Once Upon a Wine by Beth Kendrick

Author:Beth Kendrick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-06-14T16:32:24+00:00

chapter 17

An hour later, Cammie hosted a grand tour of the vineyard for the bride-to-be . . . plus her fiancé, her mother, her future mother-in-law, her maid of honor, her future sisters-in-law, and assorted aunts and grandmothers.

“Welcome!” Cammie had to project her voice in order to be heard by everyone in attendance.

She needn’t have bothered—the members of the group were deep in conversation with one another. They didn’t even glance her way when she greeted them.

“So, we’ll do the yellow centerpieces,” the woman to her right said. “And yellow boutonnieres for the groomsmen.”

“Aren’t you worried that they’ll wilt in the heat?” someone else asked. “Last August was brutal.”

“It’ll be fine,” the first woman replied. “I’ll talk to the florist about keeping everything refrigerated until the last minute.”

“You have such artistic vision,” the second woman said admiringly.

“Well, someone has to take charge with this crowd, or they’d run roughshod over me.” The woman put her hand on Cammie’s forearm. “I’m Vanessa, the mother of the bride.” She gestured to her companion. “And this is Jeanie. Mother of the groom.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Cammie introduced herself, then asked, “So, where’s the bride?”

The two mothers looked at each other. “That’s a good question. Where is Bronwyn?”

Vanessa scanned the crowd of people. “Oh, she’s back there with James.”

“She’s terribly indecisive,” Jeanie said. “Vanessa and I can answer all your questions.” She pulled a little pad out of her purse and flipped through a dozen pages scribbled with notes. “We have some questions for you, too.”

“I’m going to need to talk to the bride,” Cammie insisted sweetly.

The moms muttered and rolled their eyes. “Oh all right. But don’t say you weren’t warned.”

“Bronwyn!” Vanessa called into the throng of guests. “We need you up front, sweetie.”

A tiny, wavy-haired waif hurried to her mother’s side. “Hi, I’m Bronwyn.”

Cammie shook the bride’s hand and tried to conceal her surprise. Bronwyn must have been of legal marrying age, but she looked as though she were still in high school. She seemed as shy and soft-spoken as her mother was strident and determined.

Cammie introduced herself as the vineyard’s official events manager—neglecting to mention that she herself had created and filled the position mere minutes ago—and asked Bronwyn to supply some information about the big day.

“What are you thinking?” Cammie asked. “Most importantly, when were you thinking?”

Bronwyn shot a quick, furtive glance at her mother. “Well, James and I originally thought—”

“They wanted to get married at their university chapel,” her mother finished for her. “But there’s no air-conditioning, and no reception area close by.”

The mother of the groom piped up. “Then we thought we could use the same church where James’s father and I got married—”

“So meaningful,” Vanessa gushed.

“—but it’s not big enough to accommodate all the guests.”

Cammie looked at Bronwyn. “How many people are you expecting?”

Bronwyn cleared her throat. “We’re hoping to keep it small.”

“Two hundred,” Vanessa declared.

“At least,” Jeanie agreed. “The guest list’s bursting at the seams, but the more, the merrier.”

“Hmm.” Cammie maintained eye contact with Bronwyn.

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