Sweetest Taboo (SIN 3)

"That's in her wedding dress. Good thing for us you're naked. But I am leaving. Dad and I are buying breakfast for the guys, then heading back here to get dressed. Mom's meeting you here in an hour, right?"

I glance at the clock, and then nod. "Stacey, too. Brody's dropping her off and then joining you."

We're in the Meadow Lane house--the house in which I spent so much of my childhood. The house that is going to be ours again as soon as Dallas and I are married. Daddy's calling it a wedding present, but Mom tells me it's really just a token. "Your father's been in a present-buying mood lately," she says. "It seems like every day he's taking me on a trip or buying me diamonds. I love it, but I really don't get it."

I do. He almost lost her. And even though she's fully recovered, he doesn't ever want to take her for granted again. And with my dad, that translates to showering her with gifts.

Dallas and I have been the recipients of his largesse as well, and though Dad hasn't said so, we both know that it's his way of apologizing. I think the fact that the Manhattan townhouse has been restored to me was apology enough, but that doesn't mean I'll turn down anything else he wants to sign over to us.

Even though we have the townhouse back, I expect we'll be living primarily in the Hamptons. After all, Deliverance is set up again in the basement.

After a long discussion with the team, Dallas decided to bring our parents into the loop, and not only is Daddy proud of what Dallas is doing, but he's perfectly content to have his son back on the Sykes payroll, knowing full well the job is mostly camouflage.

I stay in bed for another half hour after Dallas leaves, too spent to move. Then I get up and shower and put on a fluffy robe before going into the third-floor den that has been set up as a dressing room. My mom and Stacey are there, along with a girl to do my hair and makeup. It seems a bit like ov

erkill considering we've invited less than thirty people to our wedding. But at the same time, this wedding is an event that I never dreamed would happen, and I intend to celebrate the reality of it by going into full-on princess mode.

Once I'm primped and powdered and combed and brushed to within an inch of my life, I let the women help me get dressed, a process which gives me new understanding of why women needed ladies' maids back in the day. The top of the dress is essentially a beaded corset that cinches tight at my waist and perks up my breasts. It's elegant and shows off my cleavage and shoulders.

But it's the skirt that is the showstopper. Beautifully hand embroidered with a long, removable train, the skirt sits on a wide hoop, making my waist look even smaller and giving me an overall delicate look. A princess look.

I examine myself in the mirror and know that Dallas is going to love it.

"You look beautiful," Mom says, coming up behind me. She sniffles and I hold up a hand.

"No! No crying or I'll start. And I can't. I'll smear my makeup."

"Okay," she says. "I'll cry when you're walking down the aisle."

"Deal," I say, as Stacey tells us that we need to hurry because they're ready for me.

The wedding is going to be performed in the main hall, which has been filled with flowers and temporary chairs, and we hurry to where I'm meeting my dad at the top of the stairs. We're descending together, and then proceeding down the aisle to where Dallas waits by the French doors, a stunning view of the pool behind him.

Daddy looks up as I approach, his eyes filled with such pride I almost tear up again.

"I'll tell you what I told Mom," I say. "Don't make me cry."

"No promises," he says, then kisses me on the cheek. "You look beautiful. I'm so proud of you."

We stand there alone--I didn't want attendants--and just as the first strains of music rise, my father turns to me. "You never did tell me what you want for Christmas tomorrow."

It's so absurd that I laugh.

"Trust me, Daddy," I say, "you already gave me and Dallas the best present of all."

I hear our cue, and I take my father's arm.

And then I finally walk down the stairs and my father escorts me to Dallas, then gives me away to the man I've loved my whole life. The man who was once my brother.

The man who is my best friend.

And who, in just a few minutes, will be my husband.