“Online? But—”

“I know, I know, but with the new place moving so fast, and Vesta busy, Clare starting to waddle—don’t tell her I said that—and you tied up here, there’s not a lot of chances to hit the shops. And, well, I was just poking, trying to get an idea of the style I might want, what I thought would work, and there it was.”

Hope held up a hand. She did plenty of shopping online, primarily for the inn, and respected the convenience. But there were limits. “You ordered your wedding dress online?”

“Not yet! What do you take me for? I wouldn’t order a wedding cracker—if I wanted one—without showing you and Clare first. I just went down to TTP and showed Clare.” She waved the iPad she carried. “Now I want to show you. I couldn’t send links, because I want firsthand—honest—reaction.”

“Okay. Hit me.”

“I’ve got it bookmarked on my iPad.”

“Let’s go sit.”

“You can tell me if you don’t like it,” Avery began as they walked into the kitchen.

“What did Clare say?”

“Uh-uh. You’re going into this without prejudice.” Avery sat, sucked in a breath, and brought the image up on her tablet.

In silence, Hope took a long, careful study. “Well, it’s beautiful.”

“Beautiful’s not hard in a wedding dress. Your eyes could bleed from beauty when you’re scrolling through them online. It’s the lines and details that pulled me toward this. I’ve got a small build, so I can’t carry the big princess dress, which is sad for me. But I’ve got good arms and shoulders, so I can carry strapless. But the ruching on the bodice helps with the fact I don’t have much boobage.”

“Your boobage is lovely.”

“Aw, thanks. But there’s not a lot of it. And see it’s more Empire style, which should help me look taller, and the detailing, the beading . . .” Avery enlarged the beadwork on the flow of skirt. “It’s all small scale.”

“Like you.”

“Yeah. The skirt’s got some flare and flow, but no poof.” She sighed a little. “I’d love the poof. If you can’t have poof on your wedding day, when? I asked myself that, and concluded, for me, never. And I’m too white to wear white so the ivory will warm me up. I’m going to skip the veil, just go for a sparkly tiara type deal. That’s my princess thing. I want something princessy.”

“You’ll look like one in this,” Hope decided, taking the tablet to move, shift, enlarge, shrink the image for her own judgment. “A fairy princess. You’re right to go with flow instead of poof, the higher waistline, the smaller, more delicate details. I think you’ll look gorgeous.”

“You’ve got a ‘but’ buried in there.”