Last Flight from Flagstaff (Choices: Story Two)

by Beth Carpenter

  Chapter 9

  The rehearsal was in a beautiful old church with red doors. Made of local stone, the church almost seemed to have sprung from the ground, tall arched windows soaring like trees. The clock in Kristen’s car read five fifty-five as they found a parking space downtown near the church. Matt and Rebecca arrived at the same time as Donna and Kristen and they all walked in together. Jen, Pauline, Blake, and several others were already inside, gathered at the back.

  Pauline was in her element, running the show. “Good, the bride is finally here. Everyone in the wedding, come with me.” She cruised forward, followed by Kristen, Matt, Jen, Blake, and three men that Donna didn’t recognize. That left Donna with a young man and a young woman in the back of the church.

  Donna looked around. According to a plaque near the door, the church building was more than one hundred years old. The final rays of the day shone though the windows as the sun set. Hand carving decorated the knave, and antique light fixtures hung from the ceiling. A pipe organ dominated the choir loft. Donna thought about all the loving hands that had crafted this church.

  “Hi, I’m Jared, Jen’s husband.” The young man was offering his hand. “You must be Donna.”

  She smiled. “Yes I am. You have a lovely home.”

  “I can’t take any credit; it’s all Jen’s doing. She’s the talented one. Donna, this is Lindsay.”

  “I’m married to one of the ushers,” Lindsay explained.

  As Donna was shaking her hand, another young woman entered from a side door. Donna recognized Danielle from the shower. “Hello, Danielle, how are you? Did Kim get home okay last night?”

  Danielle grinned. “Only for about an hour. Then she went into the hospital. A girl, seven pounds ten ounces.”

  “How exciting! Do they have a name yet?”

  “Quiet in the back please!” Pauline bellowed.

  Meekly, they all settled quietly into the last pew. “Isabella,” Danielle whispered.

  “Lovely,” Donna mouthed back.

  They watched the rehearsal unfold. “Bride, bridesmaid, ushers, and mother at the back. There will be flowers here and here, so be careful. Ushers, you will escort the mother of the groom in first. Let’s practice that.”

  Rebecca and one of the ushers obediently walked to the back of the church. Rebecca took his arm and fluttered her eyelashes at him. Danielle snorted.

  “Okay, now the minister and the men will enter from the right.” The minister walked in, followed by Matt and Blake. They stood tall at the front of the church.

  “Then we have the Matron of Honor.” Jen began walking up the aisle. “Slower, slower,” Pauline ordered, “You’re not running a race!” Jen slowed her pace.

  “And finally the bride.” Kristen began gliding up the aisle. Matt smiled at her and she smiled back, paying attention to no one else until she was holding his hand.

  The minister finally wrested power away from Pauline and introduced himself. “For those who don’t know me, I’m Rev. Donaldson and I’m happy to be here to marry these young people. Marriage is a joyful but solemn occasion, and the traditions of the ceremony are to allow the couple to proclaim their commitment and their friends and relatives to give their support to the union. Now I will walk you through the ceremony so that you will know what to expect.”

  The Reverend quietly explained the ceremony to the wedding party. Because he wasn’t using a microphone, Donna and the others at the back couldn’t hear and began chatting in careful whispers.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t make the shower,” Lindsay whispered to Donna. “I had a class. I hear I missed a good time.”

  “It was fun,” Donna agreed. “What are you studying?”

  “I’m giving the class, actually,” Lindsay explained. “I teach a class on hand weaving once a week.”

  “That sounds fascinating. I’ve seen demonstrations and I’m in awe of anyone who can even thread a loom, much less do weaving. I’m amazed at how many talented artists seem to be clustered here in Flagstaff.”

  “Now we will practice the recessional.” Pauline’s piercing voice made Donna jump. Pauline made all the wedding participants practice their exits from the church and then gathered everyone together at the back and passed out sheets of paper.

  “Everyone take a timetable. This is where you need to be and when you need to be there. Be sure you are on time. I will see you Saturday. Good rehearsal. Good night, everyone. Reverend, you’ll lock up?”

  At his nod, Pauline sailed out the door. The minister said in a gentle voice, “That went very well. I’m looking forward to the wedding.”

  “You are coming to the dinner, aren’t you, Rev. Donaldson?” Rebecca asked him.

  “I would enjoy that,” the reverend said.

  “Will your wife be joining us?”

  “I’ve been a widower for several years now,” he said.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” Rebecca sounded anything but sorry. She slipped her hand over his elbow. “The restaurant is just two blocks away. Will you walk with me?”

