Jody and Quincy were going to be married in West Virginia as soon as Mitzi could travel after giving birth. When Quincy had found out that Jody wanted a mountain wedding, he’d offered to take her to the Alps, but she’d refused. The hotel she’d found in Morgantown, West Virginia, had exactly the kind of place she wanted—a nice little veranda overlooking the mountains in the distance.

Mitzi visualized Jody in the dress that hung in the fitting room. A lovely cream- colored watered silk, it hugged her now curvy body and then belled out at knee level. When she’d tried it on the last time, she’d taken her braids down, and loose curls fell to her waist. Quincy was going to be speechless when he saw her on their wedding day.

The twins had offered to keep Hazel after the wedding. They’d made a spreadsheet of plans to keep her occupied and happy for a couple of days so that Quincy and Jody could get away for a short time in a nearby honeymoon cabin.

Paula would be the only one living above the shop after Jody moved out to the house with Quincy, and even that probably wouldn’t be for long. She’d met a male nurse when she was in the hospital giving birth to Ivy Jane, and things were getting serious. He was sitting at the end of the row with the ten-month-old baby in his lap, smiling every time she clapped her hands over the fireworks show.

“If someone had told y’all last year at this time what would be happening in a year, would you have believed it?” Fanny Lou asked.

Mitzi shook her head. “Not in a million years.”

“Looks to me like y’all need to be figuring out what Paula’s perfect dress is going to look like,” Fanny Lou said from behind her hand.

“That’s her decision, and she’ll tell us when the time is right,” Mitzi said and then gasped during the last beautiful display in the sky.

“It is pretty, isn’t it?” Graham leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

“Yes, it is, but . . . this is a little embarrassing.” She felt heat traveling into her cheeks.

“What?” he asked.

“My water just broke,” she answered. “I guess what I’ve been having all day isn’t false labor at all. Don’t make a big deal out of it. I already look like I wet my jeans.”

Graham helped her up with a hand and then pretended to stumble and, in the process of righting himself, spilled half a bottle of water in her lap.

“I’m so, so sorry, darlin’,” he apologized. “Let’s get you home. Alice, can the girls ride to the shop with you?”

“You are a genius,” Mitzi whispered as they slowly made their way to the van. “I love you more right now than I did an hour ago.”