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car.
    Amidst hoots and more laughter, Glenn helped her gather her full-length skirt inside the automobile before closing the door and running around the front to climb in beside her.
    Maggie was still breathless with laughter when he flashed her another of his dazzling smiles and started the engine. A sea of happy faces was gazing in at them. Turning her head to look out the side window, Maggie was greeted with the well-wishes of several boys and girls—children of their friends—standing on the sidewalk and waving with all their might. Glenn checked the rearview mirror and pulled into the steady flow of street traffic.
    “Maggie, it was just as wonderful as you claimed it would be,” Janelle said softly from the backseat.
    “Did you doubt?” Steve questioned, his voice thick with emotion.
    “I’ll have you know, Mr. Grant, that I nearly backed out of this wedding at the very last minute. The only thing that stopped me was Maggie. Somehow she convinced me everything was going to work out. And it did.”
    “Janelle, I hardly said anything,” Maggie countered, shocked by her friend’s admission.
    “You said just enough.”
    “I’m eternally grateful,” Steve murmured, and from the sounds coming from the backseat, he was showing Janelle just how grateful he was that she was his bride.
    Glenn’s hand reached for Maggie’s and squeezed it gently. “You look stunning.” He wanted to say so much more and discovered he couldn’t. For weeks he had dreaded the wedding and having to stand at the altar with his friend when it should have been his own wedding. The day had been completely unlike anything he’d expected, Maggie alone had made the difference.
    “You make a striking figure yourself,” she said, needing to place their conversation on an even keel.
    Glenn unfastened the top button of the starched white shirt and released the tie. “I feel like a penguin.”
    Laughter bubbled up in Maggie. She felt happy, really happy, for the first time in a long while. When Glenn held out his arms, she scooted across the seat so that they were as close as possible within the confines of the vehicle.
    The sounds of smothered giggles from the backseat assured Maggie that things were very fine indeed. They stopped at a light and Glenn’s gaze wandered to her for a brief, glittering second, then back to the road. “Thank you for today,” he said, just low enough for only her to hear. “You made our friends’ wedding the most special day of my life.”
    “I … felt the same way about you,” she whispered, wanting him to kiss her so badly shecould almost taste his mouth over hers.
    “Maggie,” Janelle called from the backseat. “Will you check this veil? I can’t walk into the dinner with it all askew. People will know exactly what kind of man I married.”
    “Oh, they will, will they?” Steve said teasingly, and kissed her soundly.
    Maggie turned and glanced over her shoulder. “Everything looks fine. The veil’s not even crooked, although from the sound of things back there it should be inside out and backward.”
    “Maggie,” Steve said in a low and somewhat surprised tone as he studied her, “I expected Janelle’s mother to cry, even my own. But I was shocked to see you were the one with tears in your eyes.”
    “You were shocked?” she tossed back nonchalantly. “Believe me, they were just as much of a surprise to me. Tears were the last thing I expected.”
    “Count your blessings, you two,” Glenn said, tossing a glance over his shoulder. “Knowing Muffie, you should be grateful she didn’t burst into fits of hysterical laughter.” He glanced over to Maggie and leaned close and whispered. “Actually, they should thank me. It took everything in me not to break rank and reach for you.” Glenn hadn’t meant to tell her that, but those tears had nearly been his undoing. He had known when he’d seen her eyes bright with unshed tears that what was happening to him was affecting Maggie just as