“I’ll get the arrival shots,” Mac added, “then stick with the bride and her party until I’m alerted the groom’s heading in. Get his arrival, and back to the bride for the candids during hair, makeup, dressing—shifting to the groom and party. I have some solid concepts for formal shots, exterior. Using Emma’s awesome flower carts.”

“The cake’s complete. No further assembly on that one. Emma and I can dress the cake and dessert tables during the brunch.”

“I think the breakdown, second setup will be today’s major challenge.” Parker skimmed the schedule. “It’s all in the timing.”

“Won’t be the first or the last.” Laurel shrugged.“The cake for the second event does need some on-site assembly, but we’re good there. Groom’s cake’s finished, the desserts nearly so. I need about an hour there, and I can steal that before the first event.”

“I’ve already talked to my team on the timing.” Emma blew out a breath.“We’ll work our asses off, but we’ll get it done.We’ll start on the Grand Hall as soon as the guests move to the Ballroom for dancing. All twelve bouquets are complete, as are the three—jeez, three—flower girls’ pomanders and halos. I can use any available pair of hands and or backs and legs. Jack and Del are pitching in, and Carter, too, when Mac doesn’t need him. We should be good.”

“Problem areas,” Parker began.“Henry, the FOG’s brother, really likes his vodka, and when he really gets a lot of what he likes he tends to pat and pinch and otherwise inappropriately touch female asses. I’ll be watching him, but can use more eyes throughout. MOB has a feud going with her own mother-in-law, one of long-standing. They have, I’m assured, issued a detente for today. But emotions and alcohol, as we know, often trump detentes.The SOB,” she continued, referring to the bride’s sister, “has been divorced for three years or so from the groom’s good friend who is one of the ushers. They did not part amicably, so there’s a second possible problem area.

“Okay,” she added, “quick rundown on timing.”

WITHIN THE HOUR, PARKER, IN A SUBDUED GRAY SUIT, STOOD ON the portico to greet the bride.While Mac scooted and shifted to get her shots, Parker offered a welcoming smile.

“Ready for your day, Marilee?”

“I’m so ready. Oh, oh, look at this.” The bride, already radiant without makeup, with her hair yanked back in a messy tail, grabbed her mother’s hand, and her best friend/maid of honor’s. “It’s . . . it’s like a magical forest glade. A wild, secret forest.”

“Emma will be so happy you like it.We all are. And this is just the beginning. Why don’t I take you up to the Bride’s Suite, or today maybe we should call it your bower.”

Amid more pots of violets and wild roses, among trays of champagne and colorful fruit, Parker hung the bride’s gown, the attendants’ dresses, served refreshments, answered questions.

“Hair and makeup are heading up,” she said when she got the alert through her earbud.“I’m going to leave you to Mac for now. I’ll be checking back in. If you need me in the meantime, just push one-one-one on the phone.”

She strolled out, then went into a dash to check on Emma’s progress outside. Emma was right, she noted; the flower carts were wonderful. If the entrance was magic forest glade, here the guests would step into magic forest meadow.

More deep red wild roses and rich purple violets twined up the portico. Charming and generous arrangements of wildflowers spilled from carts and tubs. Even now members of Emma’s team added small distressed copper holders with more flowers to the sides of the chairs they’d covered with pale green slips.

Pretty, she thought, as the pictures Mac would take.

She pitched in for the ten minutes she could spare, then hurried back to greet the groom.

“Groom’s on-site,” she told Mac through her headset.

She greeted, escorted, offered refreshments, hung tuxes.

And noticed the groom’s father, a widower of five years, standing alone on the small terrace.

She slipped out with him.

“Mr. Mansfield, I wonder if you’d like to take a little walk with me, see the area we’ve dressed for the ceremony.”

She hooked her arm through his.“It’ll give the wedding party a little time to settle in,” she added as she walked him out.

“It’s going to be a beautiful day,” he said.

“It really is.”

He was, she thought, a handsome man. His hair, full, thick, and pewter gray, his face lightly tanned and strong-featured. But his eyes were full of sorrow.

She spoke gently.“It’s hard, I think, to face the happy times, the important moments, without someone we love, someone who made those times and moments possible.”

He reached up a hand to cover hers. “I don’t want it to show. I don’t want any cloud on Luke’s day.”

“It’s all right. He misses her today, too. He thinks of her, as you do. But it’s different for you. She was your partner. I think Luke’s going to have what you and your wife had with Marilee.The love, the bond, the partnership.”

“Kathy would have loved Marilee.” He took a deep breath, then another when he saw the terrace, the pergola, the lawns.“She would have loved this, every moment of this. You’re giving our boy a beautiful day.”

“We just set the stage.You and your wife helped make him into a man, and now he and Marilee are giving each other a beautiful day.”

She pulled out her tissues, quietly offered one as his eyes filled.

“Mr. Mansfield—”

“Under the circumstances, I think you should call me Larry.”

“Larry, I know what it’s like to face those happy times without the ones you most want to share them with.”

He nodded as he composed himself. “I knew your parents.”

“Yes, I remember you and your wife coming to parties here. Luke looks like her.”

“He does. God, yes, he does.”

“I think, when we have those times, those moments, all we can do is hold those who can’t be here with us.” She laid a hand on her heart. “Knowing they’re proud and happy, too.”

He nodded, and the hand over hers tightened briefly. “You’re a good girl, Parker. A wise young woman.”