher.”

“You’ve been reading too many romance books,” Jody said. “We’ll probably have this finished by next Friday. Think we should leave a little extra material in the zipper-area seams in case you need it let out some at the last minute?”

“That would be great. I’m hoping I don’t show any more than I do now until after the wedding, but it’d be better to be prepared. So when are you going to start your wedding dress, Mitzi?”

“I have to get a proposal first, then an engagement ring and time to design,” she answered.

“Is it going to be white? Are you still a virgin?” Ellie Mae looked back over her shoulder at the backside of the black-lace dress.

“No to both,” Mitzi said.