Graham sat down beside her and wrapped his hand around hers. “Remember where we were last year at this time? I’ve got to tell you, darlin’, this has been the best year of my life.”

“I never get tired of hearing that. I love you, Graham, more today than when you kind of proposed to me at Ellie Mae’s wedding. It’s been my best year, too.”

“If everyone will stand for the flag salute and remain standing for the national anthem, we’ll get this fireworks show started,” someone with a big booming voice said.

Graham stood and then extended a hand toward Mitzi. She took it, but the whole time she thought that even he, with all his strength and size, might not be able to pull her to her feet in another two weeks. They’d had a destination wedding in Florida the previous September. Her perfect dress had been a creation in blue lace. Tabby was her maid of honor. Dixie was the best man. They’d made their own matching dresses in off-white satin, styled a lot like the ones they’d worn to Lizzy’s wedding. And all three of the ladies had gone barefoot. She and Graham had an amazing four-day honeymoon, but she’d felt a little guilty leaving Paula and Jody with so much work at the shop. They’d been such a hit at the Dallas Bridal Fair that they’d been invited to the Oklahoma City Bridal Fair in December. Between the first fair and the last, they now had a waiting list for custom-made dresses.

The first display lit up the sky within seconds after the music stopped, and everyone took their seats again. Just thinking of the heat made her very aware of the sweat puddle around the band of her bra. As if he could read her mind, Graham pulled a white cotton handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed the moisture from her face. Fanny Lou noticed and whipped out a cardboard church fan.

“Here, use this. Don’t you dare go into labor or pass out in this heat,” she said.

Graham took it from her and kept a breeze going across Mitzi’s face. “Want to go on back home and sit under the air-conditioning? We don’t have to stay for the whole thing.”

She shook her head. “I’m not a delicate flower. I’m more like a big old wild sunflower growing out on a fencerow. And Daddy made ice cream for afterwards. That’ll cool us all down.”

“Ice cream?” Hazel squealed. “We get ice cream, too?”

“It’s part of the July Fourth tradition. We watch the fireworks and then go back to the shop for ice cream,” Jody explained.

Mitzi glanced over her shoulder. The diamond engagement ring on Jody’s finger sparkled under the football lights. In another few weeks, after the baby was born, there would be another destination wedding.