title: Straight from the Heart: Bridal Floristry
author: Elizabeth Margaret Cowling
description: Clean crisp tight unmarked copy with very little wear
zlib_text: **HALFWAY TO HEAVEN**
  
   **SUSAN WIGGS**
  
   **Part One**
  
  A lady should always have an easy, becoming and graceful movement while
  engaged in a quadrille or promenade. It is more pleasing to the gentleman.
  
  —Lucien O. Carpenter, The Universal Dancing Master,
  
   **One**
  
  The bridal bouquet sailed past a dozen outstretched arms, hitting Abigail
  Beatrice Cabot smack in the face before it dropped into her unsuspecting
  hands. Just for a moment she saw stars; her eyes watered and her nose stung
  from the cloying sweetness of gardenias. She blinked twice, then exploded with
  a terrific sneeze.
  
  First, a deathlike pall fell over the boisterous crowd of well-wishers. Then
  titters rose from the young ladies nearby, and a flurry of whispers erupted
  from the wedding guests gathered in the East Room of the White House.
  
  “I’m allergic to gardenias,” Abigail muttered in an agony of humiliation.
  Tattered petals drifted down her face and over the front of her dress, leaving
  behind a powdery yellow residue. A