Four Steps to the Altar

Informationen zum Autor Jean Stone Klappentext They say true love is priceless! but is it worth fifty million dollars? With Second Chances! their wedding planning business! starting to take off! four best friends must decide whether they'll take some second chances of their own. Free-spirited Lily finds herself forced to choose between her sure-thing inheritance and a chance at true love; the no-longer-predictable Elaine surprises everyone-including herself-when romance comes calling from her past; Sarah! the uncompromisingly unconventional artist! finds herself contemplating the most unexpected choice of all; and the always-clear-eyed Jo suddenly finds herself second-guessing her own second chance at happily-ever-after. The choice for each of them is "I do” or "I don't!” and the decision will change their lives. Breakups! makeups! and romance at every turn-life always offers up its best surprises to those who leave themselves open to the possibility of second chances. 1 Marry me, Lily." It was early in May, a year when spring had come deliciously early to the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts, teasing the landscape with purple crocus and yellow daffodils, plumping tree branches with expectant buds, warming the earth with the promise of a new season, another chance at another beginning. It was early in May, and it was the end of the day, the end of another wedding that Lily and her second-wedding-planning partners had created, this one a Sunday evening event between a nurse and a carpenter who lived in Albany and had met at a school play when their kids were in first grade. It was a second wedding for the nurse, a third for the carpenter. If Lily Beckwith married Frank Forbes, it would be his second, her fourth, which wouldn't matter, because hardly anyone got married only once anymore. Still, she would have to say no. She zipped the quilted case that held the silver hors d'oeuvre trays they'd used for the crab cakes and spinach quiches. She moved it to the stack of things that Frank had offered to load into his truck and return from the reception at the country club to the rental store. He was generous like that. Always around to help the small bunch of enthusiastic women who took on too much work because it was such fun. "Frank," Lily said softly, "I don't know what to say." She'd known him a year, well, less than that, actually, since she'd come back to West Hope, where she and her old college roommates had opened Second Chances, proclaiming themselves the be-all, end-all, know-it-all experts for second-time brides. They'd leased a shop in Frank's building on Main Street, and Lily had moved into the apartment upstairs. Because Frank was a man, and because he was single, it was inevitable that Lily quickly had snared him. It was also inevitable, she supposed, that he now felt secure in popping the question. She should have expected it, should have been prepared. Instead, she lowered her eyes. "Will you let me think about it?" He laughed good-naturedly. "We can do a prenup. I'll keep my meager antiques business, you keep your late husband's vast fortune." He was trying to lighten the mood, Lily thought. He had no idea things would not be that easy. She shook her head. "But I've already been married a few times." "I don't care if you've had a few hundred husbands. I'd like to be the few hundred and first." He was a dear man, Frank Forbes. He was gentle, kind, steady, and strong. He was good-enough-looking, not too short or too tall, not dashingly handsome, but he had sturdy, broad shoulders and sincere brown eyes and a sweet, receding hairline. He'd make a great husband, partner, mate. And he loved her! Lily had felt sure of that from the start. "You do love me, Lily," he said, taking her hand, his callused, workingman fingers threading around her soft, delicate ones, smothering her large pear-shaped pink ...

Product details

• Authors: Jean Stone
• Publisher: Bantam Books USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 25.07.2006
• EAN: 9780553588538
• ISBN: 978-0-553-58853-8
• No. of pages: 304
• Dimensions: 106 mm x 171 mm x 21 mm
• Series: Second Chances; Second Chances
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature