Love Letters From Ladybug Farm - Donna Ball [17]
“Now, darling.” Catherine placed her hand warmly over Bridget’s. The giant diamond on her finger prismed a brief spark of sunlight across the table. “This is what I’m thinking. Simple canapes, quiches, these wonderful little biscuits with your homegrown jams, fruit medley, fresh vegetables ... everything organic and fresh from your very own garden ... Why it’s exactly the kind of menu we were looking for!”
Bridget said uncertainly, “Well, we can’t really call it organic. And there’s not an awful lot in the garden in June ...”
“You could do that for fifty, couldn’t you?” Catherine persisted hopefully. “With some of these lovely sauces?” She gasped with sudden delight and clapped her hands together. “Traci, I have it! The theme will be everything Virginian! We’ll serve local wines and all the food will be homegrown right here on this beautiful farm! Locally grown is so trendy right now and incredibly politically correct.” She turned quickly to Bridget. “You can get locally milled flour, can’t you? And milk from your own cows?”
“We don’t actually have cows,” Bridget said.
Cici added, “And we really don’t grow that much of our own food.”
Catherine whirled on Paul, blond hair rippling. “Darling, what is the state flower of Virginia? Does anyone know?”
“Virginia creeper?” suggested Paul with a perfectly straight face, and Lindsay kicked him under the table.
“I know that,” Bridget said helpfully. “It was in that movie, The American President, remember? Dogwood, I think. Yes, that’s got to be it. Dogwood.”
“Dogwood is a tree,” Paul pointed out.
Bridget grinned. “That’s exactly what they said in the movie!”
“God, Mother,” Traci groaned, her thumbs working the keyboard of her phone. “I am not walking down the aisle with an armful of tree branches.”
Catherine looked disappointed. “Well, that’s too bad, isn’t it? Dogwood. Is there a runner-up state flower?”
Cici said carefully, “Most people have the wedding theme in mind long before they start planning the wedding. I mean, isn’t three weeks out a little late to be starting from scratch?”
“Darling,” confided Catherine dramatically, “I can’t tell you how many themes we’ve been through! Every time we get a new wedding planner we get a new theme! Everything from Cinderella’s Ball to Winter Wonderland—in the middle of June, mind you! It’s positively outrageous.”
“Every time?” Cici kept her tone neutral, but she couldn’t prevent a single, meaningful gaze in Paul’s direction. “How many wedding planners have there been?”
Catherine gave a limp-wristed wave. “Too many. But the last one was really the pits. I mean, really, when he booked us into a swamp...”
“I’m sure it wasn’t a swamp when he booked it,” Paul offered consolingly, and refilled her glass. “And you are getting your money back.”
Bridget turned to Traci. “What kind of theme did you have in mind, dear?” she asked pleasantly.
The young woman looked up from her phone with an expression that suggested she had only then realized that an actual person was sitting on her right. “Are you a wedding planner?” she asked.
“Well, no, but...”
Traci turned back to her telephone.
“When will you start bottling wine?” Catherine asked suddenly. “Maybe we can do a vineyard theme! That first woman had that whole Tuscan thing going, do you remember, Traci? With the crumbling walls and the grapevine arbor and the girls all in purple? Can you do crumbling walls?” She turned to Cici, growing more excited as she spoke. “And if we could serve the actual wine from your vineyard...”
Paul laughed, holding up a staying hand. “I think you might be getting a little carried away, Catherine. You can’t make wine on demand, particularly when the grapes aren’t even on the vine yet.”
“We don’t have any crumbling walls,” Lindsay added, looking offended.
“But we’ll be happy to serve wine from our own vineyard,” Cici said sweetly, “if you don’t mind waiting three years until it’s ready.”
Bridget cast a warning look from one to the other of them. “There are some wonderful local wines,” she assured Catherine. “And I’m sure we can find something