Read Online City Wedding by Maggie Carlise - Free Book Online

CITY WEDDING
     
    By Maggie Carlise
     
    Copyright 2011 Margaret Plummer
     
    Smashwords Edition
     
     
     
    For: the late Eleanor Hibbert (also known as
Victoria Holt, Jean Plaidy, and Philippa Carr) for creating such
vividly drawn and memorable characters, and for doing it so
consistently across so many books.
     
    The character of Georgiana in the City Wedding series (including the circumstances of the
affair Georgiana had which produced her son, Liam) is very loosely
based on the Harriet Main character, who runs through several of
the Philippa Carr books – the canniest and most memorably
independent (if somewhat ethically challenged) in a long list of
strong female Carr characters.
     
    (F.Y.I.: Harriet makes her first appearance
in Philippa Carr's Lament For A Lost Lover , an historical
romance set in the period following England's Civil War.)
     
    Thank you for the inspiration, Ms.
Hibbert!
     
     
    CITY WEDDNG
     
     
    Antonio and Marla Scarpelli
    and
    Willa Scarpelli
    cordially request the honor of your presence
as their daughter,
    Jessica Scarpelli
    weds
    Edwin Gray, Lord Fontaine
    Saturday, November 19, 2pm
    at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City,
NY.
    Please join us for cocktails, hors d'oeuvres,
and dancing after the ceremony
    at 620 Loft & Garden, Rockefeller Center,
NY.
    Please RSVP by November 1.
    We hope you will join us.
     
     
     
    Jessica Scarpelli woke early the morning of
her wedding day. She rolled over onto her stomach in the big bed
with the crisp white sheets and closed her eyes, luxuriating for
one long moment in the quiet serenity of the lovely, historic
hotel, and the peace of the dawn hours.
    That peacefulness couldn't last, though–
however much she tried to hold onto it. Life would intrude.
As her mind came fully awake, so too did her nerves.
    It wasn't a matter of cold feet. She wasn't
anxious about marriage. She had no qualms whatsoever about her
relationship with Ed.
    No – it was the day. The event. The ceremony
and its accompanying hoopla. Her battle with shyness was an ongoing
thing, and today she would have so many eyes on her.
    But, she reminded herself, she'd have Ed
beside her all through it. And with that, she could handle pretty
much anything.
    There was so much power in the knowledge of
that! So much strength. She was so lucky in Ed. So lucky, period.
Her good fortune stunned her sometimes.
    There was no skill to finding somebody you
matched with the way she matched with Ed. You couldn't make
something like that happen. Maybe you had some degree of control,
in choosing not to throw yourself away on somebody less . But
just because you knew your own value, and knew what you wanted in a
mate – that didn't mean that person would materialize. That was
where the luck part came in. Chance. Fate, maybe.
    She hadn't really believed in fate until
she'd met Ed.
    Yes, she was fortunate, and she knew it.
    And that's what today would be about, she
decided: gratitude. Whenever she got nervous or stressed in any
way, she would remember to be grateful. She would remember that
this was only one day – and her life with Ed was forever.
    The door of her hotel room, creaking quietly,
had her opening one eye. She glanced at Megan's bed – and realized
for the first time that it hadn't been slept in.
    She opened the other eye and sat up straight.
“Are you just getting in now?”
    Her maid of honor jumped a little. “Yes.” She
made a face at the shoes in her hand and, realizing she was still
on tiptoe, lowered herself to the floor. “Sorry. I was trying to be
quiet.”
    “You didn't wake me. I was already up.”
Jessica shoved the hair back from her eyes – the better to take in
her cousin – and best friend's – appearance.
    Disheveled, rumpled, grumpy. Hmm.
    “What did you do last night?”
    Megan turned away to dig in her suitcase.
“Took you out for a bachelorette night. Don't tell me you don't
remember. If you're hungover for today, you're in trouble.”
    “Ha ha. You know