Free Saving Forever - Part 4 by Lexy Timms

or anything?”
    The girl laughed. “No. That’s why the store’s called Off the Rack. You pick it, you can buy it.”
    Charity grinned. “Sounds good to me.”
    “You’ll need a necklace of some kind.”
    “I have my mother’s pearl necklace from when she got married.” Her father had given her a box of most of her mother’s things and she remembered the necklace was in there. “It’s a single strand. I think it would look perfect. She got married in the sixties and my grandmother had it made. The string holding the pearls is baby blue.”
    “Then something old, blue and borrowed is taken care of!”
    “I know!” Charity laughed, excited at how easy today was turning out to be. “Let me get out of this so Kylie can get it boxed and sorted.”
    Kylie stepped forward and undid the zipper. “I’ll get the bill sorted and if you girls want to go for lunch or something, I’ll have it boxed and ready for you. Are you taking it home today or do you have an address to have it shipped to?”
    Charity went and changed into her regular clothes. Feeling a bit like a princess turned frog, she put on fresh lipstick and played with her hair so she felt a bit dressier. At the counter she asked to have the dress boxed and shipped to Elijah’s house. It would be packed up so he couldn’t see it. If they weren’t having sex, he wasn’t allowed to see her dress till the day either.
    After paying and thanking Kylie for the hundredth time, Julie finally pulled her out of the shop. “Come on, girl! The boys have probably just finished nine holes. Let’s grab a bite to eat.”
    “Then we need to head to Tiffany’s. I picked out a ring online for Elijah and ordered it. I just need to pick it up.”
    “Sure thing, then we head to a naughty shop. You need some lingerie for your honeymoon.”
    Charity’s face burned. The image of her wearing her red bra and Elijah’s medical coat flashed through her head. There was no way she was going to tell Julie about that one. “How about we hit Macy’s or something? I’m not into any of that dress up stuff.”
    Julie laughed and slipped her arm through Charity’s. “You need to find something classy for under that dress. I can’t believe how gorgeous it is on you! Remember my dress? It was beautiful but it took me six months of shopping to finally find it. You did it in like six minutes!”
    “I must have horseshoes up my arse or something.” Charity grinned.
    “Kinda goes perfect with your gun-shot wedding, engagement and… well… gun shooting.”
    Charity stopped walking and stared wide-eyed at her best friend.
    “I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t have said that.”
    Charity burst out laughing. “What’s that saying: when you know, you know?”

 
    Chapter 9
     
    The days leading up to the wedding flew. Charity flew back to Atlanta Sunday evening and spent the week working, taking work home with her and setting meetings throughout the days. With the new massive charitable donation, it seemed to have kick-started things at the hospital. The refurbished floor added another CAT scan machine to reduce wait times and after a meeting with the board, Forever Hope voted on putting the monies toward the children’s floor.
    Charity took care of her end of what needed to be done and finished in perfect timing, the night before they were booked to fly to New Zealand. Malcolm came by the office just as she was getting ready to leave.
    “All ready?” he asked.
    Charity clicked her briefcase closed. “I think so. Everything here is in order. I’ll be gone for two weeks but just call me if anything comes up.”
    Malcolm shook his head. “I’m not calling you on your wedding slash honeymoon. We’ll be fine here.”
    “Well, if anything does come up you know how to get a hold of me.”
    He handed her an envelope.
    She took it, about to open it. “What’s this?”
    He stopped her by covering her hand in his. “Go have a great time. Congratulations.” He grinned.