At first, Ralphie was so opposed to Camille giving up their baby for adoption that he didn’t even want to consider anyone else—including Nina and Joe—as potential parents.
But now, a month from the due date, everything is falling rapidly into place. Last night, Ralphie told Nina that the baby will be lucky to have her as a mother—just as he was.
“You really are breathtaking, Nina.” Rosalee gently touches the layer of illusion attached to her old-fashioned headpiece. “You look just like Mommy did on her wedding day.”
Pop told her the same thing when he saw Nina coming down the stairs back at home.
“If only she could see you,” Pop said, wiping tears from his eyes.
“She can, Pop,” Nina assured him. “I know she can, wherever she is.”
“Are you ready, Nina?” Rosalee asks now. “You don’t want to make Joey wait any longer. Poor guy is getting more nervous by the second. And who can blame him? He’s probably thinking—”
“Rosalee! He is not!” Nina shakes her head, assuring her sister, “Joey knows I’m not going anywhere. He knows I would’ve married him on the spot the day he asked.”
“Well, I’m glad you two decided to have a real wedding instead, even if it is just immediate family—and on such short notice. Good thing we made it back from our honeymoon in time.”
“Sorry, Ro. We didn’t want to set a date until after your wedding.”
At least, not officially.
But there was never any question in Nina’s mind when she and Joey should take their vows.
Nor was there any doubt about what she should wear.
“Are you ready, Nina?” Rosalee asks. “Pop is waiting for you in the hallway.”
She nods, takes a deep breath.
Exhaling shakily, she picks up her bouquet: red roses mixed with baby’s breath.
In the hallway, Pop kisses her cheek and takes her arm.
Walking behind her, Rosalee adjusts the train of their mother’s wedding dress.
They cover the short distance to the church, where a baby’s whimpers mingle with the organ music.
“Uh-oh . . . is that Rose fussing?” Rosalee asks in a whisper. “Do you want me to go get her so she won’t ruin the wedding?”
Nina shakes her head, smiling serenely. “It’s not Rose. And it’s okay. Nothing can ruin the wedding.”
“Are you ready?” Pop asks, opening the door to the chapel.
“Yes.”
“You sure?”
She nods, smiling. She’s never been more sure of anything in her life.
Bright July sunlight streams through the stained-glass windows as they step into the church.
Everywhere, there are red roses, and cherished, familiar faces. Faces that will surround Nina and Joe and their children as the precious rhythm of days and seasons sweeps them all along, just as it always has.
Ralphie, Dom, and Timmy. Pete and Debbi, here from Germany.
Grandma Chickalini.
Joey’s beaming parents.
Phil and Marnie, his brother and sister-in-law.
Danny, Barb, and Danny Junior, still whimpering softly as his mother whispers softly to him, rubbing his back.
Father Tom at the altar, smiling, waiting.
And there, beside him . . .
Joey, dashing in a tuxedo and red boutonniere, with Rose in his arms.
Nina’s eyes meet his. They smile.
The last strains of “Ave Maria” fade away.
Silence falls over the church as Millicent Milagros changes her sheet music.
In that hushed moment, street noises filter in.
Horns honk, car radios blast and fade, sirens scream.
Then comes a distinct, whirling whistle and pop: skyrockets soaring into the blue summer sky.
Nina smiles.
Fireworks.
Independence Day at last.
As the jubilant opening chords of “The Wedding March” fill the old church, the beaming bride takes her first step down the aisle, eager to embrace her groom, her daughter—and her life’s greatest adventure.
About the Author
New York Times bestseller WENDY CORSI STAUB is the award-winning author of more than seventy novels. Wendy now lives in the New York City suburbs with her husband and their two children. Learn more about Wendy at www.wendycorsistaub.com.
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By Wendy Corsi Staub
Thrillers as Wendy Corsi Staub
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Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
This book was originally published in 2003 by Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
THE NINE MONTH PLAN. Copyright © 2003 by Wendy Corsi Staub. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition OCTOBER 2015 ISBN: 9780062449894
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062449917
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