Chapter 4: A Stuck Zipper

The Blackwater hall sat on a bluff above the river, built out of black timber and gray stone.

It was bigger than our whole town square, and every wall in it had a trophy on it.

Lorna had called the fitting for Thursday at ten.

I told myself I wasn't breaking my promise to Mom, because I had never actually made one.

"Arms up," said the seamstress, who had pins in her mouth and no patience at all.

I raised my arms.

The maid of honor dress was dark green silk, cut close at the waist.

It zipped up the back from my hips to my shoulder blades.

"It's gorgeous," Lorna said from the platform, where she stood in white with her veil in one fist.

"Mine looks like an expensive tablecloth."

"It looks like a bride."

"That's what I said."

The seamstress zipped me up, got stuck at the middle of my back, and swore around her pins.

She pulled again.

The zipper did not move.

"Hold still," she said. "Don't breathe."

"I have to breathe."

"Then breathe small."

The door opened behind us.

I knew without turning.

The skin along my spine went tight, and the bond tugged hard under my ribs.

"Alpha," the seamstress said, and she flushed up to her hairline. "I didn't know you were coming today."

"Hiram asked me to look over the order of the ceremony." Rhett's voice was very even. "I can wait outside."

"No, stay," Lorna said brightly. "You can help. Jessa's zipper is stuck."

"And I need a different needle," the seamstress muttered.

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