  As they walked to the restaurant, Donna met the two ushers, Paul and Luke. Paul was married to Lindsay, and Luke appeared to be attached to Danielle. They walked together as a group, drifting along the downtown streets in the twilight. Donna could see the outlines of all the old buildings against the sky. They passed an art gallery, an upscale cooking store, and an Indian restaurant emitting mouthwatering aromas. Clusters of people chattered happily as they stood on the corners, waiting for the light to change. The overall feeling was of a vibrant downtown with roots in history, but with up-to-the minute offerings.

  When they arrived at the restaurant, Donna was surprised. It appeared to be quite small from the front, but inside it rambled over a large area, apparently taking in space from other adjacent buildings. Blake had reserved a round table, which overlooked the small dance floor. The table was set with a pale yellow tablecloth and forest green napkins. An arrangement of yellow tulips graced the center of the table. A three-piece band was playing softly.

  “Donna, you sit here by me,” Rebecca instructed, “and Blake next. Reverend, why don’t you sit here on my right and we can let the young people sit together.” She batted her eyes at Rev. Donaldson.

  Donna settled herself between Rebecca and Blake as directed. While Blake consulted with the waiter about the wine, Rebecca turned to Donna. “The rehearsal went very well, don’t you think? I was afraid for a while that Blake was going to skip the whole thing because of that flea-bitten dog of his. Can you imagine?”

  “What’s wrong with Sally?” Donna asked.

  “I don’t know. He took her in this morning and it turns out she had a major problem and had some sort of surgery today. The vet said most people wouldn’t have spent that much on a dog, but you know how Blake is.” Rebecca rolled her eyes.

  “He seems very fond of Sally. Has Blake had her since she was a puppy?”

  “Not at all. She’s just a stray that Matthew found hanging around the apartments about the time Blake moved back last fall, so Blake took her in. You would think he would want a purebred, or at least a young healthy dog, but no, he insisted on keeping that homely stray.”

  “I think Sally is a pretty dog,” Donna said.

  “If you say so. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” The waiter poured Rebecca’s wine, distracting her. After she took a sip, she turned her attention to Rev. Donaldson. Donna turned to Blake.

  “Rebecca tells me that Sally had surgery today. How is she?”

  “So far, so good. The vet tells me that the surgery was successful, but it may take her a while to heal.”

  “What was the problem?”

  “They called it bloat. Apparently, sometimes a dog’s stomach twists around itself and nothing can escape from it. They had to fix it surgically.”

  “That sounds painful.”

  Blake nodded. “Sally ate her dinner last night, but didn’t want her bedtime dog biscuit. Usually she inhales
her food, so I knew something was wrong. This morning she seemed to be miserable so I called the vet. The vet said only about half the dogs who get this survive, but she got through the surgery, so that’s the biggest hurdle. They’re keeping her for observation.”

  Donna took a sip of wine. “So that appointment you had to rush off to this morning was with the vet?”

  Blake nodded. The servers brought the first course and there was a lull in the conversation while everyone tasted their soup. After a few minutes, one of the groomsmen began a funny story about a disastrous camping trip and everyone’s attention turned toward him. While everyone was occupied, Blake said softly to Donna, “I apologize for being so abrupt with you this morning.”

  “I understand. You were worried about your dog.”

  “Yes, but that isn’t the whole reason.” Blake checked to make sure nobody was paying attention to them. “You were right about Matt. I shouldn’t have dropped the whole thing in his lap without setting up any kind of system or guidelines. In fact, I did intend to work with him closely at the beginning, but there was an emergency and I had to leave town.”

  “What was the emergency?” Donna asked.

  “I owned a small furniture factory in North Carolina. The river overflowed and the factory was flooded. All the equipment was ruined; the devastation was incredible. It took me three years to get it set back up and running smoothly again.”

  “Wow. I’m surprised that it was economic to restart the factory. Everyone seems to be moving overseas.”

  Blake nodded. “It would probably have been more profitable to move overseas,” he admitted, “but this factory is one of the few sources of employment in a small town there. The city offered me tax breaks and the people were offering to volunteer their time to help clean up. I felt that if they were willing to work so hard to get it back up, I couldn’t walk out on them. The insurance paid for most of the expense and we were eventually able to get it back into operation.”

  “So that is when you came back here?” Donna asked.

  “Yeah. It feels good to be home.”

  “Who is managing the factory for you now?”

  Blake grinned. “Actually, the workers formed a co-operative and borrowed the money to buy me out. So now it is an employee-owned business, and I am footloose and fancy free.”

  The servers returned to take their bowls and bring the main course. Donna thought over Blake’s story. It certainly seemed admirable to get the factory back on its feet, but he said the insurance covered most of it, not all of it. Where did the rest of the money for the repairs come from, not to mention the lost money while the factory was not operational?

