4

-ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID

cisco writer wrote about it in a guide book and said it was the "most beautiful place in the country to get married."

Rain or shine, it was magnificent! A couple could get married on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific or in the grand ballroom. Inside or outside, a wedding there was spectacular.

That's why so many newlyweds booked their wedding there and why the little (quaint) motels were booked for a year and more.

So this isn't about small town planning either. What is interesting for most people to read about is unusual happenings. . .some strange twist of fate.

I had better start at the beginning.

Baily and I grew up together on the town's cobbled streets, playing on the beach and teasing the seals. But again, this isn't a story about wild life.

It's about Baily. In grammar school he was a typical guy but always a bit smaller with a thin frame. Even when we started high school, he was only about as tall as my sister.

That's when Baily's troubles started.

Because of the rough time they had financially when his Mother first opened the bridal shop, HOUSE OF BRIDES, Baily had to work at the shop after school and on weekends. That really cut down on our "hanging out" but I dropped by almost every night after they closed and sometimes I helped him sweep and stuff to get him out of there early.

Baily was well liked by everyone in town and once the place began to "wake up" after the renovation, Baily's mother became one of the town's leaders. Referrals from other bridal shops all over the country made her shop the center of "new business. She was first to know when a wedding was planned and what they needed. The caterers, the flower shop, the hair dressers, motels, musicians and more

SANDY THOMAS PUBLICATIONS -5

waited for her nod. They lived or died on her calls.

You'd think she would have hired a bunch of young women to work the shop but most of them headed for the big city after high school. The rest were undependable and unsophisticated. Most weddings at the Chevalier were big, expensive and had to be done just right. After being sued once for making the wrong size dress for a bride, Baily's mother did it all herself. She trusted no one...but Baily.

The other boys in town felt sorry for Baily. As my best friend, I would see him less and less as the wedding season began. We lived only a block away from each other and we were always running into each others houses. We always walked to school together and often did our homework at the same time. Baily had a crush on my sister Emily. She also liked Baily and they had been on a few dates.. .the few evenings that Baily was free from work.

Did I mention that my father and mother owned the flower shop and was one of the many businesses in the wedding mill?

The House of Brides was growing in size and inventory but his mother still did all the work.

She was very organized. Since most wedding parties didn't come to town until the day before the wedding, she had the luxury of setting the appointments to keep on schedule.

During our walks to school, Baily had told me that it was not easy to work with her and it was becoming worse as they got busier.

The first time I realized that something was very different was when Baily said he could not study one Monday because of a wedding that weekend. "That's days away," I complained.

"We have to size everything," he said.

I wasn't really interested in their business. "Mother wants me to come to her shop right after