Free Beautiful Code by Sadie Hayes Page A

the most beautiful woman in the world, Patty would come out of her private room, and Shandi would be sitting where Patty was sitting now, and, even in her veil, Patty would feel less beautiful than her effortlessly perfect maid-of-honor sister.
    She put down the magazine. Now was not the time to be reading about skinny jeans.
    When they were finished, the bridesmaids went up to their rooms to get dressed. Patty was following their lead when the photographer, who had been capturing the morning, asked her to stay behind. “I want to get a few shots of you helping your sister get ready. These are always fantastic.” She winked.
    Patty grimaced, looking down at the workout suit she was wearing (why hadn’t anyone warned her the photographer would be on hand?) and reluctantly followed her sister to the bridal suite, where her $7,500 ivory-lace-with-buttons-down-the-back Vera Wang dress hung from a three-panel mirror.
    The photographer instructed Patty quickly to put on her own dress while she sat Shandi on the chair at the vanity and directed her to peer into the gold oval mirror. “Just beautiful!” she kept saying.
    Patty watched miserably as she slipped on the pale-pink, empire-waist, floor-length strapless chiffon bridesmaid dress she assumed Shandi had picked out because it made her look especially like a blimp.
    “Ready?” the photographer asked Patty, who nodded. “Okay, come help your sister put on her gown.”
    Shandi slipped off her shorts and shirt, revealing the pristine white-lace La Perla bra and underwear she’d saved for today. She looked like a lingerie model, her thin hips and shoulders balanced by round, firm breasts and butt. “Here, help me climb into this before Diane snaps one of me naked.” She motioned for Patty to come over.
    Patty slipped the heavy gown off the hanger and, careful to avoid stepping on the fabric, knelt down so Shandi could support herself on Patty’s shoulder while she stepped into the dress. Patty stood behind her, carefully pulling shut the hook-and-eye clasps that lined the back, as the photographer snapped away.
    When Patty was finished, she looked over her sister’s shoulder into the mirror, scanning the dress from the bottom all the way up to her sister’s face. But when she got to Shandi’s eyes they were directed at Patty’s reflection, not her own. Shandi’s face was still and looked…sad.
    She was silent for a moment, then said quietly, “You are so beautiful, Patty.”
    Patty felt her skin tingle, but didn’t know what to say, and so said nothing. Shandi turned to face her, just a tiny glimmer of wetness in her blue eyes.
    “I don’t know when you went from being my kid sister to such a gorgeous, strong woman, but I’m really, really sorry I wasn’t there—or wasn’t paying enough attention—to witness it.”
    Patty shook her head and looked down at her feet, not knowing what else to do, but Shandi kept going. She reached her hands up and held her little sister’s cheeks in her hands. “Listen, you have something really special, Patty. Something I never had. You have fearlessness and decisiveness and a lust for life. And I don’t think I’ve ever told you, but I admire you so, so much for that.”
    Normally, Patty would write off any affirmative thing her sister said as a backhanded compliment, a patronizing, “Oh, you’re so lucky you have such a good appetite; I wish I could eat like you do!” kind of thing. But Shandi was actually being genuine.
    Shandi took a deep breath and turned back to the mirror.
    “Do I look okay?” she asked, really seeming to mean it.
    This Patty could answer, honestly. She whispered, “You look absolutely stunning, Shandi. Completely, completely beautiful.”
    “I’m so nervous, Patty,” Shandi confessed, swallowing hard.
    “Don’t be!” Patty said, suddenly jumping at the opportunity to be her sister’s cheerleader. “You’re going to do everything just right. And even if you don’t, no one will