Read Online The Secret Wedding Dress by Roz Denny Fox - Free Book Online

thought I should see how you were doing.”
    “Good.” Sylvie dumped the hot pan in the sink.
    “Daddy, we had fun! Come see the cookies I squished out and painted all by myself.” Grasping her dad’s hand, she dragged him to the center island. He didn’t make it all the way; instead, his piercing gaze stalled on the latest batch of cookies.
    “Are those by chance oatmeal raisin?” He leaned down to peer at them more closely and sniffed the steam rising from the hot cookies.
    His daughter flashed Sylvie an unhappy glance. “He spoiled my surprise.”
    “In that case, what can we do but give him a sample right now? Who better to tell us if these are as good as the ones he remembers?” Sylvie took a plate from the cupboard and piled it with cookies from the still-warm batch. Then she took three glasses, which she filled to the brim with milk. She motioned her guests to sit on the stools grouped at one end of her counter.
    Joel bit into the first cookie gingerly, as if it might bite back. The grin that spread over his face spoke louder than any words of praise.
    Sylvie nudged Rianne. “There’s your answer. Your surprise is a big success. You and I should probably eat only one apiece. Especially since we shared the sugar cookies we broke.”
    “These are fantastic! I can’t tell you how many times I’d buy some bakery cookies and remembered these. Nothing I’ve tasted has ever lived up to them. Still, I wondered if I’d blown them out of proportion.” He grinned at Sylvie and then at Rianne. “I ask you, snooks, have you ever tasted anything quite this fantastic?”
    Riannenodded. “The chocolate chip ones Sylvie said her mother made. They’re my very favorite, and I’ve never had any that tasted better.”
    Joel’s face fell, but Sylvie burst out laughing. “There you have it. That’s what I love most about kids. They’re so honest.”
    “Meaning adults aren’t?”
    Sylvie lifted her glass of milk and touched the rim of his. “More power to you, Mr. Mercer, if in your thirty-some years of dealing with people, you still believe they are.”
    Considering that he twisted truths to make them humorous for his comic strip, Joel said nothing, but stole a second cookie.
    “Ah, I see I made my point.” Still, she was thankful when her phone rang again. Anyway, Rianne rushed to show her dad the edible paints and explain to him, as Sylvie had to her, that they were made out of vegetable dyes.
    Sylvie, who tended to see her life as an open book, answered the phone on the second ring, knowing her sister Dory was the one calling.
    “I hear voices,” Dory said almost at once. “I won’t interrupt, since you’re with clients. Phone me back as soon as you’re free.”
    “I’m free now, Dory. I’m in the kitchen with my neighbors. We’re drinking milk and trying out Grandma Shea’s oatmeal-raisin cookies. I haven’t made that recipe in years, have you?” The phone crackled with static but was otherwise silent.
    “Dory? Did you put me on hold?”
    “You’re serving milk and cookies in the middle of a work day?”
    “I’m taking a break. Rianne Mercer has been over here helping me make the Sunday school snack.”
    “You’re feeding Mercer’s daughter, right? The kid from next door? For a minute there, I thought you meant you were entertaining Mr. Sexy himself.”
    Warning bells sounded in Sylvie’s head, but she couldn’t resist inquiring, “That description came from where, Dory?”
    “Fromeverybody who saw him in town this morning. Plus, I ran into Kay Waller at lunch. She agreed. Apparently she got a look at him while she was at your house for a fitting. She said you told her the guy has a wife. Hmm, funny, other people say Mercer only ever mentions his daughter. Kay and I think you should ask him outright about his marital status. If he’s divorced, it gives you the perfect opening to invite him to Kay’s wedding this Saturday.”
    “Why would I do that, Dory? He doesn’t even know