All of Me, Leeanna Morgan [cheapest way to read ebooks .txt] 📗

sat behind fluffy white clouds. “Isn’t this sweet. I bet you a little girl sent this. Look at the handwriting. She’s got to be no more than eight years old.”

“And you thought being a school teacher wouldn’t be an advantage in The Bridesmaids Club.” Annie moved across to the box. “So that’s your choice?”

Sally shook her head. “I was just pointing out the pretty envelope.” She bit her bottom lip and ran her hand over the other letters.

Annie sat down on the sofa. “This is going to be a long night.”

Sally dipped her hand into the box and spent another few minutes looking at the envelopes.

“This is painful to watch,” Annie muttered. “Can’t you go any faster? I’ve got bowling practice in half an hour.

Sally rolled her eyes. “Impulsive and impatient. You’ve got all of the ‘i’ words covered nicely.”

“I’d prefer to be irresistible and awesome.”

“Awesome doesn’t start with the letter ‘i’.” Sally kept dipping her hand in the pile of letters.

“You’re stalling,” Annie said. “And just for the record I know awesome starts with ‘a’. I was making sure you hadn’t gone to sleep.”

Sally laughed and pulled an envelope from the box. “We have a winner.”

“Hallelujah,” Annie cried. “My turn.” She jumped off the sofa and searched through the envelopes.

“Look who’s taking their time now.” Sally laughed. “You’re as bad as I am.”

“Not quite,” Annie said with a smile. She pulled her hand out of the box and held up the red envelope Sally had discarded. “I’ve got a good feeling about this one. Your turn, Tess.”

Tess put her hand in the box and pulled out the first envelope she touched. “Done.”

“Open yours first,” Annie said to Tess.

She looked down at the envelope and smiled. “Definitely an adult’s handwriting. Practical, down to earth and a perfectionist.”

“You can tell all of that from the outside of the envelope?” Sally laughed.

Tess turned the envelope around. “Not one frilly letter in sight. The text is straight up and down. They took their time to write the address in neat straight lines. And then there’s the stamp.”

Annie leaned forward. “What’s wrong with the stamp?”

“It’s perfectly lined up with the top and side of the envelope. It’s been stuck down as straight as an arrow. Only someone who appreciates perfection could have mailed this envelope.”

“So if they’re looking for perfection, why do they want secondhand dresses?”

Tess picked up the knife they’d been using to open the boxes. “Let’s find out.” She slid the blade along the top of the envelope and pulled the letter out. “The dresses aren’t for Sophie, the letter writer, they’re for her sister. The wedding is in four weeks’ time and they don’t have a lot of money. There are two bridesmaids, perfectionist sister included.”

“What are their names?” Annie asked.

“The bride is Julie. Her sister Sophie and friend Margaret are the bridesmaids.”

Sally picked up the knife. “So we can make Julie’s wish come true?”

“I don’t see why not,” Tess said. “I’ll call them tomorrow.”

Sally took the letter out of her envelope and smiled. “This is from a seventeen-year-old bride-to-be. Her name is Holly. She’s getting married in two months’ time.” Sally kept reading. “She sounds like a nice kid. She’s put a photo of her and her sisters in the envelope.” She handed Tess the photo.

“Wow. No wonder she needs our help.” Tess counted the number of young women. “Which one is Holly?”

Sally re-read the letter. “First on the left.”

Annie leaned over Tess’ shoulder. “Wow. Who has six sisters nowadays?”

“They even look alike.” Tess focused on the smiling faces. Holly’s sisters looked as though they were between twenty and thirty years old. “She must be the youngest daughter. Imagine trying to use the bathroom in the morning. It would be a nightmare.”

“You can say that again.” Sally put the letter back in the envelope. “Are we happy to make Holly’s dreams come true?”

“Definitely,” Annie said. “Anyone with that many sisters deserves all the help they can get. I wonder if she needs a wedding dress?”

Sally took the photo that Tess held out to her. “I’ll ask her.”

Tess nodded. “Good idea. We need to make some room in here otherwise I’m not going to be able to move. What about your envelope, Annie. Are you still sticking with the child theory?”

Annie waved the envelope in the air. “Of course. This one is going to be special.” Sally passed her the knife and Annie carefully split the envelope open and pulled out a card. “What did I tell you?”

She held the card up so that Tess and Sally could see the picture on the outside. “Who could resist a crayon drawing of a bride?”

“Not you.” Tess moved closer to Annie. “What does it say?”

Annie opened the card and frowned. “Dear Bridesmaids Club. Can you please help my daddy find a bride?”

Tess looked down at the card. “It’s from someone called Bella.”

Annie turned the envelope over. “There’s no return address or last name.”

“What about the postmark?” Sally asked. “Do they still mention the name of the city the letter was mailed from?”

Annie peered at the front of the envelope. “It looks as though it came from Bozeman. That narrows our search down to forty thousand people.”

“Less if we limit the search to girls under the age of ten,” Tess added.

“That’s if Bella is less than ten years old. She might have handwriting that looks younger than she is.” Sally looked at the card again. “Although I don’t think she would be older than ten. The picture could have been drawn by any of the girls in my class.”

Annie left the card on the coffee table. “Bella can be our mystery person. I’ll see if I can limit the search for her somehow.”

“I wonder who her daddy is?” Tess walked across to the kitchen. “Does anyone want something hot to drink?”

“Not for me,” Annie said as she grabbed her bag off the floor. “I’m late for bowling. I’ll see you tomorrow at the café. Bye, Sally.”

“Don’t forget to bring your bowling ball to school tomorrow. My class is looking forward to your show and tell time.”

“I couldn’t forget it if I tried. You’ve reminded me every day for the last week.” Annie glanced quickly at Tess, then pulled Sally across to the back door with her. “I’ll let you know how Tess is tomorrow,” she whispered. “Maybe we could go to the movies if she still hasn’t heard from Logan?”

“Okay, but I get to choose the movie. I’m not going to one of your foreign arty ones again.”

Annie laughed. “It’s a deal. I’ll see you at school tomorrow. Two o’clock sharp. Bye.”

Tess turned and smiled at Sally. “I’ve got coffee, hot chocolate, or herbal tea. What would you like?”

“A glass of cold water suits me fine. Now tell me what’s really going on between you and Logan?”

Tess got a glass out of the pantry and turned the faucet on. “Not a lot. I can’t get hold of him and I don’t know when he’s coming home.”

“How long did he say he’d be gone for?”

Tess left a glass of water in front of Sally. “A couple of weeks. He’s going to visit some friends in London before he comes home.”

“Sounds like you’ll have a lot to talk about when he gets back.”

“I hope so.” Tess looked around the room. “Molly will be here soon. What if we finish unpacking the boxes, then see which ones we can photograph tonight?”

Sally walked across to the first dress she’d unpacked. “This one will be okay after we use your steamer on it. There’s hardly a wrinkle in the silk.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to put it aside for yourself?” Tess asked.

Sally looked at her with a cheeky grin on her face. “Only if you’re planning on getting married?”

Tess shook her head. “I can’t see that happening. I’ll be lucky if Logan wants to keep living in Bozeman when he gets back. He might decide it’s too quiet here.”

“Or he might decide it’s perfect,” Sally added. “Now go and get your steamer. I’m really looking forward to being photographed in this dress.”

Tess didn’t share Sally’s optimism about Logan. He’d come to Montana to get away from what had happened in Afghanistan. Now that he knew the truth about Abiba, he’d be gone again. Bozeman wasn’t exactly action central and Logan would want more than Montana could offer.

More than she could give.