  During the main course, Donna listened to conversation from the rest of the table. After a glass of wine, Reverend Donaldson began to tell funny stories about past weddings. Rebecca laughed heartily and urged him on. Some of the others began to tell their wedding stories. Every time Donna looked in Blake’s direction, his brilliant blue eyes were watching her.

  Finally, the servers brought out slices of chocolate raspberry torte and champagne, as well as sparkling cider in deference to Jen. Jared chose cider too, a show of solidarity that Donna found sweet. After everyone was served, Blake stood, commanding their attention. “I know I’m a few days early, but I’d like to propose a toast.” He picked up his glass. “Matt and Kristen, may the joy you’ve found in one another remain with you all the days of your lives.”

  Matt and Kristen kissed to sounds of “Matt and Kristen” and “hear, hear” as everyone else clinked glasses together and sipped the champagne.

  Donna thought about Blake’s toast. Matt and Kristen did seem to find joy in one another, but this money fiasco had the potential to tear them apart. Donna now knew that someone was deliberately stealing money, but she still didn’t know who.

  The torte was extraordinary. Donna found herself savoring it until the very last bite was gone. After the servers removed the dessert plates and refilled the glasses, Kristen, Matt, Jen, and Jared decided to dance. Soon, Rebecca convinced the Reverend to give it a try and some of the others took to the floor, leaving Blake and Donna alone on their side of the table.

  Blake looked at Donna’s glass. “You’ve hardly touched your champagne. Don’t you like it?”

  Donna shrugged. “It’s wonderful, but I try to limit my champagne. It has been known to make me reckless.”

  “I have trouble picturing you doing anything reckless,” Blake laughed.

  Donna’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “You might be surprised.”

  “Do you feel reckless enough to dance with me?” he asked.

  Donna considered. Was it appropriate to dance with a man she was, in effect, investigating? “Why not?” she said. Maybe the champagne was affecting her.

  Blake rested his hand gently on her back, guiding her toward the dance floor. She could feel the warmth of his hand through the thin fabric of her dress. As the reached the dance floor, the band began a waltz. The younger couples started moving off the floor, leaving the Reverend and Rebecca and one other couple. Blake placed one arm behind Donna’s back and took her other hand. Her arm went to his shoulder and they began to waltz.

  He was a wonderful dancer. They glided smoothly around the floor, his subtle touch signaling their every move. As she gazed into his eyes, she felt her body responding to his cues, moving with him as though they were one. She felt a warm rush throughout her body, and it wasn’t entirely due to the exercise.

  Too soon, the song ended. He dipped her lightly, set her back on her feet and released her. Breathless, she gazed at him. A smattering of applause from the young couples in their party made her realize that they were the center of attention. Embarrassed, she stepped away from the floor. Blake lightly took hold of her hand and led her back to the table.

  She drank some water. “Your cheeks are pink,” Blake said.

  “I guess I’m not used to the altitude,” Donna explained.

  “Is that it?” He looked as though he didn’t believe her.

  The evening went on. Donna danced with Matt, and with one of the ushers who was kind enough to ask, but she declined further dances with Blake.

  “Come on, Donna. You two dance so well together,” Rebecca urged. “Give us another show.”

  Donna begged off. Blake frowned; then he shrugged and asked Lindsay to dance instead. Donna breathed a sigh of relief. Blake was dangerously attractive, and until she ruled him out, she needed a clear head.

  At one point, the band played a tango. Rebecca grabbed a tulip out of the bowl and conscripted Luke to dance. Luke had obviously never danced the tango in his life, and there was some doubt if he had ever even seen it danced, but Rebecca didn’t let that stop her. Clutching the tulip in her teeth, she marched Luke back and forth across the room, somehow avoiding being either stepped on or dropped. A wave of applause greeted their final dip.

  That night, Donna stared out of her bedroom window at the clear sky above Flagstaff. Who took the money? They all had motive and opportunity.

  Matt seemed like a simple, straightforward guy, but he had expensive taste in art, judging by the catalog Donna had seen on his desk. He also had a fiancée used to the finer things in life.

  Heather had the most opportunity, and her expensive handbag might be a sign of overindulgence, but it was hardly proof.

  Blake seemed to be a caring and honest man, but he must have needed an influx of money to repair the factory, and avoiding taxes would make the money go a lot further.

  Donna simply didn’t have enough information. Tomorrow, she would talk to some of the suppliers and try to get a handle on the expenses. Tonight she needed sleep. She climbed into bed, but every time she closed her eyes, she saw brilliant blue eyes gazing back at her.